Virtuality.8351

Many thanks. I totally missed the discussion pre-patch there (and probably post-patch as well :P guardian is really not my main).

> @michelada.2947 said:

> i run this on pvp and kick kitten

yeah there is actually some pvp/wvw potential after swapping a few traits and skill slots.

Coming across these on the [wiki page](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical_Chance#Related_traits "wiki page"):

* Radiant Power Radiant Power — Attacks against burning foes have an increased chance to critically hit.

* Righteous Instincts Righteous Instincts — Retaliation increases your chances to critically strike and grants might each interval.

* Right-Hand Strength Right-Hand Strength — Critical hit chance with one-handed weapons is increased. Sword skills recharge faster.

I decided to mess around on the [build editor](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor "build editor"). Note that this is entirely theoretical and some trinkets listed here aren't even available yet. Here's the build:

[Firebrand: 100% critChance & critDamage, 100% fury & retaliation (duration and up-time), 75% boon duration, +21% damage, 3k armor](http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQRArf8ensADdBjNCDGBDkCjF/BbvimRHpWBgv1dKLCVhyQA-j1RBQBFZ/BAcSAwn+hJ+EAQo6PmVJYYV+RKgAHZB-w "Firebrand: 100% critChance & critDamage, 100% fury & retaliation (duration and up-time), 75% boon duration, +21% damage, 3k armor")

Probably only ~~good~~fun in open world ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but hey, gotta admit that the sheer possibility to reach 100% critChance without a single point of precision is quite amusing.

Edit: A bit more elaboration here.

The minimum critChance for a level 80 character is 5% (instead of 4% shown on Hero Panel). Permanent fury adds 20% and the three traits mentioned at the beginning of this post add 15% + 10% + 50% with permanent burning on the enemies and retaliation on self.

The trait 'Retribution' (Radiance Major Master) adds 250 ferocity, adding additional 16.66% critDamage to the original 183.33%.

> @Mikkel.8427 said:

> > @"Leviticus Lo.6178" said:

> > I could see a possible option for improving the feel of the Staff Ambush without changing its current function too heavily.

> >

> > Being a Chaos Vortex, perhaps adding a small Pull effect to the main Orb. Enemies within a small range around the Orb (say 2-3x the size of the Orb) will be pulled into the Orb as it passes by them.

> >

> > The pull wouldn't cover an area anywhere close to the size of Focus # 4 Temporal Curtain. Just a small pull to the side, enough to improve the reliability for hitting enemies. It'd also be kinda cool seeing a sort of domino effect of enemies getting pulled into the Orb's path as it travels. **:**P

> >

> > An image representing the Mirage Staff Ambush with a Pull Zone (and also if Bifrost turned the Orb rainbowy)

> > 

> >

>

> IF they got rid of infinite horizon, I think that would be a really cool way to beef it up.

I wholeheartedly hope that the way Anet gets rid of it is by making it baseline instead of throwing the entire thing into garbage can :(

That reminds me how difficult it was for me, also coming from shooter background, to get into this game for the first time. Also the painful default keybinding, with A and D set to turning left and right instead of strafing as in shooter games. That combat mode add-on does seem neat. Thanks for writing in depth on this!

The legendary bounty seems to be unavailable once again. We had a group spread out in 7 different map overflows for over 30 minutes, and not a single one was with a bounty board ready. I would suggest folks don't waste time waiting for this.

(will also post this in general discussion)

Bug details:

Last set of IP of the overflows: 7, 30, 104, 138, 142, 143, 246. Time frame: ~7:35 a.m. to ~8:10 a.m. (server time).

> @Curunen.8729 said:

> I have to seriously disagree with any form of ground targeting here - personally I would find that really awkward compared with turning the character and hitting the skill. But then again I hate ground targeting in gw2 and my motto is the fewer ground targeted abilities, the better.

That is rather interesting. Would you elaborate a bit the reason why you found ground targeting awkward?

From my experience, ground targeting 'movement/attack combination' has always been superior in terms of precision of the destination, reaction time (compared to turning the camera and dropping selected target), and proneness to failure (in this case, execusion of the skill without dropping target) to object-targeting ones. For example, during the early years of WvW, 'Whirlwind Attack' was so much more reliable as a mean to disengage than, say, 'Dash', 'Bull Charge', or 'Savage Leap'. For AoE skills of the same kind, ground targeting ones are also more easy to land on multiple targets, with the path/radius of effect directly shown on the screen.

Without further infomation, I am guessing that the difference between our experience might be due to different camera setup (since this is more of a UI problem I suppose there could be difference between what we see on screen to cause this drastic inconsistance). I know quite some WvW players (including myself) would configure their camera way up and far from the character to gain better field of view and situational awareness. Doing so grants you an bird-eye view from a high angle, with better judgement on distance and AoE density/coverage, also easier and more precise ground targeting. While on the other hand, friends of mine who don't really do WvW tend to have the camera set much closer to the character's height. I suppose by viewing the ground at a much lower angle would make ground-targeting harder while camera manipulation more instinctive. Though, that's just my guess :P

^ This.

I don't think there's any movement skill from any profession that does not go toward or away from the target though (if anything is targeted). Maybe make it directional ground targeting as we now have on warrior greatsword #3. Also, some folks have been asking Anet to add a brief evade to this skill to better reflect its vision movement. (wink wink)

Or just remove the movement function and make it like warrior axe #4. The current movement provides neither evasion nor much mobility anyway.

> @Paralux.6714 said:

> It will be removed completely at the end of October, if I'm not mistaking.

Could you link the source of this info? I thought the old forum was here to stay since the old posts were not transfered here.

DO NOT BUY ALL 16 LISTED MORDANT WEAPON RECIPES TOGETHER AT ONCE.

Currently all heart merchants in the Desolation and Vabbi _are missing [Recipe: Mordant Standard] (staff)_ and _double posting [Recipe: Mordant Scutum] (shield)_. It is very easy for you to waste 75 contacts on a second shield recipe while not unlocking crafting for staff.

In game bug report has been submitted. If you find this piece of reminder worthy, might as well consider to put a link on Reddit.

> @Photoloss.4817 said:

> People in LoL aim and land skills like that on an effective 2s _cooldown_ fairly consistently.

Yet this is not LoL. This is not a 2.5D game with fixed camera angle and entirely linear and expectable NPC movement. And complicating input operation in a 3D enviroment with free camera will only produce problems to navigate the surrounding and locate specific objects, making it an _even more clunky mechanic than the one of guardian staff skill #2_.

Edit: friend pointed out to me that LoL is actually 3D, only crafted visually in 2.5D style, including the fixed camera angle. Though you can still see the vast difference between how navigating and locating works between in these two games.

Mechanically, reflection redirects projectiles back toward their original source and change the source of projectile to the reflector. Therefore, a mesmer reflecting an arrow from a ranger is the same as a mesmer firing an arrow at a ranger in our current system. This makes reflection prone to reveal effect and retaliation.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no skill that causes direct damage ignores reveal effect and retaliation. Specific mechanics will likely have to be made in order to fix the problem--that is to say the developers are informed and convinced it is a problem that needs to be addressed.

But why splitting it into two skills with different targetting mechanics while the problem could be addressed by simply making the projectile track its target?

I really can't agree with the idea of making certain skills unblockable to avoid reflecting friendly projectile. Such ad hoc solution would only create nightmare in the future for developers in charge of skill balance . Reflection should be updated to stop reflecting all friendly projectiles.

If you go chronmancer, you will have superb durability. The durability won't be coming from your armor and hp pool, but the various appoaches to avoid damage instead.

For core mesmer, first you have Distortion (shatter #4), providing you 1 second baseline invulnerability and 1 for each illusion shattered. Then you have mainhand sword with Frenzy, which is a damage burst skill and a mean of evasion at the same time. Off-hand sword offers you a one-time block, and if you go with condition build, scepter does that too. And you have a lot of CC to proactively defend yourself against attacking opponents. Staff really shines on this aspect. The forth skill give you Chaos Armor, or you can also get Chaos Armor through combo since you're self-sufficient in Eather Fields. The fifth skill is an AoE field that pulses daze each second for 5 in total. Despite that it's generally less favored due to low DPS, it is still a viable action if you really aim to buff up your defense.

And if you have HoT expansion, the chronomancer trait line will further increase your durability by providing 1.5~3 sec blocking with shield and a well skill that pulses aegis.

So yeah, mesmer could be fairly durable I'd say. It won't be durable in the sense that being able to tank a lot of hits and heal back up, but much more in a sense that you can spot big hits coming and mitigate it elegantly. Although I must say that it could be tricky against enemies that does not take CC (world bosses and some specific mobs, such as the forged skator boy in PoF) or enemies with extensively high defiance bar value. Other than these few cases, you will fare pretty well out there.

> @atlashugged.7642 said:

> > @Coulter.2315 said:

> > I love this ambush, I would only aim to improve its ability to hit moving targets and nothing else. Needing to position yourself to get the most out of clones' casting is an enjoyable aspect of the skill. I love the casting effect and would be heartbroken if any changes ruined it (if they want to make the ball a giant rainbow ball for Bifrost I wouldn't complain - not tiny like a regular bifrost projectile, A GIANT RAINBOW BALL).

>

> ...and make the ball a combo field that mesmers don't currently have.

>

Or maybe explode upon impacting the enemies and create an AoE vortex w/ combo field and all currently listed effects? That would work better than a moving combo field/ball. Plus, this would also keep the current visual effect, which is quite favored by people judging from the replies.

> @Photoloss.4817 said:

> > @Virtuality.8351 said:

> > > @Coulter.2315 said:

> > > ...to improve its ability to hit moving targets

> > Yes, that is also a problem really need to be addressed, regarding that it does not track targets and flies at a mediocre speed.

> >

> > Couldn't understand how positioning could be 'fun' but glad some still enjoy it :P Imo, it totally defeats the function of 'Illusionary Ambush' since the utility skill disrupt players' attempt to arrange the position of their clones and themselves.

>

> How about making the player version a manually aimed line skillshot but with something like 3x its current power? They've had the UI capability since HoT adventures at the very least.

I think that any approach requiring manual targeting (whether on the ground or on enemies) would be unlikely. Your clones will be using the ambush skills if traited 'Infinite Horizon' no matter you use the skill or not, so it would be sensible that the skill must be able to be automatically executed.

> @Coulter.2315 said:

> ...to improve its ability to hit moving targets

Yes, that is also a problem really need to be addressed, regarding that it does not track targets and flies at a mediocre speed.

Couldn't understand how positioning could be 'fun' but glad some still enjoy it :P Imo, it totally defeats the function of 'Illusionary Ambush' since the utility skill disrupt players' attempt to arrange the position of their clones and themselves.

First, let's take a look at the tooltip of this very skill we're going to discuss on.

**Chaos Vortex (Ambush)**

_Release a vortex of chaos energy that inflicts conditions on foes and grants boons to allies._

* Damage: 202 (0.5)

* Confusion (2 stacks, 5s): 75 Damage On Skill Use, 220 Damage

* Torment (2 stacks, 5s): 220 Damage, 318 Damage if Moving

* Fury (3s): 20% Critical Chance

* Might (3 stacks, 8s): +90 Power, +90 Condition Damage

* Number of Targets: 5

* Range: 1,200

On paper, 'Chaos Vortext' seems to be quite good. You have an AoE skill that applies 4 damaging condition stacks on 5 enemies, _plus_, with 3 clones, permanent fury and a good chance to reach 25 stacks of might by yourself--the latter having been unavailable for mesmers throughout all these years.

When the details of this skill came out around the beta stage, it did gave me the hype. The combination of AoE condition damage and high offensive boon coverage almost seemed too good to be true. Maybe, just maybe, I would again in PvE be picking up my beloved yet dust-collecting staff, which had been much underperforming and only recognized as a viable choice in sPvP and WvW roaming, just for this new ambush skill.

But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

The problem is how the AoE is applied. The animation of 'Chaos Vortex' is basically the same as guardian's 'Orb of Light' (first stage of staff 2) except the color scheme. And they work in the same way as a big piercing projectile, and suffer from the same issue. The mechanic of the AoE requires an ally or an enemy to contact the orb to receive the effect. This means that allies and untargeted enemies must be lined up perfectly along the path or stacking up precisely on the target.

However, in practice, allies hardly line up along the trajectory of the projectile and have very limited chances to receive the boons, even within point-blank range to the target due to the small width/area of effect. The same issue certaily comes up on the damage aspect as well, with mobs hardly lining or grouping up within the projectile width. The only chance for players to fully utilize the AoE condition under the way this skill currently works, is to equip a focus, an entirely power-based off-hand weapon (without combo), to pull mobs together right on the same spot. The orb width is just so small that even raptor's tail whip can't pull the mobs close enough to each other for the entire group to receive damage from this skill.

This brings us to the quesion: _why_? Why choose an already unpopular and underperforming mechanic from the guardian's staff skill designed back in 2012, instead of inventing something new (and perhaps more vortex-like visually and/or mechanically) or adapting the mechanics of something with better consensus to be actually working, such as 'Fireball' (elemantalist staff 1 with 180 radius AoE upon impacting enemies)?

I should also bring up the disclaimer here that, I do not believe all weapons should be viable in all game modes or contexts. However, it really pains me to see such potiential to revitalize staff for mesmer in PvE and to increase build diversity, while falling short so close. Even just making it mechanically behave like 'Fireball' would have made this skill so much better, and I really wish this skill will be looked into by the designers while reviewing the ambush skill set.

OP here. I finally found it! If you are also looking for your draft box, click the gear icon on the top of the page, to the right of your ID, notification, inbox and bookmarks icons. Hope this helps.

As topic. Very glad that there's a draft system now but it is kind of difficult for me to navigate the new interface :(