[Poll] Which mesmer's MH weapon do you think needs the most buffs/updates/redesigns in PvE?

[bart.3687]

> @Carighan.6758 said:

> > @OriOri.8724 said:

> > Please no. This would do nothing but homogenize the classes even more. As it is right now, having each class use weapons in wildly different ways provides a lot of flavor to the game. Staff on mesmer is defensive, on DD its an up close and personal DPS weapon, on druid its a healing/support weapon, on ele its a longrange weapon with fucktons of functionality etc... Don't take away unique identities like this. Otherwise you wouldn't be in a situation where mesmer could have a ranged GS option, because that wouldn't be the same as all of the other classes that use it in a melee range.

>

> The problem with that is - in general I agree, mind you, I usually said the same about every homogenization step in WoW - is that ANet seemingly lacks the manpower to handle how expansive and complicated their class system is.

>

> In other words, the more they can fold together, the better those parts become. And frankly at present, 5 years into the game, I'd rather have **one** weapon set per class (meaning, say, Mesmers always use Sword+Focus) which is actually balanced, well-designed and works in all situations and gives the class unique strengths and weaknesses due to the class built around that weapon than the plethora of choices which are all at best 75% complete.

>

> Making weapons always work similar is one way of achieving that. Less design work. If "swords" can be design as one, instead of Mesmer sword vs Guardian sword vs Warrior sword (etc), then that's good. Less work for the devs. The lack of rework patches and the tiny scope of the balance patches we get seems to indicate this is a dire necessity. :<

>

> Though, again, in theory I'd be with you, unique identities are awesome. But only if there is dev time to actually design and implement those.

 

I agree with you that the devs fail at handling the balance, but the ideas you propose here are really radical. To the point where I'd probably quit the game if they were implemented.

Personally I'd rather have variety than perfect balance, if I had to choose.

I hope they'll find a way to put more work into professions and balance, but without taking steps that extreme to achieve it.

 

 

[OriOri.8724]

> @Carighan.6758 said:

> > @OriOri.8724 said:

> > Please no. This would do nothing but homogenize the classes even more. As it is right now, having each class use weapons in wildly different ways provides a lot of flavor to the game. Staff on mesmer is defensive, on DD its an up close and personal DPS weapon, on druid its a healing/support weapon, on ele its a longrange weapon with fucktons of functionality etc... Don't take away unique identities like this. Otherwise you wouldn't be in a situation where mesmer could have a ranged GS option, because that wouldn't be the same as all of the other classes that use it in a melee range.

>

> The problem with that is - in general I agree, mind you, I usually said the same about every homogenization step in WoW - is that ANet seemingly lacks the manpower to handle how expansive and complicated their class system is.

>

> In other words, the more they can fold together, the better those parts become. And frankly at present, 5 years into the game, I'd rather have **one** weapon set per class (meaning, say, Mesmers always use Sword+Focus) which is actually balanced, well-designed and works in all situations and gives the class unique strengths and weaknesses due to the class built around that weapon than the plethora of choices which are all at best 75% complete.

>

> Making weapons always work similar is one way of achieving that. Less design work. If "swords" can be design as one, instead of Mesmer sword vs Guardian sword vs Warrior sword (etc), then that's good. Less work for the devs. The lack of rework patches and the tiny scope of the balance patches we get seems to indicate this is a dire necessity. :<

>

> Though, again, in theory I'd be with you, unique identities are awesome. But only if there is dev time to actually design and implement those.

 

Its different if the game was designed that way from the start. But people would riot if their weapon options were removed for the sake of "balance". And lets be real, at that point you'd have to remove about half the traits anyway, since they wouldn't synergize at all with the one weapon set available to each profession.

[apharma.3741]

> @OriOri.8724 said:

> > @Carighan.6758 said:

> > > @OriOri.8724 said:

> > > Please no. This would do nothing but homogenize the classes even more. As it is right now, having each class use weapons in wildly different ways provides a lot of flavor to the game. Staff on mesmer is defensive, on DD its an up close and personal DPS weapon, on druid its a healing/support weapon, on ele its a longrange weapon with fucktons of functionality etc... Don't take away unique identities like this. Otherwise you wouldn't be in a situation where mesmer could have a ranged GS option, because that wouldn't be the same as all of the other classes that use it in a melee range.

> >

> > The problem with that is - in general I agree, mind you, I usually said the same about every homogenization step in WoW - is that ANet seemingly lacks the manpower to handle how expansive and complicated their class system is.

> >

> > In other words, the more they can fold together, the better those parts become. And frankly at present, 5 years into the game, I'd rather have **one** weapon set per class (meaning, say, Mesmers always use Sword+Focus) which is actually balanced, well-designed and works in all situations and gives the class unique strengths and weaknesses due to the class built around that weapon than the plethora of choices which are all at best 75% complete.

> >

> > Making weapons always work similar is one way of achieving that. Less design work. If "swords" can be design as one, instead of Mesmer sword vs Guardian sword vs Warrior sword (etc), then that's good. Less work for the devs. The lack of rework patches and the tiny scope of the balance patches we get seems to indicate this is a dire necessity. :<

> >

> > Though, again, in theory I'd be with you, unique identities are awesome. But only if there is dev time to actually design and implement those.

>

> Its different if the game was designed that way from the start. But people would riot if their weapon options were removed for the sake of "balance". And lets be real, at that point you'd have to remove about half the traits anyway, since they wouldn't synergize at all with the one weapon set available to each profession.

 

That’s without thinking of the wider impact such a change would have on the game not just on skills. Get an ascended axe drop and only PvE? At the moment you could use it on revenant, mirage and possibly have it for some use on druid if you some how needed a reflect. Under a more homogeneous system there would be 1 or 2 best weapons for PvE and everything else classed as junk. You could of course reduce the number of weapons considerably but then we have to invent trade in systems to not royal alienate everyone but we still have an economic impact on top. You can liken it to how powerful blood has been more expensive than every other type of T6 for much of the life of the game simply because it’s used in all berserker crafting and it was so dominant.

 

You’d get the same with certain weapons in a homogenised system. At least now if you like a skin you generally have options to play with it in some capacity if you don’t mind switching class or trying a new game mode. I do think a homogenised system has some benefits and Carighan makes a good arguement for it but I agree with Oriori that it would be harder or not work so well here.

[leftharted.7102]

ehh... I picked scepter, but mostly because I Like staff now with Condi mirage; stacking the 4x clone ambush (3 of them, 1 of you) pumps out ALOT of vuln/bleed/burn. with minimal duration gear im stacking 25 vuln/bleed and maybe 10 burn, and can keep that up pretty darn consistent with energy sigils and plenty of vigor.

 

That being said, I agree with pretty much Everyone who did pick staff.... as condi build I RARELY even click the warlock, accept for maybe a quick shatter here-or-there, but with staff 2 being quick cooldown and clones on deception skills, its quite easy to keep 3 clones up and shattering f1/f2 semi regularly; and therefore warlock is almost never used. staff 4 needs some love, like some guaranteed boons regardless of being hit, or lower cooldown/increase duration... staff 5 is nice for the combo field, but needs the cooldown seriously shortened; and if left at 40sec I think a guaranteed effect on drop would make it sufficient.

 

also, im super casual player... I believe I have a proper understanding of mechanics, but not a min/maxer; I only play GW to kill time.

[Veprovina.4876]

> @leftharted.7102 said:

> ehh... I picked scepter, but mostly because I Like staff now with Condi mirage; stacking the 4x clone ambush (3 of them, 1 of you) pumps out ALOT of vuln/bleed/burn. with minimal duration gear im stacking 25 vuln/bleed and maybe 10 burn, and can keep that up pretty darn consistent with energy sigils and plenty of vigor.

>

> That being said, I agree with pretty much Everyone who did pick staff.... as condi build I RARELY even click the warlock, accept for maybe a quick shatter here-or-there, but with staff 2 being quick cooldown and clones on deception skills, its quite easy to keep 3 clones up and shattering f1/f2 semi regularly; and therefore warlock is almost never used. staff 4 needs some love, like some guaranteed boons regardless of being hit, or lower cooldown/increase duration... staff 5 is nice for the combo field, but needs the cooldown seriously shortened; and if left at 40sec I think a guaranteed effect on drop would make it sufficient.

>

> also, im super casual player... I believe I have a proper understanding of mechanics, but not a min/maxer; I only play GW to kill time.

 

Staff 2 is amazing defensive maneuver but if you want to pump clones for shattering, scepter is better as the auto attack generates a clone automatically and has no cooldown. You can even use 2 deception skills after the auto attack chain from the scepter for a quick shatter, and if you have that illusion signet you can even recharge your shatters for another go.

 

Scepter with the mirage self deception can pump out clones almost as much as axe can. It's actually a really good weapon. The more i use it the more i like it. It was the opposite with the staff for me, the more i used it the more it annoyed me. And i really wanted to like it. Chaos storm combo field with the axe 2 is great, but beyond that and the now good ambush, staff kinda really needs a rework.

 

I get why people like it though, and it's not totally useless but yeah, as far as "effectiveness" goes, scepter is a better weapon than staff for clone generation and general damage. I do occasionally whip out staff for general PvE for fun, but the long cooldowns kinda ruin it for me.

[Kain Francois.4328]

Staff, by far. What is its purpose?

 

Is it range? No... You have to be in melee range for the bounce ffect.

 

Is it power? Condi? The autoattack seems to be condi, but the phantasm is power...

 

Defensive? Chaos Armor is defensive? I guess Chaos Field gives us Aegis, but what the heck is up with the #4 skill?

 

Overall, the weapon is a mess which lacks identity.

[Shiyo.3578]

I picked sword because it's the most fun power weapon and I want power mesmer to be stronger but I just want greatsword 5 removed from the game.

[Esquilax.3491]

Staff skills:

- Ambush is good!

- 1 is mediocre

- 2 is fantastic

- 3 is wrong dmg type...

- 4 is God awful

- 5 is underwhelming as fuck

[Genesis.5169]

Staff, cut the cd of chaos storm in half and i'm happy.

[Veprovina.4876]

> @"Esquilax.3491" said:

> Staff skills:

> - Ambush is good!

> - 1 is mediocre

> - 2 is fantastic

> - 3 is wrong dmg type...

> - 4 is God awful

> - 5 is underwhelming as kitten

 

That's pretty accurate. Except 1 is godawful too i think, it's slow and feels like you're brushing your opponent with a feather., ambush became good only after they patched it. And i never understood why Phantasmal Warlock doesn't do condi damage when literally everything else on the staff does. I mean, i guess you can put Viper's or Sinister or something, maybe the new Grieving would work for a Staff and not get that bad of a damage out of it but staff is underwhelming overall regardless.