Why is dune cloak still not a thing?

[enkidu.5937]

When I last checked half a year ago, sand shards / dune cloak (Mirage) boon strip order was the same as for bountiful theft (Thief): aegis → stab → prot → the rest

Its a (short range) spamable AoE effect, and Mirage gets the stolen boons him/herself. Meanwhile, Scourge shades dont manifest at the caster's position, and also stand your ground was limited to 5 targets. So, why is dune cloak still not a thing?

Not playing Mes myself, so . . . ?

Maybe the enemy would dodge the fights then, because its not fun to get perma-CC'ed? Like pin-sniping the enemy com is usually avoided too?

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Its a (--> short range <--) spamable AoE effect.

Also what else is Mirage doing? Except for Veil, Portal and Focus Pull?

[enkidu.5937]

PS: sry, just realized that mirage was limited to 1 single dodge in WvW lately . . . with this in mind, my text seems a little trollish, sry not intended ;)

[Stand The Wall.6987]

when they had 2 dodges it was a great trait.

[AliamRationem.5172]

Sigh. One-dodge-mirage. Fail.

[duillyn.2697]

Mesmer main here.

I ran this trait on a mirage support build for a good while when the patch initially dropped, it's definitely got some merit to it over chrono imo. On a mirco level the relative value of gravity well is considered higher by zergs in general, 'bombs'. On a macro level mesmer is trash for a zerg. The only reason you bring a mesmer is for veil and focus pull (even illusion of life is now being considered lower value with ele/guard rez's). A mesmer brings nothing outside of veil that another class cannot do much, much better. Another issue is the nature of zerg play in general, as someone above noted this trait has a short range (180) centred around the mesmer and in reality the only time zergs are consistently hard engaging in that range is when one is just going to train over the other anyway, so it kind of becomes useless.

Mesmer is in a terrible spot atm overall, but the other issues I listed have to some degree been issues with mesmer in zergs since HoT, it's just a veil and a pull, that's it. That said, it's a fun trait in general, I think perhaps removing the damage and adding an extra boon strip to it might at least encourage people to play it more.

(the build for anyone that's interested: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAYx3lZwqYfMRmJOuSWPbA-zVIYfUzXCqPA-w)

[enkidu.5937]

Thx for your insights!

Meta says: 1,5 Scourge and 0,5 Bubbles per subgroup for boon stripping. Thats 40% of the zerg comp. As far as I've noticed, these boon strips are mostly random, or have an unvavorable strip priority. And since Warris now (since a year) have to channel their bubbles, being inable add strip an stun at the same time, wouldnt it be awesome to have strips in that bubble that prioritize stab and prot, instead of removing cover boons? And if the dodges are spend, you can CC as well? And adding unique tools for the whole squad as well?

Mes would likely compete for a Scourge slot. So instead of 15 scourges you would have like 12 scourges + 3 Mirage that could even break the enemie's push in combination with Guard lines and the ability to (stealth) port in and out?

Not questioning your PoV, was very usefull since I've build a Mes 1 year ago for that specific purpose, and wondered if its worth it to give it a try now :3

[scerevisiae.1972]

@duillyn.2697 said:I think perhaps removing the damage

no, i just think the damge needs to be higher, and a condition added so that it's a decent choice for condi builds as well.

but yeah, mirage with 1 dodge in WVW sucks hard. meanwhile, necros have been the dominant strip/dmg class for 8 straight years, Anet can't balance classes for shit.