Frenjo.9587

My earliest memory is sometime within the year after release while I was on Underworld (EU), running around in EBG outside of the green keep as a greatsword/staff Mesmer. Brilliant commander called Nebsie or something along those lines gave me a full set of 18 slot bags since I kept having to derail the zerg to empty my inventory. Took a little break and by the time I came back UW had collapsed, so a friend paid for my transfer and I moved to Eredon Terrace - been there ever since.Always miss Nebs, I wonder if he still plays? EDIT: Forgot to answer - I first realised I was a WvW main when it was the only gamemode that really got my attention, and it's sort of... All I've ever done, really. Nothing else has really ever captured my enjoyment. The sheer hilarity back in the first years of us all running around like headless chickens with no idea what was really going on will live in my mind forever.

As the other half of the duo that helped write this, it has my full support. After years of "we will talk about this later" or "we have more news in the coming months", it's time for action rather than words.

The Quartermaster used to be necessary for buying upgrades for objectives, and requisitioning extra guards and such. Since that functionality was removed she's kinda just... There. After all these years give her a set of Mistforged armour (she looks like a medium-armour-wearing-lady), and some additional functionality back rather than being a silly one-shot mob - if not that just give her some extra health, perhaps 1/4 of a Champion Tower Lord's health? She is the QUARTERmaster after all. I definitely agree with what Able said above, additional loot would be nice since she's the one responsible for provisioning everything at that tower, including managing supply - an interesting idea would be she's similar to a Dolyak where you can get some supply by killing her, or she drops provisioner-level food and utilities to help newer players with maintaining buff uptime while giving veterans something to compost tool for ascended food extracts? There's also the ancient urban legend that the objective won't upgrade if the Quartermaster's dead, but I have no idea how true that is.

First off I want to say thank you for the communication! Competitive players are frequently starved of any sort of communication so this is a great follow-up to the earlier feedback threads. My perspective is rather narrow as I am and always have been a Mesmer player in WvW (roaming/zerg, Chrono/Mirage/Core, whatever the situation requires) so I can't/won't contribute majorly to specific class-based discussions, other than Mesmer and the few classes i've experimented with for particular situations and builds. That being said: Permanent stealth classes aren't fun, especially when the second they drop out of stealth you're instantly dead in one hit with no counter except constant reveals. Backstab is the largest offender of this, or whatever the Thief dagger skill is that's sort of a sideways swinging animation and they always try to stab you in the butt, but I think it's Backstab. Deadeye rifle skills are very well telegraphed on the other hand and you can actually dodge a potential shot coming at you with visual/audio cues, even fresh out of stealth. (Sorry Thieves I have no idea what your skills are called.)Leading on from above, either lowering the duration of some stealth abilities or giving more varied classes reveals would be wonderful. (As a Mesmer I can manipulate stealth magic to cloak myself, but can't remove that cloak from another person?)Recent Chrono changes and the loss of Illusionary Persona are absolutely atrocious in WvW, as clones have a propensity for getting cleaved out of existence by AoE bomb around a second or so after spawning, leaving the spec effectively unplayable outside of niche situations.Phantasms have the same issue as above, but that is a general Mesmer issue rather than something Chrono-specific, although I haven't extensively tested Chronophantasma in a WvW setting. (Still need to investigate if running Protected Phantasms might somewhat alleviate this for Phantasmal Berserker DPS builds.)Chrono wells are stationary, requiring the group you're supporting to remain standing in them for sometimes up to three seconds - standing still in WvW is almost a guaranteed death sentence, and coupled with the recent changes gives almost no reason to bring a Chrono over any other class.Firebrand remains the most dominant support like it's (almost?) always been since the release of PoF. On multiple occasions I've tried to replicate at least some of the stability-giving functionality of a Firebrand on a full Minstrel Chrono/Core Mesmer (ye olde mantra mesmer from way back) along with the healing potential on a Giver's Druid, and it's evident that I'm just way outclassed in both setups - particularly in terms of baseline boon durations from skills and amount of cleanses.However, healing support classes such as Tempest and Scrapper are both incredibly viable and it gives people a choice rather than shoehorning them into just one healer class, which is wonderful.Apologies for the large and in-no-particular-order text wall, but these are just some of the glaring issues I can think of on-the-spot without planning and writing an essay on the subject (it's very hard to stop typing once you start). Any and all changes are definitely welcome as the current balance is already rather stagnant, along with two of the most egregious offenders (Firebrand/Scourge) retaining their dominance, and I feel targeted changes will be necessary to bring things into line.

After reading the previous threads, i'd assumed the Chaos Storm change had been thrown out, given it wasn't mentioned after the first/second feedback posts, and I am seriously disappointed at another over-nerf due to a synergy that's being removed with the same patch. Without the oppressive effects of Chaotic Interruption's immobilization triggering from the dazes, Chaos Storm simply becomes a five-second area lockdown ability, interrupting revives and providing some area pressure, with this change it seems to lose 90% of it's utility and only becomes useful on condition heavy builds. Even with the new reworked Chaotic Interruption, there is an internal cooldown of one second, meaning because Chaos Storm has a chance to daze, it could only potentially trigger every other second at the most. This is of course just as I started doing world completion for The Bifrost because staff looked useful again, very disappointing change. On other changes: Illusion of Life nerf seems rather heavy handed, as I posted in the feedback threads, a reduction to two seconds would be preferable - however five has always been far too long.Mantra changes are still quite disappointing, but won't really affect too much except for some added clunkiness in use.Chrono changes look potentially interesting: Delayed Reactions synergizing to prevent targets escaping when using focus pulls - which remain one of the only reasons that mesmers are still wanted in zerg play alongside Illusion of Life, so potential enhancements there are very welcome.Lost Time change could potentially synergize with the above.Seize The Moment change seems positive, giving Mesmer some of it's AoE support options back without relying on a group standing stationary in a well.As someone who almost exclusively plays Mesmer, I can't really offer comment on any other class changes.Thank you for seeking feedback for these changes however, it's a good step forward.

Once again, as a mesmer player, I can only really comment significantly on those changes: Illusion of Life change seems a reasonable balance, five seconds of invulnerability is way too much, however i'd suggest reducing to two seconds instead of just one.Chaotic Interruption change is very exciting, I can't wait to see how that turns out in practice, but on the drawing board it still looks potentially gamechanging.Mantra line of sight changes sound more like a bugfix than an actual change, however i've never had a mantra that didn't respect line of sight.Mantras requiring you to be facing your target will likely end up as an annoyance more than an actual nerf, but personally I am quite disappointed about it.My previous two posts in the other feedback threads elaborate more on my thoughts concerning the Chaotic Interruption and Mantra changes (which I believe have remained the same since the initial thread?) so I won't bore everybody to death by reiterating them here. Thank you again for actually listening to our feedback, an effort like this is a very positive show amidst the recent sea of negativity.

Absolutely wonderful to see that our feedback has been listened to! Again, as a mesmer player I can only really comment on those changes: Thank you for not increasing the cooldown or reducing the duration of Illusion of Life, I do like the reduced invulnerability however as it becomes a much more skill-based "okay, a mesmer called illusion on comms, the second I get up I'm going to have to immediately dodge to safety", making it a true getaway card - given the cast actually goes off before you die due to the long cast time - and provided you have the skill to dodge rather than just be invulnerable on standing up. Both of which I feel are suitable counterbalances given the nature of the ability.Chaotic Interruption still remains a potentially gamechanging trait for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post, scoring that interrupt at a critical moment could potentially allow you to make a final strike or escape.No mention of the Chaos Storm changes from the previous thread, which solidifies its position as an area lockdown while still allowing opportunity for skillful escape without the oppressive effects of previous Chaotic Interruption. Thank you for not over-nerfing, and simply targeting the problematic trait.Mantra line of sight changes seem more like bugfixes, however it is still quite sad to no longer be able to dissuade attackers with a Power Spike while running in the opposite direction.Thank you once again for listening to our feedback, definitely a positive step in the right direction.

I can only really comment on the mesmer changes as that's all I play in WvW, so here goes: Illusion of Life changes seem a bit heavy handed, especially since most of the benefits are offset by the rather long cast time, stuff is usually dead before the cast finishes unless I pre-empt it, even traited with recharge reduction and superspeed it's still not a massively gamechanging ability.I've never had a mantra not respect line of sight before, so that sounds like a bugfix which is fine. Requiring to be facing your target wouldn't really change much except making them more annoying to use. (Which could be the intended effect?) Must admit, it's quite satisfying to dissuade someone chasing you with a Power Spike on their face while you're running off, so not being able to do that anymore would be sad.Chaos Storm change would serve little purpose now that Chaotic Interruption has been changed, and it should be less problematic.Chaotic Interruption change seems nice, it could be a gamechanger trait if you score that last interrupt and it recharges an escape skill or takes a vital skill off cooldown to make a saving grace strike, perhaps too much so.Thanks for communicating proposed changes in advance to gather feedback, that's a step in the right direction!