Daniel Handler.4816

With damage nerfs/one dodge it feels like I don't have the offensive pressure, or utility, to survive on power mirage. Is there something I'm missing?

Yes, but mirage cloak breaks the design philosophy of the rest of the game. No one else can dodge while attacking or while disabled. So you give up one thing to get something else. "No one else can dodge while attacking" except thief, ele, war, necro. - you forgot Rev, Guard, Ranger, Engi, "No one else can avoid dmg while disabled without a stunbreak" (by dodge or other defense skills) except Warrior, Guard, Ele, Thief, Ranger, Rev. Some of the skills/ traits even completely passive and on specs with the ability to passively facetank way more. So yes Mirage is build around a dodge mechanic just gives what other classes have tons of in other forms already on specs in general able to facetank way more, while also (pre patch) still having more dodges. MC sounds very op in comparision xD I say it again, MC was not the problem anymore, that was balanced out by several pre patch nerfs and the 3 inherent costs implemented into the spec since PoF release. Mirage already had less dodges than most other classes. The only thing made ONLY Condimirage (not Powermirage) op and ez to play and noobcarry where the op and too passive designed clone ambushes (and normal condi clone autoattacks) allowing the Mirage to do insane passive dmg from only clones and that even when disabled. The dmg a Powermirage can do when disabled only by clones is a joke (and that is good), also a joke compared to what other classes can do for dmg with dodges or while dodging. But even the op and passive condi clone ambushes and normal clone autoattacks pre patch wouldn't have been enough for pre patch Condimirage to stay in pre patch meta, they needed to use broken and passsive noobcarry Chaosline in addition. That is how "OP and beyond broken" Miragetraitline by its own was/ is :joy: Right, and rather than ever just fixing Mirage (like chrono) they kept changing core skills and traits to nerf mirage and chrono .boggle They nerfed the Domination line and more people went condi from power mirage iirc, then Illusions (condi stacks reduced, torch damage slowed/nerfed, etc) then when people went over to Chaos line they nerfed that (super speed, CI, etc, etc, etc basically all of chaos has been nerfed at this point every trait I think at least once in the last 2 yr). Then finally they "fix" mirage like they "fixed" chrono. (Im sure Im missing stuff just trying to agree that rather than fix mirage and chrono traits they "fixed" everything in a way that didnt "fix" anything really) Nerfing Chaosline is not the issue (in my opinion), it needs to be nerfed even more or better just reworked. Core or not, this traitline is the most braindead Mesmer has (followed by Inspiration) and was (maybe even still is, no clue atm) insanely broken. I agree to condi shatter traits being overnerfed with the time instead just touching the root problems like condi ambushes and condi clone normal autoattacks.What does this even mean? Every single profession in the game has a line for defense and a line for healing. I don't see what distinguishes Chaos/Inspiration from Éarth/Water, Retribution/Salvation, Shadow Arts/Acrobatcs, etc

I think another issue is none of the healing was nerfed. Vampirism/locust, life steal, unholy sanctuary, blighter's boon, life from death, parisitic contagion, spiteful renewal, etc. All unchanged. Edit: like even if we had regular shroud uptime we are still operating at higher levels of attrition than a class that did have its healing reduced. This is good for class identity but makes balancing LF more complicated.

In hindsight it probably was. Essentially none of their self healing was nerfed. The well, sand flare, and dagger 2 were touched but that is meaningless when all of their life steal, healing in shroud, vampirism/locust signets, etc remain the same.

It seems like they lowered time to kill too much without considering death shroud.

With Revenant losing stability on dodge, and stunbreak on legend swap, Ventari seems too vulnerable.

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/96747/balance-patch-preview-global Stunbreak on legend swap is being replaced with fury on disables.... So in essence Rev will only has access to 1 stunbreak at a time (or 0 for Ventari), unless you spend extra energy in legends that can stunbreak multiple times, or tax the next legend. Unfortunately, Kalla/Glint, the only other legends that heal directly or via traits/shield, have cooldowns. So healing builds will only ever have 1 stunbreak And add in the loss of stab on dodge, it doesn't look good for them in PvP/WvW.

Rip. Well at least it's a free inventory slot.

Of course not during a fight. But it seems like this would work in PvP while build template swapping does not. You could start each fight with rock barrier up.

It it asleep? It seems conscious and this behavior went on before Mordremoth relinquished the mind domain. Jormag spoke to Svanir through Drakkar, while "sleeping" in Gw1. Braham and guild watched Jormag sink underneath a Glacier when Primordus was sent back to sleeping/dormant mode, and was described as being unable to be reached or attacked. Jormag mentions "The air is thick with change. I feel it, even as I dream beneath the ice." Indicating that the current status of the Elder dragon is, dormant/asleep, underneath the glacier still.Are all EDs capable of, let's call it dream walking? Or is this something intrinsic to Mind and Persuasion? Like how is Jormag doing this while asleep? There seems to be some indirect pathway between the spirit and the brain that Jormag can exploit to do mind control stuff. But I don't see how that would help them exert their will as they sleep.

It it asleep? It seems conscious and this behavior went on before Mordremoth relinquished the mind domain.

Suitably creepy. Jormag's invitation seems like it would obviously backfire, unless there is some sort of twist. Rip Almorra

Gear refers to equipment. They were never bound to a game mode. We had two weapon sets and had to check at the start of PvP matches the second wasn't accidentally the wrong one. Now you can confirm what you are wearing, including its stats, with one click.

Optimism is nonsensical at this point. You might as well start posting ideas for elite specializations you dreamt up. I said slightly positive anticipation because there's always a sliver of hope otherwise one may as well stop playing. There is a difference between a sliver of hope and asking them to kitten up a perfectly fine skill because you believe it could be better.Whenever you have to declare you stand by your opinion maybe post about a potential e-spec instead.. At least in that case if they take your advise and mess up you haven't impacted the rest of the profession. I don't recall anywhere me asking them to do anything to mirage cloak. I stand by everything I wrote here: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1080067/#Comment_1080067 I also maintain staff 4 needs modifying to make it more unique and impactful as a skill as it has been in a poor state since the number of chaos armour nerfs a long time ago - which I have suggested various things in the past. Even something as minor as providing aoe protection sharing on cast, or active aoe blind application on cast would go a long way to reinforcing it. At this point I'm wondering if you're just wanting to perpetuate this due to my stance in your other thread. I've got no issue with you, but do recognise I am an advocate for preserving fun gameplay on mirage as it is the only spec and reason I play this game any more. My response wasn't about mc. I simply don't understand why you would suggest a change to staff 4. It's fine. Even great in some instances.It's not as good as 2 or 5 but it doesn't need a redesign. Giving it a chained skill like @Koen.1327 suggested sure. Thinking they could push it farther than that without messing staff up further seems weird at this point. That's why I suggested you make an elite thread instead. If they mess up one of those weapons it doesn't affect the rest of mesmer. If it has gotten to the point where mirage is your only reason to play I don't see why you would trust them with your suggestion. Edit: I don't want to make it seem like I believe they are incompetent. They've made a lot of good decisions and reworks. I just believe they should concentrate on repairing stuff before they try for new stuff. It is a difficult job and they need to give themselves room to mess up. My reasoning for staff 4 is looking back at what it used to do with rng blind (understandably removed due to luck factor of counterplay) and before the icd on boon/condi procs (understandably too powerful at the time). But more crucially I find it a dull concept - a skill that just gives an aura with single on activation minor aoe condi proc. And that aura has to be traited for to be somewhat decent, nevermind that it's easy to get the base aura effect from leaping through 5 with 2 or Jaunt etc making it less unique as a dedicated weapon skill. In the spirit of trying to give more variety to staff rather than 111+2 monotonous gameplay, for me it would be nice to have a number 4 skill that also was more visually and mechanically interesting. Comparing with Greatsword on the other hand where all the skills are fairly unique, or even our offhands which in general have interesting 4 and 5 skills, hence being more stimulating stimulating to play. At this point the only reason I continue to use staff is Phase Retreat is so powerful, otherwise any combination of main/offhand is likely more effective while also being more fun to use, especially if these damage nerfs go through to wvw and pve too. Though I see your point that any kind of significant change is historically likely to turn out worse, so I can accept leaving things like this alone for now. I think where we disagree is how good chaos aura is. I already see it as decent without traits. 10 seconds of it from staff 4 + 5&2 is always welcome, especially on builds that don't want to build for those boons. And I don't consider blind vastly better than weakness. Also, you keep mentioning phase retreat and not chaos storm as a reason to use staff, when that skill is fantastic. It is the only source of chill/poison on mesmer. It is 1/3 abilities that can give retaliation, and 1/4 aegis. It had a ~76% chance of dazing once, that is now 100%. Well from the perspective of a mirror match, between the prevalence of cleanses and hard avoidance through evades I don't find chaos armour on an opponent at all discouraging and happy to continue to pressure with damage. Protection is not that strong compared with damage output potential on power or condi, and again usually evading the minor condi from chaos armour - of which only weakness has any significance, or between jaunt/cleansing sigils/torch4/mantra of resolve, if they get applied they either get removed or fall off quickly. Similarly for chaos storm, evades and cleanse mean I just continue to attack through it after the first tick (unless it gets dropped on you, but this is negligable for mirage). The condi durations are so short that even if one or two ticks of application isn't avoided, they fall off quickly enough as it is, not even having to use any cleanse. And that's if the mesmer sits in chaos storm - whereas for a mobile fight in wvw it might not be any concern as you just force them to keep kiting or similar - quite often that aoe position can be wasted outside of a leap finisher to get the aura. It can be argued that cleanse being far too accessible makes these minor condi application almost completely ignorable, nevermind hard avoidance so they don't get applied in the first place. From that perspective I find both staff 4 and 5 underwhelming. 5 gets a pass due to Aegis and the Daze tick for interrupt. Phase Retreat on the other hand is and has always been one of the best skills on the entire class. Mirror comps and discouragement seems outside the topic of a utility weapon intended for general mitigation. And you cannot exactly waste chaos storm unless you are whiffing a ranged interrupt. 5>4>2 can be performed while kiting/juking/bunkering. The point was to highlight how any player should be able to fairly easily play through or negate the effects of these abilities if fighting against a mesmer.5 at range is often a waste unless moving into it following interrupt (eg blink/jaunt to pressure), or chasing a low health target in the hope of keeping in combat (given how bad staff is at chasing compared with say GS), as is otherwise just walked out of or at most one thing such as dodge. But 5 is ground targeted. You would have to specfically choose to put it at an inaccessible range vs a moving target to waste it. You can waste shocking aura vs ranged targets or magnetic aura vs non projectiles. Chaos aura always has an effect. And the boons from chaos aura/storm can help you mitigate a variety of situations. You might hit the daze at range sure, but nobody's going to sit and tank in it for more than a second unless someone is ressing a downed body. Staff 4 initial cast random condi from the pool, often proccing something fairly useless like 1 stack of confusion so clutch weakness can't be relied upon. Even then the icd on chaos aura means both condi and boon procs aren't significant. For condis, confusion and cripple are negligible - so it's only weakness which has any good value, and luck to proc it. For boons, this is slightly better though 15% banner boosts and teleports mean rng swiftness is just so-so, regen is nice (though as mirage with renewing oasis it's kind of superfluous) and protection again ok until the damage levels in the game get severely reduced. The single good thing about it is traited guaranteed protection. Untraited it's too much luck on long cooldowns to rely on any kind of significant mitigation beyond minor hits that active evades or blocks doesn't do better - where otherwise you are dead with the amount of damage this game has flying around at the moment. I'm sorry but I'm not going to change opinion on this one - for sure I still love and use staff, but this is all down to skill 2 with its godlike kiting potential. If it wasn't for phase retreat, and at the moment the clone ambush with IH until they likely also nerf it in wvw, I'd take greatsword. If 4 remained the same in function, I would need to see something like the following to be impactful:Guaranteed proc of all three condi on cast, not one random out of three.Guaranteed proc of all three boons on cast - with further procs on being hit as usual.New pool of Weakness, Chill (at least 3s) and another third condi that isn't cripple (unless Anet nerf multiple classes ability to completely ignore this condition)Maybe instead of all the boon and condi proc, there could be an aoe daze on activation of staff 4.Chaotic Dampening could be changed to something different not necessarily revolving around chaos aura - maybe a new concept with staff cooldown. There's a lot of possibilities. Alternative is when they nerf the entire game as much as they say they are going to, and things like staff 4 will be balanced relative to everything else.I think you approach staff differently than me. It is a melee weapon first. 1,2,4,5 all lose part of their benefit if you are facing a ranged enemy who can simply pew pew without chasing you. Focus and shield are better for the playstyle you describe. A hyper mobile distant target who doesn't need to come to you. Primarily, the chaos storm goes to positions I will stand in or move through. And is coupled with chaos aura, first from 4 then 2's finisher, for long amounts of chaos aura. Optimally my enemy will also be forced to move into its location to attack me, and when they get to me I tank the hit or teleport out. But if not, getting aegis/retaliation/protection/regeneration/swiftness up is more important against a ranged target than a single daze. Unless I am facing something like a ranger about to rapid fire. As someone who also plays auramancer extensively. The aura by itself is in no way the worst. It just needs a better effect when cast.

I'm not sure what you're trying to argue. That the Spirits of the Wild and other nature spirits aren't native to Tyria? Everything we know would argue counter to that belief, especially if kodan myth holds some truth. Furthermore, the Spirits of the Wild hold some dominion over afterlives, and are capable of granting mortals the ability to enter the Mists at will. Just like Koda and the Six Gods. This is the closest we get to being divine without being explicitly called divine. On top of that, the norn consider the Spirits of the Wild to be on par to the "Spirits of Action" (aka Six Gods). Being close to something is not being something. And having an external origin is contrary to the idea of being a nature spirit. Okay? Nothing suggests that the Spirits of the Wild are foreign or have an "external origin". So I don't get what you're trying to argue.Except your entire argument is about comparing them to extraterrestrials. Soul reaping is taking energy from the extinguish of life (aka life force), not from souls. Ancestral spirits have no life to offer. Whatever Ritualists gain from consuming them or otherwise is taken from their souls. Just because some souls are devoured whole does not mean all souls are destroyed any time someone slightly drains them.Right... but that's not soul reaping like you were pointing out, and your second sentence is exactly what I said - the skill is likely just draining them, not consuming them despite the name. Aurene did, and who said that "magical stomachs" is even a thing? Rewatch the cinematic. If flew directly into her body. The effect of eating magic does not require the mouth.Humans will not swallow magic. But they will process and use it in ways that achieve the same goals. I don't even get why you're bringing this all up. If Elder Dragons don't use their mouths to absorb magic, so what. You say "mortals don't have magical stomachs" well, by your very argument as well of the dragons not eating magic via mouths, then neither do dragons. They probably don't. We've been inside one and all we found was the heart. But that's another matter that only relates you adding processes where none necessarily exist. Balthazar was not eaten. Neither was his magic. At best you could say Kralkatorrik appeared to drink or breathe in the power that was sealed in the late demigod. But as Aurene shows that is not a necessity of the process. Any Ritualist on the plane could have consumed power from Owl. Not enough to deplete it beyond existence. But enough to gain health or some temporary benefit.Would they be digesting parts of owl inside themselves? No. Is that a requirement for destroying a power source. Also no. Of course not, but that doesn't mean that the uncontrollable urges have always been. Kralkatorrik showcases that the desire to consume magic comes from the Torment making promises of peace from constant, chronic pain. The Torment is not native, and thus neither is the drive to consume everything Kralkatorrik's torment has nothing to do with millennia of the entire pantheon eating until they slept. It has everything to do with it. It was literally born from and actively perpetrated the continuation of the millennias of eating too much magic until there was nearly none left causing hibernation.He is one member of an entire pantheon. Unless you are saying they all have torments it has nothing to do with it. Except that's not the case. Their "prime directive" - their main goal - is unique for each of them. Consuming magic is a means to the end, not the end itself. What would their main goal be beyond balancing magic? Already stated. Each one has a different goal - for Kralkatorrik, his goal was preventing that vision he saw from coming to pass. He acted to prevent this by consuming magic. The Elder Dragons don't give a kitten about balancing magic. They just happen to do so because there were too many overly greedy Elder Dragons active at the same time that they'd consume until they ran out and would be forced into hibernation to let magic levels rise again. Their act of balancing magic from one extreme to the other was coincidental, not intentional nor a goal. Which was the entire reason the Forgotten and Glint came up with the plan to replace the Elder Dragons with beings who's goals are to balance magic.And what do you base it being a coincidence on? I don't think you even know what you're trying to argue anymore. Because that makes no sense at all. Balthazar =/= Bathazar's magic any more than a cow = gelatin. Eating the latter is not the same as eating the former.Kralkatorrik did not eat Balthazar. He ate a part of him. This is nitpicking beyond belief. Eating "a part of Balthazar" is still "eating Balthazar". It's just not "eating all of Balthazar". If your not a native English speaker that's understandable, but you're nitpicking exact meanings where context exempts such.Did Aurene eat Balthazar?Did Balthazar eat a bloodstone?Did Aurene eat Joko? Only one of those is yes. And that behavior means something entirely different from the context in which the others were absorbed. And from an Elder Dragons eating/drinking/breathing/whatever unbound magic that used to be sealed in an entity. We don't call people who eat their fingernails cannibals. It is disingenuous to compare them. Especially when discussing goals. And this relates to the fact that the Elder Dragons don't attack each other... how? Again, it's sounding like you're making responses without remembering what the discussion was about. Because nothing about them being equal should stop them from occasionally eating each other's minions. Especially not Kralkatorrik as he was later in life. Except for, you know, distance.You have already established they send out minions to gather magic. One minion attacks another minion and steals its magic. Divine magic from the Six Gods, sure, but whomever said that was the sole source for it? We have more gods than the Six Gods in the multiverse, and in Thyria. Furthermore, since "Tyrian magic" can be converted to "divine magic", it stands to reason it can be converted back just as "dragon magic" can be. That is a non-sequitur. Elder Dragons are not gods. The regenerative breaks in a hybrid car can convert electrical into kinetic energy and back. Humans can do that with electrical and chemical energy. It does not stand to reason a hybrid car can perform the same processes as humans. Straman argument there. Especially given there are an ever increasing number of similarities between the two pantheons. Besides, if divine magic couldn't be converted back, then by rights, Kralkatorrik and Aurene couldn't use it, since they can only use dragon magic. The process of volatile magic literally was "Tyrian magic -> divine magic -> dragon magic".Do I really need to do the birds and bats example? And what lore says they can only use dragon magic? The only restriction we have seen is they can't use dragon magic from another's sphere. And we have no idea how long War/Fire would have lasted. The fact there is volatile magic at all, is a symptom of the problem. Cane toads and crucifix toads are different types of frogs. Chernobyl and sunlight are different forms of radiation. It has no bearing on whether the ecosystem supports its introduction. You missed the point then. My point has been that nothing outright tells us that divine magic is foreign.And nothing outright tells us it isn't. We have to rely on its usage. They balance magic by existing. Anything the fulfills that goal fulfills the other. Whether they are doing it to the best of their ability, or want to be part of the All is another matter entirely. Absolutely nothing says that "many of the ancient races do not belong on Tyria". There are only two races confirmed to be non-Tyrian - Forgotten and humans. No more, no less. Which stands to suggest that "divine magic" is indeed native to Tyria since the Seers created the Bloodstone with "divine resources" Our bestiary is so limited that one+ out of five allied ancient races. Or two+ is far too many. More like 1 out of 11. Forgotten. Dwarf. Jotun. Mursaat. Seer. Kodan. Tengu. Charr. Giganticus Lupicus. Karka. Djinn. And that's assuming that all other races somehow came into existence within the past ~3,000 years. Which is highly unlikely. And?As you said: "...Kralkatorrik did seek out those with Abaddon's magic after consuming Balthazar's magic. But not before." And I'm still saying that. The Elder Dragons will seek out magic, regardless of the type of magic. Hence why Kralkatorrik went into the Mists.After. So why didn't he seek out the Djinn before. In other words, to make it clear: There is no "native food source under the All". EitherThe All isn't intended to be a cycle of consumption, because consuming results in madness, or The All is a massively flawed system from the start. Consuming has resulted in madness for one out of six after how many years of successfully preventing the planet from falling into the void or whatever.During which, Kralkatorrik, even as a lunatic, kept the balance. What you said neither adds nor subtracts to what I was saying. The fact that the Elder Dragons, against all odds, ended up not yet destroying the planet has no bearing on the fact that they're actively trying to do so, nor does it have any bearing on whether or not that was the intended design of The All (be it made by intelligent design or happenstance). Also the devs have heavily suggested during Guild Chat for War Eternal that all the Elder Dragons suffer from the same or similar torment as Kralkatorrik in their own ways, and that Aurene may even fall victim to it in the future. All of this suggests, as I said, that the current state as of before GW2 was not the "original design" of The All and Elder Dragons. That at some point in the past, things got kitten up, and despite all odds, the world didn't die yet.If the point of the All is to prevent Tyria from falling into the void/blowing up/whatever from the extremes of magic. The ED, intentionally or not, have been doing fine until we and the gods messed it up.

Everyone has traps and persistent aoe fields? Sure.

Optimism is nonsensical at this point. You might as well start posting ideas for elite specializations you dreamt up. I said slightly positive anticipation because there's always a sliver of hope otherwise one may as well stop playing. There is a difference between a sliver of hope and asking them to kitten up a perfectly fine skill because you believe it could be better.Whenever you have to declare you stand by your opinion maybe post about a potential e-spec instead.. At least in that case if they take your advise and mess up you haven't impacted the rest of the profession. I don't recall anywhere me asking them to do anything to mirage cloak. I stand by everything I wrote here: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1080067/#Comment_1080067 I also maintain staff 4 needs modifying to make it more unique and impactful as a skill as it has been in a poor state since the number of chaos armour nerfs a long time ago - which I have suggested various things in the past. Even something as minor as providing aoe protection sharing on cast, or active aoe blind application on cast would go a long way to reinforcing it. At this point I'm wondering if you're just wanting to perpetuate this due to my stance in your other thread. I've got no issue with you, but do recognise I am an advocate for preserving fun gameplay on mirage as it is the only spec and reason I play this game any more. My response wasn't about mc. I simply don't understand why you would suggest a change to staff 4. It's fine. Even great in some instances.It's not as good as 2 or 5 but it doesn't need a redesign. Giving it a chained skill like @Koen.1327 suggested sure. Thinking they could push it farther than that without messing staff up further seems weird at this point. That's why I suggested you make an elite thread instead. If they mess up one of those weapons it doesn't affect the rest of mesmer. If it has gotten to the point where mirage is your only reason to play I don't see why you would trust them with your suggestion. Edit: I don't want to make it seem like I believe they are incompetent. They've made a lot of good decisions and reworks. I just believe they should concentrate on repairing stuff before they try for new stuff. It is a difficult job and they need to give themselves room to mess up. My reasoning for staff 4 is looking back at what it used to do with rng blind (understandably removed due to luck factor of counterplay) and before the icd on boon/condi procs (understandably too powerful at the time). But more crucially I find it a dull concept - a skill that just gives an aura with single on activation minor aoe condi proc. And that aura has to be traited for to be somewhat decent, nevermind that it's easy to get the base aura effect from leaping through 5 with 2 or Jaunt etc making it less unique as a dedicated weapon skill. In the spirit of trying to give more variety to staff rather than 111+2 monotonous gameplay, for me it would be nice to have a number 4 skill that also was more visually and mechanically interesting. Comparing with Greatsword on the other hand where all the skills are fairly unique, or even our offhands which in general have interesting 4 and 5 skills, hence being more stimulating stimulating to play. At this point the only reason I continue to use staff is Phase Retreat is so powerful, otherwise any combination of main/offhand is likely more effective while also being more fun to use, especially if these damage nerfs go through to wvw and pve too. Though I see your point that any kind of significant change is historically likely to turn out worse, so I can accept leaving things like this alone for now. I think where we disagree is how good chaos aura is. I already see it as decent without traits. 10 seconds of it from staff 4 + 5&2 is always welcome, especially on builds that don't want to build for those boons. And I don't consider blind vastly better than weakness. Also, you keep mentioning phase retreat and not chaos storm as a reason to use staff, when that skill is fantastic. It is the only source of chill/poison on mesmer. It is 1/3 abilities that can give retaliation, and 1/4 aegis. It had a ~76% chance of dazing once, that is now 100%. Well from the perspective of a mirror match, between the prevalence of cleanses and hard avoidance through evades I don't find chaos armour on an opponent at all discouraging and happy to continue to pressure with damage. Protection is not that strong compared with damage output potential on power or condi, and again usually evading the minor condi from chaos armour - of which only weakness has any significance, or between jaunt/cleansing sigils/torch4/mantra of resolve, if they get applied they either get removed or fall off quickly. Similarly for chaos storm, evades and cleanse mean I just continue to attack through it after the first tick (unless it gets dropped on you, but this is negligable for mirage). The condi durations are so short that even if one or two ticks of application isn't avoided, they fall off quickly enough as it is, not even having to use any cleanse. And that's if the mesmer sits in chaos storm - whereas for a mobile fight in wvw it might not be any concern as you just force them to keep kiting or similar - quite often that aoe position can be wasted outside of a leap finisher to get the aura. It can be argued that cleanse being far too accessible makes these minor condi application almost completely ignorable, nevermind hard avoidance so they don't get applied in the first place. From that perspective I find both staff 4 and 5 underwhelming. 5 gets a pass due to Aegis and the Daze tick for interrupt. Phase Retreat on the other hand is and has always been one of the best skills on the entire class. Mirror comps and discouragement seems outside the topic of a utility weapon intended for general mitigation. And you cannot exactly waste chaos storm unless you are whiffing a ranged interrupt. 5>4>2 can be performed while kiting/juking/bunkering. The point was to highlight how any player should be able to fairly easily play through or negate the effects of these abilities if fighting against a mesmer.5 at range is often a waste unless moving into it following interrupt (eg blink/jaunt to pressure), or chasing a low health target in the hope of keeping in combat (given how bad staff is at chasing compared with say GS), as is otherwise just walked out of or at most one thing such as dodge.But 5 is ground targeted. You would have to specfically choose to put it at an inaccessible range vs a moving target to waste it. You can waste shocking aura vs ranged targets or magnetic aura vs non projectiles. Chaos aura always has an effect. And the boons from chaos aura/storm can help you mitigate a variety of situations.

Well no. They've already admitted some mistakes. For instance But they are triaging. Next issue is probably the enforced order of legend skills can cause skill icons on your bar to map to the wrong skill.It unlikely a Revenant was even used during internal testing if there was testing at all. Nor was Mesmer's mimic ability. Etc. The whole idea of templates is to swap before combat. It is not to give toolbelts or classes with more persistent skills, an advantage over other classes. I would expect a 5 second global cooldown or something similar to be added.

They obviously did not. They have consistently failed to test things before they go live this is not different.

I'm not sure what you're trying to argue. That the Spirits of the Wild and other nature spirits aren't native to Tyria? Everything we know would argue counter to that belief, especially if kodan myth holds some truth. Furthermore, the Spirits of the Wild hold some dominion over afterlives, and are capable of granting mortals the ability to enter the Mists at will. Just like Koda and the Six Gods. This is the closest we get to being divine without being explicitly called divine. On top of that, the norn consider the Spirits of the Wild to be on par to the "Spirits of Action" (aka Six Gods). Being close to something is not being something. And having an external origin is contrary to the idea of being a nature spirit. Soul reaping is taking energy from the extinguish of life (aka life force), not from souls. Ancestral spirits have no life to offer. Whatever Ritualists gain from consuming them or otherwise is taken from their souls. Just because some souls are devoured whole does not mean all souls are destroyed any time someone slightly drains them. Aurene did, and who said that "magical stomachs" is even a thing? Rewatch the cinematic. If flew directly into her body. The effect of eating magic does not require the mouth.Humans will not swallow magic. But they will process and use it in ways that achieve the same goals. Of course not, but that doesn't mean that the uncontrollable urges have always been. Kralkatorrik showcases that the desire to consume magic comes from the Torment making promises of peace from constant, chronic pain. The Torment is not native, and thus neither is the drive to consume everything Kralkatorrik's torment has nothing to do with millennia of the entire pantheon eating until they slept. Except that's not the case. Their "prime directive" - their main goal - is unique for each of them. Consuming magic is a means to the end, not the end itself. What would their main goal be beyond balancing magic? I don't think you even know what you're trying to argue anymore. Because that makes no sense at all. Balthazar =/= Bathazar's magic any more than a cow = gelatin. Eating the latter is not the same as eating the former.Kralkatorrik did not eat Balthazar. He ate a part of him. And this relates to the fact that the Elder Dragons don't attack each other... how? Again, it's sounding like you're making responses without remembering what the discussion was about. Because nothing about them being equal should stop them from occasionally eating each other's minions. Especially not Kralkatorrik as he was later in life. Divine magic from the Six Gods, sure, but whomever said that was the sole source for it? We have more gods than the Six Gods in the multiverse, and in Thyria. Furthermore, since "Tyrian magic" can be converted to "divine magic", it stands to reason it can be converted back just as "dragon magic" can be. That is a non-sequitur. Elder Dragons are not gods. The regenerative breaks in a hybrid car can convert electrical into kinetic energy and back. Humans can do that with electrical and chemical energy. It does not stand to reason a hybrid car can perform the same processes as humans. Cane toads and crucifix toads are different types of frogs. Chernobyl and sunlight are different forms of radiation. It has no bearing on whether the ecosystem supports its introduction. Absolutely nothing says that "many of the ancient races do not belong on Tyria". There are only two races confirmed to be non-Tyrian - Forgotten and humans. No more, no less. Which stands to suggest that "divine magic" is indeed native to Tyria since the Seers created the Bloodstone with "divine resources" Our bestiary is so limited that one+ out of five allied ancient races. Or two+ is far too many. And?As you said: "...Kralkatorrik did seek out those with Abaddon's magic after consuming Balthazar's magic. But not before." In other words, to make it clear: There is no "native food source under the All". EitherThe All isn't intended to be a cycle of consumption, because consuming results in madness, or The All is a massively flawed system from the start. Consuming has resulted in madness for one out of six after how many years of successfully preventing the planet from falling into the void or whatever.During which, Kralkatorrik, even as a lunatic, kept the balance.

I think the issue you're having is that you're putting everything onto the same scale of "important vs. not important". Sure, a lich is no mere necromancer, in that their soul is bound to their body, but that doesn't put them on par to Elder Dragons or even demigods. And the so-called "high dragons" include not just Elder Dragons, but dragons that are capable of becoming Elder Dragons (e.g., Glint, Vlast, and Aurene). There is no doubt nature spirits exceed ancestral spirits in power. But "high spirits" are not divine. Owl's death, while remarkable in its aftermath, does mean this natural entity is actually an unnatural interloper. Consuming a sapient soul for the sake of energy is indeed a very morally wrong act, no matter how you spin it. I don't think it's possible not to take a "debilitating or deadly amount" of a soul, since every example we have is "all or none" (even the skill, which will despawn the spirit, leading me to think that the skill is more of an "unsummon to get some energy back" skill that's fanicily named). Of course it's possible. It's the basis for soul reaping. It doesn't have to kill any more than blood magic completely exsanguinates.Consume soul in particular takes a small chunk of health. They are not swallowing the entire spirit. Eating ghostly residue is still disgusting. And mortals don't have magical stomachs. Clearly there is more to taking in magic than mastication. For instance following the death of Balthazar, Kralkatorrik used his mouth for absorption, Aurene did not. If you still think this, you haven't been paying attention to the Elder Dragons' motivations in the plot. Kralkatorrik was more than just "uncontrollable hunger". He saw a future where mortals and dragons coexisted and he wasn't part of that, and he sought to ensure such a future didn't occur. That was his "intentionally doing something". To ensure this future didn't occur, he consumed magic to gain power, and assaulted mortals. His act of consuming magic to gain power resulted in this still not-fully-defined Torment growing inside him. Zhaitan is repeatedly stated to have been after creating an eternal nation to rule. Those it corrupted were doing the same things as a risen as they did before death, except for the royalty that were "demoted" to being his eyes across Orr, to demonstrate this. And Zhaitan went about it by consuming magic and forcing people to its reign. Jormag's even more obvious, with all the promises of power and actively letting go those who refuse it's offerings. The Elder Dragons are acting with intent, they each have individual goals which require gaining power to fulfill (thus leading to torment, should all be affected as Kralkatorrik was); the whole "mindlessness" was the typical Tyrian view of the Elder Dragons when there were far fewer survivors to talk about interactions with dragon minions (or any face-to-face time with the Elder Dragons themselves) and in all honesty, the mindlessness and force of nature concept faded away with Edge of Destiny novel (as it explicitly told us that Kralkatorrik was a thinking mind). Complex goals and uncontrollable urges are not mutually exclusive. If that doesn't make sense here is the best example I can give from another source of fiction http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-571 An Elder Dragons prime directive: eat ambient magic. eat unsealed magic inside creatures/objectsUse your own spheres to achieve 1 and 2Sleep when full or when 1-3 are not possible. They can employ whatever they want to achieve these goals. And people like the Seers can exploit them. Dragons eat magic. Magic is life. Eating someone's magic = eating that someone. I think you're being too nitpicky on exact terms. The act of Aurene eating Joko's body is fundamentally irrelevant to everything. That first bite where Joko's magic was unbound was the only bite that mattered in that situation. A god's body is made of magic that does not belong to their domains or only one would have a form.Kralkatorrik did not bite into this outer layer for the juicy war/fire insides. We took a walking-talking quasi-bloodstone, and made an omelette. Of course it's a risk, since you don't know the outcome if two near-equals fight. Mutually assured destruction has historically failed to create world peace. The magic in mortals and in dragons eventually becomes ley magic through the dragonrise.Divine magic is not supposed to be part of that process. The gods and many of the ancient races do not belong on Tyria. They are invasive species screwing with an ecosystem that was not designed to support them. The only reason modern civilization exists is we hid the food in bloodstones and with divine magic. For us to spill the chum from a bloodstone mixed with divine magic was phenomenally stupid. In the same way they tell you to shoot animals who have eaten humans because they learned of our flesh. We mutated Kralkatorrik's palate. We made mists magic ambient and accessible. Owl and Djinn are a native food source under the All. The cosmology did not expect millions of years in the future mortals would do the unthinkable of killing a demigod.

This is very much not true. It's very clear that nature spirits (not talking about ranger skills here) are special. Forest spirits like Urgoz, sea spirits like Zhu Hanuku, and animal spirits like Nulfastu - these are more than mere souls of the dead. When Owl died, this death impacted all living owls. The Spirits of the Wild are not some simple dead individual, but is actually connected to the species itself. And you don't get souls of the dead that are literally the spirit of fire, mountains, darkness, or seasons. Which again, are spirits that encompass the representation of these elements and landscapes. We have normal souls of the dead, which ritualists summoned and used. Then we have nature spirits, which are diety-like entities that are representations of animals, landscapes, and elements - Bear, Owl, Urgoz, Zhu Hanuku, Nulfastu, Fire. Zintl and Amiyali likely fall under these kinds of spirits. A high dragon is Elder-like and Lich are no mere necromancers. But being like something, as so many have pointed out to me (including yourself) is not sufficient. I mean, yes and no. I don't think the skill "Consume Spirit" is literally eating a spirit. That'd be downright villainous of a skill for players to have. But demons and gods can eat spirits too. And they gain something out of it. But then again, we've never seen them consume a nature spirit - and eating a soul of the dead is a very vastly different thing than eating a nature spirit. It is no more villanous than consuming life force. As long as you don't take a debilitating or deadly amount it doesn't matter. Is a thief consuming ectoplasm by putting it in his mouth? Probably not. But that doesn't stop him from destroying it and gaining something. What does that have to do with Elder Dragons not intentionally adding imbalance to a system designed to manage native magic levels? Everything. If the system was created via intellectual design, then either the creator made a massive flaw in designing the Elder Dragons, or the Elder Dragons as we know them are not part of the system design, as with the current Elder Dragons the system is massively broken explicitly because the Elder Dragons are intentionally adding imbalance to the system.The Elder Dragons are not intentionally doing anything. They have uncontrollable hunger and we gave him magic he should never had had access to the first place. Once he gained War he gained access to more food. Kralkatorrik ate Balthazar's magic. That's effectively the same thing at this point. Well no. His form is separate from the domains within him. It disintegrated. And then Aurene and Kralkatorrik absorbed what we released.He was not eaten any more than Kormir ate Abaddon. It is not a risk to eat or corrupt another's minions if you are equals. All mortals contain dragon magic, but not divine magic so I don't see how that's relevant. And by all indication Kralkatorrik did not seek out Balthazar, we majorily goofed and put chum in the water. Being uncorruptable does not mean unappetising. Or not containing bloodstone magic.

We were specifically told some dragons are lesser. There is no baseline for spirits. Owl was strong, but not necessarily special. Just as others have said liches are not above normal necromancers. Regardless of which school you classify it under, "consuming" spirits/ghostly substances is something even mortals can do. It being within the persuasion domain would not be surprising. Ritualist abilities had to go somewhere. And death/shadow wasn't cutting it. That's a very bold assumption, something unfounded and even and downright false if we're talking about the current state (as of beginning of GW2), given the fact that Kralkatorrik has a parent. This is proof that at least some Elder Dragon(s) are not the original. Kralkatorrik's situation of being tormented by magic because it has been consuming from ley lines for multiple millennia is also proof that even if all the Elder Dragons were originals, their current actions are not part of the intended process. What does that have to do with Elder Dragons not intentionally adding imbalance to a system designed to manage native magic levels? This is very much false, as has been proven. Consuming the magic of cosmic beings, such as Elder Dragons and demigods, definitely allows an Elder Dragon to access that magic. But only that. Except with Joko for Aurene for some reason beyond asspull "we killed her, we gotta bringer her back while restricting ourselves to 6 episodes". Kralkatorrik did not eat Balthazar. Jormag cannot randomly start using Bubble's domains while the other is still living. And Balthazar's magic should not be on Tyria. Which one are you contesting? The Elder Dragons do not eat each other. They do not seek out and eat beings that hold magic not found in the ley-lines. The All probably does not account for Mist entities having their magic thrown in the faces of hungry dragons by mortal heroes.

Utility slots resetting is not intended because they don't do that normally under manual reselection.As for weapons. Whether it is a bug or not is uncertain, but it will definitely be fixed Base guardians using four symbols, tomes and traps is not going to be tolerated by Anet. As the song says and @"Curunen.8729" is implying "that kitten's broken."