Xaylin.1860

I'd prefer being called an e(x)otic dancer. 😏 Let's say it this way: Most Mesmer changes, even the positive ones and buffs, probably won't matter too much or at all in the bigger picture while critical issues remain ignored.

Bit late to the party. I'd like to start with general topics and then at least touch on the points per profession that stand out to me. CD reduction traits I'm all for getting rid of those since I understand the issue and the variance in performance those cause. However, sometimes it feels a bit weird for which Utility skills the CD becomes innate. I assume, or at least hope, that this is done based on game data and not just ramdomly. Mantras First, I love that the change from back then has been somewhat reverted. To me, it makes sense that Utility types play differently and this can come with downsides like having to channel them first. Their current iteration just makes them Shouts with a different name. However, I really have an issue with some of the reasoning and how some professions are treated differently than others in this respect. First, the Mantra changes back then - and also now - are mainly viewed from a Guardian/Firebrand perspective. It is painfully obvious. Why? Charging Mantras out of combat and when switching maps is just as tedious as Mesmer as it is as Firebrand. Yes, there is an effect on cast on Mesmer but this doesn't change the chore. Some of those effects might be good but they hardly are that good that I'd leave my Mantras uncharged on a Mesmer. I just won't. Second, again, mostly viewed from a Firebrands' perspective. I'm perfectly fine with Utility groups working differently across professions. But in this case it is not just different but just worse vs. better. Funnily enough, Mesmers already are in a similar situation with Wells where the design with a more powerful final effect is worse in most gameplay scenarios. Now would be the time to either move the final charge effect of Firebrands to an on-charge effect or give the on-charge effect of Mesmers as a final charge. Don't play favors! This is not about flavor. Elementalists Overall I like the direction of making Scepter the DPS weapon and Staff more support focussed. Blind on Flame Burst will probably be fine balancewise but feels a bit weird because it dilludes the differences between Fire and Air - plus, we already got Blinding Ashes. I'm not sure whether I like the changes for Dagger. I will have to play with them first. Pulsing Alacrity on Tempest sounds fine in isolation. I'm just curious how this will impact other Alacrity providers that are already at the lower end of the performance spectrum. Enginer Most of them sound like mechanical fixes, so sure, fine. The rest is kinda weird. Rapid Regeneration sounds good to me since I never enjoyed Damage Dampener. I still think that Mechanist needs more (balancing) working and that Barrier on AA needs to be looked at as long as it is used to provide Alacrity as well. Guardian Sweet salty Warrior tears - looking at you, Whirling Wrath. I really like the changes to Hammer and the new Hunters Determination is pretty interesting as well. I've already mentioned what I do and don't like about the Mantra change. Mesmer This is going to be a longer one. But I want to start with the positive first. Group Aegis and bringing back Temporal Enchanter in a way is great. I love it. But this sadly is where it ends. Mesmer is in a very weird spott when it comes to Utility skills because most related traits are cramped into Inspiration. With the re-introduction of Temporal Enchanter and Aegis to Manipulations (even though not in Inspiration) this has become worse. Additionally, there is a huge overlap - or at least lack of focus - when it comes to Utility groups. Which one is supposed to be group focussed? Mantras? Wells? Glamours? Now Manipulations with Aegis as well? Aren't those more selfish offensive skills? What about the Aegis provided via Signets? It's such a mess that literally no other profession has. I get that reorganizing traitlines is a lot of work and impacts builds and balance significantly. However, the current situation is just very bad for the profession overall. But let's discuss some changes separately anyway. Master of Manipulation: As said earlier, the group Aegis is great. But I see severall issues here. First, Manipulations are mostly selfish and there are only two skills where this set up feels natural: Mass Invisibility and Illusion of Life. Aegis will still provide its benefits on others, especially Blink when escaping. But it still doesn't make much sense this way. We even got a somewhat bad interaction with Mirror where the Aegis will cover the reflect. I also don't see how the group support aspect is supposed to compete with other naturally group oriented Utility skills. That being said, Aegis feels well placed in Chaos. But the approach is very half-assed. Because Inspiration already does the same. Maybe this would have been the point to move some of the support capabilities from Inspiration to Chaos. Time Warp and Temporal Enchanter: Superspeed on stationary effects is bad. Period. Superspeed made way more sense with Manipulations or - hot take - Deceptions on Mirage. Also, it feels not very well thought-out that untraited Time Warp provides Superspeed and Temporal Enchanter doubles down on this. Time Warp needed a buff. And I'm happy that we are getting back a Glamour trait. But this just isn't it. And while it was pointed out on the stream, putting TE on the same tier as Wardens Feedback is counter-intuitive as well. Switching it with Mental Defense probably would have made more sense. But wait... then we would have two Utility traits on the same tier. Feels bad man. Maaaaybe Inspiration needs a rework. Just maybe. Protected Phantasms: Why not merge the Aegis effect into Mental Defense to cater Phantasm focussed builds and keep the synergy with Persistence of Memory? Tides of Time: Appretiated but where is the rest of Might supposed to come from? Charging Mantra of Pain? If Chrono is supposed to provide Boons, I don't think it is a good idea to tag literally everything, Alacrity, Quickness and Might onto one weapon skill. Now... the elephant in the room. Mirage 2nd dodge? Necromancer I like most of the Reaper changes. However, I feel that Harbinger and Scourge are in bigger need to be looked at. I guess those are bigger tasks than fine tuning Reaper, so I understand that those Reaper changes might have been the lower hanging fruits. Ranger I like the change to Empathic Bond. Not sure whether the change to Wilderness Knowledge will change anything at all considering it is still an insanely powerful trait. The change to Primal Cry is nice as well and I'm curious if Brutish Seals will actually become a valid option for sharing Might. However, since it competes with Alacrity on Spirits it will probably just be niche. Nice addition regardless. Revenant Mostly number crunching so not too exciting. Overall look solid. Thief I like that Signets of Power encourages active gameplay now. Granting Initiative is also interesting. However, I feel like that this probably should be more of an Acrobatics thing - or Tricks for that matter. Just as with Mesmer, the effect itself feels misplaced. The change to Shadow Meld makes sense but no, it is not still an impressive skill without it. It is an elite. It now needs something else. Not too sure about the other changes. Warrior While I like the added range to Gunsaber - there is a gun in there after all - I wonder if this way the way to go? Yeah, we are forgoing trade offs for elite specs nowadays. But shouldn't it be a choice on player side to prepare themselves accordingly and pick a ranged weapon if needed? It feels more like the issue is that no MH Pistol was introduced and Bladesworn therefore lacks flexibility when it comes to weapon choice for ranged scenarios. Of course, this would be way more work. But still... feels like taking the easy way out and I'm no sure it was needed. Especially since there is a Dragon Trigger with range as well. Now, the nerf to Martial Cadence is unfortunate because I preferred this set up over Banners. I'm not surprised, though, considering it was basically DH with Feel My Wrath 2.0. This aside, I'm looking forward to toying with the new Eternal Champion. The change to Full Counter feels reasonable as well.

I agree with you on this one. I mean, it is totally fine if anyone wants a specific weapon to stand out at something for a specific class fantasy. But from a design point of view, there is absolutely no reason to make Hammer compete with Greatsword for Power DPS. Additionally, I'd like to point out that, for one, Warrior has more overall weapon options and combinations than any other class so overlap in roles is more likely. And second, it still doesn't have a supportive one-handed main hand nor a one-handed ranged weapon. While Guardian does. I just don't see the reason for a comparison from this perspective. Professions are different and having one role not being filled is probably worse than not having several choices for one role. There probably should be a distinction between PvE and PvP, right? But since people have been talking about power I think DH is the e-spec that has to be looked at to begin with, not Firebrand. A DH with Glacial Heart actually has a very similar set up as the new Hammer Warrior, just in reverse. Instead of speeding up itself, it slows and debilitates enemies. However, I agree that the latter is probably weaker at the moment, more niche (mostly PvP) and ontop of that Guardian lacks proper synergies in other traitlines. I think it would be great if DH could lean a bit more into Chill and provide something else on Dulled Senses. Maybe even minor Boon removal. I disagree on this one. IMHO, the healing weapons are Macce and Staff, period. Hammer is a hybrid, yes. But it leans more towards CC or boon support than healing. Asking for Hammer to be a healing weapon is no different than asking for it to be top tier DPS. You are right when it comes to Spellbreaker. However, while the comparison to Warrior might be somewhat relevant when talking PvP where CC plays a bigger role, I just fail to see the point for PvE. As mentioned earlier, Guardian has way fewer weapon combinations and options than Warrior and there is no reason to make two weapons compete for the same role. Well... it basically already is if you land #2. Guardian just happens to be build differently when it comes to Conditions.

Don't count me in on that. And I think, I have made that clear on several occasions. But this doesn't mean I have to agree on sob stories about how bad everything else is.

Haha, I can see how this is the case 😁

It can actually be quite fun with Sword. Or more specifically Striders Defense. It's not meta or anything but I sometimes play it for fun. Works with Sword and Dagger OH and to some extent with GS or SB. Of course, it is far from meta. If it was the same on Ranger, the Quickness trait would have to be on a Nature Magic GM, not on Soulbeast. Or both in Soulbeast. That's Kodamas point.

Mechanist is Ranger on Engineer. Dragonhunter is Ranger on Engineer. Want more? Mirage is Thief on Mesmer. Weaver is Thief on Mesmer. Specter is Necromancer on Thief. Harbinger is Enginner on Necromancer. Again, you are entitled to your opinion. But regardless whether you like Bladesworn or not - the pure fact it is inspired by Engineer - on a Warrior - hardly makes it an unseen abomination when compared to other e-specs. It just doesn't 😉

There certainly is neglicence when it comes to balance overall. And yes, the leaks are bad. Still, ANet has a company has no interest in dissatisfying specific customers. While there obviously is favoritism among devs - which have shifted by the way... it's not like Engineer was meta for all of GW2 - a very vocal minority in various class forums keeps fabricating extensive conspracies of how their main class is mistreated. The fact alone that this happens in almost all class subforums should be hint enough that this probably is not exactly what's happening.

You are taking stuff out of context. The scenario of being crit capped while not having Fury (and being in Shroud, I might add) before and then entering a group scenario with Fury has NOT changed after the patch. You would have to switch stuff around back then as well. This has absolutely nothing to do with Spotter (nor Death Perception for that matter). The change to Spotter and Banners did absolutely do what they have said. Now, the biggest change for Reaper happened due to the change to Death Perception which - while following a similar mindset - had absolutely nothing to do with the other changes that happened to Fury or Spotter. ANet simply wanted to reduce the difference of Reapers crit chance in and out of Shroud. And despite what you describe, this still means you have to switch traits and gear less often because there are fewer outliers to crit chance now. Which doesn't mean your personal gameplay experience isn't true. But it is not true that the need to change skills and gear has increased. And while it got harder to hit crit cap in Shroud, Reaper still got it very easy. Regardless, this has nothing to do with OPs complaing of Reaper lacking Fury access.

This is true. But mostly to the extent of the associated self-buffs from Banners - because everyone else lost the stats in group play as well. And even then it is only a performance loss for Banner builds, not for Warrior overall. It is not like Banners were meta in all game modes. People crying for general stat compensations are blowing it way out of proportion.

Bladesworn is Engineer inspired. Of course, it partly feels like Engineer. That's part of e-specs. Certainly, you are entitled to your opinion. But I think it is important to recognize that others might have a different point of view on this matter. And even though it doesn't seem to matter to you: repeatedly calling it Junksworn feels pretty disrespectful towards the devs and will hardly change anything. You don't like it. I think we got it. 😉 Most classes have had phases or builds that have been frequently nerfed. Many of them in bad or wrong ways. Warrior isn't anything special to this regard. And yes, Warrior was collateral damage for at least two design decisions - meaning, those were not directly aimed at a specific class: No damage on CC and 300s CD on passive traits. What's special in this context is that Warrior has two weapon sets that specifically focus on CC gameplay. This is something other classes lack because they have access to way fewer weapons. Meaning, usually weapon sets on other classes are slightly more versatile and come with 1 CC at best with very few exceptions. As a result, the damage nerf for other classes was relatively weaker than for Warrior. When it comes to passive traits, Defense has been a passive dumbster fire for the majority of the games life that required close to no skill to sustain yourself in competitive play - not that you necessarily needed it in PvE. And yet again: This is something other classes didn't have. So the change wasn't as bad for other classes as it was for Warriors. So yes... Defense needs a rework more than many other traitlines - but mostly because it lacks trait options due to the 300s traits. And yes, Warriors needs many CC skills to be looked at and maybe repurposed. Those are two topics I personally think are relevant for the current state of Warrior that are unique to Warrior. But that's about it. However that still doesn't mean it is as unplayable as some people make it out to be - because there are still many other options than those skills and traits that were nerfed. Everything else is self-proclaiming yourself as a victim of something that doesn't make you a victim. ANet or any other company for that matter has no (economical) reason to systematically bully mains of specific classes. It is not like any other class or spec has problems aside from Warrior. At least that's my opinion.

I'm not sure if I agree with that. Unless you are chasing a Thief or anything slippery in a competitive environment, Fervent Force will be not only be more versatile but still be better than the other two in most scenarios as long as you bring skills that fill the respective role (damage or sustain). @Dadnir.5038 is right about that. However, that's not really a surprise. Most if not all skills or traits that reduce CDs or or reset CDs have caused issues in GW2 before - not all of them where gamebreaking, mind you. Still, they tend to overpower their respective alternative options because this effect is so powerful. Sometimes even long CDs won't help - just look at CS and Mimic on Mesmer.

Cries in Evasive Mirror.

Yeah... I'm aware... which is why you aim the target slightly in front if your group when approaching. Problem of cast time solved. In practice, the outcome would be exactly the same when compared to a Guardian with the only difference of a Guardian pressing the button slightly later. Additionally, Warrior can theoretically at least support from midrange if needed. Guardian can't because Shouts are pbaes. Instant cast obviously is better than cast time. But so is ranged versus point blanket effects. My point is that the Banner most certainly works and one single skill doesn't have to be best in every scenario. The only argument made here is "It is already very good but still not the best in the game.". Pretty hard sell, imho. 😉 The stunbreak argument is totally irrelevant for the scenario you have described where you want to precast stab. Because you shouldn't be in CC range yet. With this regard Stand your Grounds is better. On the other side, the Banner provides pulsing boons. Again: It is good to not have one skill that is always better.

If Earth is Dirt, Air is clearly Fart because of Wind.

This might be partly be true which I agree on the offensive Banners probably needing a bigger range. For supportive ones... just no. At this point in time only Wells and thrown Elixirs can do that (let's ignore Glamours like ANet does). However, in contrast to Banners, they don't persist any longer than few seconds. I just don't see how Warriors lacking a huge selection of ranged Utility skills - because let's be honest... it's not like they got significantly less than for example Thief or Ranger - is a valid justification to make Banners even better than they are since the recent patch. Banners can't be the solution for everything. This applies to any stationary effect in competitive play where positioning is relevant. As mentioned above: A skill doesn't have to be the perfect pick in any scenario. Skills like Wells and obviously Banners as well require at least some planning and the commitment to stay in place. Banners having a powerful upfront effect is already way more than other skills of this type provide. Again: Yes, what you say is true. But this hardly justifies your suggestion. Yeah... that would be utter madness 🤨 Any chance you mixed up skills? Or am I missing sarcasm? Because that's exactly how it works. Just that in case of Guardian the ally won't benefit.

Just curious... why? Alacrity on neither Tempest, Mirage, Druid nor Renegade is ranged. Quickness from Scrapper, Firebrand, Chronomancer, Herald and at least traitwise for Harbinger isn't really ranged either. Actually, I'd argue that supportive Utilities are at least equally long ranged as they are short ranged (e.g. Wells vs. Mantras), maybe actually even leaning more towards short range (Shouts). Sure, it would be convenient if they where long range. But it is hardly the norm in GW2. I don't see you having a case for supportive Banners here. For offensive Banners I agree. They could do with a bit more ranged considering that shorter and medium range distance CCs are covered by Physical and Rage skills. Again... why? I see at least two issues with this. First, with an 1s interval, those skills would have to provide at least 1s boons. Which means, BD becomes way less important on them. Taking a closer look, ANet balanced many of those skills to cover the whole interval if investing 50-100% boon duration. Of course, you could argue that BD would still 'overcap' them and therefore provide a benefit. But personally, I don't think that this is the point of skills that pulse effects. Second, 1s intervals mean fewer to none ways to counterplay. This is probably more important for defensive boons like Aegis, Stability, Protecation and Resolution. Still, boon removal or corruption is already weak against pulsing effects. This would take them out of the equation completely. Also... why? I mean... if you cast the skill at range, you don't get the effect. Period. Like with Wells etc. And while you didn't mention it, a related topic: If ANet learned anything from Scourge and sticks to their 'no more 10 target skills' agenda, I don't see the effect happening around the Warrior plus the Banner either. Honestly, I'm a bit confused by some reactions. Banners basically got turned into a superior combination of Wells and Spirits while being indestructable. The boon durations on them are very good and maybe even too high. I'm looking forward to trying them out and they probably are one of the most flexible sources of primary boons (Alacrity/Quickness) we got at this point. And still people complain? About range. Them not being mobile. Having to sacrfice Utility slots. Them not being as strong as selfish Utility skills. Not having a stunbreak build in. Well... welcome to playing a support class. This shouldn't be a suprise after being a Bannerslave for so long?

While I do agree to your first paragraph, I partly disagree with the second. Of course, you shouldn't tear people down. But there is a difference between an accessible class that is viable or even good in the sense of being able to participate in respective game modes and an accessible class that becomes best in slot regardless of the player playing it. This totally invalidates player skill, plus it goes against one of the few overall design goals that ANet recently communitcated: Bring the player, not the class. A low skill floor is fine. Games should be fun. A best in slot having a low skill ceiling is not, though. Even less so if other ceilings are significantly higher while performing worse. I think in this case the outlier is quite obvious and it's not other classes. Other classes aren't unplayable in their current state which makes it very questionable to raise their floor to Mechanist levels. You might be overthinking it slightly when it comes to pets. Damage skills with CDs literally should usually be better than the AA unless your opponent has a block or invulnerability phase, at least when talking about DPS skills rather than burst skills. This is rarely the case in PvE - making it mostly a QoL feature. In PvP you still want agency over when to deal damage. Most other pet skills, e.g. heals or CC should probably never be on autocast unless you are outperforming the content anyway.

Yes, this is something I would have liked. But it would still have to incorpirate Shatters somehow, e.g. replacing them by Deceptions. It is probably indeed unlikely. I don't remember ANet ever mechanically changing anything about any e-specs. The biggest thing probably was locking Bursts behind Berserk on Warrior. Still... felt like making a write up. Sometimes stuff sticks. And sometimes you just have to cry loud enough. Cough. Banners 🙄😅

This is true although the 1 dodge should theoretically make up for it. It's probably not enough. I agree. However, this would only be possible with a way bigger rework on Mirage. For example in a way like @Veprovina.4876and others before have mentioned. Like making Deceptions the new Shatter. Agree as well. But if a complete overhaul was out of the picture: Would you prefer a slight rework that includes the class mechanic or stay with the status quo? Think low hanging fruits ANet might be willing to pick up. Heck, even if nothing changed with Shatters/Ambush skills, I'd still argue that Mirrors have to go because it causes such am imbalance within the spec. It is just so discouraging how e-specs on Mesmer have developed. If I were to simply make a wish for distinguishable playstyles: Chrono with Chronophantasma as Minor, Mirage with IH as Minor and go for from there. Virtuoso I could not care less. It is shiny but lacks any uniquess aside from the upgrade in resource management. I still think it was a missed opportunity that they didn't make those shatters ground targeted instead of slapping Psionics onto Virtuoso. Funnily enough: Similar scenario as on Mirage.

Sorry, I posted on my desktop without specific font color and no dark mode. Not sure what went wrong. I'll try to fix it later. Thanks for telling.

Recently, there have been discussions on the forums regarding how powerful Mirage dodge and the spec overall is compared to DrD and Vindicator. Personally, while Vindicator in itself is quite messy, I feel like the trait set up is much cleaner and easier to balance because you have a more pronounced distinction between offensive and defensive builds due to the GMs. This is similar on DrD. Ontop of that you don't have the issue of a secondary mechanic being locked behind the dodge (here: Ambushes). Which made me think about how Mirage would look with a similar set up. As a result, I wanted to not only to slightly tune traits, rearrange some effects (e.g. Weakness) and make an effort and incorporate Ambushes into the class mechanic: Shatters. I also wanted to reduce the range/variance of access to Mirage Cloak among Mirage builds to make the class overall easier to balance. I avoided introducing new mechanics to keep it simple and tried to not take away too much from what we've got at the moment - which also means less work on ANets side. Not meaning no work at all. But I'd consider it to be less extensive than a complete rework of Mirage mechanics. Meaning within the sphere of possibilities. Numbers are up for debate, of course. But this thread is more about the overall idea rather than balancing or creating new meta builds. Overall changes/assumptions Shatters now grant access to Ambush attacks for 1.5s (like Mirage Cloak). 0.5s additional seconds per Illusion shattered. This is done to decouple dodging and Ambush attacks. Neither Thief nor Untamed are as handicapped by how Ambushs are set up as Mirage is (overall access to triggers plus attack window). There is just no reason to design it this way. It also accounts for the fact that Mirrors no longer grant Mirage Cloak (s. below). The additional duration (attack window) makes the gameplay a bit less predictable in a good way because the player has a longer time to act. Mirage Mirrors no longer grant Mirage Cloak or cause Weakness. They refill Endurance and cripple foes instead. This is done to limit Mirage Cloak access to mostly the Dodge (still got Illusionary Ambush). While this also reduces diversity and lowers the ceiling it also makes it more manageable to balance Mirage. Mirage will have 1 dodge in all game modes by default. Trade off. Yadda yadda. Trait changes As mentioned in the intro, the idea is to set up three different roles via GM like it is the case on DrD and Vindicator. There will be ways to regain Endurance or improve Endurance regeneration mostly on the Adept tier to enable Mirages to dodge more often in certain scenarios based on their favored playstyle without being able to frontload damage or effects due to only having one dodge. Traits on the master tier will complement each role further but are supposed to be a bit more diverse so they can still appeal to different playstyles. The overall roles or focusses are: (condition/hybrid) damage, boon support and bruiser/self-sustain. Adept Mirage Cloak – Additional facts added (Ambushs via Shatters etc.). Mirage Cloak now grants increased movement speed by default. Riddle of Sand – Ambush attacks cause confusion and grant Endurance per foe hit. Renewing Oasis – Gaining Mirage Cloak or evading an attack grants nearby allies Regeneration and Vigor. No longer reduces incomming condition duration. Self Deception – If no Illusion is created, gain Endurance instead. Alternative, if too complicated (programming): Mirrors grant additional Endurance. Master Nomad's Endurance – No longer grants a damage bonus. Instead, it heals the Mirage for a small amount when gaining Vigor. Alternative: Heal periodically while affacted by Vigor (think Rugged Growth). I'm just not a fan of stat bonuses via boons. Even less so if they just don't make sense like this one (neither theme nor that a defensive boon grants an offensive benefit). Mirrored Axes – No longer reduces axe cooldown. Instead grants condition damage with an additional bonus when whielding an axe (e.g. +120 and +120). This change is made to make the trait more appealing as damage trait despite the weapon choice. Also makes up for the change on Nomads Endurance. Mirage Mantle – Gaining Mirage Cloak or evading an attack grants nearby allies Protection. Desert Distortion – Gaining Distortion or Aegis grants access to Ambush attacks. Ambush attacks weaken nearby foes. Weakened foes deal less damage to you. No longer creates Mirrors on F4. Grandmaster Speed of Sand – Gain increased movement speed when your Endurance is not full. While this is powerful in combat, it discourages saving up your Endurance. Even when disengaging Mirages will have to determine whether to go for movement speed or avoiding attacks via dodging. The amount is debatable. Considering it is conditional, it could be at 33% (compare to Natural Stride). Alternative if too complicated: Gain Swiftness when gaining Vigor. Or: Gain Swiftness when shattering (s. Willbender). Infinite Horizon – Considering the lower access to Mirage Cloak, e.g., significantly less Clone Ambushes, this trait needs an additional effect. I prefer improved Ambush attacks (e.g. more damage or debuffing conditions) but I guess yet another boring temporal damage boost would work as well. E.g. "Shattering an Illusion grants..." (think Deadly Blades). Dune Cloak – Gaining Mirage Cloak or evadin an attack grants nearby allies Alacrity. Your next successful ambush attack grants additional boons to nearby allies. Possible boons: GS = Might (power Might option), Sw = Fury, St = Alacrity (no longer provides by default Might), Sc = Might (condi Might option), Axe = Vigor, Spear = Fury, Trident = Alacrity. Staff would remain the Alacrity stick. But Staff/Staff won't be as necessary anymore. Elusive Mind – Gaining Mirage Cloak or evading an attack removes conditions. Endurance on you is more effective. What do you guys think? Would this set up be fun? Does it make sense? Is it better or worse than what we've got at the moment? Is it worth removing the current IH-set up?

That's not what's happening. They don't try to fix Wells with that. They simply want to buff power DPS on Alacrity builds and Wells happen to provide most Alacrity.

I'm generally with you on the drawbacks you've listed for Warrior specs. But if you list the loss of core F1 bursts, then so is the loss of core Shroud skills 😉 Everything else would be applying different measures.

Nope. They just did that with Catalyst Jade Sphere, for example. But it is a recent development. Still, I wouldn't get too excited. I'm no programmer but I assume that boon duration of Quickness is simply set to 0s in competitive modes. Meaning, it is not a split in functionality. However, if this is how it works, it could also work for conditions and at least soft CC.