[Should shatters be removed/changed/replaced in the next elite spec?]

On 3/13/2021 at 10:41 AM, Jokubas.4265 said:

I haven't voted because I'm not really sure how to categorize my opinion yet.

I would love to see something more bold with the next Elite Specialization. I'm also not sure how feasible it is. In a lot of ways, the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer has a foundational flaw that would require a major rework to properly deal with.

(Disclaimer: While my ability to solo shows me that I'm not terrible at the game, I regularly see players, even other Mesmers, doing a lot better than me, so I'm clearly not great at builds either.)

Here's the thing. Whether you like them or not, the Shatter skills are our F skills. They're supposed to be our main feature.

The problem is... it's backwards? Shatter skills are the finisher to a specific kind of build, not the pieces that you use to make a combo that you finish with your build.

When I first started playing, I prioritized setting up my Phantasms and almost never touched my F skills. Nowadays, I have a much more efficient Shatter build, but it's a very narrow build in order to keep the Shatters going. It doesn't really make sense that the main feature of the class limits your build.

Looking back, I think it would make more sense if it was the F skills that dealt with your illusions, and Shatters be on the weapons or utilities. For instance:F1: Summons a clone that does no damage but looks like you. Short cooldown.F2: Summons a phantasm with your current weapon. Deals damage but is transparent. Moderate cooldown.F3: Randomly shuffles the position of you and your illusions. Moderate cooldown.

Then the F skills would properly involve the main feature of the class, the illusions, while allowing a variety of builds that utilize the illusions in different ways. Instead of the F skills being something that works best with certain builds, and doesn't mesh well with one of the class' actual main features: the phantasm illusions. This would smooth out the access all builds have to the core feature, and make the question what you do with the main feature, instead of the question being whether or not the F skills even make sense with your build.

This would also have opened up the Elite Specializations the freedom to play much more heavily with the main feature of the class (without necessarily replacing it entirely). The Mirage's Mirage Mirror skills would have been great F replacements in this situation as things that fill a similar role but reimagine that part of the class. In the above example, instead of summoning a clone at the location, it could summon a Mirage Mirror.Chronomancer could have handled this in a couple of ways. Either the clones and phantasms could have altered, time-based gimmicks (like the summoned phantasm now repeats your last skill specifically instead of just making an attack based on the weapon), or it could have replaced the clones and phantasms entirely with something like: "Summons a Continuum Rift that resets the position of the first ally or enemy that steps within it."

In such a situation, we could also get a more Guild Wars 1-themed Elite Specialization that replaces the physical illusions with directly debuffing versions of them (like the reverse barrier idea mentioned earlier).

Incidentally, one thing that's always bugged me about the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer's illusions is that... they're not illusions. In Guild Wars 1, they tormented your target, but were otherwise imaginary. In Guild Wars 2, they physically exist for some reason, and it's a weird balance problem. Why do illusions need health or be targetable to begin with (at least any that doesn't just reflect your own for the sake of deception)? How do you root something that doesn't actually exist? How do you damage a person who isn't really there? There are other ways to balance them, like the now-existing-anyway idea of phantasms going away after one attack, or even something like all illusions disperse upon the Mesmer being downed (which would require rebalancing other aspects of the Mesmer, but actually fits really well into the flavor of the usual result when an illusionist finally has their real self sussed out).

I really love your idea for the F skills. So sad we're unlikely to get any kind of rework like that. :c I still enjoy the class but so much potential wasted. I was really intrigued when the mirage mirrors were first mentioned and the same for the idea of a chronomancer, but then in reality the 2 elites weren't very class altering at all, well not to the same degree as some of the other profession elite mechanics. 

As for OP, I'd love shatters to be altered in some way, but I'm not sure how. I definitely don't like how clunky the 'running to the enemy and shattering' is with clones. It didn't bother me much when playing chrono because they could do it so quickly, but without that trait it's so slow. 

[The Psychomancer: Mesmer Elite Specialization Suggestion]

I'm no expert on these sort of things, but as someone who loves the theme of mesmers and psionic/telepathic characters/classes in general, I'd love to see something like your idea make it into the game. Nice work and thanks for sharing.