Akihito.4361

Wow. I havent checked the forums since the day after posting this. you guys really took off with it. Dont have time to read through everything, but I just read the patch preview notes and GUESS WHAT?! They're making some changes that I (and some of you) suggested. Phantasmal Warlock: The phantasm summoned by this skill now inflicts torment instead of vulnerability. Chaotic Transference: This trait has been reworked. When you grant chaos aura to yourself, also grant it to nearby allies. When you grant chaos aura to an ally, also grant them regeneration. **This isnt directly about staff, but it makes skill 4 apply aoe Chaos Aura. Meaning to allies OR clones. This is AWESOME because (as I read some of you suggest) it will allow clones getting hit to apply confusion to enemies. Big change here! LOVE IT!* There are other big changes I really like (Malicious Sorcery reworked to apply confusion on evade), but that dont directly affect Staff gameplay (although, Malicious Sorcery does for Mirage). Looking to be a fun patch!

Been playing Mesmer since GW1, and been playing Staff since beta. Like, ONLY staff. Of course I've dabbled in everything, but staff is the only weapon I ever fell in love with. So even if I switch to something else to break up the monotony, I'm always right back to it an hour later. Even though it has always felt a bit lacking and counter-intuitive. Here are a few things I would like to see changed to make the weapon feel more active and functional. 1. Phase Retreat - there are a few ways to fix this, but the problem is that it forces you away from the fight when most of the kit forces you into melee (chaos armor, winds of chaos bounce mechanic). It's also not always ideal to move away just to generate a clone. There are 2 options here, but they both involve making the skill give you Blur (which, for some unfathomable reason, ONLY exists on Sword 2) and creates a clone. The second option is to also make it a combo action that turns into Phase Retreat for a few seconds on activate/successful evade. 2. Chaos Storm - Chaos Storm has always been an odd duck, mostly due to its randomization of effects. First off, I propose we move this to skill 3. Doing so addresses a few things, but primarily it gives us a more frequent aoe option where we lack them (on MOST weapons). This will also allow more frequent casting, which leads us into the effects. The conditions applied have always felt out of place. Yes, the randomness is part of the "chaos," but the effects are so out left field for what the weapon is supposed to be: a condition weapon. I would like to see Chaos Storm have more pulses over it's duration, and the conditions changed to Confusion, Torment, and Blind (or possibly Burning). Obviously we would give these procs a relatively short duration, but it would allow the weapon to do its job more reliably and would FEEL BETTER to cast. Having Blind in the rotation would still emphasize the cHaoS!@#! theme, but would also allow for fun build interactions with traits like Ineptitude. 3. Phantasmal Warlock - placing Chaos Storm as skill 3 means we are moving Phantasmal Warlock. It could go in either slot 4 or 5 depending on whether we adjust Chaos Armor or not. Regardless, the Phantasmal duo has always felt out of place and lacking in functionality. Again, there are multiple options here. Both involve changing its attack style and removing vulnerability (Vulnerability is so common that its really not needed here. Especially since with a 25 stack cap, it never feels good to use this skill unless you're playing a shatter build, but even then it doesnt feel right). 1. The Warlocks could cast Winds of Chaos, potentially with additional bounces. 2. They could cast Chaos Vortex instead. Or 3. they cast Chaos Armor. 4. Chaos Armor - I think Chaos Armor is mostly fine. It sticks to the thematic of mesmer/the staff and has useful procs. The problem comes down to staff being a mixture of melee and ranged. If you're in the thick of it, it is great. If you're ranged, then its completely useless. I'm honestly not sure what to do here. Making it an targeted aoe seems like too much, and making it castable on allies doesnt seem quiet right either. But, if we change Phase Retreat to NOT force you out of melee, then it would be just fine. There you have it. Really hoping the shortcomings of staff are obvious to the balance team and they have already implemented some changes for the upcoming patch. Staff is such a unique weapon, I hate to see it suffer from these problems when it could be designed soooo much better.

Like ShadowKatt said, Chorno is built to heal. However, Virtuoso is also a valid option for heals. The key feature of Mesmers is this: You have to be clever and crafty. Play Virtuoso with the Inspiration traitline. You automatically get Healing Prism to heal allies every 10s whenever you heal (can even proc off lifesteal effects from food buffs). Take Illusionary Inspiration so that every time you stock a blade (when do you stop stocking blades?) you heal yourself and allies. If you take Restorative Mantras then you can spam heals with Mantra of Pain + whatever other mantras you want to use. For self healing you can also take Restorative Illusions so you heal yourself every time you use a shatter. For more self healing take Signet of the Ether as your heal skill and you will constantly heal yourself. Thats all from a single traitline. We have plenty of healing options and it works on any spec. That being said, it is very likely the rifle we are about to get will be a healing weapon (similar to Thief's scepter), so maybe just wait until new weapons and class balance patch comes out next month.

BUMP! Same problem. All conditions met, but event wont start. Same message about Wasama even though her event was successful.

Maybe I was the illusion all along!