Can we please have Well of action and Well of Recall give their respective boons on cast?

[eliroth.3869]

My suggestion: The offensive effects from Chrono wells Action (Slow) and Recall (Chill) can remain pulsing as they are, but let them apply Quickness and Alacrity upon cast rather than at the end

Watching the Specter livestream has me disappointed as a Chronomancer enjoyer (it's not much of a qualification but hear me out).

Chronomancers has always historically struggled to reliably give teammates quickness and alacrity during the HOT era via wells; we didn't have a choice because no other class gave those boons at the time. Anet of course wanted to spread the role of alacrity and quickness to other classes so Chrono would not monopolize the support role of Quick/Alac. I won't talk about Quickness because eventually Seize the Moment was buffed to share quickness around the Chrono. However, Well of Action should still be updated for uniformity. There are times when Chronomancers want to provide additional quickness without taking a huge dps loss because they had to forgo Chronophantasma.

I do acknowledge that wells by nature are meant to be pulsing AOEs. Offensive wells are better off pulsing their effects to give enemies more time to react then dodge, I believe that's the original intended design. Condi cleanse/healing wells (e.g. Necro mancer) are fine as they are because they provide the desired benefit as soon as the first pulse then the same benefit on the final pulse. Engineer's Blast Gyro well effectively functions like Chronomancer wells wherein the desired benefit is on the final pulse, but again, it's a mobile field so the application is much more reliable. It's fine to leave the Slow from Action and Chill from Recall to pulse as to maintain the skills' identity as wells.

To further prove my point, here is a timeline for alacrity application, to the best of my memory:
1. Revenant receives alacrity with Ventari. Ventari dose have a delay for cast but 1). Ventari has essentially no cooldown (+ energy cost) and can be re-positioned easily.

2. Alacrity becomes a boon, All's well that ends well now gives healing instead of alacrity. Ecto thief gets alacrity share.

In the same patch, Avenger no longer gives Alacrity but instead inflicts slow

Tides of Time now gives alacrity upon cast and return but that was eventually changed to giving alacrity only upon return.
3. Renegade gets alacrity share. It's almost double the AOE of Recall AND it's a mobile field for 10 TARGETS.
4. Mirage gets Alacrity share that is bugged in practice but the application is much more consistent. It's weird that Mirage that was never intended to be a support class gets alacrity but I digress.
5. Now Specter and Mechanist get Alacrity. Specter has 5 sources of alacrity that are instant. Mechanist has a huge aoe and they give it on barrier application.

It is very evident with the aforementioned timeline that Alacrity application has only gotten easier since it was first introduced. I'm not asking Chronomancer to become the meta alacrity support again, but I would like to appeal that Chronomancer also be given the same treatment as other classes.

Edited October 24, 2021 by eliroth.3869

[Genesis.5169]

Bruh, mesmers have been deemed exiles by the community were crap right now by design not because the devs don't know what to do. We will  get no changes and any changes we do get will make us worse.

Edited October 24, 2021 by Genesis.5169

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

This was suggested in the past and the thread in which it was suggested was read by the devs (I know because they implemented other suggestion) which means don't count on it.

[Veprovina.4876]

On 10/24/2021 at 7:34 PM, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

This was suggested in the past and the thread in which it was suggested was read by the devs (I know because they implemented other suggestion) which means don't count on it.

Also, a lot of "mesmer" players did a lot of mental gymnastics on why the current wells are perfect, the devs read that and will never change anything becase we sabotage ourselves more than anyone else. 

[Vidit.7108]

They should absolutely have the boons be granted at the start like they used to. That change was when they had some really bad ideas about how to balance chrono. It makes those wells really clunky in a way none of the other wells in the game are. 

One quick thing though, while they are instant boon the Specter wells aren't instant cast, the most important one Well of Gloom needs a full second before it drops. It has to finish casting to give alacrity. Orders from Above on renegade is actually instant.

[OriOri.8724]

12 hours ago, Vidit.7108 said:

They should absolutely have the boons be granted at the start like they used to. That change was when they had some really bad ideas about how to balance chrono. It makes those wells really clunky in a way none of the other wells in the game are. 

One quick thing though, while they are instant boon the Specter wells aren't instant cast, the most important one Well of Gloom needs a full second before it drops. It has to finish casting to give alacrity. Orders from Above on renegade is actually instant.

The cast times on spectres wells are comparable to the cast times on chrono wells. Well of gloom has a high cast time for a heal skill yes. But at the same time, well of gloom has self healing, AoE healing, AoE cripple, a shadowstep, and can grant you stealth if you take shadow arts. All on a 20 second CD. The skill is absolutely ridiculous in how much kitten it does.

 

Chrono's wells do half of that, on far longer CDs. Well of eternity has an initial heal with significantly lower scaling than gloom and lower base heal, AoE heal on the last pulse only, and can remove a grand total of 3 condis if you stay in the well for each pulse. On a 30 second CD.

 

Scepter wells are absolutely broken. They do way too much crap

[Mell.4873]

1: Wells cast their boons at the start and heals at the end(trait)

2: flow of time should have 240 range like the quickness raid buff.

 

This would make the viable alternative to alacrev since they have quickness while rev still has more cc and group protection. 

[Lethion.8745]

Imagine forcing your teammates to stand still for 3 seconds for a single boon in a game designed around combat movement.