Virtuoso Final Changes Thread

[Tseison.4659]

Below is the complete list of changes made to the Virtuoso for Beta 4, the collective feedback from the Mesmer community (Virtuoso Feedback Thread) regarding what the Virtuoso needs/could use and lastly, the final changes the Virtuoso received upon release of End of Dragons.

 

🎭Full List of Changes to Virtuoso [Beta 4]:

Spoiler

 

Gameplay Changes:

·       While out of combat, the Virtuoso will now automatically stock a blade every 10 seconds.

Skill and Trait Adjustments:

Bladesongs:

·       Bladesong Harmony: Damage coefficient per blade reduced from 0.8 to 0.7 in PvE only.

·       Bladesong Dissonance: Damage coefficient reduced from 1.2 to 1 in PvE only.

·       Bladeturn Requiem: Damage coefficient reduced from 0.3 to 0.2 in PvE only. Base block duration set to 2s. 

Dagger:

·       Flying Cutter: Damage coefficient per hit reduced from 0.65 to 0.5 in PvE only.

·       Flying Cutter: Added a skill fact to clarify that each count towards causing a bonus flurry of blades will expire after 5 seconds if not 'used' by reaching a count of 3. This is not a functionality change.

·       Bladecall: Damage coefficient per hit reduced from 0.6 to 0.5 in PvE only.

·       Unstable Bladestorm: Increased power coefficient from 1.0 to 1.25 in PvP and WvW.

Utility Skills:

·       Thousand Cuts: Recharge reduced from 75s to 60s in PvE only. This skill is now unblockable. Can now be aimed in any direction while moving. This skill is now cast instantly. Number of hits increased from 6 over 3s to 10 over 5s. Damage coefficient per hit reduced from 2 to 0.5 in PvE, and from 1 to 0.5 in PvP and WvW.

·       Rain of Swords: Damage coefficient per hit reduced from 1 to 0.8 in PvE only.

·       Psychic Force: Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP and WvW.

Traits:

·       Psychic Riposte: Blades stocked on activation increased from 1 to 3. Internal cooldown increased from 1s to 3s. No longer fires a damaging attack when triggered, instead causes your next Bladesong to be unblockable.

·       Infinite Forge: No longer capped at a maximum of 3 blades.

·       Quiet Intensity: Your summoned phantasms now also gain the increased critical strike chance from Fury.

·       Duelist's Reversal: Now additionally grants Regeneration for 3s.

·       Deadly Blades: Now additionally grants a 5% increase to all damage dealt for the next 5s after successfully casting a Bladesong skill.

·       Jagged Mind: Bleed duration increased from 2s to 2.5s in PvE only.

Core Mesmer:

·       Signet of the Ether: Added clarifying text stating that for Virtuoso, this skill's passive effect triggers when stocking a blade.

·       Illusionary Inspiration: Added clarifying text stating that for Virtuoso, this trait triggers when stocking a blade.

·       Illusionary Defense: Added clarifying text stating that for Virtuoso, this trait triggers when stocking a blade.

·       Compounding Power: Added clarifying text stating that for Virtuoso, this trait triggers when stocking a blade.

·       Signet of the Ether: Added clarifying text stating that for Virtuoso, this skill's passive effect triggers when stocking a blade.

·       Decoy: Will now stock a blade if used out of combat. Previously this skill only stocked a blade if a target was in range.

·       Mirror Images: May now be used out of combat to stock two blades. Previously this skill only stocked blades if a target was in range.

Bug Fixes:

·       Signet of the Ether: Fixed a bug preventing the passive heal effect of this signet from occurring when you stock a Blade.

·       Illusionary Inspiration: Fixed a bug preventing this trait from activating and healing nearby allies when you stock a Blade.

·       Imminent Voyage: Fixed a bug causing this skill to create a clone instead of stocking a blade when used by a Virtuoso.

·       Feigned Surge: Fixed a bug causing this skill to create a clone instead of stocking a blade when used by a Virtuoso.

·       Bountiful Disillusionment: Fixed a bug allowing boons to be gained when using a Bladesong even when that Bladesong's cast was aborted.

·       Bladesong Sorrow: Fixed a bug in which Bladesong Sorrow did not apply Confusion if the trait Sharpening Sorrow was equipped.

·       Bladesong Sorrow: Fixed a bug in which Bladesong Sorrow could hit additional times if you are standing inside the targets' hitbox.

·       Bladeturn Requiem: Skill effects now properly cancel if this skill is aborted mid-execution.

·       Inspiring Distortion: Fixed a bug in which this trait did not activate when a Virtuoso uses Bladeturn Requiem.

·       Ether Clone: Fixed a bug in which this skill did not stock blades for a Virtuoso past a maximum of 3.

·       Mental Focus: Updated to correctly display that the damage increase to targets within the distance threshold is 10% in PvE. This is not a reduction in the actual power of this trait, the displayed 15% in Beta 1 was incorrect, and the actual bonus damage granted is 10%.

 

🎭Virtuoso Compiled Community Changes:

Spoiler

 

Virtuoso “changes” at a glance:

·       Lack of mobility

·       Lack of condition cleanses

·       Lack of survivability against gap closers

·       No clones or other means to take aggro off you.

·       Traits unimaginative and passive

·       Reflects not addressed

·       Dagger and Utilities too one dimensional

·       Lack luster condition options

Bladesongs:

·       Bladesongs should be instant, ¼sec or ½sec.

·       Bladesongs are too tethered to original design of pwr damage/condi damage/cc and defence.

·       Bladesongs should innately have unblockable projectiles when their target is beyond a certain threshold.

·       Bladesong Sorrow: Not enough condition traits and skills in the Virtuoso kit to make sense of the confusion condition on this Bladesong. Should be changed to a different condition or have an effect that removes a boon or deals damage based on the number of conditions on an enemy.

·       Have to face target to use.

·       Hindered by heavy reflection.

·       Should be instant cast or half a second.

·       If your target ends up being out of range or hides behind a wall, you end up losing all your stacks of blades.

·       Bladesongs should have extra ammo, notably F1-F3 or shorter/similar cooldowns. Blade generation is too high which makes Bladesongs unavailable to use if they’re on cooldown.

·       Bladeturn Requiem: Damage is low. Should’ve been made into a utility, trading spots with Blade Renewal. Distortion is better than a Block.

·       Bladesongs should have stronger effects when used with full stacks.

Dagger:

·       Missed opportunity to give Virtuoso an off hand dagger.

·       Projectile based, which like the Bladesongs are hindered against reflection.

·       Could use more utility.

·       Flying Cutter: Damage is low. Feels incomplete. Should give a stack of Might from each hit of Flurry of Blades or have a chance to give Fury or Might.

·       Bladecall: Feels incomplete. Recall too slow. Should have some form of cc when returning.

·       Unstable Bladestorm: Easy to dodge. Feels incomplete. Suggestions were to have an expanding storm at target location that damaged and destroys incoming projectiles.

Utility Skills:

·       Twin Blade Restoration: Should be used no matter which direction type facing or without a target. Or the attack should be removed and just be a regular heal with all of its effects.

·       Rain of Swords & Sword of Decimation are too similar and should be combined. Damage is low.

·       Blade Renewal: Should’ve been placed on F4. With the blade generation changes, it makes this skill redundant in carrying and forces players to take only for the distortion. Should be a stun break.

·       Psychic Force: Long cooldown. Preferred if this skill had a knockback range of 450 (minimum) to 600 (maximum) depending on how close the enemy is. Stunbreak removed. Should be a knockback similar to Catalyst Windstorm.

·       Thousand Cuts – The damage is really low. The Range and width is small. Additionally, too similar to rain of swords being it just horizontal. Range, Width and duration should be increased.

·       Lacking a trait that affects Psionics.

Traits:

·       Jagged Mind: Overlaps and is too similar to Sharper Images. Should be changed to something else.

·       Mental Focus: Encourages you to stay in 600 range. Range threshold should be increased or changed. An effect to be considered would be to have the damage further increased if the target is beyond the threshold.

·       If Blades are considered as Clones/Illusions, the following traits should affect them which currently are not: Empowered Illusions, Vicious Expression and Sharper.

·       Note: the change you made regarding Illusionary Inspiration & Illusionary Defense triggering when stocking Blade. It clearly states “Summoning an Illusion,” which proves that Blades are in fact Clones/Illusions, and the above traits mentioned should affect ALL Blade related traits and skills as intended as you are contradicting what the Blades are and how they interact with other Mesmer traits.

·       Bottom traitline should be reworked into something else other than condition. The Virtuoso is clearly a power focused spec and the Bleeding condition is not a strong condition when compared to others even with the damage increase to Bleeding.

·       Psychic Riposte: Redundant interaction with Blade Renewal as they both restock blades. Additionally, Duelist's Reversal and Psychic Riposte feel too similar functionally.

·       Infinite Forge: Still feels too passive.

·       Blade Generation (overstocking): Given increased ways to stock blades, there should be an effect that triggers when we are at max blades. Such as, spare blades firing off at a nearby foe or giving a random boon.

·       All Sword and Greatsword skills should be considered as a “Blade.”

 

🎭End of Dragons Release - Final List of Changes to the Virtuoso:

Virtuoso

Bladesongs:

·       Bladesong Sorrow: Inflicts Bleeding.

Traits:

·       Jagged Mind: Blade attacks inflict bleeding on critical hits. A percentage of your condition damage dealt heals you by 3%.

Mesmer

·       Time Warp: Maximum targets reduced from 10 to 5.

·       Signet of Inspiration: This now only affects the user by default. The trait Blurred Inscriptions increases the target cap to 5.

Mirage

·       Chaos Vortex: Maximum targets reduced from 10 to 5.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Tseison.4659

[Levetty.1279]

Support Chorno got nerfed harder then Scourge, Firebrand and Renegade.

 

Enjoy the same stale meta for the next 5 years.

[Levetty.1279]

Quickly skimming through the unlock wheel since I haven't bought this trash and can't check dagger.

 

F2 now also causes bleeding as well.

Jagged mind causes 3% of condition damage done to heal you. 

 

Now wonder they didn't announce the changes before hand.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Levetty.1279

[Xaylin.1860]

Got to admit... the SoI change caught me off guard. Not sure if this Signet is worth casting (or bringing) unless traited now 🥴

[FinalShield.1968]

9 minutes ago, Xaylin.1860 said:

Got to admit... the SoI change caught me off guard. Not sure if this Signet is worth casting (or bringing) unless traited now 🥴

It is for solo play but not group play 😕

Unless traited as stated lol

Edited February 28, 2022 by FinalJustice.5824

[piitb.7635]

19 minutes ago, Levetty.1279 said:

Support Chorno got nerfed harder then Scourge, Firebrand and Renegade.

 

Enjoy the same stale meta for the next 5 years.

 

 

Anet announced that they were capping buffs to 5 not too long ago.  And its for every class..

[MrAmputatoes.6031]

Just now, piitb.7635 said:

 

 

Anet announced that they were capping buffs to 5 not too long ago.  And its for every class..

Well the fact that it now requires a GM trait that you never took before is the kicker.

[anbujackson.9564]

3 minutes ago, MrAmputatoes.6031 said:

Well the fact that it now requires a GM trait that you never took before is the kicker.

An inspi chrono always took it. Just no one played it anymore.

This change is a meme though.

[Gryxis.6950]

15 minutes ago, Xaylin.1860 said:

Got to admit... the SoI change caught me off guard. Not sure if this Signet is worth casting (or bringing) unless traited now 🥴

Couldn't they like just change the buff it gets when traited instead of nerfing the untraited version to the ground if they really wanted to just decrease the target cap?

[Ludovide.1967]

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed. I will still play virtuoso and have a ton of fun, and I'm glad to see they kept the condi line and buffed it a little bit, but I was expecting more changes. Also, I checked in game, but main hand and off hand sword skills don't count as blade skills. I just don't understand the reasoning behind that at all, considering they are literally blades and the greatsword counts as a blade (except for the greatsword auto attack, which is a shame).

It's also strange to me that they kept the damage buff when within 600 range, despite it being a ranged spec.

Personally I really enjoyed virtuoso in the betas, and I will continue to do so, but its a shame that, in my opinion, it is so close to being great.

[Levetty.1279]

3 minutes ago, Gryxis.6950 said:

Couldn't they like just change the buff it gets when traited instead of nerfing the untraited version to the ground if they really wanted to just decrease the target cap?

Couldn't they have given Mesmer an actual elite spec instead of Mesmer 0.5.

 

The answer is no because they neither understand nor like Mesmer.

[MrAmputatoes.6031]

Man that 3% heal is looking a little tasty after the Runes of Torment nerf. Sadly Virtuosos condi application is pathetic compared to mirage or chrono for that matter since clones make up a decent amount of condi mesmers damage....

[mortrialus.3062]

All those chuckleheads who were constantly saying "Virtuoso is GREAT!  They'll make sure it's viable when it's released!" should come in here and eat crow. And then leave forever. 

[Levetty.1279]

3 minutes ago, mortrialus.3062 said:

All those chuckleheads who were constantly saying "Virtuoso is GREAT!  They'll make sure it's viable when it's released!" should come in here and eat crow. And then leave forever. 

They will just make up more kitten to defend it or leave now that their job of making sure it released in a kitten state is done.

[phokus.8934]

Initial playing in wvw, Virtuoso is falling really short.  From power to condi, just feels and plays subpar to core, Chrono, and Mirage.

[Curunen.8729]

That's... really minimal.

(on a serious note can appreciate must be a lot of pressure to deliver the rest of EoD)

 

Hoping in 6 months time the Summer patch might contain a few more lines.

[Xenesis.6389]

So every other class gets to fart out boons on baseline 5 targets, but mesmers need a dedicated trait to hit 5 targets on the signet....

At least anet keeps getting creative with their mesmer nerfs.

[Salt Mode.3780]

Big...Yikes...

[Tseison.4659]

2 hours ago, Curunen.8729 said:

That's... really minimal.

(on a serious note can appreciate must be a lot of pressure to deliver the rest of EoD)

 

Hoping in 6 months time the Summer patch might contain a few more lines.

I agree! I do think they should’ve released all elite specs at once during the beta instead of having them spread out. But heres hoping they make some changes during the summer time.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Tseison.4659

[Chrolo.8536]

1 hour ago, Gryxis.6950 said:

Couldn't they like just change the buff it gets when traited instead of nerfing the untraited version to the ground if they really wanted to just decrease the target cap?

That would require effort tough

[Skyroar.2974]

Sword/Sword skills still don't count as blades. They don't apply vulnerability on crit.

You're stuck with dagger + GS for that.

[otto.5684]

1 hour ago, phokus.8934 said:

Initial playing in wvw, Virtuoso is falling really short.  From power to condi, just feels and plays subpar to core, Chrono, and Mirage.

Sadly, that was expected… In any case, across the board, the class balance changes are minuscule from thr second beta.

[Kirrund.2654]

Don't forget last year they reduced Time Warp from 10 seconds to 5 seconds because it had a 10 target cap.

[Zenith.7301]

2 hours ago, Levetty.1279 said:

Quickly skimming through the unlock wheel since I haven't bought this trash and can't check dagger.

 

F2 now also causes bleeding as well.

Jagged mind causes 3% of condition damage done to heal you. 

 

Now wonder they didn't announce the changes before hand.

 

 

They barely did any changes from the last beta, in more than 6 months.

 

Abysmal development practices, total disrespect for the players.

[Hirosama Nadasaki.6792]

1 hour ago, Kirrund.2654 said:

Don't forget last year they reduced Time Warp from 10 seconds to 5 seconds because it had a 10 target cap.

Now ask me if they're gonna bring it back to 10 seconds now that the target cap has been reduced.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Hirosama Nadasaki.6792