August 2 balance update preview

[Junkpile.7439]

Why not do something usefull like fix phantasmals? Frigging hate these. I would understand that skill is that kitten if it would actually hit hard, but damage is kitten too and it never even land anyways.

[Xyonon.3987]

Horrible notes that make support Chrono spiral even further into chaos:

- the low base BD forces us to use shield.

- the clone generation and exclusive damage buffs force us to use greatsword.

- focus on support Chrono (you know, THE support offhand) doesn't work anymore, cannot be sustained.

- wells have become all horrible, Calamity being barely acceptable damage wise, Precog being decent while the rest have become a sorry, uncreative excuse of what they used to be

- the damage buffs for PvE are not NEARLY enough to make up for in what state it is in, we're gonna end up 25k tops but:

- still unable to generate anything but Quickness, Might is really required and I don't talk about some garbage like "here have 10 stacks might for 10s every 20", no I mean the ability to generate a solid amount of sustained group might (looking at you shield and wells, DO SOMETHING)

- there are many useless major traits, T2 is now exclusively IA, while the others are never to be considered ever again

- Alacrity Chrono still dead

- condi Chrono still completely dead

And whoever decided to grant the Banners/Spotter compensation to Virtuoso only ... idk what they are doing, I'm so done with the balance team.

 

Sorry about venting so hard but we're waiting since months for a fix and this is it? I'm just frustrated and sad - really really sad. 😞

[Endaris.1452]

The worst about this trait change is that it will just spiral this chaos further. This is not what we needed. IA was always strong enough on its own, now it is just straight up better than Danger Time.

I'm also just really really sad and disappointed with Chrono right now, it's basically been relegated for an open world build for me because only there can I ignore the sadness and pretend that all is well by playing Dueling/Illusions and everything is dead without having to even think about using that sorry excuse of the new wells.

[otto.5684]

They are pushing for GS to be competitive dps in PvE. That is nice. The chrono change is whatever. it will improve the damage. Enough or not, hard to say. 
 

My consistent issue power mesmer in pve, is sustain. The condi builds, mirage and Virtuoso have substantially better sustain in PvE. Not much has changed.

[SuperRad.8463]

I have had minstel gear sitting in my bank forever. I guess it'll stay there because I feel it is too expensive to get rid of and still useless for Chrono. Help me change my mind Arenanet.

[Noodle Ant.1605]

i think whats really bad is that at they decided to make critical hits and fury virts “thing” which is taking away a lot from the rest of the class and it frankly takes away from virt too

mesmer as a whole really needs the crit access that virt is currently hogging, and virts on-crit procs are a largely unnecessary requirement that pigeonholes the espec into using specific gear for no real reason

[Suyheuti.1732]

I dont understand why anet focuses on just support chrono. If you step in chrono, fix everything in it. 

I step move will makes power chrono viable again which is removing Chronophantasma's damage reduction at 2nd phantasms. Now anet forces us to play virtuoso either power or condi spec. 

In theory, power chrono and condi axe mirage's benchmarks should be a little higher. Because these two specs are harder to play comparing virtuoso's specs and have disadvantage to stay melee unlike virtuoso. 

[Ellon.4316]

What I don’t understand is the wells, it’s clear anet realizes wells are bad and that’s why they are indirectly “buffing” it with the improved alacrity trait. That’s a really backwards approach, people don’t like wells because the are bad to start with. Wells should be good by default and improved via traits, not made “good” by traits. For example you will pick “well of calamity” as alac chrono not because of the well but just because it has the lowest cooldown.

Not all doom and gloom, well of precog is a cool skill. Just hope anet changes the other wells to be just as good.

[Xaylin.1860]

1 hour ago, Ellon.4316 said:

What I don’t understand is the wells, it’s clear anet realizes wells are bad and that’s why they are indirectly “buffing” it with the improved alacrity trait.

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. 

[Ellon.4316]

22 minutes ago, Xaylin.1860 said:

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. 

They might not buff wells directly (or fix them) but indirectly they are making them more worthwhile to take on an alacrity build. That's what i meant with a backwards approach to "fixing" wells. This might be more of a gut-feeling but it feels like this change to stretched time (and stretched time in general) is a forced way to make player use wells, you don't take them for the well anymore but just because of the trait effects.

I'm also wondering why alac chrono specifically needed a DPS buff, why not quickness or DPS chrono?

[Mik.3401]

At this pace Mesmer will be playable in 2030 😂 nice to get bit higher benchmark on chrono I guess

[Alpha.1308]

On 7/28/2022 at 4:37 PM, Xyonon.3987 said:

Precog being decent

would you mind explaining this to me, please?  

actual question, and i don't mean to sound rude, i seriously want to know why it's seen as "decent" 

i haven't played in a few years

but i've seen this idea thrown around multiple times when i check back on the forums every so often, and i just can't find any excuse that i would ever want to put this thing on my bar in any sort of pve situation, or any pvp situation, or any wvw situation

that being said, i mostly used to wvw with structured 10v10s or zergbusting, i didn't roam much, i occasionally spvp, and if i touch pve, it's just to play the stories as they release, so is it something to do with raids? i mean, i don't raid, is it something with that? because i still just don't understand why this would be picked over something else, even metabattle doesn't have this listed on any raiding builds

it just honestly looks beyond awful, ignoring the idea that the rest of mesmer utilities aren't in a great spot. either, since that's just.... not a good enough excuse to use a bad skill, just because everything else is.... worse...

[Ombras.2853]

Well of Precog is a decent utility skill for Raid encounters like Deimos. When quick Chrono was still a good choice we were often taking it instead of Mantra of Pain to go safer in a bunch of situations.

 

[mirage.8046]

As much as the IA rework sounded nice on paper, the chrono changes are all over the place; it's a confused mess still. Why are there two shield traits competing against each other in the same tier like DT and IA do???

Also, wells are just so clunky as a whole. hoping your allies stay still in a well is like walking blindfolded and you hope to find your way out. imo, "all's well that ends well" should turn your wells into mobile fields on top of the healing so no one has to dodge out of your well's final pulses (maybe not gravity well since you'll just become a walking CC field); then you can decide whether to have them ground-targeted from afar or run through enemies with your fields. 

It's amusing how they came full circle allowing us to grant alacrity on all wells again; that's the one buff I do like. The nerf to shield hurts so bad I'd be tempted to have a complete rework of skill 5.

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by mirage.8046

[Mell.4873]

On 8/3/2022 at 9:04 AM, mirage.8046 said:

As much as the IA rework sounded nice on paper, the chrono changes are all over the place; it's a confused mess still. Why are there two shield traits competing against each other in the same tier like DT and IA do???

Also, wells are just so clunky as a whole. hoping your allies stay still in a well is like walking blindfolded and you hope to find your way out. imo, "all's well that ends well" should turn your wells into mobile fields on top of the healing so no one has to dodge out of your well's final pulses (maybe not gravity well since you'll just become a walking CC field); then you can decide whether to have them ground-targeted from afar or run through enemies with your fields. 

It's amusing how they came full circle allowing us to grant alacrity on all wells again; that's the one buff I do like. The nerf to shield hurts so bad I'd be tempted to have a complete rework of skill 5.

 

The Heal should be at the start like Alacrity, keeping the actual skill proc at the end is fine but the traits should proc there effects at the start. Either way Wells can work in some content but if you want to heal Mantras are the way to go.