Firebrand deleted Mantra animations and voicelines

[Antina.5973]

Hello 😊

Since guardian will definitely have a bit of spotlight in the next balance patch I took a moment to write this post.

As I understood the balance manifesto, they want to keep the identity of different specialisations, when I head of this I immaterially thought of Firebrand and Mesmer Mantras.

Could we maybe take a moment to remember absolutely amazing animations and voice lines that were attached to mantas before May's 2021 patch. I have a partial understanding why it was done, however I don't agree with leaving it as it is now. Firebrand was all about tomes and mantras, one of which is gone now, and tomes (slight panic) might get reworked into something completely different further destroying this spec's identity.

I'd love to see those voice lines or animations used again. I present my two ideas of how this could be done:

- make the animations/voices play randomly when using mantras, there were already semi random as not always you'd hear chants, as you not always hear voice lines when getting certain boons. If someone doesn't like that, well they probably already have that checkbox in sounds settings ticked 🙂 (yes you can disable "I could outrun centaur" procs)

- add a trait that makes mantras slightly different and a trade-off of that change will be added preparation, like pre-may-2021 that's needed. Now I understand that's probably harder to implement and balance, but I know there are some of us who would wish that returned. Be it fun/RP/or other reasons. One would be that instant casts had a cost of preparing that skills in advance, I loved that bit, it felt fair. This will also reduce a bit spammy-ness of the spec, as now we can just press the buttons whenever it glows, since there is no "last charge" anymore, there is no prep to be done, it just feels bad. It might be easy, but not everything that's easy is fun or rewarding.

And what are your thoughts?

xoxo
Antina

[Kulvar.1239]

The trait for mantra could make using the last charge of the mantra perform an enhanced version of it with a casting time instead of being instant, using it put your mantra on a quite longer cooldown at the end of which you get all the charges back. The enhanced version of the mantra being the old chant and animation of the charging mantra skill.

[Gaiawolf.8261]

Well, you were right. They gutted tome animations too. They are now instant cast, and you pop in and out of them like kits now. Gone is the theme and feel of opening a book to read it for a powerful burst of magic without screwing yourself over.
Now it's more like, the book just appears in the blink of an eye, "Behold the desolatio---- Oh, the book is gone. Never mind." *Swings axe for the hundredth time.*
Loremasters no more.

EDIT: I was incorrect. The tome opening animation is still there. I apologize for any confusion I caused. I am still mildly concerned that opening a tome have less feeling of opening a book of wuppass, and that it grants us less spells overall due to page regen rates and increased page costs, but that might be mitigated by opening tomes more often for smaller burst of powerful spells. We will see.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Gaiawolf.8261
Incorrect information

[Antina.5973]

Just for the sake of recording history, I've finally sat down to put some of the clips I recorded just before balance patch hit, the one that deleted mantra animations. Thought I might as well link it here for people who didn't experience it ever.
 

 

[Kodama.6453]

10 hours ago, Antina.5973 said:

Just for the sake of recording history, I've finally sat down to put some of the clips I recorded just before balance patch hit, the one that deleted mantra animations. Thought I might as well link it here for people who didn't experience it ever.
 

 

The animation has been beautiful and it's sad that this is lost.

But the quotes can be left out of the game, imo. It just felt kinda silly for some in my opinion. They are just spouting words, which are oftenly synonymous for each other. xD

[kroof.5468]

I have played around with a way to rework Mantras so that they feel more unique in the lineup of utility skills, and not just like Cantrips. This rework would also see the return of the casting animation and voice lines. Additionally this would extend to Mesmer to bring those back. 

Solution: Charge Spells. 
And, not like the way they originally were, where they were a bit of a pain to use between maps/deaths. This "charge" idea was originally in GW2 with Alpha spells/skills (ex. ALPHA Staff Elementalist Ice Shards), and is still in game via trebuchets. 

Video Example of Charge (13:13): 

TLDR: Mantras could be spells that you hold down, and gain increased power the longer you hold them. Brings back the casting animation, voice lines, and adds a balance edge to gain more effects if you choose to complete the cast. You could still make the choice to go for a more "instant" pop of the skill. 

[Falseprophet.1502]

1 hour ago, kroof.5468 said:

Solution: Charge Spells. 
And, not like the way they originally were, where they were a bit of a pain to use between maps/deaths. This "charge" idea was originally in GW2 with Alpha spells/skills (ex. ALPHA Staff Elementalist Ice Shards), and is still in game via trebuchets. 

 

 

 

Don't we already have a "modernized" charge mechanic with Dragon Trigger on Bladesworn? I fear the charge mechanic could be a nightmare in WvW situations, especially with a lot of the stability being taken away on 11/29. 

[kroof.5468]

19 minutes ago, Falseprophet.1502 said:

Don't we already have a "modernized" charge mechanic with Dragon Trigger on Bladesworn? I fear the charge mechanic could be a nightmare in WvW situations, especially with a lot of the stability being taken away on 11/29. 

In a way yes -- with the concept of waiting for an effect, and being able to use it at various strengths. I don't think it would be an issue at all as it is a trade off to sit in it for longer, for a more powerful effect. Plus with that line of thinking you might as well call for no cast times on abilities. 

[Antina.5973]

3 hours ago, kroof.5468 said:

I have played around with a way to rework Mantras so that they feel more unique in the lineup of utility skills, and not just like Cantrips. This rework would also see the return of the casting animation and voice lines. Additionally this would extend to Mesmer to bring those back. 

Solution: Charge Spells. 
And, not like the way they originally were, where they were a bit of a pain to use between maps/deaths. This "charge" idea was originally in GW2 with Alpha spells/skills (ex. ALPHA Staff Elementalist Ice Shards), and is still in game via trebuchets. 

Video Example of Charge (13:13): 

TLDR: Mantras could be spells that you hold down, and gain increased power the longer you hold them. Brings back the casting animation, voice lines, and adds a balance edge to gain more effects if you choose to complete the cast. You could still make the choice to go for a more "instant" pop of the skill. 

Oh my, I remember seeing those in the beta footage. I love your idea, also instead of last charge effect which we had, we could just opt in for charge options maybe. Altho maybe it should be much shorter more like overloads on tempest? Instead of insta cast, you could just "overload" mantra by casting it longer maybe the effect would pulse or something like that.