Phantasms are boring, rework some of them

[Curunen.8729]

5 hours ago, agrippastrilemma.8741 said:

Of course it is subjective, doesn't mean I can't disagree or ask what the logic behind being against ground targeting for this skill is. We have duelist that spawns on top of you, and Mage that spawns at your enemy. It would be more interesting to have a different mechanism for focus, and it would suit the projectile bubble and whirl finisher mechanic very well and make it far more usable. It also makes a lot of sense with the stationary nature of focus - you pop it down, it does its attack where you put it, then disappears.

Certainly, though your tone appeared dismissive to alternatives.

I prefer to make the player position correctly to setup the warden rather than ground target at range, and if necessary address core mobility to scaffold. I don't enjoy excessive ground targeting in this game (why I particularly don't like necro among other things) and would rather not introduce another source when there are other possibilities.

The healing synergises with Focus trait being in Inspiration, while on damage encourages synergy with focus 4 to pull enemies into it.

Aegis is symbolic of the artwork and gives a minor defensive benefit.

Resolution/Protection give a reason to stay in the bubble - edit, I realise previously I said initial effect, but it could be a pulsing 1s from the warden only when in the bubble with eg 180 range.

 

Melee cleave vs flying axes is a toss up - the rng axes are laughably bad on anything more than a single target, but having a ranged attack is useful when spawning on the player to act as a defensive phantasm. Hence the mixed suggestion of melee cleave with some ranged component but only on the current targeted enemy. But this is not set in stone.

 

Also for what it's worth I didn't put a confused face on your post, and support the general sentiment of this thread.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Curunen.8729

[mirage.8046]

I feel as if staff is god-awful apart from skills 2, 4, and 5. almost no one uses staff 3 because it's a DPS loss regardless. I would love to see even boon corruption on phantasmal warlock. it's an unnecessary power skill on what is a condi/defensive weapon. 
Phantasmal swordsmen could make you leap tbh, maybe... leap at your foe, stab them, and leap back to your original position.
Focus 5 could grant you a mobile bubble that blocks projectiles... ;) A ground-targeted phantasm would be way more reliable at blocking or reflecting; I'd be down for that implementation. 

[Roadkizzle.2157]

I just find it interesting people complaining about the Swordsmen when it's used for the highest DPS Chronomancer although I know most of the damage comes from the GS Phantasm.

 

Or is the dislike of the sword off hand come from the PVP player base like the complaining about the Mirage Dodge?

[agrippastrilemma.8741]

16 hours ago, Curunen.8729 said:

Certainly, though your tone appeared dismissive to alternatives.

I prefer to make the player position correctly to setup the warden rather than ground target at range, and if necessary address core mobility to scaffold. I don't enjoy excessive ground targeting in this game (why I particularly don't like necro among other things) and would rather not introduce another source when there are other possibilities.

The healing synergises with Focus trait being in Inspiration, while on damage encourages synergy with focus 4 to pull enemies into it.

Aegis is symbolic of the artwork and gives a minor defensive benefit.

Resolution/Protection give a reason to stay in the bubble - edit, I realise previously I said initial effect, but it could be a pulsing 1s from the warden only when in the bubble with eg 180 range.

 

Melee cleave vs flying axes is a toss up - the rng axes are laughably bad on anything more than a single target, but having a ranged attack is useful when spawning on the player to act as a defensive phantasm. Hence the mixed suggestion of melee cleave with some ranged component but only on the current targeted enemy. But this is not set in stone.

 

Also for what it's worth I didn't put a confused face on your post, and support the general sentiment of this thread.

That's fair

[agrippastrilemma.8741]

13 hours ago, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

I just find it interesting people complaining about the Swordsmen when it's used for the highest DPS Chronomancer although I know most of the damage comes from the GS Phantasm.

 

Or is the dislike of the sword off hand come from the PVP player base like the complaining about the Mirage Dodge?

We are talking about PvP, yes

Edited May 5, 2023 by agrippastrilemma.8741

[dead.7638]

13 hours ago, mirage.8046 said:

Phantasmal swordsmen could make you leap tbh, maybe... leap at your foe, stab them, and leap back to your original position.

On virt, this is exactly what sword 3 does.   However, the leap is so bugged you will hardly ever land the attack.   It’s really bad like 50/50 chance you hit target.   You could be on top of a target and miss, if there is any elevation in terrain, you will miss.   If a rock is in your way you will miss.   This is also a 5-7k hit that isn’t working 50% of the time on pvirt.   Sword 3 on other specs works more like a short blink and this mechanic is less favorable imo compared to the even buggy virt leap.

[dead.7638]

The swordsman works for me, on s/s you cast phantasms swordsmen, sword 3 to get on top of target and followed by sword 2 and you will hit the target with x2 flurry.

Edited May 5, 2023 by dead.7638

[dead.7638]

If anything I’d like phantasms to have a quicker cast time but keep the animation the way it is.   This would be a huge qol improvement imo.   And widen the hit box to be more consistent with landing the attack.   This may be due to that there is just too much movement in competitive mode. I hope the rework on focus and pistol are a small step in this direction.   Phantasmals are great dmg but are just wonky in the execution of attack.

Edited May 5, 2023 by dead.7638

[apharma.3741]

Personally I've always thought phantasms shouldn't exist as they simply don't work most of the time and come with a 1s cast. Can you imagine how much people on other classes would complain if one of their skills had a 1s cast time which can be nullified by dodge, LoS, interrupt or invulnerability AND THEN has to separately hit giving the enemy a 2nd chance to avoid the damage? They would be up in arms about how bad it is. 

This is also without mentioning how AoE will destroy them before they do much or any damage.

If someone has swiftness they can pretty much just run from half the phantasms and they will do no damage.

You can daze and blind them with said AoE but that is more specific to certain builds.
They flat out don't work in WvW when groups get over a certain size, neither do clones but at least you have IP.

What would I change? The mesmer would carry out the attack and leave behind a clone. Phantasmal berserker could work similar to phase smash teleporting you in for the attack while evading. Phantasmal Swordsman would be you leaping in and would add much needed mobility onto power weapons. Mage you can teleport behind an enemy and do backfire (the mage attack) etc etc. The only one that might be difficult to deal with is warden as that is a long channel.

[AshkyLicious.4729]

17 hours ago, apharma.3741 said:

Personally I've always thought phantasms shouldn't exist as they simply don't work most of the time and come with a 1s cast. Can you imagine how much people on other classes would complain if one of their skills had a 1s cast time which can be nullified by dodge, LoS, interrupt or invulnerability AND THEN has to separately hit giving the enemy a 2nd chance to avoid the damage? They would be up in arms about how bad it is. 

This is also without mentioning how AoE will destroy them before they do much or any damage.

If someone has swiftness they can pretty much just run from half the phantasms and they will do no damage.

You can daze and blind them with said AoE but that is more specific to certain builds.
They flat out don't work in WvW when groups get over a certain size, neither do clones but at least you have IP.

What would I change? The mesmer would carry out the attack and leave behind a clone. Phantasmal berserker could work similar to phase smash teleporting you in for the attack while evading. Phantasmal Swordsman would be you leaping in and would add much needed mobility onto power weapons. Mage you can teleport behind an enemy and do backfire (the mage attack) etc etc. The only one that might be difficult to deal with is warden as that is a long channel.

I really like your ideas, and it would make so much more sense if we were the ones who actually carried out the attacks and then leave behind a clone after us. Like it's fundamentally bad that we have skills that's kind of RNG based if they will perform or not, and I dont know if any other class needs to put up with this? This would actually fit better into Mesmers deceptive/illusionary nature aswell!

Wish Anet could consider this as a change to our phantasms!