Little suggestion regarding Mirage and its recent nerfs.

[Geronmy.3298]

Let me start by saying that i am not even close to a pvp player. All pvp i've done was just to craft my first legendary weapon so i will let someone who actually knows about this topic to correct me about the way this change can affect these modes.

What i am is a huge Mirage enjoyer. I played a lot of specs but only Mirage scratches that itch in my brain that produces the happy chemicals  and  after crafting my legendary staff you might know what my feelings about the upcoming changes are. With all that out of my chest, let me introduce you to my completely dumb idea to balance Mirage's ambush.

Let address the elephant in the room. Staxe Mirage. This change will completely destroy any synergy this particular playstyle has.in favorof giving the devs a way to tune every ambush without affecting other playstyles.

What i propose is the rework of the Sand Shards trait. Here we will add the ''Shattered Ambush'' trait, wich will change all ambush skills into an evolved form.Yes, this trait will compete with Infinite Horizon and you will see why.

All ''base'' ambush but staff will remain the same.''Evolved' ambush will get extra effects.

Regarding staff, normal ambush will still give the regular amount of might but will not provide alacrity at all. Evolved ambush will generate all the might the clones would have generated and also provide 3 seconds of alacrity.

Axe ambush remains the same, evolved ambush gains an extra seeking axe.

Greatsword ambush remains the same, evolved ambush gains an extra chained target.

Sword ambush remains the same, evolved  ambush gains  % extra strike damage.

Scepter ambush remains the same, evolved ambush adds 1 second to each condition.

Spear evolved ambush gets  alacrity

 

As you might noticed, this change ends the so ''overpowered''  alac staxe that Anet seems to hate for some reason. Remember that now that confusion has been more or less stabilized, Mirage will no longer have these massive spikes that made it so overpowered.... on a few bosses.

This gives Mirage a better access to alacrity because is no longer tied to clones but is also not completely wasted on other weapons, we get alacrity underwater. and they can fine-tune both axe mirage and staff Mirage as two separate entities.

I still wish to read you opinions  about this change. I m not a very old player, just ''started'' the game, so i might not grasp how big in the grand scheme on things this change can be.

 

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Geronmy.3298
Spelling mistakes, english is not my first language..

[Leonidrex.5649]

Personally I never played alac mirage but watching them struggle to make it usable and not OP is kind of amusing, and shows that nobody in balance team knows anything about mesmer.
They try to brute-force staff/staff so hard which is the most boring kitten on the planet -.-.
Like I dont know, after doing an ambush attack, your next shatter generates X alacrity for every clone you shattered.
Boom, now you have 2 different weapon set up mirage with shatter oriented playstyle.
But what do I know. Also buff scepter, axe/pistol + scepter/torch shatter mirage would be so fun in pve.

[Waffles.5632]

Alac has been a curse on Mirage ever since Solar put it on staff ambush, and all because he hated playing Axe.

[agrippastrilemma.8741]

I like it

[Cenzurat.7013]

11 hours ago, Leonidrex.5649 said:

Like I dont know, after doing an ambush attack, your next shatter generates X alacrity for every clone you shattered.
Boom, now you have 2 different weapon set up mirage with shatter oriented playstyle.

Seems like a good idea but having shatters generate alac won't kill off staxe since you really wouldn't need two staff's then, just good timing. You'd still prolly have problems keeping alac up specially on trash mobs or easier fights and even though it doesn't really matter. It just does not feel right to be a support that can only really give alac on boss fights.

Its simple you just make alac require a trait on the same line as an axe trait and make axe damage crap without its own trait. And have all the alac come from only the personal ambush and not the clones. 

Talking about reformed mirrage mirror be completely changed including its name, to do that and have phantasmal seeking axe matter so much to axe that its not worth even using the weapon without it.

Oh and also this might make scepter see some use. But that thing isn't OP so it should be fine.

Edited June 17, 2023 by Cenzurat.7013

[draxynnic.3719]

Personally I've always thought that alacrity on ALL ambushes should probably just be a trait that competes with IH. That way, people could bring alacrity without being locked to weapons. Duration can be tuned so that enough boon duration is needed to keep alacmirage on par with other alacdps.

That said, I can't say I'd complain too much if it was to be just deleted and the balance team focused on making sure alac chrono was fun to play. I had a good run with alacmirage, but having two alac specs on one profession always felt a bit weird, and it was always supposed to be a chrono speciality.

[Geronmy.3298]

18 hours ago, Leonidrex.5649 said:

Personally I never played alac mirage but watching them struggle to make it usable and not OP is kind of amusing, and shows that nobody in balance team knows anything about mesmer.
They try to brute-force staff/staff so hard which is the most boring kitten on the planet -.-.
Like I dont know, after doing an ambush attack, your next shatter generates X alacrity for every clone you shattered.
Boom, now you have 2 different weapon set up mirage with shatter oriented playstyle.
But what do I know. Also buff scepter, axe/pistol + scepter/torch shatter mirage would be so fun in pve.

To be honest i hated how Chrono generated quickness. I started playing mesmer to play Chrono or Virtuoso and got terribly disappointed by both. I would never attach quick or alac generation to it. Hell, they straight up removed that part of Chrono. They should attach alac generation to a trait that replaces sand shards, trait that i never seen anyone giving it any use, and makit compete with IH.

[WhoWantsAHug.3186]

I've got a few mirage/mesmer suggestions as well.

Illusionary warlock(staff 3) - buff this it's so bad. Maybe just revert to the original design, then it would actually be good on power mesmer again. I miss GS/staff builds so much

Sand through Glass - make this spawn the mirror where you land. I just don't get why this is an evade away, but drops the mirror where you evaded from. Pretty counter intuitive. Give it a delay like mirages heal

Mirage advance - make this stunbreak and or drop a mirage mirror

Signet of midnight - give this a 25% movement speed increase. Every core class has either a way to get perma swiftness or perma 25% movement speed. Why doesn't mesmer?

Edited June 18, 2023 by WhoWantsAHug.3186

[GetFoxxed.9478]

On 6/17/2023 at 2:42 PM, Waffles.5632 said:

Alac has been a curse on Mirage ever since Solar put it on staff ambush, and all because he hated playing Axe.

At least Solar didnt nerf mirage this badly..

[Geronmy.3298]

Alacrity Mirage 

Last up is a rework to how mirage grants alacrity. We want there to be a better distinction between alacrity and non-alacrity builds, which is something that can be a bit blurry at times due to Chaos Vortex granting alacrity with no investment. This alacrity is being rolled into a rework of Mirage Mantle that improves all ambush skills in various ways, which can be seen in the patch note below. 

• Mirage Mantle: This trait has been reworked. Ambush skills are improved. 

• Axes of Symmetry: Also inflicts cripple 
• Mirage Thrust: Removes a boon from struck foes 
• Ether Barrage:  Grants quickness to self (1.5 seconds)  
• Split Surge: Deals increased damage (25% in PvE, 10 in PvP/WvW) 
• Chaos Vortex: AoE Alacrity (2.5 seconds for the player, 0.5 seconds for clones) 
• Ambush Assault: Grants might to self 
• Wave of Pani😄 Also inflicts torment 

You called me madman, but it was the only way to do it. Kinda weird that they didn't make it compete with IH though. I will be preordering if they fix the dodge on Mirage, is acting weird and i miss the fx on the screen or i get the regular dodge and have to respec to fix it.Overall not utterly disappointed and hope every one, not only us.get their problems fixed.

[AshkyLicious.4729]

5 minutes ago, Geronmy.3298 said:

Alacrity Mirage 

Last up is a rework to how mirage grants alacrity. We want there to be a better distinction between alacrity and non-alacrity builds, which is something that can be a bit blurry at times due to Chaos Vortex granting alacrity with no investment. This alacrity is being rolled into a rework of Mirage Mantle that improves all ambush skills in various ways, which can be seen in the patch note below. 

• Mirage Mantle: This trait has been reworked. Ambush skills are improved. 

• Axes of Symmetry: Also inflicts cripple 
• Mirage Thrust: Removes a boon from struck foes 
• Ether Barrage:  Grants quickness to self (1.5 seconds)  
• Split Surge: Deals increased damage (25% in PvE, 10 in PvP/WvW) 
• Chaos Vortex: AoE Alacrity (2.5 seconds for the player, 0.5 seconds for clones) 
• Ambush Assault: Grants might to self 
• Wave of Pani😄 Also inflicts torment 

You called me madman, but it was the only way to do it. Kinda weird that they didn't make it compete with IH though. I will be preordering if they fix the dodge on Mirage, is acting weird and i miss the fx on the screen or i get the regular dodge and have to respec to fix it.Overall not utterly disappointed and hope every one, not only us.get their problems fixed.

Sorry! Im not following, but is this official? 😮

[Geronmy.3298]

2 minutes ago, AshkyLicious.4729 said:

Sorry! Im not following, but is this official? 😮

Yup, they tied alac to a trait and made ''evolved'' ambushes. Is planned to go live on july 18 tho.

[AshkyLicious.4729]

Oh ok! Nice! Is there a link to this info? 🙂

[Geronmy.3298]

9 minutes ago, AshkyLicious.4729 said:

Oh ok! Nice! Is there a link to this info? 🙂

 

[Waffles.5632]

Axes of Symmetry isn't even the axe ambush  😭

 

- Anyways though, Axe ambush doesn't need cripple I feel.. that's just weird.

- Mirage Thrust looks good on paper, but for pvp I doubt mirages are going to give up desert distortion tbh. Especially with how much sword misses.

- Ether Barrage is good

- Split Surge is the best

- Chaos Vortex is a nerf for a buff so nothing is actually improved.. Mirages will still run staff for Alac... 🙄

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Waffles.5632

[Geronmy.3298]

2 minutes ago, Waffles.5632 said:

Axes of Symmetry isn't even the axe ambush  😭

 

- Anyways though, Axe ambush doesn't need cripple I feel.. that's just weird.

- Mirage Thrust looks good on paper, but for pvp I doubt mirages are going to give up desert distortion tbh. Especially with how much sword misses.

- Ether Barrage is good

- Split Surge is the best

- Chaos Vortex is a nerf for a buff so nothing is actually improved.. Mirages will still run staff for Alac... 🙄

 

Yeh, is still a nerf overall but i kittening hope this opens the doors to balance each ambush on their own instead of kittening up the entire spec. Also we get 2.5s of alac without clones, i run a 50% BD build because reasons and will probably be overcapping alac again and might be able to maintain alac without clones (wasn't here when it was 2.5 base before, but people had told me it was the same but now we get extra 1.5 with clones).Worst part yet is the dodge. I hope and cope they will fix the issues. I am ok with not having it available while stunned/knocked down, but while inmob is kinda dumb not to have it available. We already don't move while dodging.

Also, we absolutely know why the names are wrong, i don't even need to mention it.

[Roadkizzle.2157]

17 minutes ago, Waffles.5632 said:

Axes of Symmetry isn't even the axe ambush  😭

 

- Anyways though, Axe ambush doesn't need cripple I feel.. that's just weird.

- Mirage Thrust looks good on paper, but for pvp I doubt mirages are going to give up desert distortion tbh. Especially with how much sword misses.

- Ether Barrage is good

- Split Surge is the best

- Chaos Vortex is a nerf for a buff so nothing is actually improved.. Mirages will still run staff for Alac... 🙄

 

My guess is they expect you to trait Mirrored Axesif you're focusing on Axes. 

They didn't want to make the Axe ambush buff to powerful with this if you're going to try to do a Staxe and get a bunch of Axe clones to do DPS while you're using 2.5s Alac from the Staff...

But it may turn into Greatsword Clones and camp Staff for Alac.

[Geronmy.3298]

Just now, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

My guess is they expect you to trait Mirrored Axesif you're focusing on Axes. 

They didn't want to make the Axe ambush buff to powerful with this if you're going to try to do a Staxe and get a bunch of Axe clones to do DPS while you're using 2.5s Alac from the Staff...

But it may turn into Greatsword Clones and camp Staff for Alac.

Yup, this is why it should have competed  against IH and not mirrored axes.

[Waffles.5632]

Yeah I just realized as well this is a straight dps loss for current staxe mirage because they will have to drop mirrored axes now if they want to give alac. 😔 RIP Mirage! Gone but not forgotten!

THE BIAS IS REAL LOL

[Roadkizzle.2157]

4 minutes ago, Waffles.5632 said:

Yeah I just realized as well this is a straight dps loss for current staxe mirage because they will have to drop mirrored axes now if they want to give alac. 😔 RIP Mirage! Gone but not forgotten!

THE BIAS IS REAL LOL

Staxe Mirage is dead!

Long live GS Power Mirage!

Huzzah!

Edited June 29, 2023 by Roadkizzle.2157

[Roadkizzle.2157]

Seriously. With this Alac support may be taken sometimes on Mirage again. 

Pure Condi Axe Mirage may still survive in PVE.

Mirage may actually get a Power build again with Greatsword.

Edited June 29, 2023 by Roadkizzle.2157

[Veprovina.4876]

4 hours ago, Waffles.5632 said:

- Split Surge is the best

Now if they could just also give clones distortion when they are summoned with Escape Artist, mirage might have a laz0rz viable build in WvW as a DPS with this new split surge! Why does it only have to be phantasms?

I dare dream. 🙂

[Roadkizzle.2157]

32 minutes ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

Now if they could just also give clones distortion when they are summoned with Escape Artist, mirage might have a laz0rz viable build in WvW as a DPS with this new split surge! Why does it only have to be phantasms?

I dare dream. 🙂

Do the clones at least get the Evade from Mirage Cloak from IH?

 

I know it won't be as good but at least something.

[Veprovina.4876]

3 minutes ago, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

Do the clones at least get the Evade from Mirage Cloak from IH?

They never survived long enough in WvW for me to notice. 😛

But they should, the trait says when you gain Mirage Cloak, your illusions also get it, so... Yes but no? Even if they do, you don't necesarily want to use yours to save your clones as they'll just get deleted either instantly or after the cloak is gone either by AOE spam, or your target dying.

That 5 seconds of distortion on creating a clone would help it, and the next one at least perform the ambush, then you can start managing your next move.

Distortion on all illusions would help mirage be a viable WvW squad build, they should have just just said illusions, not just phantasms, clones too. It just makes sense.

[AshkyLicious.4729]

5 hours ago, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

Do the clones at least get the Evade from Mirage Cloak from IH?

 

I know it won't be as good but at least something.

Clones get evade aswell! I use the dodges to give my clones evades when Ive activated a shatter skill, to protect them so they actually shatter at their target. I even think they get 66% movement speed when they get mirage cloak, which makes them run even faster to their target. 

This fails many times though, especially in wvw because of all the aoes and clones being so squishy in general.

Edited June 30, 2023 by AshkyLicious.4729