Let's talk about Bladeturn Requiem

[dead.7638]

So you want to give virt a less useful skill in place of one that offers far more.   It already has distortion.   So idk where you are going with this.  To my knowledge this thread is about f5 not removing f4 from virt.   

Edited September 26, 2023 by dead.7638

[dead.7638]

I feel a slight dmg buff would give, me in the least, a peace of mind that f5 can be a useful skill.   I don’t think there needs to be a trade off…

[Terrorhuz.4695]

7 hours ago, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

Distortion isn't abusable with Continuum Shift because you lose all the Clones with Continuum Shift so you don't have a long Distortion.

A perfectly valid counter to CS is supposed to be CC\weakness. An invulnerable chronomancer is uncounterable, and I don't like uncounterable things. 1s distortion is all you need to cover the beginning of a CS (and after that it's pointless, as target is on the defensive).

5 hours ago, Seventh Ranger.3968 said:

If you just want Mesmer to be weak and unplayable because you hate facing them, that' ok, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Yeah I really hate mesmer.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Terrorhuz.4695

[Seventh Ranger.3968]

6 hours ago, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

Virtuoso Blades are a much bigger change in how the Mesmer plays. It takes the clunky clones and makes for very fluid combat.

You say Necro specs are good because they soup up the shroud mechanic. But the Virtuoso blade mechanic does the same thing for Mesmer. 

I think Distortion should be removed from Virtuoso. But only because I think that it should have its own unique defensive shatter by giving Bladeturn Requiem its channeled block back.

 

Sure the enemy can get Unblockable. But that is part of the differentiation the Virtuoso has. The Virtuoso is the most offensive oriented Mesmer spec. No Mesmer can generate Illusions as quickly to cast the shatters as often. When other Mesmers kill their target they have to spend multiple skills to generate new Clones but the Virtuoso retains it's blades to immediately move onto the next target.

Clones are inherently more defensive than Blades because they mess up the enemy target priority again leading the Virtuoso to be the most offensive oriented espec for the class.

I think your reasoning that the Virtuoso must keep the Core shatter skill in order to have a mechanic that wouldn't exist otherwise is ludicrous.

I'm not against the idea of Virtuoso having something different than Distortion, it could kinda fit thematically. But it would have to be better than what the old Bladeturn Requiem was. Either stronger defensive capabilities, so that it can be a worthy replacement for Distortion, or a lower cooldown, to make up for its weaker defense. Also your assertion that Virtuoso has higher damage output than other Mesmer specs is provably untrue if you play a lot of PvP. Chrono has extremely high burst potential, and it has Continuum Split in addition to Distortion, while also having a ton of useful and powerful wells, unlike Virtuoso, which really only gains 1 useful new slot skill. I don't think Virtuoso necessarily needs to only have 4 Shatters to be balanced. Also I personally don't think the Blades "soup up" the clone type mechanic the way you think they do. Losing actual physical clones makes Virtuoso a lot more vulnerable and easier to dive, pin down, and kill, because it has no ways to hide or be slippery. To me, it's more of a "lose a little, get a little" situation, which isn't enough to make Virtuoso strong by itself. Also, this is coming from someone who's fought against Virtuosos more than I've fought as one myself. I'm not a main, I just kinda like the spec, and am sad to see it gutted so badly. I never see Virtuosos in PvP anymore, and when I do, it always feels like a free win/easy fight. Since the nerfs, I've literally only ever run into 1 Virtuoso that gave me trouble, and even that was because his build kind of countered mine, rather than because it was actually strong. I don't love it like someone who mains it, or hate it like someone who wants it deleted, I just like all the classes and specs, and want to see each of them be viable and playable, especially for the people out there who do main them and love them with a passion.