Upcoming Weapon Balance - Rifle Confirmed Chrono Support Only Weapon

[RosySefein.8072]

There was no mobility added to rifle.

There was no mention of damage number modification. 

No changes to mirage ambush on rifle.

Most importantly Rifle 5 is still absolutely garbage in PvP and WvW.

Changes to the phantasm are sub par at best. 

Just pray we get an elite spec in the next expack and it's melee hammer instead of more projectile nonsense. (WvW and PvP players will understand). 

Thanks Anet. 

[ShadowKatt.6740]

1 hour ago, RosySefein.8072 said:

There was no mobility added to rifle.

There was no mention of damage number modification. 

No changes to mirage ambush on rifle.

Most importantly Rifle 5 is still absolutely garbage in PvP and WvW.

Changes to the phantasm are sub par at best. 

Just pray we get an elite spec in the next expack and it's melee hammer instead of more projectile nonsense. (WvW and PvP players will understand). 

Thanks Anet. 

You'll get your hammer, don't worry

It'll be a ranged weapon at 600 range
2 will be a clone that performs a single knockdown effect, no damage
3 will be a phantasm that throws the hammer like a boomerang and stuns
4 will summon illusory hammers to orbit you as a PBAoE doing strike damage and inflicting weakness
5 will slam the ground creating an expanding field that reflects projectiles, just like Feedback.

And remember, when you complain about it, YOU'RE the problem. Obviously mesmers need this weapon. It fills a niche.

[Geronmy.3298]

3 hours ago, RosySefein.8072 said:

There was no mobility added to rifle.

There was no mention of damage number modification. 

No changes to mirage ambush on rifle.

Most importantly Rifle 5 is still absolutely garbage in PvP and WvW.

Changes to the phantasm are sub par at best. 

Just pray we get an elite spec in the next expack and it's melee hammer instead of more projectile nonsense. (WvW and PvP players will understand). 

Thanks Anet. 

And even then people are debating whether camping scepter and shield or rifle because both are equally good on heal chrono.

 

[Teknomancer.4895]

Considering skill 5 is more or less a waste, I'm not sure I'd even go that far. Instead of taking the loads of complaints and suggestions about that skill seriously, they appear to have decided that the real problem was that it didn't have enough particle spam. 🙄

 

 

PS However, if the new effect is something cool like a butterfly-shaped portal that shatters into stained-glass shards when used, I reserve the right to revise my opinion. 🤣

Edited February 15 by Teknomancer.4895
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[ZephidelGRS.9520]

Only Heal Chrono can use Rifle because it’s a simple deduction game. Obviously Virtuoso doesn’t heal, Mirage has unaddressed issues, and core is….. core. Naturally it comes down to Chrono as the default healer spec of Mesmer.  

And the Phantasm change is very favorable, not only 2 charges mean it’s on par with Staff/Greatsword in terms of Clone generation and Alac/Quick application, but it also means twice the CC. 

16 hours ago, Geronmy.3298 said:

And even then people are debating whether camping scepter and shield or rifle because both are equally good on heal chrono.

Why not both?

Camping Scepter/Shield exclusively will make you have quite a slow start and very tight Regen uptime, but it helps you have an easy time sustaining the Clones required to maintain all the Shatters. That’s why right now Staff is often used as the opener, then followed with Scepter/Shield to sustain the boons/heal. 

Most likely Rifle will compete with Staff for the position of which is the better opener now that it can do 2 Phantasms just like Staff (we’ll see the numbers, but I don’t think we have to wait for long to spend the charges). And I think Rifle will win over Staff.

Comparably, Rifle also has access to Chaos Aura (via comboing, even better now that it’s instant), similar Clone generation/boon application, while having bigger heal numbers and better  CC than Staff. So the best heal combo will most likely be Scepter/Shield + Rifle. 

[Levetty.1279]

We always knew Rifle was meant to be a support weapon and that was never going to change.

The problem is that this support weapon doesn't synergise with our support traits at all and it was obvious no effort was put into it so it isn't surprising they didn't fix any of the problems with it.

I also want a melee hammer next but I wouldn't hold your breath on whatever we get next being any good.

[Nepster.4275]

3 hours ago, Levetty.1279 said:

We always knew Rifle was meant to be a support weapon and that was never going to change.

The problem is that this support weapon doesn't synergise with our support traits at all and it was obvious no effort was put into it so it isn't surprising they didn't fix any of the problems with it.

I also want a melee hammer next but I wouldn't hold your breath on whatever we get next being any good.

Welcome to mesmer where nothing synergizes with anything mostly

Don't be surprised that there is no effort put into the whole class, if there would be any, the forums would be on fire, just like back when ANet actually cared of what mesmer has

 

[Teknomancer.4895]

8 hours ago, Levetty.1279 said:

We always knew Rifle was meant to be a support weapon and that was never going to change.

A "weapon" that you can't even use as a club if you get focused isn't much of a weapon in my book.

[draxynnic.3719]

12 hours ago, ZephidelGRS.9520 said:

Only Heal Chrono can use Rifle because it’s a simple deduction game. Obviously Virtuoso doesn’t heal, Mirage has unaddressed issues, and core is….. core. Naturally it comes down to Chrono as the default healer spec of Mesmer.  

Heal mirage is a build that almost exists, but as long as rifle has no means of providing alacrity, support mirages will remain locked to dual staff.

[Curunen.8729]

I love all the number tweaks. /s

Looking forward to next year's weapon (please be Hammer and please be good!)

[FlowingWater.6193]

I have been wishing for a mesmer rifle for years and not gonna lie, that monkey's paw is really curling right now

[HotDelirium.7984]

8 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Heal mirage is a build that almost exists, but as long as rifle has no means of providing alacrity, support mirages will remain locked to dual staff.

healquickness mirage! I can almost taste it.. why cant they see it ;_;

[HotDelirium.7984]

18 hours ago, Levetty.1279 said:

We always knew Rifle was meant to be a support weapon and that was never going to change.

The problem is that this support weapon doesn't synergise with our support traits at all and it was obvious no effort was put into it so it isn't surprising they didn't fix any of the problems with it.

I also want a melee hammer next but I wouldn't hold your breath on whatever we get next being any good.

they probaly want us to use rifle with mantras which might be okay for open world but DOA for group play since no quickness or alac. Mantras also take time to prepare and that takes time away from skills.

[Levetty.1279]

3 hours ago, HotDelirium.7984 said:

they probaly want us to use rifle with mantras which might be okay for open world but DOA for group play since no quickness or alac.

You have that backwards.

[Geronmy.3298]

14 hours ago, HotDelirium.7984 said:

healquickness mirage! I can almost taste it.. why cant they see it ;_;

Should be alacrity. If it's not then you might have a spec providing both essential boons even if it's bad at it. Alacrity plus some might and prot should be ok, considering Staff does Alacrity, might and fury.

And they literally despise Mirage. It's a meme spec for them and it's been obvious this whole time. You can see how they joke about it on the streams every time someone bring the topic up.

[Geronmy.3298]

14 hours ago, HotDelirium.7984 said:

they probaly want us to use rifle with mantras which might be okay for open world but DOA for group play since no quickness or alac. Mantras also take time to prepare and that takes time away from skills.

Rifle is also not a weapon any sane person can take to OW.

[mirage.8046]

At this point, they likely think alac mirage was a mistake and they don't want mirage to be able to do that unless they want to dual wield staffs, which means giving up the brand new weapon for that.

[Geronmy.3298]

And right now they don't have any grounds to call it a  mistake when all other  profs have at least 2 specs that can run either heal or boondps. Few of them have specs that can be both and also a regular dps.

But thinking giving something cool to Mirage is a mistake would be on brand.

[draxynnic.3719]

2 hours ago, mirage.8046 said:

At this point, they likely think alac mirage was a mistake and they don't want mirage to be able to do that unless they want to dual wield staffs, which means giving up the brand new weapon for that.

To be frank, they might well be right if they think it's a mistake, but if so they should just bite the bullet, kill the build, and rebalance mirage staff back to being DPS. And having an ambush skill on a healing weapon is pretty much pointless if there's no viable heal build, unless the damage on the ambush skill is good enough to make rifle a decent utility weapon for a DPS mirage.

[ZephidelGRS.9520]

1 hour ago, Geronmy.3298 said:

And right now they don't have any grounds to call it a  mistake when all other  profs have at least 2 specs that can run either heal or boondps. Few of them have specs that can be both and also a regular dps.

But thinking giving something cool to Mirage is a mistake would be on brand.

In other profs then Chrono would be the Quick spec while Mirage would be the Alac spec. That's how they are balanced: 1 Alac spec, 1 Quick spec, and heal is more a byproduct of their traits' capability. That's why we see a lot of boon DPS but we don't see any heal Warriors, Quick Heal Deadeye, Alac Heal Willbender or Quick Heal Harbinger.  

But Chrono does both, in fact it can fill anything now that it can heal. That's why for Mesmers it's kinda weird, and Mirage is stuck having no clearly defined roles unlike other specs. Why play Alac Mirage with its abysmal uptime when Chrono does it 10x times better? Why play condi Mirage when Virt does it 100x times easier?

The only solution I see is taking away Chrono's Alac share and limit it to sharing Quick only, so that Mirage can be fleshed out as the Alac spec. But if that's implemented I'm sure all of Mesmer playerbase will immediately throw a fit. 

Edited February 18 by ZephidelGRS.9520

[FlowingWater.6193]

24 minutes ago, ZephidelGRS.9520 said:

In other profs then Chrono would be the Quick spec while Mirage would be the Alac spec. That's how they are balanced: 1 Alac spec, 1 Quick spec, and heal is more a byproduct of their traits' capability. That's why we see a lot of boon DPS but we don't see any heal Warriors, Quick Heal Deadeye, Alac Heal Willbender or Quick Heal Harbinger.  

But Chrono does both, in fact it can fill anything now that it can heal. That's why for Mesmers it's kinda weird, and Mirage is stuck having no clearly defined roles unlike other specs. Why play Alac Mirage with its abysmal uptime when Chrono does it 10x times better? Why play condi Mirage when Virt does it 100x times easier?

The only solution I see is taking away Chrono's Alac share and limit it to sharing Quick only, so that Mirage can be fleshed out as the Alac spec. But if that's implemented I'm sure all of Mesmer playerbase will immediately throw a fit. 

I don't think this will ever happen. Messing around with time itself is a core part of the design and philosophy that went into chronomancers, and alacrity released with them. I find it much more likely that any kind of quickness will be removed from them.

I don't disagree with you from a balance and technical perspective that it would be more healthy to have mirage be re-designed and re-oriented towards granting alacrity (or some other similar great change), but I just don't see this happening to chrono because of their associated thematics.

Edited February 18 by FlowingWater.6193

[Mevelios.4809]

19 minutes ago, ZephidelGRS.9520 said:

That's why we see a lot of boon DPS but we don't see any heal Warriors

Rather, almost nobody is giving it a shot, it's been nearly two months I've been running one and it works well already without the staff in raids & strikes, passed several CMs with it too (whether tanking or not). Only met another healsworn once so far!

Healsworn build found here and qheal zerk left in the same topic there.

[Geronmy.3298]

10 minutes ago, FlowingWater.6193 said:

I don't think this will ever happen. Messing around with time itself is a core part of the design and philosophy that went into chronomancers, and alacrity released with them. I find it much more likely that any kind of quickness will be removed from them.

I don't disagree with you from a balance and technical perspective that it would be more healthy to have mirage be re-designed and re-oriented towards granting alacrity (or some other similar great change), but I just don't see this happening to chrono because of their associated thematics.

I myself don't want to see any other spec butchered and have Mirage to blame, but also there's no reason to not throw a bone to it from time to time without breaking a leg in the process.

[ShadowKatt.6740]

1 hour ago, ZephidelGRS.9520 said:

In other profs then Chrono would be the Quick spec while Mirage would be the Alac spec. That's how they are balanced: 1 Alac spec, 1 Quick spec, and heal is more a byproduct of their traits' capability. That's why we see a lot of boon DPS but we don't see any heal Warriors, Quick Heal Deadeye, Alac Heal Willbender or Quick Heal Harbinger.  

But Chrono does both, in fact it can fill anything now that it can heal. That's why for Mesmers it's kinda weird, and Mirage is stuck having no clearly defined roles unlike other specs. Why play Alac Mirage with its abysmal uptime when Chrono does it 10x times better? Why play condi Mirage when Virt does it 100x times easier?

The only solution I see is taking away Chrono's Alac share and limit it to sharing Quick only, so that Mirage can be fleshed out as the Alac spec. But if that's implemented I'm sure all of Mesmer playerbase will immediately throw a fit. 

I think you look at this the wrong way. I am and always have been of the opinion that Chrono should have exclusive access to alacrity and I believe it should be able to provide both Alac and Quick at the same time. Afterall, it's the CHRONOmancer. It absolutely should be able to do those. And if it can heal as well through Inspiration and Illusion, as well as traits like All's Well, then even more better.

What I DON'T agree with is that Chrono should be some kind of amazing offensive spec. Not that it shouldnt be able to do it at all, but I don't think you should necessarily -want- to take a power chrono unless you just really like chrono above the others. Kinda like how I play core because i don't really care about the other specs, even though I'm well aware that core mesmer is trash mesmer.

On the flip side of this coin though, I don't think Mirage should have alacrity at all. I think it should be stripped from them entirely. However I saw that because I think that Mirage should be an amazing OFFENSIVE spec, not support. I think that ambushes should hit like a god kitten truck, with lots of Vigor application to refill endurance faster for even more ambushes. I honestly want to see Mirages be a literal blur across the battlefield because they're just ambushing over and over again, invincible, intangible, a flurry of axes or daggers or whatever you want to do. THAT should be their role. ANd if you want to play a condi mirage with Chaos/Domination, or a support Mirage with Illusion/Inspiration, then you do you. A shatterstorm build with inspiration can heal for lots, but as it stands right now literally the ONLY thing anyone wants or cares about from Mirage is alacrity, and it sucks.

[Geronmy.3298]

5 minutes ago, ShadowKatt.6740 said:

 

On the flip side of this coin though, I don't think Mirage should have alacrity at all. I think it should be stripped from them entirely. However I saw that because I think that Mirage should be an amazing OFFENSIVE spec, not support. I think that ambushes should hit like a god kitten truck, with lots of Vigor application to refill endurance faster for even more ambushes. I honestly want to see Mirages be a literal blur across the battlefield because they're just ambushing over and over again, invincible, intangible, a flurry of axes or daggers or whatever you want to do. THAT should be their role. ANd if you want to play a condi mirage with Chaos/Domination, or a support Mirage with Illusion/Inspiration, then you do you. A shatterstorm build with inspiration can heal for lots, but as it stands right now literally the ONLY thing anyone wants or cares about from Mirage is alacrity, and it sucks.

You fail to understand that it can be both. One thing should not subtract from the other.

Berserker will be a healer, Untamed is currently a healer and they kept their original playstyles intact, they just got access to new tools.

. For pvp and wvw yeah, having all that mobility is cool, but in instanced content is more of a detriment when is random (look at axe 3).

And people only care about alacrity is for Mirage to do SOMETHING. As it stands right now you have no other reason to play it other than being a masochist who likes the spec.

Healers should bring either alacrity or quickness and Mirage has been established as a really mediocre Adps for a while now.You might have a lot of opinions about how boons work, but right now they stopped being exclusive at all. There's no reason to butcher it just because the spec doesn't suit it from a fantasy stand point.(and you can 100% make up any excuse for Mirage to provide Alacrity, such as  focusing on the Oasis part of the fantasy to relieve allies granting them alacrity, protection and might). Giving it access to use the HEALING weapon to also become a competent healer is not a big of a stretch, all the tools are already on core mesmer other than the alacrity itself than can come easy from the ambush.

Edited February 18 by Geronmy.3298