Our New Mesmer Elite Specialization: The Virtuoso

[Konrad Curze.5130]

I think it looks like shhhhht, and only getting a main hand instead of both mh/oh or a 2h sucks real bad.

oh well, and least it wasnt just an offhand, that'd have been even more insulting

 

 

I like mesmer precisely for the clones mechanic, and imho making the only profession thats different just like the others is actually a step backwards, not forward

 

coupled with everything else shown, Im actually thinking that for the first time in over a decade I might actually drop GW and go play other games like New World or FF14 that arent complete disappointments

Edited July 27, 2021 by Konrad Curze.5130

[Daniel Handler.4816]

3 minutes ago, Xaylin.1860 said:

I don't think we can really tell wether it will just be bursty or also pack DPS. Just bursty would be disappointing considering we already had that with baseline power Shatter since launch.

 

The requirement of having Slow up might indeed work for coordinated PvE content but is quite useless in many other cases. I'm not against niche uses for traits and skills. But that's like 33% of Chrono traits. Would be a pitty if it turned out this way.

 

baseline power is basically single target. this seems closer to a dragonhunter esque style, lots of quick aoe, but not sustain.

[Xaylin.1860]

DH does bring DPS as well... Doesn't mean Virtuoso will... just saying. 😁

[Daniel Handler.4816]

1 hour ago, Allarius.5670 said:

Additional things to note upon watching closely.

• Weapon skills, profession skills, and utilities all have the "blade" designator.

 

Looks like there are traits that perform the following:

• Blades inflict vulnerability on strike.
• Phantasms fire a blade at their target when they complete their attack.
• Phantasm skills inflict vulnerability on strike (the ability the Mesmer performs, not the skill the Phantasm performs)

 

Anyone find anything else?

they have dueling traited but blades aren't inflicting bleeding on crit. this is either a bug/oversight or there is a trait that would make blade skills work with signet of the ether, sharper images etc.

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Daniel Handler.4816

[Zoser.7245]

It looks like a PvE dps specializacion.  Well, maybe more a raid one, as in hardcore PvE content, when you solo hard thing without clones, it means that you are focused but "The Virtuoso" lacks of sustain, like Mirage, but also without the evades...  It will be a free kill in hardcore content, in PvP too and WvW with the projectile hate plus the lack of mobility that is another handicap.  Even its distortion utility roots him in exchange of recharge its dagger stacks.  Blink and portal will not save you more than once and being focused you will always killed. It's a matter of have a bit of patience, force its block and distortion and kill it as it lacks of mobility and sustain. Meanwhile you can heal its dps while waiting the right momment with other professions/specializations.  

 

The dps in the video also means nothing as it's a test server.  And we know that, at the end, things are nerfed and toned down till certain more or less average level. Probably one of the best, but remember the Deadeye reaper thing and how fast it was nerfed. So, being a pure dps, does only give you advantage in a niche of situations and content. Like in raid or farm PvE events.

 

Let's see what traits add but i can only watch it in raid and regular PvE content. At least, a new power dps ranged weapon is welcome for some content., it adds something new.  But i'm almost sure that,  less a big surprise through traits..., i will still prefer the  Mirage above this one if they do not destroy the Mirage in a future rework...

 

Now waiting for the  traits day,  but more for what other specializations offer. I like the new ranged weapon but not at the cost of lose my Mirage mobility and also losing the clones distraction and still with no sustain. Too much sacrifice for only dps.. So a raid thing and for farm events...  

Edited July 27, 2021 by Zoser.7245

[Daniel Handler.4816]

2 minutes ago, Xaylin.1860 said:

DH does bring DPS as well... Doesn't mean Virtuoso will... just saying. 😁

it does, but it doesnt do more dps than power chrono in a raid setting. 

 

virtuoso seems like something that shines more in fractals/open world. You'd still need power chrono for a boss.

[mortrialus.3062]

So overall I'm very happy with this elite specialization except the name.  Virtuoso is too connected to musicians and this spec has nothing to do with bards or music.  I think Phantom Blade would be a way better sort of name, since that perfectly describes the spec.

 

First things first while this spec is obviously geared towards power, I hope this also signals they're going to rework the various condition damage weapons, which has been something the game has needed for a long time.  Staff and Scepter get about 50% of their auto attack damage from the clones.  Without clones that's just a massive part of your weapon's inherent damage that it needs gone.   I hope Arenanet moves the damage from the auto attack chains away from the clones and puts it aaaaalll on the mesmer.  Not only would this be better for the mesmer in general, it'd also be healthier for the game in PvP since you won't have condition mesmer turret gameplay.  The mesmer would need to actively be attacking the target to do damage.  Even if the spec is primarily geared towards power damage, condition builds should still be interesting and viable on it the way Power Mirage was still decently viable for years just not meta.

 

With that out of the way, I love the spells and theming of the specialization.  Dagger was my first choice personally as well as a specialization that removes clones and does something different entirely.  The spells look great and super fun and I love how it seems capable of firing this relentless barrage and in huge AOEs.  I also love how the shatters become true projectiles now.  While this will for sure have downsides as people can counter projectiles, it also has a lot of upsides as well. 

 

1. Your Bladesongs move much faster than your shattered clones can run even with the Chrono super speed trait.
2.  If you have line of sight but your or your opponent is on terrain that your clones would struggle to path to, you can still hit them.
3. The mesmer does not need to be in point blank melee range to make the most out of the Bladesong skillls. So you can truly hang out in the back and free cast onto opponents and potentially wrack up kills.
4.  When you bladesong, you don't have to worry about your clones being cleaved to death by incidental cleave or CC'd.

There's obviously going to be some losses.  No confusing your opponent with decoys.  We trade distortion for block and damage.  But the new mechanic has a lot going for it as long as the numbers are right. 

 

Now, some downsides, not only does Virtuoso lose distortion, but it doesn't appear to have a stunbreak on any of the utilities.  Blade renewal seems like the best utility for PvP and it's also defensive utility and a distortion bandaid and would really benefit from having a stunbreak on it. 

 

And while a lot of people are super concerned about the builds survivability, I think we can't just it until we see the traits.  It's entirely possible the Virtuoso has a trait like Deadeye's Sniper's Scope which singlehandedly gives you all the sustain you need.  It could be that the Virtuoso's base damage is so high that it can afford to run both Chaos and Illusions and still have heavy killing potential like Holosmith.  We really don't know. 

 

Obviously the numbers are all over the place (Look at that elite skill, 40k damage with no might lol, that's not making it live).  So ultimately we'll have to see how it shakes out but I think it has promising potential.  

[Kondor.2904]

47 minutes ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

These glass cannons  builds are all that power mesmer ever had.

Mirage? We're talking about the core traits are enough sustain, unless you want to spec the famous dual elite traitlines.

I guess reading isn't your forte (ah see what I did here music enthusiasts?), again we're talking specing core/core/virtuoso.

 

No one ever played core power mesmer with tripple offensive traitlines in pvp.  No one, except some youtubers for memes and these singular cases do not serve as a relevant representation. So idk what "glasscannon" builds you talk about that power mesmers only ever had. 

What ? I don't know what you are talking about but I was talking about power mesmer and its relevant traitline choices, which include both core and elite ones. I stated at the very beginning that we have core traitlines that provide sustain. We also have elite spec that provide sustain. A competent power build consists of 1 defensive traitline and 2 offensive ones, I used mirage as an example of that, because mirage is a relevant power mesmer build and chrono is not a relevant one. I also used core mesmer as an example.

For virtuoso to become relevant it needs to a) offer enough sustain so you can pick other 2 core offensive traitlines or b) offer enough offense so you can drop 1 offensive core traitline and take a defensive one. So it doesn't have to be strictly core offensive + core offensive + virtuoso to deal dmg.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Kondor.2904

[Kondor.2904]

Double post

Edited July 27, 2021 by Kondor.2904

[Grand Marshal.4098]

People complaining about the name, aren't virtuosos in general associated with some form of mastery over several different types of art? As in, profficient in stuff that's not music too? 

[Sodeni.6041]

4 hours ago, Kondor.2904 said:

3s block, 3s distortion baseline, 6k+ heal on 20s with aegis + double dodge is a glass canon ? k

block can be avoided easily by various skills. 3s distortion with a HUGE cooldown, taken away from f4. also, f4 can't be activated without a dagger unlike core mesmer or mirage so that's a nerf as well. the heal seems good but will most likely be nerfed. It has 0 mobility, 0 condi removal apart from getting rid of 1 condi with the heal (lol) and applies no potent buffs or condis, no stunbreak.

ALSO every attack is a projectile, good luck fighting against reflects or blocks, especially in wvw.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Sodeni.6041

[mortrialus.3062]

21 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

People complaining about the name, aren't virtuosos in general associated with some form of mastery over several different types of art? As in, profficient in stuff that's not music too? 

True but this thing is 100% blade themed and i mean you can vaguely say blade art or something but that's kind of just a weird stretch. 

[Sodeni.6041]

3 hours ago, Stand The Wall.6987 said:

looks like mesmer has a wvw aoe damage spec, mucho coolio

wvw aoe damage spec? literally everything except for 2 mediocre utility aoes (you need other utilities to survive anyway) is a projectile. good luck with that on wvw, you will never hit any enemy because there's reflects everywhere.

[AXLIB.8425]

1 hour ago, Arheundel.6451 said:

Insane barrier generation...did you check the numbers correctly Pal? Also you said it right...ele sacrifice mobility and damage for sustain  while using defensive utilities...you can do the same by using torch, decoy, blink...plenty of defensive options when you invest in it! I love nothing more than to see the same treatment eles have received since launch being extended to other professions....trade damage for sustain and viceversa... it'd be about kitten time

Elemental refreshment + Bolstered Elemental + Invigorating Strikes is the reason why a weaver can often 1 v 3 in pvp.

[Ardenwolfe.8590]

Color me unimpressed.

[vilesoldier.9826]

34 minutes ago, Sodeni.6041 said:

wvw aoe damage spec? literally everything except for 2 mediocre utility aoes (you need other utilities to survive anyway) is a projectile. good luck with that on wvw, you will never hit any enemy because there's reflects everywhere.

curious what you'll say when we see traits

but of course Anet has 'never' made blockable skills unblockable when traited hm? 🤔

[Zoser.7245]

One thing it took my attention is that by default, it has +50% damage vs inactivity in F skills...  Will that be stacked with Domination traits?  I smell a future rework of domination. I doubt of  that it can be stacked with mental Anguish.  Well,  we will discover it later.  As it seems that certain reworks are upcoming this year before the expansion.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Zoser.7245

[vilesoldier.9826]

2 minutes ago, Zoser.7245 said:

The distortion utility seems to root yourself in the place unless you cancel it. It is like a big pink traffic light warning the world to be aware of you.  Yes, you gain time, but also your enemies that now know that you are there rooted. LOL   It remember me the Sylvari racial elite. It was popular combined with a big mobility or stealth from several skills but if you lack of them, no.  And less if you are a glass cannon as enemies already should be aware of a probable counter-attack.

Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons - First Look - YouTube (48:29)

 

mesmer clearly moving.

[Zoser.7245]

17 minutes ago, GeneralBM.5781 said:

Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons - First Look - YouTube (48:29)

 

mesmer clearly moving.

Then something happened with the video when i watched it previously because it was still.  Uhmmm i'll edit my post.   Don't you believe that Mental Anguish is now embedded in the Virtuoso F1-F2 skills? Not sure why they did it but they could have been a bit more creative. Or, like i suspect, it can be due to a future rework.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Zoser.7245

[Daniel Handler.4816]

 

6 minutes ago, Zoser.7245 said:

Then something happened with the video when i watched it previously because it was still.  Uhmmm i'll edit my post.   Don't you believe that Mental Anguish is now embedded in the Virtuoso F1 skill?

 

it isn't embedded. f2 also had it. f3-f4 probably do too, it just didnt show on the tool tip since f3-f4 dont normally deal damage.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Daniel Handler.4816

[Me Games Ma.3024]

I believe I figured out a trait of the bew spec:

Vulnerability on crit. 

Correct me if i'm wrong since PvP gear isnt my field of knowledge but i believe sigils like frailty also have an ICD in PvP right? In the video it clearly shows that the dagger autohit stacked vulnerability on critical hits. And since it's not in the tooltip (similar to sharper images) i guess that is one of our new traits.

 

My main concern rn is: how will sword 3 work with this spec? I hope they thought of that ^^

[Stand The Wall.6987]

hey op where did you get this info?

[NICENIKESHOE.7128]

Could be like ranger where a trait makes the blades are unblockable, then this would very much be a viable spec in WvW given no reliance on illusions.

 

Either way gotta command them for making a new system for mesmer than "hurhur here's a spec you can dodge while using skills, oh and ambushes".

 

I think it actually work in mesmers favor in that we finally got a spec that doesn't rely on destructible (by others) resources and can actually store when mobs die.

 

I'm actually interested to see if a hex type denial traitline could be generated

Edited July 27, 2021 by NICENIKESHOE.7128

[Allarius.5670]

4 minutes ago, Me Games Ma.3024 said:

I believe I figured out a trait of the bew spec:

Vulnerability on crit. 

Correct me if i'm wrong since PvP gear isnt my field of knowledge but i believe sigils like frailty also have an ICD in PvP right? In the video it clearly shows that the dagger autohit stacked vulnerability on critical hits. And since it's not in the tooltip (similar to sharper images) i guess that is one of our new traits.

 

My main concern rn is: how will sword 3 work with this spec? I hope they thought of that ^^

 

I thought it might be vuln on blade skill, but another poster suggested the same as you. I went back in slowmo and found cases that are inconsistent with both. Could just be a bug in the inconsistent cases.

[Zoser.7245]

10 minutes ago, Daniel Handler.4816 said:

 

 

it isn't embedded. f2 also had it. f3-f4 probably do too, it just didnt show on the tool tip since f3-f4 dont normally deal damage.

I was editing. Yes it's in F1 and F2 skills so i have my doubts that if it will be stacked... or is something more and some changes in the Domination trait line including Mental Anguish will be done.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Zoser.7245