Let Us Wildly Speculate About the New Mesmer Spec

[Sviel.7493]

The video says they inflict conditions but also very real cuts--which basically means nothing.  They can go condi or power.  I guess it was more about showing off the shiny, floaty daggers?

Anyway, I doubt this will mean anything for WvW unless they somehow get ground-targeted, AoE damage.

[XenesisII.1540]

Projectiles, in wvw.

You may begin the laughing.

 

P.S Necros getting a pistol.

You may keep laughing.

Edited August 10, 2021 by XenesisII.1540

[Infusion.7149]

I don't think you'll be using daggers in WVW.

In addition, unless the bladesong skills do respectable damage it's extra work (ramp time and preparation time) for negligible improvement over something like CoR or even lava font. Will wait for the test to add additional opinion but the initial impression is it will not supplant chrono in any fashion as the default mesmer spec for group WVW.

[XenesisII.1540]

3 minutes ago, Infusion.7149 said:

I don't think you'll be using daggers in WVW.

In addition, unless the bladesong skills do respectable damage it's extra work (ramp time and preparation time) for negligible improvement over something like CoR or even lava font. Will wait for the test to add additional opinion but the initial impression is it will not supplant chrono in any fashion as the default mesmer spec for group WVW.

 

Well it looks like the shatters are also projectiles too. So it's basically another roaming spec for the daggers and shatters.

 

The aoes look ok, but pretty plain. One is straight aoe damage, one has immobilize so you'll probably chain them, and the elite is just a straight tunnel channel aoe. But competitive damage to say a hammer rev? probably not. Fully expecting heavy nerfs to keep them in check like mirage.

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by XenesisII.1540

[Infusion.7149]

They don't need to nerf it if it's weak to begin with outside PVE 🤣

 

The number one reason mesmer has been nerfed in competitive is the "one shot out of stealth" or something along the lines of non-mesmer players couldn't identify which target is not a clone (not applicable to this spec). Mirages with IH were mostly down to clones ambushing too.

 

The way I see it is the chrono nerfs this past year are probably just setting up the trio of support (chrono), power (virtuoso), and condi (mirage). It could very well be a top DPS spec in PVE with negligible utility (other than whatever boon rip / CC comes from core mesmer) but the blade mechanic still requires ramp up unless you can spawn 3 blades instantly. Mirror images would probably make 2 blades instead. Your power weapon sets would move from sword and GS to sword /sword with dagger/focus and presumably dagger would be much higher sustained damage than the GS (which people love to max range on in openworld due to the autoattack).

 

I'm not very hyped about this spec if it isn't obvious.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Infusion.7149

[God.2708]

I find it hard to believe a ground targeted AoE immobilize utility, AoE damage utility, and AoE high damage elite won't make it at least vie for a spot over scourge. Numbers dependent. Mesmers whole problem was no strong AoE pulse to add to zerg cleave. Now it has two, a new f4 that looks like pain on a push, and all the old utility that managed to keep them in at least a single slot of a zerg since game inception.

It's got the AoE utility damage of a holo with situational but usable ranged weapons and the ability to boonstrip.  At the very least I can see clouds having a new toy to kitten blobs off with.

 

[anduriell.6280]

Virtuoso doesn’t have the kit to replace necro, it does not have the corrupts.

virtuoso could take the spot of ranged dps replacing the revenant, but not with the current balance. 

[Infusion.7149]

@God.2708 :
With "berserker armor, marauder jewelry, scholar rune and accuracy sigil" in the stream the "damage utility" Rain of Swords skill had 923 damage per pulse over 5 pulses and the 4s immob Sword of Decimation had a 1K tooltip in PVE. Reduce that by 30-40% to match up with the Feb 2020 split in PVP/WVW.

The elite skill Thousand Cuts is a line attack similar to CoR and had 11K tooltip in PVE spread out over 6 hits in 3 seconds , which is a bit more promising depending on the time it takes to land. Bladeturn Requiem (F4) had 340 tooltip in PVE and more blades just results in longer duration on block and PBAOE (not distortion/invuln).

See https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/ouha5u/screenshots_of_the_virtuosos_skill_descriptions/

 

[MedievalThings.5417]

After watching the video, it seemed like a viable aoe spec for open world pve...and that's about it.

[kamikharzeeh.8016]

will fully depend on how exactly this (and the other two betatesting elite specs) will finally perform, tbh

 

necro-scourges also don't use torch in wvw, and herald/weaver autos are also reflectable... that never was the real issue. if this mesmer spec can spike with some aoe and provide sth for the group, it may be viable. we will know soon enough, as we'll get it to test in roughly one week

[Justine.6351]

I think someone will die to it and people will cry "op!" and then anet will nerf it into an open world only viability.

/salt

[Whiteout.1975]

For Me . . . 

The Good: 

 - I like the art color/design via symbols.

 

The Bad:

- I think the Spec looks overall boring from the trailer (sorry). It just flings daggers around in different yet, similar ways.

 

I would have liked to have seen more work done with illusions here. In my opinion, the Mesmer is not suppose to be about themselves as much as themselves with their illusions. Opposite of what I saw in the trailer. Honestly, having clones preform Dagger Storm - like animations would have been more interesting and more acrobatic animation styles would have been cool too.

 

What I am getting from the video is a spec that is capable of AOE damage, but more so if either caught in the crossfire of their main target or near their main target. However, the falling dagger storm (whatever the skill is called) looks like it could be a ground target AoE.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Whiteout.1975

[God.2708]

6 hours ago, Infusion.7149 said:

@God.2708 :
With "berserker armor, marauder jewelry, scholar rune and accuracy sigil" in the stream the "damage utility" Rain of Swords skill had 923 damage per pulse over 5 pulses and the 4s immob Sword of Decimation had a 1K tooltip in PVE. Reduce that by 30-40% to match up with the Feb 2020 split in PVP/WVW.

See https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/ouha5u/screenshots_of_the_virtuosos_skill_descriptions/

 

Well of Suffering was reduced from a .9 modifier to a .8 modifier in the Feb Patch. I would hope they decrease damage for Rain of Swords, but there's plenty of precedent for a skill whose role is to deal damage and vulnerability to still do so in WvW. (As a note, a necro in the same gear is dealing a little over 600 per tick tool tip with well of suffering, so a 30% decrease would put rain of swords at the same damage, albeit with 1 less tick)

You also missed Sword of Decimations damage increase vs CCed foes. Even reduced by 40% that's a chunky hit.

Mesmers can strip (Chronos annhilate scourges at boon stripping), there's no reason to think a mesmer with nullfield and a new AoE 'well' wouldn't suffice at doing a scourges job, especially when the mesmer group is dropping that on the scourge group before the scourge group is even in range to attack, and any attempts to bait it out is going to result in people dealing with mass focus pulls.

Scourge is strong because of ghastly breach and trail of anguish eating groups alive that push into you, combined with its two boon strip mid range weapon sets. A virtuoso comp would join revs and re-ignite pirateship, and their ranged spike+strip is on a lower CD than a well spike too boot.

All could get tossed out the window when thieves get pulsing AoE damage reduction or whatever fancy new support comes out, but the topics about wild speculation anyway so.

Edited August 11, 2021 by God.2708

[Dawdler.8521]

3 hours ago, Justine.6351 said:

I think someone will die to it and people will cry "op!" and then anet will nerf it into an open world only viability.

/salt

I think someone will die to it and people will cry "condi op" despite the one that killed them running marauder and then everyone agree condi is op based on the evidence provided.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Dawdler.8521

[Ronin.4501]

You'll get two dodges again...but the endurance bar will now wrap around the entire border of the screen.

[RisenHowl.2419]

On 8/10/2021 at 9:19 PM, God.2708 said:

Well of Suffering was reduced from a .9 modifier to a .8 modifier in the Feb Patch. I would hope they decrease damage for Rain of Swords, but there's plenty of precedent for a skill whose role is to deal damage and vulnerability to still do so in WvW. (As a note, a necro in the same gear is dealing a little over 600 per tick tool tip with well of suffering, so a 30% decrease would put rain of swords at the same damage, albeit with 1 less tick)

You also missed Sword of Decimations damage increase vs CCed foes. Even reduced by 40% that's a chunky hit.

Mesmers can strip (Chronos annhilate scourges at boon stripping), there's no reason to think a mesmer with nullfield and a new AoE 'well' wouldn't suffice at doing a scourges job, especially when the mesmer group is dropping that on the scourge group before the scourge group is even in range to attack, and any attempts to bait it out is going to result in people dealing with mass focus pulls.

Scourge is strong because of ghastly breach and trail of anguish eating groups alive that push into you, combined with its two boon strip mid range weapon sets. A virtuoso comp would join revs and re-ignite pirateship, and their ranged spike+strip is on a lower CD than a well spike too boot.

All could get tossed out the window when thieves get pulsing AoE damage reduction or whatever fancy new support comes out, but the topics about wild speculation anyway so.

This is where i'm at with the new mes spec, looks like it'll play as a cross between rev/necro in terms of damage type and strips with better CC and less/no group boon support. It's definitely going to shake the meta up