The Virtuoso: Traits Discussion

[mortrialus.3062]

One of the more disappointing things is that while other specs usually gain access to boons they either didn't have at all or didn't have a lot of access to Virtuoso is getting... Bleed and Fury and Vulnerability?  All of which core mesmer has lots of already.

 

Willbringer is getting access to Alacrity. Harbinger is getting team quickness.  Previous specs like Firebrand got team quickness.  Reaper got tons of chill. Renegade got team Alacrity.  Berserker got tons and tons of burning.  Scourge got burning and barrier.  I can go on.

 

Virtuoso should have gotten chill on crit or tons of swiftness and super speed to help it maintain range and kite or something.  Something to give it more identify.

[Roda.7468]

4 hours ago, mortrialus.3062 said:

...super speed to help it maintain range and kite or something.  Something to give it more identify.

That would require anet to want ranged gameplay to exist in their game at all.

[Salt Mode.3780]

Right now the only 2 traits that are carrying the class is Aegis when shattering and Block/evade attack for quickness. If those 2 traits got nerfed Virtuoso will crumble in competitive game mode. 

As far as PvE goes bleed is the weakest dmging condi so I don't know what they are thinking.

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

6 minutes ago, Salt Mode.3780 said:

Right now the only 2 traits that are carrying the class is Aegis when shattering and Block/evade attack for quickness. If those 2 traits got nerfed Virtuoso will crumble in competitive game mode. 

As far as PvE goes bleed is the weakest dmging condi so I don't know what they are thinking.

Yeah, those are the only traits that matter. The grandmaster is not bad, except it will have awful sinergy with stealth.

Apart from the top row it's absolute trash (pvp). 

Also aegis on shattering and F4 what's the point?

[Me Games Ma.3024]

10 minutes ago, Salt Mode.3780 said:

Right now the only 2 traits that are carrying the class is Aegis when shattering and Block/evade attack for quickness. If those 2 traits got nerfed Virtuoso will crumble in competitive game mode. 

As far as PvE goes bleed is the weakest dmging condi so I don't know what they are thinking.

Keep in mind that to reliably inflict bleeds we'll need a lot of precision. Our only ways to inflicting bleeds is the Jagged Mind, Sharper Images and Duelist's Discipline that means 2/3 ways need crits. And guess what, there's no viable condi gear with lots of precision :D

Edited August 16, 2021 by Me Games Ma.3024

[Salt Mode.3780]

One thing to note and this is so dumb, Virtuoso has "Blade" and "Psionic" tool tip but no traits or anything to affect any of those 2 things. 

So its basically "Glamour" all over again.  

[Me Games Ma.3024]

3 minutes ago, Salt Mode.3780 said:

One thing to note and this is so dumb, Virtuoso has "Blade" and "Psionic" tool tip but no traits or anything to affect any of those 2 things. 

So its basically "Glamour" all over again.  

Nah the Blade tooltip actually does affect the 2 on crit traits meaning only skills with "Blade" can proc these which makes them much worse meaning only virtuoso skills apply to them. Sword doesn't count as blade. Mirror Blade doesn't count as blade. Hype.

 

But yeah. Nothing for Psionics, sadly. Where other classes get cool traits for their abilities we get nothing.

[Noodle Ant.1605]

i feel like whoever designed/took charge over the traits was a bit too preoccupied in fulfilling roles (unfortunately through fairly passive ways) rather than just going ham on mechanic interactions/themes. the 2-2-2 for role x or 3-3-3 for y is very obvious this time round, whereas other existing especs do not do this. for instance, 1-1-1 on weaver focuses on their dual attuning mechanic, whereas 2-2-2 has some sort of swiftness thematic - there is no clear line each for pdps/cdps/support or pvp-related (maybe 1 line but not all 3). this new traitline approach also seems to be plaguing harbinger as well

 

a more ‘generic’ approach wouldve been something like having the top line focus on aegis/dodging/blocking, middle line on the newly changed resource generation (or possibly a mass-particle-creating abomination theme as suggested by ‘infinite forge’), and bottom line be blade skills and bladesongs. the idea would also be to not be so distracted by roles, instead creating ‘interesting’ traits and only falling back on passive boosts as an emergency or occasional occurrence

it also seems like they were overly concerned about balancing virtuoso before being released, and even before being played in beta… where its expected to be somewhat op so that players get hooked and it sells better. its like trying to sell pvp/wvw mirage as it is now… looking past the flashy fx and the ambush/mirage cloak mechanic, how can one make themselves excited for one dodge?

 

anyways, i like to imagine infinite forge (or any gm trait) disabling the players ability to manually stock blades, but it automatically stocks 1 blade every 1-1.5 seconds (up to max/5) so the player is given an option to ignore needing to build up blades/resources entirely

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by Noodle Ant.1605

[phokus.8934]

This has Karl's name written all over it.

[Xaylin.1860]

On 8/14/2021 at 12:46 PM, mortrialus.3062 said:

The 15% damage within a certain range is weird since i thought the thesis of this specialization is that it allows memser to operate and shatter more effectively at long range without needing to shotgun clones and illusory persona at point blank range.

Weeeeell. I think it is a mixture of incentivising more risky gameplay which is supported by at least a few other skills (richochets on Dagger #2, Knockback with Might for counter damage and pbae damage on F4). And being a flat damage modifier for organized PvE. They don't want us to have the extra damage on range in PvP/WvW.