The Chronomancer

that is one of THE coolest names for any class i've EVER heard of
This class sounds extremely good, nice one

Bored ATM, I'll give it a go.
Actually I think skills are a important part of the basic concept.
The diversity of skills should show that it is possible to come up with a range of skills that fit the function, class and GW, a basic show of how doable the class is.
Also if you had a lot of trouble thinking up just 4 concept skills for 1 attribute, imagine how much trouble a DEV would have thinking up 25, if it really is that hard perhaps the attribute or function should be changed.

/end rant

I'm sure using the shield as a paddle would make them the best rowing class in GW, even better than the corsairs with their synched rowing; lol.
But I'd say like all the others they aught to gain strikes of adrenaline.

Doesn't this pretty much do the same thing as increasing your rank in the related attributes?
It's also quite limited; as you will only have 1 aura up at a time, how valuable is it to spend attribute points in an attribute to increase the effects of skills you could also increase by putting those points into the attribute of that skill?

It would be more valuable if all aura's that have a X% slower or faster, all had a basic 10% that and each rank in temporallity added another 1%.
But that would mean that there where some aura's unaffected by it.

All in all it's not a watertight primary.


Then about the big controversy in the class.
The shield is nice, an aura using class that affects foes with it's auras need melee range or it will be wasting the auras.
However the shield does not fit the class, there isn't anything time magical about a shield.

What is time magical and melee is time stopping from the view of others.
Hence in a single player game you stop time everything stops and you move normally, in multi player that doesn't work, people will just be annoyed that they can't move.
So the time that was stopped is hidden, making you preform the actions after casting the skill instantly.

Timestopping and walking to a target creature would then be instantly arriving at that that target creature.

It can be coupled with hitting the foe and running away too, so you teleport to a foe, hit them then teleport to a nearby random location.
(because you need to unfreeze time when you hit the foe, or they will not take damage, as their health would be frozen in place... technically)

Instead of stamina, you'd have a stopping attribute, called Impending or something...

Skills in that attribute move you quickly across the battle field, so your aura's will be where they are needed, when they are needed.
And will allow you to attack and escape, without needing the huge defense that is a giant shield.

Cool would be if temporality had a skill called unsynchronize or something, that leave copies of you at your location, the next 1...2(2) times you teleported, so there'd be up to 3 of you for up to 10 seconds.
Making your aura's emanate from 3 different places.
Copies of course can't move or attack, but can be healed and damaged, any changes in health would be divided by the number of copies and applied to all.

This stopping attribute would have to relate to some kind of melee/almost melee ranged weapon that is connected to time magic.
But what is a time magic connected weapon...

im pretty sure this would make spike builds>all
the 6 core classes guild wars ever needed...
please dont try to pull an anet

only complaint is it might have limited use.

What do you mean, doubled?

*strikes, lol



kinda overpowered... dunno on this one.

i like this one

So, everyone gets an extra pip of energy basically? Why not make it All nearby allies under the effects of an enchantment or hex gain 1 energy every second?


That is wayyyyyyy overpowered, imo.



damn, i wish this was a Mesmer skill!


sooo, you cast a hex on a ally and then what happens? ur monk removes it right?


And can you give an example of how this could be used? Would they be knocked down twice? because if that happened, as you probably already know, the second KD would be cancelled out esentially.

Can you say Assassin team abuse?



Wow, this and revert could completely change the HA scene...

I know you're gonna be right up next to ur front liners, but nearby is really a small range...

mwuahahahahah! so would arrows be reverted? Shouldnt it be all incoming projectiles that pass through your nearby area?


Imagine a 3 chronomancer team with 5 casters.... WOW

me likes

wow, again, a 4-4 team would be awesome spikeage... would decimate the PvP arenas

nice, a great snare for one specific person, taking maybe a monk out of the picture.


cracked armor on crack, imo.


WOW, can you say elite status?

also, jsut for reference, the Chronomancer(not technically this one) will most likely be in GW2, as it was a concept class about to be implemented if Guild Wars: Utopia had actually been released instead of EotN.

Hot damn, some useful feedback!

Yeah, you like that name mike7333?! If you have any specific ideas for how to improve the class, that'd very appreciated! Haha, it's like you say Dean... Anet has hinted at introducing a Chronomancer, so maybe that generates a little extra buzz for this CC (the number of views is shooting up pretty quickly).

Motoko, you want to further explain what you mean? I don't get what you're trying to say. If you can actually give specific ideas of how to avoid this CC from being overpowered, that would be even more helpful.

SC, thanks for all the feedback. I agree with pretty much everything you posted. I envision this CC being restructured so it has four attributes which focus on: 1) a time-related, non-shield weapon, 2) acceleration auras and other acceleration spells, 3) detention auras and other detention spells, and 4) some self-targeted spells which aren't auras and aren't acceleration or detention. The second and third are pretty easy, but it's the first and fourth which are giving me trouble. At first, for the weapon, I was thinking of doing something like your Wraith's harbinger, but it just doesn't make sense with this class. I was thinking some sort of tattoo, hand-to-hand weapon which ages people when touched might be cool, but I can't think how to make it happen. So that's my first dilemma. The second is what I should do with the fourth attribute. Fortunately, your post has offered a good way to solve the problem. The fourth attribute could allow the Chronomancer to travel through time and create different instances of himself across the battlefield. Like you say, this would be a great way for the CC to spread out multiple auras. I'm not so sure about the transporting since I don't want it to become too Assassin-like. I'm going to mull this over for a bit before I try rewriting/editing the OP. If you have any details you'd like to contribute, please do!

Dean, thanks for such a thorough response on the skills! I'm going to go through your feedback and try to fix the skill list (from what I can tell, most of your idea make sense). You seem to be a skills-focused guy (I think I remember you from concept skills forums), so if you have any ideas for skills for the soon-to-be fourth "synchronization" attribute (it might be a doozy to come up ith that all on my own), I'd love to hear them!

.................

........................ reposting wasn't what I had in mind.

If you actually want to talk, that would be awesome. If not, I can easily add you to my ignore list.

I have quite a few suggestions to post here. I'm going over the original post, even though I did read the entire thread. I'm rather more PvP minded; in fact, I probably won't say too many things about the PvE aspects here. I also understand that you have some major revamps coming along, but I'm still just going to comment on the original post.

1)Quick thing I just noticed is that your "Paraiah" tactic involves casting two stances in its chain.
2)I see you've been smart and linked "Time Walker" with the Chronomancer's primary attribute, but I'm still thinking that you've suddenly created the runner of choice for GvG. (I'm inferring from the way you describe it in your "tactics" that it's a stance that recharges in about 20 seconds.) I'm thinking perhaps you'd need to tone the particular skill's duration down a bit.
3)Upon the GvG runner thought, you'd also have to think about the fact that Time Vortex + Timewalker = 25% speed buff that's completly unrestrictable except by body blocking and following so close behind the Chronomancer that his aura affects the attacker.
4)Chrnological Stimulant's description is a bit vague to me. Would it activate if you simply cast a different aura before another ran out? I think it needs to be specific in the description that the aura has to have reached its full duration. Otherwise you'd have to make your auras with at least 15 second recharges (or so) to prevent a Chronomancer simply "stimulating" himself to be able to pull of an array of high-adrenaline attacks.
5)Will these "Auras" be basically like stances except unique to the Chrnomancer class in regards to activation time? Or will they take a second to activate?
6)I would take the "skill's recharge" out of Swift Thoughts. Anet makes skills' recharge as a balance. If you'd like an example check out Energy Blast (which is balanced in every aspect so to prevent a spike).
7)Augmented Regeneration's health regeneration aspect needs to be clarified. If you're fighting will you start regening?
8 )Instantaneous Magic merits an even shorter duration than there, if it were to be included. My recommendation is the latter. Things like Glyph of Sacrifice show what Anet likes to impose for any sort of immediate casting.
9)Deja Vu is combining two elite skills, as I think has been mentioned. Glyph of Energy and Glyph of Renewal. Make it half as long and the energy -10 minimum five and I think it'd be okay.
10)Instant Replay should really just be another Aura in my opinion. It would already applies so much extra pressure (imagine getting Mind Blasted and then hit TWICE with it) that you need not have it stacking with other Auras.
11)Repeat see #10. Also wouldn't want Repeat stacking with shield attacks that already dealt an attack six times or whatever. Then again, SoA would own it hard core. /shrug
12)The current status reverters are, as someone mentioned above me, waaaay to taxing on Anet servers. Especially in places in PvE like DoA. Massive mobs of rain beetles all having to store health and energy numbers instantly on the server would bog down like no tomorrow.
13)I'm gonna go ahead and assume you already plan to have some sort of huge balance on Reverse Flight as opposed to Stop. In addition I think those should be Enchantments or else their durations limited. It completly incapcitates a whole lot of damage output, including an entire class, and is unremovable in the Aura state.
14)See Instant Aging and Detained Minds corresponding Acceleration skills for my views. I also just thought of, and would like to mention that I know Serpent's Quickness and other skills hasten recharge. They have severe penalties however, and weren't ever Area of Effect.
15)Return to Youth is like...Atrophy, except elite and lasts longer. And really just doesn't do anything too detrimental. I mean, one level = one point, right? It's just like having weakness on a monk, you don't call it because it's not hurting you that much.
16)Spell Stagger: Cast stagger 3, 2, 1. Cast like hell. Spike done. Next target. (It'd be like, you could spike with three different dmg skills at once).
17)Temperal Prison - It's like an elite Iron Mist, with more dodge and it's completly unremovable excepting like, Hex Eater sig or whatever.
18)Nobody will pack both Acceleration and Reggression skills, due to BYSTANDER. You either pack Regression and take bystander, or you take Acceleration, and don't. Your CC is a bit hinged on it, I don't know exactly how to rectify it other than making "bad" auras not affect you. Also, I'd move Bystander into a different attribute line. Secondary Chronomancers would then be able to take something that would protect them from auras if they so chose.
19)Paused Response would have to be an elite, and probably wouldn't be incorporated. Waaay too overpowered. KDing a monk for six seconds is literally a free spike if well timed.

Good thoughts at this CC. I can't help but think that the shield is just one too much though. Perhaps a different mechanic like, instead of adren., you'd have to have a certain number of recharges of auras to do extra time-distorting damage with your huge shield. It would take a little while to warm-up, and would make it so other classes couldn't just spec in this random shield thing, and weapon swap in the middle of a battle and knock someone to the ground with something similar to Paused Response, or launch a flurry of attacks for a quick spike.

I'd like to admit that I'm a bit tired, and that some suggestions here might be irrational, which I dearly apologize for wasting your time over.

~Fallen

Hey Dean, I just got finished updating the skills to fix all those problems you pointed out (although not the shield-related ones, since those will be out of the picture soon). I'll point out some of the highlights below, but a major change I made was to have auras be ally/enemy-specific. This makes them a lot more powerful and abuse-able so the auras' effects will all need to be nerfed (if you could point out how to do that, that would be great). In fact, I need a whole line of skills to protect from these time-related spells, and I need to think of some non-aura skills.

Timewalker is a lot more general (and powerful) now... it probably needs to be nerfed.

Chronological Attunement should make more sense now.

Augmented Regeneration should seem more "time-magicky" now, i think.

Hey Fallen One... your suggestions may be irrational but I find them helpful, haha. I try and address them all:

1) I may have changed one of the skills, but as far as I can tell, there is only one stance: Repeat. The other skills are: aura (Time Sink), enchantment (Bystander), weapon attack (Repeating Concussion).

2) I cut down on the duration.

3) Any specific thoughts for how to eliminate this problem?

4) You know I hadn't even thought of that about Chronological Stimulant... to be used as an adrenaline-booster (I don't know why). But now that I think about it, I like the idea of a player which can convert its energy into adrenaline like that. Perhaps it should be toned down more, but the basic concept I like. Any suggestions?

5) I thought tat auras were different than stances because they have no activation time, but affect the Chronomancer and other players (as far as I can tell, stances only affect the player who activates them).

6) Changed Swift Thoughts.

7) I just mean to say players will heal more than they normally would at any given point.

8) Changed Instantaneous Magic.

9) Deja Vu better now?

10) Got rid of Instant Replay.

11) Repeat perhaps improved?

12) I guess so... I like the idea though! Haha...

13) I need to think of balances... suggestions? I made Reverse Flight and Stop enchantments.

14) Not quite sure how to respond to that one.

15) I changed Return to Youth in response to Dean's comments above. Maybe it is better now? I think so.

16) Any idea on how to retain the basic concept behind spell stagger but make it less overpowering?

17) Yeah, you have a good point. Does that mean that the basic concept can't be used?

18) I'm not quite sure what you mean about Bystander. Although I think you're right that it should go into a secondary line so that non-Chronomancers can protect themselves (maybe for thenew attribute when I come up with it).

19) I agree with Paused Response. It will be done away with when the new weapon attribute comes along... by the way, any ideas on that subject?

Lol Nebo, FC stole your idea
As of the next update for AO(17,7)
MP's(my favorite support profession) are getting a 2 handed shield, with the best stats ever!
(1 damage hits ftw lol)
Why are these enchantments now? I think only [skill=text]Balthazar's Aura[/skill] is an enchantment with a persistent AoE, all others (see dervish) apply their AoE at the beginning or end of their duration and some [skill=text]Vampiric Spirit[/skill] apply/check when the player attacks/uses a skill.

I do not think these would be very straining on the servers, I mean [skill=text]Dwayna's Sorrow[/skill] works, it remembers:
1-An amount of health
2-What party it belongs too
3-It's remaining duration
Lapse and revert wouldn't require a reference to a party just to a number the enchantment carries for energy of the creature it is on.
The strain is the same if not lighter than sorrow.(excluding that sorrow is not used enough)
(I have no Idea if references to a party are just numbers or actually an array with references too party members)

The servers should be ok long as you are not using a skill to go back without first setting a point to go back to.
You could even add a skill that reverts a creature to a set point by ending revert or lapse prematurely.

Why is this in regression? shouldn't aging be in acceleration?

Lastly your ' and ... signs, do something weird, unless I replace them when quoting with normal font ones guru won't let me use [skill] commands.
It's guru's fault and not yours, but what font do you use?

I proposed a similar class almost a year ago, but with more emphasis on instancing within the world, rather than laying out skills explicitly. I must say, you've done an awesome job with the concept.

The exact values and durations of the skills proposed does need some more tweaking, but all in all, It synergizes well with paragon and mesmer skills, which are probably the two most under utilized and in my opinion most interesting classes. It would breathe some new life into existing professions.

I do see this basically killing PvP in it's current incarnation. Many existing skills would have to be reworked to accommodate the introduction of these skills. However, I think this would make a very interesting PvE only skill set, like the current GWEN reputation skills. Limiting a skill bar to carry no more than 3 of these would allow it to be stably introduced into the game without too much disruption.

If it must be balanced for both PvE and PvP, I would suggest rather than reworking energy costs, durations and the like, adding in a new limiting factor instead. Perhaps a "time resync effect". For instance if a target foes is slowed 33% for 10 seconds, when it ends, that foe's speed increases by an equal amount for the same duration. This would make timing your hexes and enchantments more important, and of course I would expect timing to be the key element in a Chronomancer class. It would in my opinion make the class play much differently from the Mesmer and reduce the need for balancing.

This particular post might be a bit more concise than the other. I'm gonna answer your questions from the post answering my post. (Re:Re:topic) XD.

Now you've made Time Walker an elite aura, in fact it's like the aura form of Bystander. I can't remember the previous description exactly, but I think you've shot down the uses I envisioned. Time Vortex + Timewalker doesn't work anymore either, so no need to resolve that issue.

I'd just make it 1...2(2) for Chronological Stimulent.

You're right about your auras; I was just merely making sure they were guarnteed no cast time like a stance.

Augmented Regeneration - Aura. For the next 10 seconds, any healing you and all nearby alllies receive is increased by 1...20%(23) {That's just an approximation}, and gain 25...50% more energy regeneratoin.

Deja Vu & Instantaneous Magic seems pretty good now.

Repeat - Aura. For 5...17 seconds, whenever an adjacent enemy takes damage, he is hit twice for up to 1...2(3) regular inflictions of damage. (I don't have a more elagant way to word that, but basically you don't have spike builds or Assassins or anything dealing double damage.)

Reverse Flight - Enchantment. For the next 3...10 seconds, all nearby projectiles deal half their damage to the original target and then return and deal half their damage to their source.

I can't even remember what I meant when I said that, there are some corresponding skills in Acceleration that basically match with Instant Aging etc. Whatever.

I like Return to Youth, make it an enchantment though. All the current detrimental effects on attribute levels are somehow counterable.

How about: Spell Stagger - Enchantment Spell. For 1...4(5) seconds target ally's spells have no effect. When this enchantment ends the spells casted during its duration are cast with 100% less their casting time and have a decreased aftercast of 100% (I don't know what percent to put here, but something that would make it go faster, but not too fast).

Make Temporal Prison only divert enemy spells...and instead of evading everything make it so that they have 50% of damage done to them is negated, but they still dodge spells. (Something along those lines)

I believe that you're changing the enemy/ally aura effectiveness? If so what I said about Bystander doesn't matter. What it meant was that someone who was packing negative auras would ALWAYS have Bystander on his bar, and those who brought positive would never have Bystander, and there would never be a mix between the two, positive and negative.

I don't know what to do about the shield thing. D:

I hope this is helpful.

Nebojats: ill try and look over the skills asap, and im more than happy to help with the new skill line. Just send me a PM on what you specifically want and ill draw something up. Srry this post is so much later than ur response to my original one, ive been busy lately.

Hi, The Synchronization Skill is quite Unique and Creative^^!
I've only seen those in the Cartoons, and I thought no one would have ever thought of that^^.
They have showned it in Sci-Fi shows or something like that(not a fan), but still....
I'll try to help you, Tomorrow^^!

i am suprised anet haven't offered you a job yet well done!!
/signed for guild wars 2 or an unlikely guild wars update

8/10 for the /signed aftercomment

also /signed on this class if Anet has any brains.

Wow... almost a year and a half since the original post, and nearly that long since I've been involved with this thread. I've got some time on my hands, so I started to dabble with improving my CCs again.

The Chronomancer was always the least developed CC I'd made, compared to the Shrift, the Mannai, the Revenant, and the Frakah. I'm still not sure how to include duplicates and transporting, and auras are still imperfect (although I think better now since a player can only be affected by one at a time). I'm opening to suggestions, so please let me know. As for the other CCs, I think they're a little more securely developed but always in need of tweaking, so please share your thoughts on those respective threads if you get the chance. Thanks!

The Chronomancer is a brilliant idea and would make a great profession. I like some of the ideas, and I dislike others. Seems too overpowered though.

I dislike the idea of the 2 handed shield, seems really bad.
I though a good weapon for the Chromancer would be a magical sword/staff(scepter, or anything like that.) that you can attack from a distance with of close-up.