Preliminary Skill Update Notes - 23 April 2010

interesting changes after reading them. after sitting here thinking about the current mesmer foe's in PvE, i hope the people on the TK identified alot of potential problems. as everyone had stated, wind rider groups will get instantly harder. so far ive only reviewed prophicies areas but the falls will get harder to vanquish. the newly installed peacekeepers might get harder. the Losaru's outside of destiny's could get interesting with the way mobs tend to overlap and only having a 6 man team. the tengu run both ineptitude and cry of frustration.

if most or all of these changes get implemented i think at the very least the hero/hench AI should be updated to be able to respond to AoE as the enemy AI do now.

i also hope there is a plan that makes these updates more usefull for a mesmer primary to use them instead of being abused by necros or ele's using a mesmer secondary

I dont think it will make pve that much harder, might be alot easier with aoe shutdown. Best way to counter a mesmer is with a mesmer so i can see that they will get more playtime now.

Hm, this is one skill update that I'm actually interested in.

Great to hear that.

That roaring ether boss mob in Hidden City of Adashim(sp) is going to be rough!

It looks like this update is going to give Mesmers more options with what they run and not simply one cookie-cutter "must use" skillbar.

Time to dust off my mesmers dress and start pveing

>_>

what they wanted to avoid:

elementalist:i'm using meteor shower!
mesmer: i'm using visions of regret!
mesmer: i'm using cry of pain! (ya, med dmg interrupt over area and a little degen, one of the nice mesmer skills in pve)
mesmer:still camping for interrupt or for the monsters to trigger VoR (which because of enemy behavior doesn't trigger often.)
elementalist:im using searing flamez!
mesmer:still camping for interrupt or for the monsters to trigger VoR
elementalist:im using searing flamez!
mesmer:still camping for interrupt or for the monsters to trigger VoR
elementalist:im using searing flamez!
mesmer:still camping for interrupt or for the monsters to trigger VoR
elementalist:im using searing flamez!
mesmer:still camping for interrupt or for the monsters to trigger VoR

you get the picture^^

i play a lot of mesmer since its what to say?, my second main if i may express myself that way and since some mesmer skills have been:

hex spell: Camp target foe for 20...15...10 seconds. when this hex ends if target foe is using a spell, that spell is interrupted and that foe gaze tiresome at you for 0...0...1 milliseconds before summoning his bigger brothers and sisters and using another powerfull AoE spell wiping out the whole party.
(This skill wont give you party blame since noone knows what mesmers do anyway except empaty backfire VoR and crying (literally))

ok thats maybe a bit overkill but you get the picture i mean look at the elites, would you honestly like to bring eg shatterstorm, air of disenchantement, simple thievery, symbols of inspiration, Recurring Insecurity, Power Flux, Keystone Signet, Illusionary Weaponry, Extend Conditions, Crippling Anguish, Energy Drain, Arcane Languor and so on ever in pve (some of them even in pvp...) and yes they are all elite spells

elementalists have more roles than "IMAH FIRIN MAH LAZZORR!!" but they rarely see use (there is those skills that aren't pure fire magic)
we tested air magic in doa and the like, and we found it sweet using underused skills like thunderclap(!) and delivered still a nice amount of damage (since AoE shouldn't really do more dmg on single targets than a single target spell does)

if they buff eles i would like to see a earth magic buff or water magic buff (imagine a targeted shock wave ) since earth is kinda lame requiring the ele to tank most of the time... and snares aren't really... in pve....

But back to the mesmer.
If they make a class to be manipulative and conditional they need to really make them shine in what they do (vor isnt that much better, if its not bader than SS (especially in hardmode) as we say "Dead men use no skills!"

so thanks god they give this to mesmers ("more skills of this type is indeed well deserved")

If pretty much any of these changes effect PVP mesmers will be too OP...

With the exception of the focus on interrupting (which I believe will benefit heroes more than humans and encourage PvE botting), the changes seem good to me. I'm looking forward to them. Well, assuming they aren't abusable by mesmer secondaries, that is.

Mesmers are powerful enough in PvP. They are probably the most target-prone class in PvP, right after Monks (or healers in general).

Why don't they just give "Fast Casting" a secondary effect, like hostile spells you cast do 1 or 2 damage per rank in fast casting to your target and 2 nearby enemies.

That way mesmer primaries get a benefit, unlike with the proposed change which will probably mostly benefit Necros and Elementalists.

Finaly, my kick ass mesmer will become even more kick ass ;D

Interesting, even if I'm afraid this could have devastating effects on some monster bars. Hopefully those will be looked into as well.

Nice to have more AoE effects on some spells, even though some of them render VoR rather pointless now (imagine AoE VoR coupled with AoE WW...). Couldn't they get rid of the clause introduced with the nerf and simply tone it down? I'd rather have it detuned but with the same functionality as before. Maybe even the damage simply halved, and the costs downgraded accordingly.

I like Empathy. Not fond of reactive hexing, but with damage reduction it could make some more sense.

I'm really looking forward to see what changes they have in store for Fast Casting.

Seems promising. As other have mentioned I hope the skills will somehow depend on Fast Casting and that some foes will be checked. Not looking forward to fighting a group of 9 Mindblade Specters.

Hope update will also look into hex removal to bring balance to that. Whoever said you can do PvE without even bothering to remove hexes... maybe if you only play in normal mode and haven't tried DoA or some dungeons like Frostmaw.

I'm quite happy with the notes as they sit thus far, I don't really have an issue with cross class exploitation, IMO that is still very much a GW conceit. As long as the mesmer can go over 12 points per attribute line in it's own atts, and other classes can only hit 12, then obviously, the incentive will definitely be there to play as a mesmer.

I suppose that I'd make the concession that certain skills need to be tied to FC level, just to stop potential nerf-fests fueled by rampant QQ due to any too-well thought out builds.

After all, isn't that how we got into this mess in the first place?

Dang! It seems pve might be exremely fun soon! And that's by playing a mesmer! I'm excited and might re-create my pvp mesmer in pve!

It seems like people like the thought of more overpowered exploit builds.

If they try to slip some of this stuff into PvP, expect a) a year for the fail krew to ponder it b) teams with 6 mesmers running over GvG in the first week.

Panic looks funny.

Mes is already faster (On average) at farming the top six at ToPK, due to a combination of FC with the usual recharge mods. They're also the best for Sin spam, as has been noted several times.

We are headed, my friends both loyal Mesmer users, and that other lot :P into heady days of excitement! Well, at least for a few months until GW2 steals everyone..Or so they say.

Being able to replace a lot of the pve skills and skills from other classes with a full Mes bar worth using (If you want to) is definitely the icing that we've waited for since about forever.

IMO.

*Edit* Has anyone else noticed just how exploitable a team with a mes, an ele and a ranger has the possibility to be? Add a smite monk or 2, my god, the scary possibilities from just that taste that we've been given.
I hope they don't mess this up..

This. Just start bringing Gwen if you H/H, maybe grab some more general defense rather than pure offense and you'll be fine.
I'm quite worried that the interruptions in HM, even after those changes, still won't be that useful or possible. Mesmers in PvE need fast and possible, AoE or DoT, general shutdown - generally something along the lines of Maelstrom.
As a mesmer, i've used much more Meteors and Maelstroms when i needed reliable interrupts with some damage (for example, at Mallyx) than CoFs or Power Spikes.

Changing a primairy attribute now is not a good option, imho. Adding a secondary effect on skills and tying it to FC is good. I'd love to see my party benefitting somehow from my mantras (give them some part of my xyz res, give them energy when i take xyz damage, give them energy when they take xyz damage - either or all), but tied to my FC level.
This way mesmer secondaries won't get nerfed nor buffed, as nothing would change for them, while primairy mesmers would become much more useful in groups.

shit brix @ escort of souls

Anyway, the skill im loving most atm is psycic instability.

Stolen Speed would be great on heroes too.

To counter this all they'll need to make some better hex removals. Not just through mesmer skills like hex eater sig either...

Lawl @ preliminary notes , they are just going to do everything me and some other ppl suggested about pve mes :
- Shorten some stupid recharges
- Increase damage/effect
- Increase AoE for some spells
Lets see how goes the buff ..... first half of may *estimated time date* ... ;D

I think me and my mesmer and even my mesmer heroes will enjoy this update

however as mentioned, even though I'm loving what I hear, I do worry about the enemies (that have already been mentioned) with this new update applied to them

onoes I feel some overpowering here.
Followed by QQ nerf crap on forums.
And a the test team didn't saw that excuse.

Can we get a buff to withdraw hexes maybe? So i can remove some of the nastyness faster.

i shat bricks

So foes who have piss bars will suddenly be able to at least attempts to do something makes them hard? The only foe that I see there's a possible issue is Mindblades, but there's so many of them and it's in an elite area. How out of all of the sudden skill updates suddenly make PvE hard?

Please keep all these changes out of PvP. "but when appropriate, the changes will apply to PvP as well." <---- except none of your buffs are ever appropriate.

Arcane Conundrum - slow down casting and provide energy on death (AP much?)
Frustration - prep for spike
Accumulated Pain - Deep Wound + 60? damage
Cry of Pain - 50 dmg + 75? dmg + degen
Cry of Frustration - 75 dmg + 75 dmg
Psychic Instability - 75 dmg + 4 second kd
Shatter Delusions x 2 = 75 dmg + 75 dmg

7 skills with ridiculous single target shutdown potential with ~560 direct damage, energy gain at end, deep wound (lolmesmer?), early degen, and some AoE damage and shutdown mixed in. EDIT: I was thinking about Wastrel's Worry after Accumulated Pain so that while you're busy shutting your target down, the clock is ticking on another 100 AoE damage burst, but I didn't want to fill out a full 8 skills.

Is it perfect? No, but it's the kind of bar we might be seeing this next week. I'd run that bar if the damages are as listed and energy and recharge values suit it.

You're making a bar out of them? It would be pretty tame since you're splitting your attributes into 4...

I wonder if now is a good time to stock up on mesmer runes?

I'd say yes. Even if it wasn't going to overpower mesmers (and it will, relatively speaking*) you'd still see a lot of new mesmers just from people who always wanted to make one but didn't like the weakness, and from people who decided to make one just to see what the "new class" is like. If it does overpower them? Lots of people.



*I doubt it'll bring them into the circle of awesomeness that the monk, assassin, and necromancer are huddled in, but like the spirit update, it'll appeal to PUGs.

Since when does Domination, Illusion, and Fast Casting = 4? Looks pretty prime for a 12-10-8 or 12-11-6, depending on what they do with Fast Casting.

But... whatever.

I already take Gwen into HM vanquishes/missions almost all the time, with this update, she'll be even more awesome!

At this point, I'll settle for OP stuff that requires some thought and teamwork (still have to hit the interrupts, these changes are begging for team builds to be built around them) than what we have now. If this is better than AP+Discord, I'll be surprised, but it will certainly be more interesting to play.

*Shrug* at least it's different, and it's mesmer-y, which is something mesmers haven't been able to do in PvE for a long while.

hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Will just repeat myself yet again - some of the updates seem overpowered or may prove imbalanced in the gameplay, yet i doubt that any of them will result in game-breaking builds like SF, 600 or SoS spamming.
Before you shout 'omg OVERPOWERED!' please take a look at other classes' potential - mesmers are simply catching up to them now, finally, after years of being neglected.
And although some areas may become harder to complete/vanquish, it will bring some challenge into PvE. I mean, come on, even DoA (except Foundry) is a piece of cake. I'm concerned about several bosses in game, but not to the point of being worried 'omg how will it be possible now?!?!?!'. Furthermore, i would love to see mesmer mobs with the ultimate annoyer for speedclears in a few spots of elite areas.

well just because a mesmer can go over 12 in an attribute doesnt mean another class cant do better. a N/Rt hero out heals a primary Rit due to the return on energy from soul reaping and they can only run 12 in restoration, and the hero reaction time is better then a human in most cases. making these skill from a mesmer do more damage and have the added AoE to them without making an improvment in energy management somehow and/or making a huge difference in the damage from 13-16 in the atribute for the primary mesmer or tying the AoE effects to fastcasting is just another N/Me exploit waiting to happen. what would you rather have on your team, a primary mesmer who has to sacrifice 1-2 skill slots for energy management with the possibility of running out of energy or a Necro who has near unlimited energy return with soul reaping as long as stuff is dying letting the necro spam the skills longer but only doing slightly less damage. heck even an Ele with max energy storage and a mesmer secondary has the possibility of doing better due to twice the base energy of a mesmer.

i too like what i see bacause i have a mesmer who along with my ranger are my primary characters, but i feel there is other things that have needed to be addressed in the game before this update goes live or along with this update. namely the unbalanced mob makeup and after looking over some of the Ai enemy current skill bars, they run on average 2 of the skills in the planned update. if you currently do alot of Hero/henching, your game will get much harder seeing the H/H Ai doesnt react the same as the enemy ai when it comes to AoE.

Gwen is going to be devastating to enemy mobs. Maybe now she'll cheer up and give young Lt. Thackery a break.

And, Norgu can't go above 7 in fast casting because of that humongous beer gut.