At first glance... people are like yay degen! Besides the fact that there are enough degen skills in the illusion line to put someone at -million degen (but only effectively -10 degen), this skill is equivalent to its non elite counterpart Life Siphon. Except... it doesnt give you regen, AND it lasts less, NOT TO MENTION its an elite. Sucks? Im sorry to say but this skill stinkzors.
EG: Soul Barbs + Recurring Insecurity + Hexes = Ouchiewawa.
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I dont see why the enemy would be nice and clumped, but even if they were, water magic would be so much better. Oh so much better.
Yep, and when there are enough water ele's in the game.... whisper me^^. Fast Casting + Burden makes a big difference. What's the point in casting a slow ele spell if your target is halfway there by the time you finish it?
16 May 2006 at 02:58 - 5
Agrees with everything; except shared burden for solo mesmer farming.
~signed.
16 May 2006 at 03:37 - 6
Ok... there is a fine line between making reasonable arguments and ranting about how things "suck." So keep that in mind,
Psychic Distraction: is a 2 sec recharge interrupt. I would put bold, italics, and underline but I do not want to give the impression I'm smacking you with a pan on the head.  It interrupts ANYTHING, and disables it for about 15s. This skill replaces a whole skill bar dedicated to interrupts... which clearly justifies the skill bar being shut down and the elite status.
Arcane Languor is horrible, I cannot argue with that. It does absolutely nothing. In fact, it is the worst Mesmer elite.
Stolen Speed is awesome... I do not want to repeat myself so I will direct you to my post here: (#5)
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3034755
Recurring Insecurity need a degen buff that's all. You can achieve higher degen and at a lower nrg cost by simply spamming IoR. IoR isn't even an elite. RI needs to drain min 4, maybe 5.
Shared Burden. This skill is strange- it is very effective but question is does it deserve to be an elite? Answer is yes. It is an AoE Imagined Burden with cost and recharge that justify it being an elite. Thing is... if it was 25 nrg and longer recharge it would've been a perfectly fine normal skill.
16 May 2006 at 06:38 - 7
I like how you left out expel hexes. I agree that many of them are pretty bad, and most won't see high-level gvg play, but few elites really do see high-level gvg play. As others have noted, there are some uses for some of the other skills (psychic distraction is especially nice against things like Glint, where you just want to be sure that you're going to interrupt things).
16 May 2006 at 06:40 - 8
Psychic Distraction and Shared Burden are awesome. You can stop every single spike with PD because the recharge is just leet. Even if it didn't disable anything, it would still be good, now it's just ownage.
Burden is the best snare in the game. With some FC it's less than 1.5 seconds to casts, lasts for a long time and have a big AoE. Perfect anti-split.
16 May 2006 at 07:37 - 9
Let's see.
You forgot Power Leech, Shatterstorm, Expel Hexes, Lyssa's Aura, and probably a few others.
As for your complaints...
Psychic Distraction, IMO, is a great skill to use with a large energy pool, ie an Elementalists. Even if you don't, disabling Word of Healing, then 2 seconds later disabling Mend Ailment, and with pre-cog you could probably tell when they're going to use Reversal; distracting all of these skills cuts a Monk's ability considerably. Same with a Ritualist.
I won't argue with Arcane Languor and Recurring Insecurity, but Shared Burden, as the largest AoE area, and a huge duration with Mantra of Persistence, dominates GvG. Using something like Suffering makes a great cover enchantment.
Stolen Speed, with a 6 second recharge, is almost spammable. And the fact that, with fast casting, it gets Backfire and Diversion to, oh, around 1 second cast time, makes it an excellent skill. And slowing down the cast times multiple people (for example, it would reduce Word of Healing to a 1 second cast time.
16 May 2006 at 10:17 - 10
Recurring Insecurity is meant mainly to be used with Images of Remorse. At least, that's how i interpret this skill.
16 May 2006 at 10:50 - 11
Hmm ok I didnt not forget the other elite skills, but if i was talking about stinky skills why bring up the good ones?
Also, for Psychic Distraction... sure it has 2 second cooldown. But you are disabling your whole bar for it. So in effect, to achieve a 1:1 ratio of your skills blackout and their skills blacked out, you would have to use it 7 times. 70 energy. 14 seconds.
Recurring insecurity + soul barbs is good, but i still dont think that justifies the pitiful degen. I think the problem really is with the illusion line. We already have enough hexes to degen someone into oblivion, but anymore wont help with the -10 cap.
And stolen speed is not too great either BECAUSE it applies AFTER fast cast, meaning it basically REDUCES its effectiveness. you need to invest in fast cast to make use of this skill, and the benefit it gives just isnt enough. (someone on another forum tested this out... so in the Flesh of my flesh example, you would have a 2 second cast at 16 fastcast, then take away 25% of 2 seconds, making Stolen Speed reduce your cast by a measly .5 seconds. Of course if the person on the other forum is wrong my argument is invalid).
16 May 2006 at 11:16 - 12
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Recurring insecurity + soul barbs is good, but i still dont think that justifies the pitiful degen. I think the problem really is with the illusion line. We already have enough hexes to degen someone into oblivion, but anymore wont help with the -10 cap.
It's not about the degen (though it doesn't hurt).
Shadow Shroud + Barbs + Recurring + cover hex in a spike, then a barrage of hexes and FoCs. Reccuring and barbs are meant to be used in tandem for damage. With the concurrent hex barrage used, 10 degen is reached anyways.
Distraction isn't about shutting down an entire enemy either... you use it to knock out focal skills of multiple people quickly, as it recharges in a measly 2 seconds, overall reducing the effectiveness of the opposing team dramatically.
Anyways, you listed 5 new elites. That's great. There are more. Having new 'uber elites' would create imbalace... many of the new elites are already being used, and if you expect all the new faction elites to outshine the prophecy elites for use, too bad.
16 May 2006 at 11:33 - 13
Sorry didn't see stolen speed in there~
no longer signed.
But...psychic distraction? What the hell...powerblock owns this skill indefinatly.
-Disables often their entire bar
-Allows you to mess with another target
-Is more energy efficient
-Doesn't kill your other skills
16 May 2006 at 11:49 - 14
-Only targets spells, ritualists ahoy!
-Has a terrible recharge
-Alot of classes use more than one attribute effectively, but most lean on specific skills.
16 May 2006 at 15:16 - 15
I haven't used either of these skills but I would imagine a mesmer with Acrane Langour teamed up with an Equinox (spirit that doubles exhaustion for spells that cause exhaustion) ranger would be quite devistating. I can imagine a simple RoF or Orison causing -20 max energy... or -40 if they didn't notice the first time... (Isn't RoF + Contemplation of Purity a common combo? )
Of course, I haven't tried this yet so I'm not even sure if Equinox applies to an Arcane Langour'ed caster...
16 May 2006 at 15:41 - 16
Okay lets take a look at your list:
Psychic Distraction is an amazing skill, seriously it is amazing. When you read its description it may sound bad but when you use it, it is a killer move. Destroys nukers , MM's, Ritualists to name a few. This skill brings a new dimension for interupt mesmers.
Arcane Languor is an awful skill I agree with you there, seriously needs a buff.
Stolen Speed is great and is a very useful skill. It is incredibly useful for 3second casting spells like backfire and diversion and with enough points in FC u can get it to 1sec (you only need say 9 or 10 FC).
Recurring Insecurity is also another weak skill like arcane languor. This skill also needs a buff.
Shared Burden is actually an awesome skill. Mesmers have always needed more AOE spells and it is always good to see a new one added for the class 
All in all though I think the mesmer got good elites and only two of them lack.
16 May 2006 at 18:43 - 17
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Distraction isn't about shutting down an entire enemy either... you use it to knock out focal skills of multiple people quickly, as it recharges in a measly 2 seconds, overall reducing the effectiveness of the opposing team dramatically.
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It reduces the effectiveness of the opposing team "quite dramatically," but i would think that totally shutting yourself down is just as dramatic. Also, to reduce their effectiveness dramatically, you would have to hit at least 3-4 skills, which is 30-40 energy. And the dramatic reduction of effectiveness lasts a pitiful 11 seconds.
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Anyways, you listed 5 new elites. That's great. There are more. Having new 'uber elites' would create imbalace... many of the new elites are already being used, and if you expect all the new faction elites to outshine the prophecy elites for use, too bad.
There are only like 10 new elites for the mesmer. And i didnt say that we need "uber elites," but im pretty sure none of the listed are anywhere CLOSE to uber. And I do not expect the new faction elites to outshine the prophecy elites, BUT i do expect them to be on par with them. And Arcane Languor is no where near the effectiveness of most of the prophecy elites.
16 May 2006 at 18:59 - 18
PDistraction, Stolen Speed, and Shared Burden are easily apar with Prophecies elites. I'd take PD over Power Block, SSpeed over Migraine, and Shared Burden over Fevered Dreams. But then that's just me...
16 May 2006 at 19:11 - 19
OK, heres what I disagree with most in your appraisal of the new mesmer skills.
Psychic Distraction
You are only looking at the negative. Sure, a skill this powerful comes with a huge drawback that it disables your other skills which can sometimes lock you into a cycle where you only have PD available as your only interupt and at 10 energy its costly to spam. Now the positive; it interupts any skill and it has a very short recharge. What clinches the deal though is the fact that it disables the target's skill. The time that the skill is disabled isn't really that important. If I gave you a clue I would say think about rits, eles and trappers using mantra of resolve and such like. Can't interupt?
Recurring Insecurity
The degen is a bonus. The big thing with this is the fact that its reapplied each time the foe is hexed. Think soul barbs.
Shared Burden
A long lasting AoE snare. Sure it only has 'nearby' and not 'in the area' range but it does have its uses. The length of time that the snare lasts in combination with the fact that you can snare multiple foes with it make it nice skill. Probably not the greatest mesmer elite but a decent elite in its own right.
16 May 2006 at 21:23 - 20
The DPS of Recurring is insane with the right skills, just spamming a hex(es) with Soul Bards will deal 60 DPS, this is not counting the degen you have thrown on their head. Combine it with Parasitic Bond and WW, and as Avarre said FoC, you can... kill someone easily...
The only skill that is currently "unusable" is Languor but who knows, maybe there is some broken build we have yet to think up :P
16 May 2006 at 23:09 - 21
Sure Powerblock hits only spells; but when you compare psychic distration to say...disrupting shot?
Case closed~Eaimirth.
16 May 2006 at 23:50 - 22
Ok i see the Recurring Insecurity + Soul Barbs argument alot. Let me clear this up. This is totally a one trick pony, a gimmick build, the next IW mesmer. Why?
Because in any real play, you will be screwed.
Battle begins...
you cast RI (recurring insecurity), and then soul barbs (or actually probably the other way around). What happens? RI is renewed, and THUS MOVES UP TO THE LAST HEX SPOT, MEANING IT CAN BE REMOVED
this is what is most important: RECURRING INSECURITY CANNOT BE COVERED WITH A HEX
against ANY decent opponent, your build just went down the drain. And with its TERRIBLE recharge, I dont really see how you can justify it being an elite. Blah blah blah so powerful with soul barbs. Yes maybe against noobs. Its almost like arguing that IW is all powerful. It is a one trick pony, thats what it boils down to.
...not worth an elite.
17 May 2006 at 01:42 - 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mystic Memory
Ok i see the Recurring Insecurity + Soul Barbs argument alot. Let me clear this up. This is totally a one trick pony, a gimmick build, the next IW mesmer. Why?
Because in any real play, you will be screwed.
Battle begins...
you cast RI (recurring insecurity), and then soul barbs (or actually probably the other way around). What happens? RI is renewed, and THUS MOVES UP TO THE LAST HEX SPOT, MEANING IT CAN BE REMOVED
this is what is most important: RECURRING INSECURITY CANNOT BE COVERED WITH A HEX
against ANY decent opponent, your build just went down the drain. And with its TERRIBLE recharge, I dont really see how you can justify it being an elite. Blah blah blah so powerful with soul barbs. Yes maybe against noobs. Its almost like arguing that IW is all powerful. It is a one trick pony, thats what it boils down to.
...not worth an elite.
Sure its not fully viable in PVP, but it destroys things in PvE in a new fun manner. Since you wish to look at it in the PvP genre this skill is a high priority meaning it allows you to sneak in other MORE important hexes which this will ALWAYS cover, as you yourself said. Sure its not the best of cover hexes, but it can be used to bury a hex pretty deep while dealing damage before being removed.
IW is also not a one trick pony... saying such is ignorant. After all PvP doesn't just revolve around upper tier gameplay.
17 May 2006 at 03:05 - 24
Hey our guild uses IW very successfully in our GvG build...but yea more on THAT secret later...(aegis rotations!...whoops...pets+tfurry+iway!...whoops+s ymbiosis+iweakness+IW+aegis+blessedaura+divine spirit...whoops)
Anyway; back on topic.
Recurring insecurity is; not even worth a cover hex. Why bother covering it when we can just recast it? (echo?) Or cover with something that actually DOES something (images of remorse?) heh -.-
17 May 2006 at 04:13 - 25
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Ok i see the Recurring Insecurity + Soul Barbs argument alot. Let me clear this up. This is totally a one trick pony, a gimmick build, the next IW mesmer. Why?
I was guesting and we totally got rolled by a fairly highrank in gvg running that build. Reccuring did NOT move up to the top of the stack from what I saw (maybe bug, maybe saw wrong..), and their targets died horrifically even with infuse and convert hexes targetted on the spiked. Some of that was our failure to recognize the proper way to deal with it, but the spike was less than convert casting time, even with infuse.
17 May 2006 at 05:18 - 26
K, I'm gonna say this once more, because people obviously fail to realize it and this time I will bold, italics, and underline it:
Psychic Distraction is a 2 sec recharge interrupt/disable.
17 May 2006 at 05:36 - 27
If you mean recurring insecurity as a one trick pony, then think of it this way:
Teacher: OK class, welcome to the Mesmer's degen class. Today, I will show you how to properly manage your energy while you are casting degen spells.
Teacher: Now, Let us look at the new Factions Elite skill; Recurring Insecurity. Please pay attention to the board...
*All stats assume illusion magic is at level 12*
Basic Hex Combination:
Recurring Insecurity - Energy 10, Degen 3
Conjure Phantasm - Energy 10, Degen 5
Total = Energy 20, Degen 8
Recasting
Recurring Insecurity - Energy 0, Degen 3
Conjure Phantasm - Energy 10, Degen 5
Total = Energy 10, Degen 8.
Teacher: With the use of Recurring Instability, one cast provides an effective 3 degen to all following hex spells, with a base cast of 10 energy. In comparison to spells such as Conjure Nightmare, Life Transfer, Illusion of Pain, and many other hex degen combinations, Recurring Insecurity by far provides the best - and quite possibly the only - 'energy management, degen spell'.
17 May 2006 at 07:02 - 28
ok i have a question about Psychic Distraction... ..it seems cool for me. The question is, that it says it disables the distracted skill for x seconds. Is that mean the actual skill's cooldown time will be expanded with that x seconds, or the cooldown of long recharge spell's (aka: longer than that x) won't be affected by it?
soz for nub question ^^
17 May 2006 at 10:39 - 29
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Originally Posted by Terra Xin
If you mean recurring insecurity as a one trick pony, then think of it this way:
Teacher: OK class, welcome to the Mesmer's degen class. Today, I will show you how to properly manage your energy while you are casting degen spells.
Teacher: Now, Let us look at the new Factions Elite skill; Recurring Insecurity. Please pay attention to the board...
*All stats assume illusion magic is at level 12*
Basic Hex Combination:
Recurring Insecurity - Energy 10, Degen 3
Conjure Phantasm - Energy 10, Degen 5
Total = Energy 20, Degen 8
Recasting
Recurring Insecurity - Energy 0, Degen 3
Conjure Phantasm - Energy 10, Degen 5
Total = Energy 10, Degen 8.
Teacher: With the use of Recurring Instability, one cast provides an effective 3 degen to all following hex spells, with a base cast of 10 energy. In comparison to spells such as Conjure Nightmare, Life Transfer, Illusion of Pain, and many other hex degen combinations, Recurring Insecurity by far provides the best - and quite possibly the only - 'energy management, degen spell'.
The teacher is wrong!! Its Insecurity  . And I know, when the enemy monk casts inspired hex he gets nice energy Even without hex removal, Im pretty sure Life Siphon is on par with it lol
To Avarre: I havent tested it myself, but I am pretty sure i read somewhere that it moves to the second spot, but is actually treated as the first spot. If anyone has the time please test it out by getting insecurity on you, then another hex, then use inspired hex or something. Thanks
EDIT: Above poster, it gives the spell 11 second cooldown, but it doesnt add it. I.E. Meteor Shower gets interrupted and now has 11 sec cooldown.
17 May 2006 at 10:48 - 30
If P. distraction is like blackout, the disable time has no effect if the remaining cooldown is longer than the disable. At least, last I remember it was.
17 May 2006 at 13:45 - 31
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Originally Posted by Eaimirth Etaivella
Sure Powerblock hits only spells; but when you compare psychic distration to say...disrupting shot?
Case closed~Eaimirth.
Distracting Shot can be compared to PD when:
a)DS can interrupt 1 second casts from max range
b)DS can interrupt trough walls
c)DS can't be blocked/evaded
d)DS has a 2 second recharge
17 May 2006 at 17:41 - 32
After a skill is disabled and the disabled duration is over it starts recharging at normal speed. Meaning that 12-16 disable is the same as adding to the recharge of the skill.
Take into the fact that PD can interrupt ANYTHING it completely destroys spike builds single handedly. I mainly used this to disrupt adren spikes. Even if the target is using Mantra with the amount of interrupts thrown their way and the high energy drain it will be e denial instead of interrupt. Either way the target is shutdown.
When you have PD on your bar you really don't need any other skill. Simple things like Blood Rit will keep your energy up if it needs to be spammed.
17 May 2006 at 18:44 - 33
If Recurring Insecurity is moved to the top of the hex stack each time it is indirectly reapplied then this could actually be an interesting quirk. I don't know at this stage whether it would be viable to do so but it could perhaps be used as a pre-emptive cover hex.
For example, for memsers working in tandom, it could be used as a work around for pre-veiled monks (I'm thinking migraine or arcane conundrum). Monks will constantly use holy veil against migraine mesmers so that they can cancel the veil and remove the migraine as soon as it it put on and before a cover hex can be applied. However, if they already have recurring insecurity and should it move to the top of the hex stack when migraine/conundrum is applied then it will be RI that is removed when the veil is cancelled and the migraine/conundrum is protected and ready to cover again.
I'm not suggesting using this tactic, and I won't be planning for it at this stage, but it is an example of an alternate benefit from the skill if it does indeed return to the top of the hex stack when it is indirectly reapplied.
17 May 2006 at 19:04 - 34
Like the other guy said I think I could make Arcane Languor work with Equinox. Especially in gvg where there are generally 2 monks and they are forced to cast to heal spikes etc.
17 May 2006 at 19:18 - 35
"Exhausting Assault:
Energy: 5
Activation Time: 1/2s
Recharge: 8s
Must follow an Off-Hand Attack. Target foe's action is interrupted. If that action was a spell, target foe suffers from exhaustion."
Is it just me, or is this non-elite skill far superior than Arcane Languor at causing the so much desired exhaustion? Seriously, AL is a horrible, horrible elite.
17 May 2006 at 20:51 - 36
I've just tested the following combo against Warriors, both in PvP (4vs4) and at the Isle of the Nameless (against the masters of hammers and axes :
Recurring insecurity
Images of Remorse
Spirit of Failure
Distortion
For the experiment, i took no other skills, no interrupts, no other hexes, no debuff, nothing else.
Warriors get to ground in less than 90 seconds. And i still have half life and full energy - no Monk needed.
So, you can say it's a stupid experiment, but i think that RI is a valid skill.
17 May 2006 at 21:51 - 37
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Warriors get to ground in less than 90 seconds
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Im not sure what you mean. Do you mean the warrior survives for 90 seconds? lol
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So, you can say it's a stupid experiment, but i think that RI is a valid skill.
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Your build do almost equally well against warriors if you didnt bring RI, as Spirit of failure + distortion were the key anti warrior skills.
