Suggestion: Imaginary Weaponry

Make this spell available to all weapon types. The whole reason I capped it was so that my Mesmer Staff, which is failing to damage hardly at all anymore, could be atleast somewhat powerful again. Now I hear that the spell only effects warrior weapons.

I run two weapons mainly, an Air Staff and a Jeweled Staff. The Air Staff is currently now my main weapon because I can use Conjure Lightning and do more damage then I would with my Mesmer Staff. I worked hard on my Mesmer Staff, and dont see why I shouldnt be allowed to use it due to the fact that circumstances, and a spell that should increase its power but doesnt, stop me from doing so.

So basically I'd like this spell to be changed so that Melee is replaced with Standard Attacks.

Why not just get a sword, since the stats on it don't matter. Switch to the sword when you use IW and go nuts. Or do you want to do the IW damage without being in melee range so you're completely safe from retaliation.

actually the stats does matter. Stronger swords have req. attributes. Mesmer does not have swordmanship attribute unless it's Mes/War...lemme check again bt I think I am right

Actually, it doesn't matter at all.

The stats matter, as you'd want an Enchanting grip on it. The rest is moot.

I could just imagine a Me/W sitting in back throwing wand attacks with flurry. Painful.

You can use your staff/wand and swap in a sword or axe when Illusionary Weaponry is up, and switch back to the other weapon when it's down. You DO have 4 weapon slots, you know.

The stats on your weapon DO NOT MATTER if you don't want them to. Weapons have SET attack speeds, and no amount of points in that weapon will speed it up. Ranger or warrior stances (I will avenge you shout also does, I believe) can increase the attack speed, but that's an entirely different story. Illusionary Weaponry replaces your damage in melee. At level 16, it deals 42 chaos damage per attack on the target in melee. Your sword/axe could have 1-1 damage, and it'd hurt 42 chaos damage per attack on the target in melee. Your sword/axe could have 1,000,000-1,000,000 damage, and it'd hurt 42 chaos damage per attack on the target in melee.
The only time you have to worry about your weapon's stats, and your attribute, as an IW mesmer, is if you're going to be hitting the enemy with your sword/axe when it's not up.

Why is it limited to melee? I'd surmise that it's intentionally that way to make movement buffs/debuffs a simple counter.

Perhaps because it would be super cheap to have a ranger sitting in the back with tigers fury and a long bow, plinking away for 42 / shot that you can't block or run effectively from. Remember, as it stands right now, you have to be within melee range to get hit by IW. Longbow range is considerably further.

Why use staff anyway wouldn't it be better of getting a sword and stick a shocking sword hilt and u can do conjure lightning aswell?

the reason illusionary weaponary is so powerfull is cause it deals chaos damage wich for as i know ignore's armour so if the skill says u deal 40 damage then u'l deal 40 damage

That's not madness2k4's point, I think. But do the Conjures work while IW is up? I think the "no damage in melee" would cancel that out. But I don't run a Me/E, so I wouldn't know.

The point is to make it so you deal chaos damage, but you have to be close. If you were far away, everyone would use that one because it's like you're doing chaos storm without them standing in it, no matter what they're dead. At least if you're up close they can do something about it. It's just not gonna happen.

No it doesn't.

You will technicly always miss with illusionary weponry up. So no adrenalin, easy interupts etc. However you will Always deal the damage implied (To my knowledge, I haven't tried with lifebond on.)

The reason you have to use a melee weapon is because of the power that come with a spell such as this. I disagree that it should effect ranged weapons.

Wow yeah... this would be overpowered. I could use my Ranger and hit you from a distance for 30+ chaos damage which was unblockable unless someone blinded me. All I'd have to do is hit Tiger's Fury and you'd be toast.

The point is I'm a caster, I dont use a sword, I hate being in close range, why the hell is a Caster's spell about going in close range?

And no, Chaos Damage does not ignore armor or I wouldnt need this to change in the first place because that's what my staff does, and its doing like 9 damage a hit if that anymore. And its max damage. So they either need to change this, or up the damage on staffs. Because there's no other real way to do anything else with my weapon. And I may be a caster, but energy is gone real quick and I need a way to attack from a range while I build my energy back up.

There is no spell in the game that makes a Warrior or Ranger pick up a staff to attack, why does the reverse have to be true?

You're barking up the wrong tree if you expect decent damage to ever originate from a wand or staff. As you're a caster, your main concern is what benefit does your staff give you to make you a better caster.

If your energy is gone so quickly, it's better to start looking into energy management options than to ask for a complete change in a skill's mechanics. A skill that was never meant to be for ranged usage.

If a caster's spell is never meant for him to be at close range then you've just put all the PBAoE spells up for a complete overhaul as well, you do realise that right? Oh let's toss Flame Burst out the window, and add Crystal Wave too, what's the point if you have to be next to something for those spells to work?

Hey here's a though, oh, lets see. Lightning Touch, I've used that. I go in, attack and get the hell back out again.

Who stays in the thick of it and lives long? You know how often I die in this game when I stick my neck right into the middle of battle? Every freaking time.

And no, I'm not barking up the wrong tree expecting to be able to use my "WEAPON" to do "DAMAGE" or why even give the class a weapon to begin with?

Why not give us special gloves that we can use upgrades on?

So you're suggesting that all close range spells should be made into Warrior skills?

Interesting, you edited out your suggestion to make the skill a Warrior still instead.

Well, let me think how often does my caster get into melee range. Hmm, in the start of his career, about all the time, since I played him as a PBAoE tanker. He lived very well since he was built for precisely that line of work.

If you're that fragile then don't use any close range skills at all. How hard is that to grasp? Build around the skills, not ask for skills to be changed to fit around your narrow style of playing.

Okay fine, you want your staff to do damage? Get a minimum of 12 Staff Mastery. If that still doesn't help, then come back and whinge. Oh no wait, there isn't a Staff Mastery Attribute in the game. And for the mesmer, their primary attribute is what? Fast CASTING. Gee, who've thunk?

Did I say that?

I said that anything that requires you to use a Warrior weapon should be a warrior skill.

Its not for someone who has low armor. Because you go in, and you're boned.

And you know what else, editing your posts to reply to me is really freaking childish, knock it the hell off. Oh, there's no staff mastery in the game? hey, guess what there should be? What's my primary attritbute? Fast Casting, hey I use Air magic, whoops, dont need Fast Casting... Stop bitching at me because I dont want to be just another mindless caster who cant do anything else but do his spells. Narrow vision of playing, yeah right. I want something changed so I can be more than what I am, and your calling my style of play narrow.

Weapons do damage, casters use projectiles, if the weapon isnt doing damage, then the attack isnt working. I dont use Inspiration Magic, so I dont have energy stealing. I cant take energy for my spells. Hey look at that, Mesmer spells have HUGE cast costs, you cant spam them.

So you Fast Cast the spells, and then your out of energy, oh what should you do? I know, I'll sit there with my thumb up my ass since I cant attack with my staff because there's no freaking way to make it stronger!

This thread makes me sad

Fine you know what, if people dont want this spell changed.

Then change this: Just like Supervixen suggested. The Requirement on the staves. For casters it deals with the type of magic they use. Fine, if say my staff or wand has a Req of 8 in Fire Magic, and I have a 12, then my Staff/Wand should be stronger because of it.

Its not Staff Mastery, but its being stronger in the category that my weapon is tied to.

I'm not saying that Staffs should do 50 damage a hit. But they should be allowed to atleast hit somwhere in the 11-22 damage range they have at Max. When was the last time you ever saw a max damage Melee weapon do under its damage cap, without the opponent having some extra armor spell on?

A staff isnt meant to deal the same damage as a sword/axe/hammer, because if it would, then the casters would also have a lot more painful skills to go with that already painful weapon. And a staff still does a decent amount of damage to a caster, i hit for 10-20 on them most of the time.
Wouldnt illusionary weaponry be completely out of flavor for a warrior as well? They already use weapons who can deal that amount of damage, so why would they want to change taht if it prevents them from executing special attacks.

I give up, I'm just not gonna win this.

I'll find some other way to make my staff stronger, this is RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing biased.

Uh, newsflash, I edit to reply to your edits. If you'd stop editing then my post would actually reflect an accurate reply to what you first posted. So now you're editing to reply to my editing that replied to your editing. Pot calling kettle isn't it?

Well, yes, if other people can work with the skill and you can't, who's the one who needs to change his playstyle? I'll give you two chances to guess correctly.

If you're playing with Air, the exhaustion that comes with key Air spells demands that you learn how to manage your energy wisely. If you don't and find yourself using your staff then seriously, learn better energy management. Don't demand for a skill to be adjusted just because you refuse to do that. It's simply not a valid argument.

Indeed, you're not going to win this. Not even with bringing melee weapons into the picture. If you think what you're doing with a staff now is bad, wait till you see -0s floating up from the head of some level 28 boss, who isn't using an armour buff...

I have to disagree with allowing IW usable by long range weaps. How can you expect warriors to continue existing if even casters can do such constant damage =/ Why would I play a warrior when I can switch to IW on my caster and slash from afar for 40dmg/hit :P

Blind doesn't effect illusionary weaponry since you technicle avided it anyway. The only way to stop a mesmer from hitting you with Illusionary is to strip/shatter the enchantment or keep out of melee raduis. No blinding, dodging, blocking will have any effect...

Oh, Pacifism and Amnity will stop the atatck.

If you want to do damage with a ranged waepon then you should be using the ranger class. As a caster the only time you should be attacking with a staff is when you want to stop a ranger laying a trap. Notice how you can't get sundering staffs? It's is because a staff is a defensive weapon in guild wars.

Illusionary is a great way to get a warrior off your back. Chuck it on and follow it up with distrotion. The warrior won't be able to hit you much and you'll be knocking off around 37 hp an attack. Because it ignores armour it's great for heavily armoured foes.

Anyway I belive it's fine as it is now and I've said all i need to say on this topic.

Dont talk down to me like some noob, I've been playing long enough to know exactly what I'm complaining about. You have no right to treat me with the type of disrespect that you are. I did nothing to you personally, I spoke my opinion, you bring my play ability into this.

Well screw you then.

I use Chain Lighting as my only Exhaustion spell, and I dont spam use it, cause I know better than to drain myself. I never let my energy fall to zero. I'm not saying Staves or Wands should have specialty attacks, I'm not saying that I should be able to do major damage like a warrior each hit.

I'm saying that I should be allowed to use a temporary enchantment, that can be stripped pretty easily, to up the attack of my weapon for under a minute. Am I gonna crush someone in this attack form? Hell no. Am I gonna atleast be able to add to the damage my spells are doing? Yes.

This isnt highly unreasonable. Being able to do damage with a weapon. And not even huge ammounts, just justifiable 10 or 15 per hit.

If this is so unreasonable, maybe the problem isnt me. Maybe the problem is people who think they're class would be underpowered because my class got a little added power.

And if that's the case, then I'm not the one who needs to change.

the tools are there, you jsut refuse to use them, and would rather whine for a skill to be buffed in a way that would completely destroy game balance instead... wow, you sure showed us.

ok, so IW works on staves... and likely wands. why wouldnt it work with bows?

and youre completely wrong, chaos damage DOES ignore armor. watch your chaos strom damage, it will hit warriors for full damage every time, ignoring thier armor. your staff on the other hand, doesnt do chaos damage.

the problem with your little arguement here is that you refuse to look at the bigger picture. you want IW to work for your staff so you can feel uber in pve after your pisspoor build with no energy management has cast itself to uselessness. well... hey, lets take a look at pvp, since after all thats what this is supposed to be all about.

IW works with staves, and likely wands. sweet, how do ya like my w/me with a wand an shield using flurry to rip apart your whole team with ranged IW attacks? how bout that ranger with all his fancy stances so he can laugh at warriors, and his nice elemental resistant armor so he can laugh at eles while he uses tigers fury and a wand (assuming IW doesnt work with a bow) to destroy the guild lord in gvg, solo.

hey, heres a viable suggestion for the OP... remove head from ass BEFORE posting. youre an idiot, and with every post youre just digging yourself deeper.

Energy Management comes in five forms:
- using skills that reduce the energy cost of other skills (Divine Spirit, Glyph of Energy, etc.)
- using skills that replenish your energy (Energy Drain, Ether Renewal, etc.)
- using skills that improve the efficiency of other skills allowing you to use up less energy for a sufficient effect (Divine Boon, Blessed Aura, etc; note that this only applies to reactive builds such as a healing monk)
- using weapons to replenish energy (zealous upgrade)
- increasing attributes that have innate energy management properties (Expertise, Soul Reaping, etc.)

Not using spells to preserve energy has nothing to do with energy management. While you're not doing anything, nothing happens. An elementalist not casting spells isn't managing his energy, he's just being useless.
Hello Conjure Flame/Frost/Lightning! Look at that, spells that add on damage to your wand/staff attacks, check. Operate from a distance, check. Enchantment lasting just under a minute, check.

It's not like you haven't got anything to protect yourself close to enemies. There's Physical Resistance to shield you in pretty comfortably against opposing physical (warrior/ranger) damage, there's Distortion (illusion as well, look at that!) to get 75% chance to evade any incoming attacks. If you're facing a caster, bring Blackout to put a pause to his skills while you chop away. But really, don't even consider bringing Illusionary Weaponry without 16 illusion and an attack speed buff, or you're simply wasting time. This is not a skill tailored to incidental use from a distance between skills, this is a skill to provide armour-ignoring unblockable undodgeable damage, and the trade-off for this power is having to approach your opponent. Balance is a bitch.
Chaos damage doesn't ignore armour, which is quite evident from every mesmer wand and staff available. Skills like Chaos Storm ignores armour, sure - but that's because the skill ignores armour, not the damage type. Don't spread misinformation.

Chaos damage just means it doesnt have an elemental or physical type - you cant add specific extra defense to it. But basic armor works on it, except for the mentioned skills.

Oh, so that's why my staff says "Chaos Dmg: 11-22" because it doesnt do Chaos Damage..... yeah, and I'm the idiot...also FYI the spell Chaos Storm, doesnt say it does Chaos Dmg. Name one spell that does a certain type of damage, and doesnt say that it does....

Pisspoor build huh, what's my build? Do you know it? Tell me it. Tell me how you know its piss poor. Want to know it?

Empathy
Energy Surge
Conjure Phantasm
Chaos Storm
Lightning Strike
Envenerating Charge
Chain Lightning
Conjure Lightning

Is it really that piss poor? huh? Tell me which spell sucks, I'm sure I'm the only one who uses them...

I gave up on IW last night, where have you been? I'm talking about creating something else now. Get with the program buddy...

Tell you what, I'll take my head out of my ass, when you stop blowing yourself for fun and profit. Sound fair? You're the idiot, and you shouldnt have even bothered posting. Jeez... Like I said, dont f'ing attack me personally, you're just a moron for doing so. And your an f'n n00b if you keep doing it.

Cant you have a rational rebuttal, or do you have to insult me some more to make a point?

No offense man, but read my first post. I said I want a spell that upgrades my Mesmer Staff. Try to keep up here.

Someone close this, I'm sick of watching people be morons because I said one suggestion. Wow, this thread was really worth all the time you people put into it to try to make yourselves feel big by trying to make me feel like crap.

Guess what, you didnt, and I still have the same opinion. That make me an idiot in your opinion, I dont care. Too bad. Sorry, I'll cry over it later. Wait, no I wont.

If it doesnt get closed, go ahead to keep insulting me, I'm not checking this thing anymore. Enjoy.

If IW worked with every weapon this would be my build :

Mesmer / Ranger

1) IW
2) Dual Shot
3) Lightning Reflexes


IW damage = 38 x 33% speed x dual shot + use long bow with the 1.5x range.
No one could even get near you, they would be dead trying to run up to cast or melee.

BUT it doesnt work with bows, too bad it would have been fun.

This is why guild wars should have an IQ test before allowing some kid to play.