Feedback:User/Avaera/Confusion and Mesmers
Confusion and Mesmers | |
|---|---|
| User | Avaera |
| Categories | Mechanics Player vs. Environment |
I'd like to propose a change to the effect of the Mesmer's signature condition - confusion - that hopefully enables it to become more of a core element of the profession's gameplay. In the current build confusion is actually one of the best ways I can deal damage at low levels, and I notice how effective I feel when I can build enough on a target to cause noticeable damage. In particular, the trident clones which cause confusion with their base attack (though I think this is bugged) and the downed auto-attack and the (decoy clone's auto-attack) causing confusion are both specific situations where I really feel like a threat to my target.
The issue I have with confusion right now is that it isn't easy to maintain multiple stacks on a target except in very specific circumstances. This is appropriate of course because the condition is extremely debilitating and has few counter tactics - namely repeated condition removal and the victim stopping use of all abilities until the timer elapses (if not renewed).
I'd like to offer a suggestion for a new confusion mechanic, that could then be accessed more liberally across Mesmer weapon, utility or preferably illusion skills. I also think this is a more 'balanceable' version that is likely to both effective and not overwhelming, as well as encouraging more decisions on the part of the target than just 'do nothing or take damage'.
Proposal: Confusion causes damage on hit against non-player targets[edit]
- Applies when the victim hits a pet, object, illusion, turret or so on.
- Condition damage scales with the number of stacks
- Activates on each hit, not on each skill use (ie, area-of-effect skills might trigger multiple confusion damage)
The idea is that this condition punishes a target for missing the player and instead hitting their clones, but more broadly might as well apply to hitting pets & turrets as well so that it is useful for other classes. Now there is another tactic to deal with confusion - target a single player to avoid the condition damage. This would also seem to funnel the fight back in the direction that Mesmers appear to have been built around, which is one-on-one combat.
For PvE content, I would suggest that 'sentient' NPCs (that is, NPCs that should be counted as 'players' by skills) and probably boss/elite NPCs do not trigger the confusion effect.
One additional thing that may be necessary is to add a cap on how many times you can be damaged by the condition in a certain timeframe to avoid particular situations where the condition would be overpowered in its new form. For example, it may be appropriate that you can only take at most three hits of confusion every second, and further AoE attacks would not incur the penalty. This may be necessary for boss NPCs that really need to be able to target the whole player group with their abilities.
Anyway, just thought I'd add this as I was thinking about how to get the feeling of power from the confusion-on-autoattack situations that are already in the game, without making it completely infuriating to face a heavy confusion build Mesmer.
