Feedback:User/Avaera/New Mesmer mechanic: Masks

New Mesmer mechanic: Masks
User	Avaera
Categories	Mechanics

While this suggestion was originally posted on the GW2 forums, I have recently discovered this wiki and noted that apparently this is the only source of suggestions that may be able to be used by the development team (and has a consent button for IP release). As a result, I am reposting here in the off chance that a piece of this idea may be useable.

Masks: The Mesmer's Changing Face

I propose to revise the core Mesmer mechanics (primarily the Shatter skills on F1-F4 keys) to allow for a more varied, interesting and hopefully fun experience that remains enjoyable in both PvE and PvP play.

My solution is to provide Mesmers with a choice of three 'stances' that they can switch between at will, each represented by a different thematic mask.

The current F1-F4 skills (Mind Wrack, Cry of Frustration, Diversion, Distortion) would combine into a single skill, whose effect and function depends on the currently equipped mask. I believe they are too limited to the single minion-bomber play style to work well as class-defining tactics. In PvE content, three of the skills are next to useless anyway, with only Mind Wrack really useful and tending towards spammable.

The three freed F-keys would now function to toggle the mask that the Mesmer and their clones are wearing, each mask representing a different emphasis that the clones would have.

Only one mask, effectively a 'stance', may be toggled on at a time providing your clones with some passive effect, and each mask would have a minor active effect that triggers at the moment you reveal your true face and switch to a different mask.

Supporting Mechanic Changes

To facilitate this new class mechanic, a number of small changes would be suggested:

• Clones are destroyed upon leaving combat rather than on the death of the target.
  This would allow the Mesmer to function against multiple enemies and to make tactical use of their clones before they disappear.
• Phantasms are still destroyed on target death as before.
• Clones always target the recipient of your last attack, switching targets if you do.
  Suggested so that there aren’t AI issues when your current target dies and the clone could just stand there doing nothing. Using the last attack as a reference means they should be difficult to tell apart from you.
• If you already have three illusions, summoning a phantasm will overwrite any illusion (preferably a clone), but summoning a clone will not overwrite a phantasm (only other clones).
  Suggested multiple times by others - you shouldn’t lose phantasms when auto-summoning clones. Both a clone-mesmer and phantasm-mesmer should be viable builds and tactics
• Clone auto-attack damage should be about 10%(?) of your damage, and attack at the same speed you do.
  Not zero, not huge, but a steady, small amount of damage that means if you can keep three up they are at least contributing to your DPS.

Skill Proposals

Now to the proposed skills themselves. Obviously these effects could be tweaked or improved, but hopefully they give a good idea of what I’m intending. The ‘reveal effect’ happens to each illusion as they ‘drop’ their current mask and affix a new one.

F1: Harlequin’s Smile Mask

Equips a Mask for misdirection play style

• Recharge: 20 seconds (recharge starts only after a new mask is equipped)
• Passive effect:
  • Your clones have greatly increased health and cause a small amount of damage and one stack of confusion to enemies upon each hit.
• Drop effect:
  • You and your clones gain +66% movement speed for 3 seconds and they rush towards you.

F1 (Chain): Masquerade (Harlequin's Smile)

While you and your clones are wearing the Harlequin's Smile mask, this function key becomes an active skill with the following effect:

• Swap places with your oldest clone. The clone that is now in your previous location shimmers brightly out of existence.
• Recharge: instant

F2: Fanged Dread Mask

Equips a Mask for offense-oriented play style

• Recharge: 20 seconds (recharge starts only after a new mask is equipped)
• Passive effect:
  • Your clones do slightly increased damage and increase the critical hit chance of you and nearby allies by 1%(?) per clone.
• Drop effect:
  • Enemies adjacent to {you and} your clones are stunned for 1s (non-stacking).

F2 (Chain): Masquerade (Fanged Dread)

While you and your clones are wearing the Fanged Dread mask, this function key becomes an active skill with the following effect:

• Your oldest clone explodes into mirrored fragments, causing a small amount of damage and vulnerability to nearby enemies.
• Recharge: instant

F3: Phantasm of Sorrow

Equips a Mask for support-oriented play style

• Recharge: 20 seconds (recharge starts only after a new mask is equipped)
• Passive effect:
  • Every 6 seconds, your clones draw a condition from nearby allies to themselves or a boon from nearby enemies to you. The drawn effect lasts 3 seconds.
• Drop effect:
  • Allies adjacent to {you and} your clones are healed for a small amount.

F3 (Chain): Masquerade (Phantasm of Sorrow)

While you and your clones are wearing the Phantasm of Sorrow mask, this function key becomes an active skill with the following effect:

• • Your oldest clone disperses into smoke, leaving a small region of haze (5s) which grants allies regeneration (5s) and enemies blindness (5s).
• Recharge: instant

F4: Shatter

Shatters all clones with effect depending on current mask

• Harlequin's Smile - Diversion: Causes all clones to shatter, dazing their target and granting distortion to the Mesmer;
• Fanged Dread - Mind Wrack: Causes all clones to shatter, dealing AoE damage at their location;
• Phantasm of Sorrow - Cry of Frustration: Causes all clones to shatter, inflicting confusion on nearby enemies and swiftness on nearby allies.

Comments leading to this suggestion (BWE2)

Things I love about Mesmers in their current form:

• Unique, magical and beautifully animated spells and illusions
• Underwater combat mechanics (I adore the Trident weapon skillset)
• A good mix of swashbuckling melee and psychic caster combat tactics
• The potentially fun mechanic of misdirecting illusions of yourself in the battlefield

Areas which make the class less fun for me to play:

• Underwhelming damage output unless traited well (at least, I assume it gets better).
• ‘Locked-in’ playstyle of a minion-bomber that focuses on constantly destroying the apparent ‘feature’ of the class.
• Extreme focus of class mechanics on 1v1 combat, which makes the group PvE experience quite exasperating.
• Randomness and spamminess of group support/buff skills, enemy debuff/support skills and illusion management.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to the whole design team for such a wonderfully evocative game!

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