New Mesmer Skill: Manta of Duplicity

Mantra of Duplicity
Stance
10 Energy
30 Second Recharge
Inspiration Magic

Mantra of Duplicity lasts for (40...80) seconds. When Manta of Duplicity is active you gain (4...10) ranks in every attribute line that is not possesed by your primary or secondary profession.

The point of this?

So you can actually use all the skills you steal with Inspired Hex/Enchantment, Arcane Thievery and any other skill thief skills in the future.

{Edit} Bah spelled the title wrong.{Edit}

Wow, that is an awesome idea! It is indeed annoying how the spells you steal use your current rank in that attribute. What I think they should change, is that along with stealing the spell, you steal that enemy's rank in that attribute also, enabling you to actually use it. But we'll see

seems good, not to uber, because it lets you waste a skill slot,
although maybe longer lasting time

While the numbers may need to be adjusted for balance reasons, I think this idea is not only really great, but also sound. I can't see it as being over-powered beyond what some minor number tweaking could fix. While having 10 in so many attribute lines at once could appear unfair to some, I believe the unreliability of your skill set would make up for it. After all, the skills this would benefit are a gamble at best. In all but a very few cases, you really don't know and can't control what you're going to get.

Rofl - only problems I see? Abusing it for the 10 Soul Reaping/10 Expertise/10 Energy Storage. After all, who wouldn't like a skill that makes skills 40% cheaper, gives you 10 energy per death and a bonus 30 energy pool.

Make it all non-primary attributes, or make it so that skills work "as if you had" a 4-10 in the attribute? Or possibly, simply gain the ranks in the skills on your skill bar - so if you Arcane Mimcry "Oath Shot" it does come with an Expertise of 10, but if you Arcane Mimicry "Punishing Shot" it doesn't.

wow neat idea. and i agree on the non-primary attribute boost.
/signed

This is cool. You're not really supposed to be able to use those things, so if it annoys you, that's kind of silly, but this is cool anyway. I think Ep's second tweak (i.e., 10 in a skill rather than 10 in the attribute) is the best way to do it.

"Signet of Massive Approval"

Was playing my Me/N yesterday, using Arcane Thievery, realized this sort of skill was needed. Sure I can steal Chain Lightning, but it does 11 dmg and exhausts me anyway. Right now the only benefit theft skills have are with Me or your secondary skills, or just to deny the enemy a really nasty skill.

Heh, Oops. Forgot about that.

I worded it that way for clarity, but I forgot about the effects of primary attributes. You see what I'm trying to get at, though.

Mantra of Duplicity
Stance
10 Energy
30 Second Recharge
Inspiration Magic

Mantra of Duplicity lasts for (40...80) seconds. While Manta of Duplicity is active you gain (4...10) ranks in the attached attribute of every skill you steal or copy from another player (note you do not gain passive bonuses from primary attributes).

Might have to limit it's use to skills stolen from foes, to prevent abuse with arcane mimicry.

Personally, I'd rather thievery spells simply copy the target's rank in the attribute for that spell. This way ANet can pick and choose which spell gets this benefit and which doesn't, without it being overly complicated.

But you bring up a great point. The thievery spells are gimmicky and only really beneficial in their secondary effects (i.e. removing a hex, removing an enchantment, denying a spell...). Those effects can be achieved with other spells in better ways. Nobody makes a mimic build, but that would be a really cool build, wouldn't it?

Mesmers lack spontanaity. The spells they have are all very specific and if you don't know what you're up against, you won't be very effective. Mimic builds would help solve this and make the class even more interesting.

I really like this idea, it makes sense to be able to somehow use the skills taken with inspired and thievery.

/signed

Only potential problem I can see with something that provides boosts to skills is that this skill has no attribute line in mes. Fast Casting? Not really. Domination? Not exactly. Illusion? I don't think so. Possibly, inspiration might work though.

A fair and ingenous idea - finally willb e able to use all thsoe inspired encahnts/hexes

/signed

I linked it to Inspiration becuase I feel that's where a lot of Mesmer "support" skills are, as in skills that support other lines. For example... Mantra of Persistence boosts illusion but it in Inspiration. Mantra of Inscriptions boosts signets, also in inspiration.

Mantra of Duplicity boosts skill thief skills, so is in Inspiration. Likewise inspiration is where all the other mantras are at (besides Mantra of Recovery).

/signed GREAT GREAT GREAT IDEA!

Arcane Mimicry and then Arcane echo and an elite, and heck maybe Echo, then you can get 3 elites at an awesome level that aren't even of your character's class and use them. Heh.

Oh nice. I think this would be an A+ skill for a mesmer.