Guild Wars 2

Will the upcoming patch buff 4-4-6 Scepter/Torch PU Mesmer (Blackwater)?
Yes
Will this have an upsetting effect on the meta?
No

Here is why:
sPvP: Blackwater Mesmer is not part of the sPvP meta because of its reliance on stealth, not because of its lack of DPS. Because Blackwater Mesmers use boons gained from PU to outlast their foes while conditions tick, they will still be bad at capturing and holding points. Because they lack team utility and the ability to focus a target in group fights, there will be better choices for sPvP team comps. I only see this really being a source of QQ in hot join matches.

PvE: Its a condition build, enough said.

WvW: Again this build will still be useless in large scale battles due to its lack of ability to focus its main source of DPS and low group utility. Solo roaming is the only area where this build was a problem and even then it is largely seen as a troll build. The proscription for fighting Blackwater 1v1 has always been to simply walk away, this will still be the case. If Blackwater Mesmer also got a buff to its ability to chase, I might be worried but it will still suffer from the exact same limitations it has always had.

TLDR: 4-4-6 PU condition Mesmers did not need a buff, but this buff really won’t change too much. Whether or not these scepter changes open up other viable builds for Mesmers remains to be seen, but it could be interesting.

Condi side point Mesmer blotting up your screen with AI and passive skills now able to kill you fast enough to be viable or apply enough pressure to sit and hold the point. Doesn’t even need PU, the extra trait points can be spent picking up confusion on clone death + extra confusion with IE for extra staff bounces for more conditions from clones. The sky is indeed falling. I’m a Mesmer main, and can honestly say this build will be an entirely new level of disgusting.

Look up helseth’s video commentary on this change. Thats all you need to know that this is potentially a far worse change than the dhuumfire patch for necros…

If they want to put more conditions into scepter auto, make it bleeding. Not, NOT torment. ABSOLUTELY NOT torment. It is the WORST condition damaging skill to put on AA.

pu condi mesmer will still be worth less then 1 person with a real spec in a tpvp match

i disagree with making it bleed though.. anything but bleed because condi bleeds just need cover condis to help make the bleeds stick.

I tend to agree with the OP. With the exception os solo roaming fights in WvW, this doesn’t seem like it will effect much. Everything is just assumption at this point though, and blowing up over it the way folks have, seems a bit over the top.

So I’m looking at Mesmer Trait layouts, if you wanted all on clone death traits, plus for fun IE to create synergy with the staff clones your build would look like 2-6-2-0-4, there is no way that that is going to be tanky enough to bunker a point vs 2 roamers or a good sw/d theif. I guess you could go 2-6-3-3-0 for regen and toughness or 2-6-2-4 for some regen from phantasms and to trait for scepter. Maybe 2-6-6-0-0 with traits for interrupts and the buffed MoD. I’m not sure how crazy any of these builds will be, but they certainly wont have bunker sustain. As for screen clutter, all mesmer builds spawn clones and phantasms so I don’t see this being any more of a factor with the new patch.

Anet could make pu as an illusion GM trait ,and put Imbued Diversion to chaos line with a bit buff .
So mesmer could run condition build and there will be no outcry for pu mesmer cheese.
Even anet dont do this ,condition mesmer is just fine to tpvp (even still sub par anyway ).It’s super easy brain dead but not high reward .So balance wise it’s ok .

Neptune.2570:

Condi side point Mesmer blotting up your screen with AI and passive skills now able to kill you fast enough to be viable or apply enough pressure to sit and hold the point. Doesn’t even need PU, the extra trait points can be spent picking up confusion on clone death + extra confusion with IE for extra staff bounces for more conditions from clones. The sky is indeed falling. I’m a Mesmer main, and can honestly say this build will be an entirely new level of disgusting.

Really? I think it might finally make sense to at least look at condition setups as a Mesmer.
Because right now, I can’t see why you’d ever do that. The damage you do in total is what a power Mesmer does in the opening attack. And that’s ignoring the whole loss of group viability for both PvP and WvW.