Guild Wars 2

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Update-Notes-October-7th-2012

Mesmers

-Signet of Domination can no longer be cast on targets behind the mesmer.
-Added a much faster breakout for mesmer underwater mantras.
-Phantasmal Warlock: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
-Chaos Armor: Decreased recharge to 35 seconds.
-Chaos Storm: Increased recharge to 35 seconds.
-Phantasmal Duelist: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
-Phantasmal Swordsman: Increased recharge to 18 seconds.

Thieves

-Pistol Whip: Reduced damage by 15%.

Ranger

-Crossfire: Increased casting time by 40 milliseconds. This was done to fix some glitches in the animation that caused problems with this skill.

Short-bow was actually speed nerfed by about 33% or so…. Not sure if this is a bug or what.

Just gotta wonder if they actually thought 15% on PW would be adequate considering the set also brings immobilize, and PW itself has a stun?

Didn’t even lose 1k off the top, and it’s still a problem due to the ability to essentially stun-lock with Dev. Venom, Inf. Strike, and PW.

Suppose we’ll see. I still think the problem isn’t the damage so much as the hasted stun-lock it provides with quickness.

Smells like an appeasement nerf, I think.

Well, at least it’s better than nothing.

Also added this to main post:

Ranger
-Crossfire: Increased casting time by 40 milliseconds. This was done to fix some glitches in the animation that caused problems with this skill.

Short-bow was actually speed nerfed by about 33%.

Animosity.5231:

Just gotta wonder if they actually thought 15% on PW would be adequate considering the set also brings immobilize, and PW itself has a stun?

Didn’t even lose 1k off the top, and it’s still a problem due to the ability to essentially stun-lock with Dev. Venom, Inf. Strike, and PW.

Suppose we’ll see. I still think the problem isn’t the damage so much as the hasted stun-lock it provides with quickness.

Smells like an appeasement nerf, I think.

With the damage nerfed like it was it now gives you time to actually use your stun break and get away. You will not die in one stun lock or 2 haste PWs. Just like the HS nerf, if you are dying to PW now, it is your own fault. Heartseeker you can evade, PW use a stunbreaker, or even stability right before they use PW.

Every class has a stunbreaker, they are just all used differently.

MASSIVE nerf to Ret Guardians. Somehow I still feel like people will complain.

And Thieves in tPvP were barely in need of a nerf anyway IMO, so the minor nerf suits me if it just thins out the HS glory farmers.

I’m not much on talking about OP but the Mesmer nerfs seemed just about right to me so far on paper. Will have to play more to see how it affects things.

Edit: Upon actually dusting off my Ret spec and testing out Retaliation uptime, in a way they actually buffed the spec with the insta-channel speed. Very little downtime still. Not that I ever thought this spec was that great, but I have to be honest.

“I’m not much on talking about OP but the Mesmer nerfs seemed just about right to me so far on paper. Will have to play more to see how it affects things.”

Could you please elaborate? As primarily a mesmer player I don’t see how this change addresses any of the complaints about the class in pvp, and just makes the pve problems worse.

Wow. Some serious crap going on here. They think a 15% pw nerf is all it needed? These tools have never played this game. I don’t care what they claim.

That was my conclusion as well. We’re still dominating any fight we get the drop on, we still have the weaknesses we had before. All this did was harm our PvE game.

I’m going to say this plain. Arenanet needs to stop making adjustments based off of PvP game without considering PVE, or their larger chunk of players will suffer for it.

The recast on phantasms isn’t the problem, it’s the damage they deal in comparison to the damage a Mesmer proper should be dealing. And the easiest way to change that is to make the trait that boosts phantasm damage instead boost the damage of the player per phantasm out.

Yes, we already have a trait that works with illusions that way. However this counts clones as well, and is a minor bonus. Phantasms can be an additional bonus because having them out, reveals the actual Mesmer and puts them in more danger.

I believe that would be a fair trade that would keep Phantasm builds viable, but keep the phantasm abuse down.

As far as this ’nerf’s’ effect on PvP, it won’t solve anything for the qqers as it didn’t resolve shatter builds and it it won’t have the intended effect on phantasm builds.

People are just happy mesmers and theifs got nerfs, even though they’er nerfs that won’t make any real difference in pvp. It’s called being bitter.

Kalar Meadia.8439:

That was my conclusion as well. We’re still dominating any fight we get the drop on, we still have the weaknesses we had before. All this did was harm our PvE game.

I’m going to say this plain. Arenanet needs to stop making adjustments based off of PvP game without considering PVE, or their larger chunk of players will suffer for it.

The recast on phantasms isn’t the problem, it’s the damage they deal in comparison to the damage a Mesmer proper should be dealing. And the easiest way to change that is to make the trait that boosts phantasm damage instead boost the damage of the player per phantasm out.

Yes, we already have a trait that works with illusions that way. However this counts clones as well, and is a minor bonus. Phantasms can be an additional bonus because having them out, reveals the actual Mesmer and puts them in more danger.

I believe that would be a fair trade that would keep Phantasm builds viable, but keep the phantasm abuse down.

As far as this ’nerf’s’ effect on PvP, it won’t solve anything for the qqers as it didn’t resolve shatter builds and it it won’t have the intended effect on phantasm builds.

I agree. This was nothing more than proof that Anet really has no clue what is going on. Their ‘pets’ should do ZERO damage. Them being there is the only advantage they need. Illusion, that is it.

Zatria.5783:

I agree. This was nothing more than proof that Anet really has no clue what is going on. Their ‘pets’ should do ZERO damage. Them being there is the only advantage they need. Illusion, that is it.

Claims ANet has no clue what’s going on, then claims phantasms should do 0 damage.

I see where this thread is going. I’ll bid this trash can adieu.

The PW “nerf” on thieves is a joke which doesn’t even begin to address issues with the class. Mesmer nerfs will prob have a negative impact on PvE. As I haven’t leveled my Mesmer I can’t say much on that, but I don’t think the class mechanics were much of a problem so much as damage scaling of phantasms. They nerfed elementalist slightly … which is a huge fail. Trying to fix necro glitches is a plus I guess.

I think they were suggesting that the damage should come from the mesmer instead, eg replace phantasms with attacks.

While I can agree that a lot of the complaints in this game are knee-jerk reactions. (even I sometimes feel like thief should not be doing NEARLY as much damage as they do in sPvP, even if the build fails in tPvP.) There are some good suggestions in these boards that Anet should follow.

There are informed, intelligent players around who sit and do studies and tests concerning part of the game, weighing in on the balance and tradeoffs of each class and build. They’ve been making feedback as well. Feedback that shouldn’t be ignored just because the mass swell of players are crying wolf.

Anet still has my benefit of the doubt, but that may not last long if continue to make adjustments in the opposite direction that testing and studies from dedicated players conclude.

Effusion.4831:

I think they were suggesting that the damage should come from the mesmer instead, eg replace phantasms with attacks.

Mesmers have two types of illusions. I’ll let you think about this. Take as long as you’d like.

Senai.1804:

Effusion.4831:

I think they were suggesting that the damage should come from the mesmer instead, eg replace phantasms with attacks.

Mesmers have two types of illusions. I’ll let you think about this. Take as long as you’d like.

To be honest, I no longer expect people in the sPvP forum to know the difference between the terms “illusion” “clone” and “phantasm.”

Senai.1804:

Effusion.4831:

I think they were suggesting that the damage should come from the mesmer instead, eg replace phantasms with attacks.

Mesmers have two types of illusions. I’ll let you think about this. Take as long as you’d like.

That argument is irrelevant.

The suggestion that was made was they get rid of Phantasems and replace them with powerful or similar skills on the side of the mesmer.

For example. Instead of summoning the iZerker, use the iZeker’s attack personally, with perhaps a greater effect than the Zerker itself.

Heck, if we still wanted to go with the disorientation, we could drop a clone in the location we casted the skill, and teleport right into the position the Phantasmal Berserker would appear.

There are ways that could be done. Now my opinion on doing something like that would be very iffy considering that’s pretty much class rewrite.

Kalar Meadia.8439:

Senai.1804:

Effusion.4831:

I think they were suggesting that the damage should come from the mesmer instead, eg replace phantasms with attacks.

Mesmers have two types of illusions. I’ll let you think about this. Take as long as you’d like.

That argument is irrelevant.

The suggestion that was made was they get rid of Phantasems and replace them with powerful or similar skills on the side of the mesmer.

For example. Instead of summoning the iZerker, use the iZeker’s attack personally, with perhaps a greater effect than the Zerker itself.

Heck, if we still wanted to go with the disorientation, we could drop a clone in the location we casted the skill, and teleport right into the position the Phantasmal Berserker would appear.

There are ways that could be done. Now my opinion on doing something like that would be very iffy considering that’s pretty much class rewrite.

And then shatter would be the only viable build for pvp which is ironic because it’s what everybody’s problem was to begin with. I had no clue people actually had a problem with phantasms. The most i’ve ever done with them in pvp was 4.5k. Hardly overpowered if you ask me. Even with higher crit damage gear i can only see them going as high as 6k and that’s in optimal conditions. People really need to understand what it is that’s killing them before picking up their pitchforks.

Yes, mesmers are strong in spvp. Yes, they excel in 1v1 situations. They might even have an advantage over some classes given a comparable skill level, but despite losing to mesmers from time to time, or getting wrecked by good mesmers, I never felt helpless against them. On my ele I can clear their illusions while doing moderate damage to them. The elite elemental summon helps with this of course. Thieves on the other hand, have too much spike. Unfortunately pistol whip isn’t really the root of the problem. Things like quickness (an inherently stupid mechanic since only a few classes have access to it, not all of which suffer the same consequences for using it), assassin’s signet in conjunction with an already huge single hit burst from backstab landing numbers upward of 15k, and the insane spammability of the highest damage skills due to the initiative mechanic.

etherfreeze.6834:

Yes, mesmers are strong in spvp. Yes, they excel in 1v1 situations. They might even have an advantage over some classes given a comparable skill level, but despite losing to mesmers from time to time, or getting wrecked by good mesmers, I never felt helpless against them. On my ele I can clear their illusions while doing moderate damage to them. The elite elemental summon helps with this of course. Thieves on the other hand, have too much spike. Unfortunately pistol whip isn’t really the root of the problem. Things like quickness (an inherently stupid mechanic since only a few classes have access to it, not all of which suffer the same consequences for using it), assassin’s signet in conjunction with an already huge single hit burst from backstab landing numbers upward of 15k, and the insane spammability of the highest damage skills due to the initiative mechanic.

It really depends on your class. My main is a Necro and Mesmers are the worst class for me to face, and thieves are pretty easy to kill. However, on my Ele I agree with you that Mesmers are not a problem and thieves are.

although i don’t really care if they nerf pistolwhip, nerfing the damage is pointless. If you get caught with no escapes or no idea what to do against it you deserve to get hit for the full amount

The only thing that needs to be changed about pistolwhip is how the thief evades for no reason while in pistolwhip

Frizz.6704:

etherfreeze.6834:

Yes, mesmers are strong in spvp. Yes, they excel in 1v1 situations. They might even have an advantage over some classes given a comparable skill level, but despite losing to mesmers from time to time, or getting wrecked by good mesmers, I never felt helpless against them. On my ele I can clear their illusions while doing moderate damage to them. The elite elemental summon helps with this of course. Thieves on the other hand, have too much spike. Unfortunately pistol whip isn’t really the root of the problem. Things like quickness (an inherently stupid mechanic since only a few classes have access to it, not all of which suffer the same consequences for using it), assassin’s signet in conjunction with an already huge single hit burst from backstab landing numbers upward of 15k, and the insane spammability of the highest damage skills due to the initiative mechanic.

It really depends on your class. My main is a Necro and Mesmers are the worst class for me to face, and thieves are pretty easy to kill. However, on my Ele I agree with you that Mesmers are not a problem and thieves are.

Obviously my opinion is skewed by the class I play, and admittedly I have only dabbled in other classes to learn their mechanics so I can counter them better on my ele. However, while playing thief, using a cookie cutter build, it just felt too easy. The initiative mechanic makes it so missing an important skill is no big deal. You can backstab frequently, spam heartseeker. Never mind throwing in quickness. I think it’s strange that squishy classes like elementalist and necro don’t have access to the same high risk glass cannon option. The only skills that can even compare on elementalist are fire grab and churning earth. Fire grab is predictable, easy to miss, easy to dodge, and has a very large cooldown. Churning earth has a casting time so long that it is not even worth using in a 1v1 unless you lead with in on an unsuspecting target with teleport. Both of these skills can net at most 8k dmg with full glass cannon and crit. That’s half the damage I’ve seen on some backstabs. Thieves not only get more damage, but damage that is way more spammable. On top of that, permanent gap closing. I can beat thieves in 1v1 situations, but I imagine they aren’t very good thieves. Maybe I’m not a very good elementalist, but even with a full tank build sacrificing all damage, a “good” thief can still take me out in seconds. If I blow all my utilities to CC them or create some distance, they close the gap with anything from steal, shadowstep, scorpion wire, heartseeker. You name it.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Zatria.5783:

I agree. This was nothing more than proof that Anet really has no clue what is going on. Their ‘pets’ should do ZERO damage. Them being there is the only advantage they need. Illusion, that is it.

Claims ANet has no clue what’s going on, then claims phantasms should do 0 damage.

I see where this thread is going. I’ll bid this trash can adieu.

What I am saying is, their lil pets should do ZERO damage. They should only mimic the player and even have the graphics show all of them doing the same thing on attacks. You still have the “illusion” of real, multiple characters to attack. I guess you just need to pick the right one. Illusions are just that, illusions. Distractions and deceiving you foe is plenty.

Zatria.5783:

Cogbyrn.7283:

Zatria.5783:

I agree. This was nothing more than proof that Anet really has no clue what is going on. Their ‘pets’ should do ZERO damage. Them being there is the only advantage they need. Illusion, that is it.

Claims ANet has no clue what’s going on, then claims phantasms should do 0 damage.

I see where this thread is going. I’ll bid this trash can adieu.

What I am saying is, their lil pets should do ZERO damage. They should only mimic the player and even have the graphics show all of them doing the same thing on attacks. You still have the “illusion” of real, multiple characters to attack. I guess you just need to pick the right one. Illusions are just that, illusions. Distractions and deceiving you foe is plenty.

The knowledge you have on mesmers is astoundingly low. I’m not even sure if i should point out how stupid this is or let you figure it out yourself. Although the fact that you had the audacity to even post this tells me you don’t know how to research properly so i guess you’ll forever be in the dark.

etherfreeze.6834:

Frizz.6704:

etherfreeze.6834:

Yes, mesmers are strong in spvp. Yes, they excel in 1v1 situations. They might even have an advantage over some classes given a comparable skill level, but despite losing to mesmers from time to time, or getting wrecked by good mesmers, I never felt helpless against them. On my ele I can clear their illusions while doing moderate damage to them. The elite elemental summon helps with this of course. Thieves on the other hand, have too much spike. Unfortunately pistol whip isn’t really the root of the problem. Things like quickness (an inherently stupid mechanic since only a few classes have access to it, not all of which suffer the same consequences for using it), assassin’s signet in conjunction with an already huge single hit burst from backstab landing numbers upward of 15k, and the insane spammability of the highest damage skills due to the initiative mechanic.

It really depends on your class. My main is a Necro and Mesmers are the worst class for me to face, and thieves are pretty easy to kill. However, on my Ele I agree with you that Mesmers are not a problem and thieves are.

Obviously my opinion is skewed by the class I play, and admittedly I have only dabbled in other classes to learn their mechanics so I can counter them better on my ele. However, while playing thief, using a cookie cutter build, it just felt too easy. The initiative mechanic makes it so missing an important skill is no big deal. You can backstab frequently, spam heartseeker. Never mind throwing in quickness. I think it’s strange that squishy classes like elementalist and necro don’t have access to the same high risk glass cannon option. The only skills that can even compare on elementalist are fire grab and churning earth. Fire grab is predictable, easy to miss, easy to dodge, and has a very large cooldown. Churning earth has a casting time so long that it is not even worth using in a 1v1 unless you lead with in on an unsuspecting target with teleport. Both of these skills can net at most 8k dmg with full glass cannon and crit. That’s half the damage I’ve seen on some backstabs. Thieves not only get more damage, but damage that is way more spammable. On top of that, permanent gap closing. I can beat thieves in 1v1 situations, but I imagine they aren’t very good thieves. Maybe I’m not a very good elementalist, but even with a full tank build sacrificing all damage, a “good” thief can still take me out in seconds. If I blow all my utilities to CC them or create some distance, they close the gap with anything from steal, shadowstep, scorpion wire, heartseeker. You name it.

For something so squishy, they have amazing escapes, heals, and survivability and damage to boot.

It was/is my one gripe with warriors.

You have mobility, hefty damage, large HP pool and heavy armor. ‘Glass cannon’ my <explicative>. Then they can CC you, switch to shield and block all damage. Its very little risk for a ton of reward.

Same with thieves. Very little risk with all the evasions and manoeuverability. You really *can’t’ lose with them (obviously unless you get out played by another, or get zerged).

Senai.1804:

Zatria.5783:

Cogbyrn.7283:

Zatria.5783:

I agree. This was nothing more than proof that Anet really has no clue what is going on. Their ‘pets’ should do ZERO damage. Them being there is the only advantage they need. Illusion, that is it.

Claims ANet has no clue what’s going on, then claims phantasms should do 0 damage.

I see where this thread is going. I’ll bid this trash can adieu.

What I am saying is, their lil pets should do ZERO damage. They should only mimic the player and even have the graphics show all of them doing the same thing on attacks. You still have the “illusion” of real, multiple characters to attack. I guess you just need to pick the right one. Illusions are just that, illusions. Distractions and deceiving you foe is plenty.

The knowledge you have on mesmers is astoundingly low. I’m not even sure if i should point out how stupid this is or let you figure it out yourself. Although the fact that you had the audacity to even post this tells me you don’t know how to research properly so i guess you’ll forever be in the dark.

Yet you keep trying to convince yourself you have a clue. This isn’t rocket science here Homer. They should do zero damage in pvp and class should be adjusted accordingly, if needed.

I’m not sure why you are so scared to give them up? Crutch, maybe…hmmm?

Won’t let me edit, so:

Illusion: perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature

Do I need to explain what ‘perception’ and ‘misinterpretation’ means too? I’m happy to help out. I like to keep it real and other people in the realistic part of the world.

15% nerf on pistol whip is hardly enough. I’m still blowing people up with 1 hand even.

Beonebee.7385:

@Senai… you make yourself sound like such an elitist jerk.

Problem?

I have no obligation to explain basic core mechanics of a class to someone who is endlessly complaining about and didn’t even bother to read up on.

It seems that thief is the favourite nerf class this season , after they nerfed heartseeker now they reduce p/w by 15% which is alot ( awfull anet ) , mesmers we`re the only ones untouched well i guess the qq caught up to them aswell. Cya all in pvp

etherfreeze.6834:

Frizz.6704:

etherfreeze.6834:

Yes, mesmers are strong in spvp. Yes, they excel in 1v1 situations. They might even have an advantage over some classes given a comparable skill level, but despite losing to mesmers from time to time, or getting wrecked by good mesmers, I never felt helpless against them. On my ele I can clear their illusions while doing moderate damage to them. The elite elemental summon helps with this of course. Thieves on the other hand, have too much spike. Unfortunately pistol whip isn’t really the root of the problem. Things like quickness (an inherently stupid mechanic since only a few classes have access to it, not all of which suffer the same consequences for using it), assassin’s signet in conjunction with an already huge single hit burst from backstab landing numbers upward of 15k, and the insane spammability of the highest damage skills due to the initiative mechanic.

It really depends on your class. My main is a Necro and Mesmers are the worst class for me to face, and thieves are pretty easy to kill. However, on my Ele I agree with you that Mesmers are not a problem and thieves are.

Obviously my opinion is skewed by the class I play, and admittedly I have only dabbled in other classes to learn their mechanics so I can counter them better on my ele. However, while playing thief, using a cookie cutter build, it just felt too easy. The initiative mechanic makes it so missing an important skill is no big deal. You can backstab frequently, spam heartseeker. Never mind throwing in quickness. I think it’s strange that squishy classes like elementalist and necro don’t have access to the same high risk glass cannon option. The only skills that can even compare on elementalist are fire grab and churning earth. Fire grab is predictable, easy to miss, easy to dodge, and has a very large cooldown. Churning earth has a casting time so long that it is not even worth using in a 1v1 unless you lead with in on an unsuspecting target with teleport. Both of these skills can net at most 8k dmg with full glass cannon and crit. That’s half the damage I’ve seen on some backstabs. Thieves not only get more damage, but damage that is way more spammable. On top of that, permanent gap closing. I can beat thieves in 1v1 situations, but I imagine they aren’t very good thieves. Maybe I’m not a very good elementalist, but even with a full tank build sacrificing all damage, a “good” thief can still take me out in seconds. If I blow all my utilities to CC them or create some distance, they close the gap with anything from steal, shadowstep, scorpion wire, heartseeker. You name it.

No you are not a bad player..thieves destroy Ele’s if they open on them. I think the problem with Thieves (initiative mechanic) and Mesmers (mass produced clones) is they are so easy to do well with for a bad player. That isn’t to say they won’t get destroyed by good players…but they will still do much better than if they play an Ele or Necro for example. Thieves and Mesmers are easy to do well with…hard to master.

Oh good some of the easiest mechanics in the game got a few little nerfs. This is a good step to making all classes a bit more involving to play.

But surely retal/thief dmg/mesmer phantasm output wasnt too high. Arenanet just listened to the qq’ers and nothing else! Lets whine about elementalists, surely they would get massive nerfs next patch! That’d be so fun as we can clearly get anything implemented as long as we cry hard enough right? Nothing in this super perfect awesome game can possibly be OP or way too easy to play!

“Smells like an appeasement nerf, I think.”

The damage reduction will make a difference of PW. And it’s clear that they’re not really messing with Quickness right now and I don’t think they need to (at best, lower rate of attack speed and buff length). That said, if a thief uses that skill combination (Haste with PW), they’ve generally burned through Init. and Endurance. It’s not hard for a team to deal with them.

Effusion.4831
To be honest, I no longer expect people in the sPvP forum to know the difference between the terms “illusion” “clone” and “phantasm.” (cannot quote for some reason)

I laughed at the above quote – was great. Sums up the majority of people moaning about Mesmer’s, as they literally do not know that we have clones and phantasms.

I give advice to people starting Mesmers all the time and they say “what you have clones and phantasms, really? whats the difference?”

If I have trouble understanding how to beat a class, I firstly read the forums for advice then I may create that class, play it to learn its strengths and weaknesses. Spvp is amazing for this.

What do the majority of people do? They moan – that class is op and my class is UP.

Sums up the average community member. I hope Anet stops listening to these people.

At least eles got nerfed.

Well considering I often only use warlock (16s with 20% staff reduction), warden, disenchanter and defender, the others don’t concern me and I’m more of a shatter build anyways.

Didn’t even realize people used whirlpool, that thing is so big it’s obvious to avoid. Then again I don’t remember the last time I fought players in the water.

Basically ArenaNet took a look at Mesmers and made adjustments to make them easier to counter. The fundamental principle with countering a mesmer is to take away his Phantasms quickly.

By increasing the summoning time, it is easier to take down a Mesmer as you can spend more time working on the Mesmer and not his Phantasms.

Chaos Storm is a very powerful area control effect. It was changed for similar reasons.

The unfortunate consequence of this is that it makes it even more difficult to level a Mesmer. They were subpar in PvE prior to this change – they are moreso now.

Maybe ANet can throw us a bone in PvE. Take away Moa and give us some kind of elite ability that gives us some kind of sustained AoE. Like an Illusory Scattergun that does AoE damage but replaces our Main|Off hand weapon, lasts 60 seconds, 75 second cooldown.

this is a huge pve nerf, first of all i don’t find mesmers that OP, mark the real one and it will be a real easy fight, people is simply noob. And i think they did the contrary to what they should have done:

-Chaos Storm, only AoE they have, cooldown increased. Cool no counters against stealth and less utility in massive fights. I don’t see how is this op. Nobody is so noob to stand on it for a long time and it is essential in PvE condition builds.

-Chaos Armor, i think the burst of mermers is just equal to almost every class so i’d nerf the survivality in the case it’s necessary, they diminish the cd of this. Cool….

-Illusions, there are some illusions that are very weak, some can be destroyed by a single swing now people instead of figuring out who is the real one will go for the mesmer and fight like if it was a boss fight with adds.

A glass canon can surely finish a mesmer within 20 seconds, mind that if they would like to encourage shattering illusions this is not they way.

I felt that mesmer did poor damage in PvE compared to other classes now with this nerf probably it does a 10% less…

HackerTeivospy.2031:

although i don’t really care if they nerf pistolwhip, nerfing the damage is pointless. If you get caught with no escapes or no idea what to do against it you deserve to get hit for the full amount

The only thing that needs to be changed about pistolwhip is how the thief evades for no reason while in pistolwhip

If every class had a move which kills you when you do not have a certain defense off cd, then the game would be balanced. However, as it stands now it is like getting caught by a thief or warrior without a stun breaker means you lose. The same goes for mesmer fights if you run a class/spec with weak or no aoe (just play a necro a see what I mean. Even in a power build his dps is…oh well).

It simply isn’t balanced. In the mesmer case, though, I think it is terrible hard to balance.

As for the others…the huge burst in this game is a problem.

It did fark and all to counter Mesmer phantasm/illusion/clones. They still enjoy 100% uptime or close to it vs most classes and the ones with heavy AoE, like Ele, just die in seconds if they’re spec’d for damage anyhow.

Spvp is a mess and Anet has given no indication thus far that they have any idea whatsoever on how to fix it.

Chaos Storm nerf is most likely because it gives Chaos Armor too. Twice, if you’re so inclined and have Staff+Sword. I still can’t wrap my head around why they don’t nerf Phase Retreat. It’s an instant anti-stun, anti-immoblize backwards dodge that spawns a clone and gives you Chaos Armor on a pitifully low recharge that is reduced further by a 5 point trait.

The phantasm nerfs were good though. I felt like they lowered the recharges too much with clones overwriting phantasms, causing unnecessary stuff like often keeping two duelists up. Now that phantasms are safe from clones, no mesmer deserves 3. Nor do shatter builds deserve to rely on having at least duelist up nearly all the time.

That seems like a pretty half-assed fix for Mesmers. They don’t need to be standing around for longer spamming AAs waiting on Phantasm summoning skills. They needed the phantasm dmg brought to the player rather than keeping it AI focused. On top of which people will still avoid using the shatter mechanic despite these changes without any negative side effects – which given the statement regarding Necro’s class mechanic, Death Shroud, and the need for Necro’s to master it, seems like a complete reversal of logic by Anet.

Mesmer: On paper the nerfs make sense. In actual play it’s a very minor nerf on the “spam phantasms and run around like a ninny” build.

Thief: Pistol Whip nerf nonsensical. Quickness is the issue with that skill, not its damage output.

Basilisk venom nerf surprising but not unexpected. It was one of the components of an uncounterable opener. (BV → stealth+C&D, have fun watching the thief backstab you without being able to do squat)

The nerfs were very minor in the overall scheme of things (PvP related) with little to no actual impact in some cases. There’s more to come. Slow, paced and well thought out little changes at a time is the smartest thing to do to avoid creating a mass negative reaction among the player base and, of course, to see how the meta slowly progresses.

Again, there’s more to come, specially for you Mesmers.

They need to nerf backstab if anything, that build is a lot more deadly than pw, and will be the new fotm very soon. Mesmer nerf doesn’t even effect shantasm/shatter build which all the good mesmers run, this was basically a nerf to hotjoin players. Mesmers and thieves are still a huge problem in tpvp.

Anet leave mesmer as they are pls, we goin on reruns henever something is really original and fun, the whiners are out cause lack of experience and creativity to beat it.Reminds me of Ritualists in GW1. Try playing a mesmer and see his weaknesses, ever thought of it??
It’s so easy to spot the real mesmer, use youre eyes.Phantasm/clones/illusion die off easely.I don’t even play spvp, if you don’t like it, then play tpvp, don’t blame a proffesion, remember its a teambased game!

I for one did play a mesmer to find his weakness (and to have some ezmode wtfbbq good times).

Apparently those weaknesses are: playing VERY badly (though that not much of a weakness), falling asleep between phantasm summons (going to be harder to avoid now that the recharge has been lengthened), going afk in the middle of the fight and letting your AI hold down the fort (not actually a weakness in some cases), running face first into a zerg.

I’m going to say this plain. Arenanet needs to stop making adjustments based off of PvP game without considering PVE, or their larger chunk of players will suffer for it.

Better get used to PvP being considered first and foremost buddy. This isn’t WoW.

They need to nerf backstab if anything, that build is a lot more deadly than pw, and will be the new fotm very soon. Mesmer nerf doesn’t even effect shantasm/shatter build which all the good mesmers run, this was basically a nerf to hotjoin players. Mesmers and thieves are still a huge problem in tpvp.

you know nothing, your own personal perception and bias makes you innacurate. PW has a much higher impact on pvp fights then the glass cannon backstab build. that build is effective once every 45 seconds at best, and its crap the rest.

meahwhile a PW thief has better group support, survival, and higher avg damage over the course of time. in the time it can take a PW thief to kill 4 people a backstab thief killed maybe 1 and is waiting on his CD’s

i agree backstab (specifically that glass cannon build) needs to be addressed, but dont state falsehoods sir.

thieves werent nerfed at all.

just something to add to the patchnotes to soothe the masses. they need severe rebalancing asap, it’s quite ridiculous how people even refute that.