Of Mesmers & Sealing Wax, Cabbages and Kings
Contributors to Mesmer non-viability
Thief Buffs
Currently thieves have better burst, better escape ability, better group buffs (stealth on a shorter cooldown), better mobility (including a peronal portal), more dodging, immunity to chill effects and better personal condition removal than Mesmers. This is why some of the best Mesmer’s dropped the profession in favor of Thief in recent months. Additionally, most of the thief abilities are either instant cast or have a cast time between 0.25 and 0.5 seconds, making them effectively immune to interrupts and interrupt-based effects. All these things together make the thief a hard counter to Mesmers.
Mesmer Nerfs
ANet heavily nerfed Mesmers over the past year. There were a number of nerfs, however the most significant were:
- Moved Illusionist’s Celerity to the Grandmaster Tier
- Removed Protection from proccing Chaos Armor
These two changes made Mesmers far less tanky, reduced their survivability skills such as Decoy and Phase Retreat, while simultaneously reducing their damage output
Limited/Inferior Team Buffs
Time Warp, Illusion of Life and Portal were the 3 abilities Mesmers were relied upon. While Time Warp still remains powerful, it is not as strong as it used to be. Warriors and Rangers bring better battle revive abilities to the team, and Portal is still somewhat situational. In many cases a thief’s Shadow Trap/Shadow Return is far superior for what is required, and has half the cool down.
Recent changes have given Mantras limited group utility: AoE Condition Cleanse and AoE stability. However, the range on these abilities is incredibly small (240m), rendering them far less useful than they could be.
Quickness Nerf
Nerfing quickness to increase attack speed by 50% impacted the utility of a Mesmer’s Time Warp, which in turn made Mesmer’s less viable.
AoE Damage
There is still a lot of AoE damage in tPvP, which results in Phantasms, a large potential source of Mesmer damage output, is greatly reduced in teamplay.
“The Petting Zoo”
Mesmer damage output is largely single-target. This, in turn, means Mesmers are at a disadvantage when it comes to fighting opponent teams which have large amounts of minions/pets.
Poor Character Animation Visibility
Mesmers have several abilities that allow them to interrupt an opponent and punish them. Tiny opponents, massive on-screen damage numbers and over-the-top damage effects make it extremely difficult for Mesmers to read their opponents and react/interrupt them.
Mesmers in the Meta
Condition Meta
With the Necromancer buffs began the age of the “Condi Meta”. This meta relied upon pressuring the opposing team heavily with lots of conditions and spreading those conditions around. Since Mesmers have no access to passive condition cleansing, and the condition cleanses they do have are on a long cool down, they could not compete. An already squishy class, Mesmers simply melt under condition pressure.
Stun/Immobilize (Hambow Meta)
With the dawn of the Hambow meta, we are seeing fewer damaging conditions around and more forms of CC being spread. Specifically Stun, and to a lesser extent, Immobilize. Mesmers still suffer in this meta due to its squishy nature and lack of teleports to get away from the danger. Mesmers are in a better place in this meta game than they were before, but still cannot compete, as thieves simply are superior.
What Will Happen on 10-December (the Santa-meta?)
The current list of prosed changes are:
Domination XII – Confounding Suggestions. Changed to also increase daze duration by 25%.
This is a good change and will help Mesmers compete against other classes.
Dueling VI – Protected Mantras. Moved to Master Tier. Increase Toughness from 400 to 600.
This is a mediocre change. The biggest problem with Mantra channeling is it lasts 2.75 seconds, untraited and is EXTREMELY easy to interrupt.
Dueling VII – Mantra Mastery. Moved to Adept Tier.
This is a mediocre change. However, it now means Mesmers will have to give up Blade Training or Phantasmal Fury in order to get a modest reduction in Mantra channeling. It’s a LOT to sacrifice, and you really don’t get much in return.
Chaos 25 – Chaotic Transference. Increased conversion from 5% to 10%.
This is a good change.
Chaos I – Chaotic Revival. Reduced cool down from 35s to 10s.
This is a mediocre change to a lousy talent. Taking this talent does absolutely nothing to boost your team support, damage output or survivability. Secondly, 5 seconds of Chaos armor isn’t much. This could have no cool down and I believe most people would skip it.
Chaos VII – Mirror of Anguish. Reduced cool down from 90s to 60s.
A good change, but it doesn’t prevent you from receiving the stun/fear/etc.
Inspiration IV – Mender’s Purity. Now removes 2 conditions.
A good change.
Inspiration XI – Shattered Conditions. Increased radius from 240 to 600.
A good change.
Illusions VI – Illusionary Invigoration. Recharge reduced from 90s to 60s. Moved to Master Tier.
Illusions VIII – Dazzling Galmours. Moved to Adept Tier.
A decent change.
Illusions 15 – Shattered Strength – Moved to Grandmaster tier.
Illusions 25 – Illusionist’s Celerity – Moved to Master tier.
Every Mesmer complained heavily when Illusionist’s Celerity was effectively nerfed by moving it to the grandmaster tier. This is only a partial fix, but better than nothing.
Overall it looks like Mesmers will see a slight buff to damage and survivability. However there will be no changes to Mesmer escape, mobility or group support. I believe it is these last 3 facets of gameplay which will be most critical to Mesmers becoming viable.
It’s hard to discern exactly what will happen. However, we do know that Mesmers, Thieves and Elementalists all compete for similar roles a team. Thief mobility and condition removal are not being affected, but the entire profession is getting a flat initiative buff, which likely means thieves will remain the superior option to Mesmers. Elementalists are getting a substantial revamp, and it’s hard to determine what will happen to them. However, it’s quite possible there will be at least one very powerful/borderline OP elementalist build that will come out of these changes. With that in mind, I believe Mesmers will remain at the bottom of the food chain in terms of PvP viability at the high end.
What Mesmers Need to Be Competitive in High End
Role: General
Fewer Conditions or Passive Condition Removal
In order to be competitive, there needs to be either fewer conditions in the game, or the Mesmer needs access to better passive condition removal. Specifically, Mesmers need better removal of cripples, blinds and immobilizes.
Role: Roamer
Better Movement
Mesmers have limited access to swiftness, and ranged mobility. They have focus, Blink on a 30 second cool down and Portal on a whopping 90 second cool down. This greatly hinders the ability of the Mesmer to move quickly between point, especially when compared to thieves and elementalists.
Thief Counter
Given thieves are superior to Mesmers in nearly every aspect of roaming, giving Mesmers a means to hard counter thieves would go a long way to making Mesmers viable, as well as introducing more team composition variety.
Role: Burst DPS
Fewer Conditions or Passive Condition Removal
In order to be competitive, there needs to be either fewer conditions in the game, or the Mesmer needs access to better passive condition removal. Specifically, Mesmers need better removal of cripples, blinds and immobilizes.
Role: Group Support / DPS
Increased Range of Team Buffs
Mesmers are a in a decent position in terms of group support, primarily achieved through abilities such as Null Field and Portal. However, Portal is very situational. Some of the current Mesmer traits provide a limited range boost; perhaps the range could be augmented.
Decrease Screen Clutter & Increase Character Size
One of the great ways a Mesmer can help out a team is by shutting down an opponent at key times. Removing on-screen clutter by reducing effects, moving/removing damage and increasing character sizes would help Mesmers be better at reading their opponents, thus enabling them to be better at shutting down opponents.
Role: Bunker
Better Access to On-Demand Protection
Mesmers used to have excellent access to Protection. However, Illusionary Membrane was heavily nerfed which made bunker non-viable for Mesmers.
Fewer Conditions or Passive Condition Removal
In order to be competitive, there needs to be either fewer conditions in the game, or the Mesmer needs access to better passive condition removal. Specifically, Mesmers need better removal of cripples, blinds and immobilizes.
Ideas on Changing Mesmers to Better Fit a Role in High-End
The following is a list of ideas on how Mesmers could be altered to better fit certain roles. These are all independent suggestions; as such, I am not suggesting all these are necessary for Mesmers. Rather, I am offering a set of set of suggestions, any one of which could help a Mesmer become better suited for a given role.
Role: General
Wastrel’s Punishment replaced with: Dodging removes cripple and blind.
Phantasmal Defender: Reduced cast time to 0.75 seconds
Phantasmal Disenchanter: Reduced cast time to 0.75 seconds. Attacks bounce a total of four times. First ally bounce will always be to Mesmer, can hit same target multiple times. Affected by Illusionary Elasticity.
Illusionist’s Celerity (IC) & Phantasmal Strength (PS): Change IC to reduce cool down on Clone Summoning Weapon Skills and Illusion-Summoning Utilities. Change PS to increase phantasm damage 15% and decrease cool down on Phantasm summoning weapon skills by 20%. Move IC to adept Tier. This decouples Mesmer survivability from Mesmer damage.
Mimic: Replace with Translocation: Swap positions with your opponent.
Role: Roamer
Master of Manipulation: Increases range of Manipulation Skills. Using a Manipulation Skill grants 8 seconds of swiftness.
Torch 5 – Phantasmal Mage: Create an illusion that impedes and reveals foes. Damage: 500, Recharge 5 seconds. Every successful attack applies 2 seconds of revealed and 2 seconds of one of: blind, cripple or chill.
Role: Burst DPS
Wastrel’s Punishment replaced with: Dodging removes cripple and blind.
Role: Support DPS
Increase range of Mantra of Resolve/Power Cleanse and Mantra of Concentration/Power Break to 400-500m.
Reduce Cool down of Signet of Inspiration from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.
Scepter #2 – ability blocks for full 2 second duration. Counter attack damage increases with the number of attacks blocked.
Chaotic Revival: You and your allies receive Chaos Armor when you rally. Range 600m
Role: Bunker
Replace Cleansing Inscriptions with: Gain 2 seconds of Protection when you gain Chaos Armor
Replace Shattered Conditions with: Successfully blocking or reflecting an attack removes a condition.
(disclaimer: All of the above posts are of a raving madman on medication and not intended for small children. Consuming said posts may result in dizziness, nausea and uncontrollable swelling of the nether regions. Consult your doctor before reading. Do not taunt happy fun ball.)
I think mesmers will be the next FOTM profession. Condition builds were considered powerful until people figured out warriors were good. On Dec. 10th, condition builds and warriors are both getting significant nerfs. I think people will suddenly realize mesmers are good, just like they suddenly realized warriors were good a couple months ago.
I’m not disagreeing with anything you say, I’d just say that Anet shouldn’t really be considering any more balance changes until they see how next month’s patch plays out. There are so many changes coming in that patch (maybe too many for one patch). The meta will almost certainly be shaken to the core, and no one really knows what balance will look like once the dust settles in late December.
mesmers gonna be fotm next patch….
am i biting a troll thread?
[Teef] guild :>
Mesmers are already strong, really, really strong.
Learn to GS-Staff.
I already see a ton of mesmers in spvp
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I don’t think mes is useless, there are better easier options yeah.
After the patch any decent Necro will be able to shut down a mes. (Except mes can escape) and rangers (both spirit and BM) will still Shortbow pew pew and shut mes down.
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Is still a major factor here and reversed nerfs for dec 10th are not helping the power creep.
Mes will be fine. Also since some of it’s competitors for slots will be more on par it’ll be a valid option for reasons other than portal.
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”