Guild Wars 2

Trigr.6481:

That was probably me :P Except I’m running pistol, not torch.

Heh, nah. This guy was running torch and his damage was not from phantasms but from well timed shatters and conditions when clones are aoe-ed.

Very well thought out build and I am sure most of the patch changes were instrumental in him developing this build.

Honestly, every Mesmer who cries post-patch are the reason mesmer players are regarded as skill-less idiots and needs to reroll to a thief :-D

Ostricheggs.3742:

Phantasms specs got absurd buffs and are one of the strongest specs in the entire game.

Anyone who says otherwise is seriously just talking out their kitten and crying about an incredibly minor change in comparison to the buffs that they just got.

Quoted for truth. Some one should put this as a signature :P

Honestly what I’m upset about was that moving IC was the wrong fix. I agree it helps promote build diversity, and it’s certainly not game breaking. My new phantasm spec is still awesome.

IC shouldn’t exist as a trait in my opinion. It’s so incredibly powerful that Mesmers because addicted to taking it by default, and feel like they lost a lot whenever they don’t have it. My new build doesn’t use it, but it does feel a little bit slower/clunkier now.

I just wish they would get rid of the trait, reduce some of our cooldowns to compensate, and replace it with something good, but not so good that it feels mandatory.

Demon.5082:

Toeofdoom.6152:

Not exactly convinced by the sudden non-viability of phantasm builds – there are a couple of things you seem to be overlooking.

-> Phantasms have more health – signet of illusions even applies immediately, great. This is also likely why vengeful images was nerfed.
-> A whole bunch of other things got buffed and can easily be relevant to your build.
-> You can just not take illusionists celerity. You get a different trait and it even comes with useful stats for your build such as crits or power.

Honestly I just worked around it… I run a mantra/phantasm build where I didn’t have room for all the traits I wanted anyway. Now my phantasms stick around for long enough to do more damage or even get healed, mind stab doesn’t immobilize me, berserker works properly again and I even have phantasmal fury.

Try something new… interrupt builds are pretty obvious, mantras have been coming up, stealth builds should be near invulnerable now, inspiration line shatters can do interesting support, scepter block looks seriously painful and 3 signet builds can really exist and work together. Combine some of the above… see what happens.

In spvp yesterday I fought a stealth specced mesmer with condition bomb clones. He was awesome. He constantly stealthed his clones and had a tanky gear setup so with the boons he gained from his decoy/torch skill he was holding a single point against my warrior and another engi while his clones died quick to our aoes (i run longbow), they swept us with cripples/weakness/vulner etc.

This patch is a great thing for mesmer build diversity, people should accept that and make new builds instead of crying and trying to make the old ones work over and over XD

It’s called condition crit, it existed before the patch. /facepalm.

This patch absolutely destroyed build diversity for Mesmers and Necromancers.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Phantasms specs got absurd buffs and are one of the strongest specs in the entire game.

Anyone who says otherwise is seriously just talking out their kitten and crying about an incredibly minor change in comparison to the buffs that they just got.

Yes, phantasm builds still work roughly the same as they did before. They are still one of (the?) strongest 1v1 spec in the entire game.

Phantasm builds are still near worthless in team fights. Additionally, the nerf hit all other non-shatter builds. Interrupt builds are still completely worthless. The vengeful images nerf means that now putting points into inspiration gains you 5 wasted trait points and completely neutered most mesmer tank builds. The torment is on a useless weapon, and iMage still is completely useless.

Shatter builds are still nearly untouched.

I’ve been playing a gs/staff phantasm build in the mid fight battles. It puts crap ton of damage and has mad utilities. Moa, Illusion of Life, Portal Play. It really comes down to the player / team comp, but no way is phantasm mesmer useless.

Zumi.6384:

Honestly what I’m upset about was that moving IC was the wrong fix. I agree it helps promote build diversity, and it’s certainly not game breaking. My new phantasm spec is still awesome.

IC shouldn’t exist as a trait in my opinion. It’s so incredibly powerful that Mesmers because addicted to taking it by default, and feel like they lost a lot whenever they don’t have it. My new build doesn’t use it, but it does feel a little bit slower/clunkier now.

I just wish they would get rid of the trait, reduce some of our cooldowns to compensate, and replace it with something good, but not so good that it feels mandatory.

Very true. Thats why we have the over the top reaction of “omg mesmers suck now!”

Nova Stiker.8396:

It’s called condition crit, it existed before the patch. /facepalm.

This patch absolutely destroyed build diversity for Mesmers and Necromancers.

Yes but no one ran it pre-patch since the stealth trait was not as powerful.

Cannot comment on necros since my knowledge is limited but this build did not destroy mesmer build diversity. How is a 20% cd reduction for nearly all skills helping promote build diversity?? Show me a build pre-patch that did not have at least 5 points in Illusions to pick up this trait?

We have the same problem with the duelist 20 point trait to allow clone generation on dodges. Even though Phantasm specs depend on phantasms, nearly all phantasm builds are pigeonholed into picking this trait (since they need sharper images anyway).

Why?? Because it is just too mandatory to pass up. I have the very same problem with elementalists forced into picking a ton of arcane tree traits because our attunements are stupid long without the cd reduction. The game needs to move away from these and make all such traits GM so that a build focused on it is the only one that can get it.

Referring to a poster above asking why IC is in the duelist line and not in the Illusions line, I totally agree. Why is a clone generation trait not in the shatter tree where it should be? :P

If I had to train a monkey to play GW2 I’d have him play Mesmer……

The OP’s argument here is valid. These sorts of changes would “bottle-neck” class gameplay diversity instead of promoting it. If a class is OP, I think one of the easiest way to balance them out is make the skill or set of skills less effective. But altering traits could have riskier outcomes.

On the other spectrum, we have the necromancer. Before the update, I ran a power/crit build that when coordinated with a good team, could drop 3-4 enemies in a matter of seconds. Of course it was never spammed by the mainstream because it was harder to execute but more rewarding for me.

Now the OP torment/fear build is being spammed by almost everyone including the same annoying people who said necros were garbage pre-update. These are the same people who ask what the OP classes are in each game they play so they could be it.

This koolmutt thread poster is actually a pretty good gamer whose main account is in the NA top 50.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Phantasms specs got absurd buffs and are one of the strongest specs in the entire game.

Anyone who says otherwise is seriously just talking out their kitten and crying about an incredibly minor change in comparison to the buffs that they just got.

This. God, I hate die hard mesmer players. It’s like they don’t even realise how powerful and lame this class is.