Guild Wars 2

Excalibur.9748:

is mesmer complaining about S/D’s “free” stunbreak on sword when they have the same thing on their staff, called phase retreat?

I actually play ele most of the time, but understand the woes that mesmers face with S/D thieves (its the same). The “free” stunbreak hurts so much COMBINED with the evade-spam making it nearly impossible to ever punish said S/D. Taking away one of the 2 makes the fight more even, and now requires s/d to rely on its slotted stunbreaks instead of weapon ability.

Yes, mesmer phase retreat is like a free stunbreak, but mesmer’s evades aren’t as spammable as thieves (still quite a few evades with vigor/energy sigils) – mesmers can be hit.

I really think mesmer will make a comeback in a big way, and you will hear a lot of QQ in about a month. That is all.

Too hard to predict the meta with all the incoming changes. I was going to say bomb engineers might start getting really annoying but their survivability is getting a slight nerf and their big condi trait is also getting moved deeper into bomb tree.

Wintel.4873:

Too hard to predict the meta with all the incoming changes. I was going to say bomb engineers might start getting really annoying but their survivability is getting a slight nerf and their big condi trait is also getting moved deeper into bomb tree.

you mean bomb engi with healing trait ? nah :p on clerics amulets bombs will heal for 240, with 50% that’s only 360 heal on a maxed out healing build, engineer bunkers, ain’t nobody got time for that

google.3709:

Wintel.4873:

Too hard to predict the meta with all the incoming changes. I was going to say bomb engineers might start getting really annoying but their survivability is getting a slight nerf and their big condi trait is also getting moved deeper into bomb tree.

you mean bomb engi with healing trait ? nah :p on clerics amulets bombs will heal for 240, with 50% that’s only 360 heal on a maxed out healing build, engineer bunkers, ain’t nobody got time for that

Actually it’s only the scaling that’s getting increased by 50%, not the base healing—and the scaling was previously (I believe) the lowest in the game, coming in at 0.1. The new scaling should be 0.15.

So after the patch, with 1000 healing power, each bomb will heal for 50 additional hitpoints.

the meta is moving into an engi, necro spam fest. But hey look at this way, these 2 classes have good ways to give out condis and absorb condis so it should be balanced right? right??

BlackBeard.2873:

Excalibur.9748:

is mesmer complaining about S/D’s “free” stunbreak on sword when they have the same thing on their staff, called phase retreat?

I actually play ele most of the time, but understand the woes that mesmers face with S/D thieves (its the same). The “free” stunbreak hurts so much COMBINED with the evade-spam making it nearly impossible to ever punish said S/D. Taking away one of the 2 makes the fight more even, and now requires s/d to rely on its slotted stunbreaks instead of weapon ability.

Being hit at all is punishment for an S/D thief. They’re running glass stats to do viable sustained damage – they have to dodge nearly everything or they lose the DPS race against any other spec. Even just being hit by auto-attacks you can expect to be at half health in any fight you win because you’re always visible (stealth has little value to an S/D thief), and the fight drags on longer than against a spec running the same stats with a more burst oriented weaponset (like say D/P for thieves).

Yes, mesmer phase retreat is like a free stunbreak, but mesmer’s evades aren’t as spammable as thieves (still quite a few evades with vigor/energy sigils) – mesmers can be hit.

Mesmers also have access to protection, and staff is a ranged weapon as opposed to melee – phase retreat doesn’t remove their ability to use skills, in the same way IR necessitates closing the gap again. Stealth heavy specs can also continue to deal damage via conditions/clones/phantasms while the mesmer rides out the stealth effect (Mostly talking about PU specs here)

I think nothing much will change as far as the overall meta goes. PU might go OP in the next patch but likely what we see now (condi. tanky DPS, Bunker) will remain the same.

I’m probably missing something, but what’s going to cause PU Mesmer’s to be OP after next patch when they have the same stealth problems in conquest mode as thieves do?

Proven.2854:

I’m probably missing something, but what’s going to cause PU Mesmer’s to be OP after next patch when they have the same stealth problems in conquest mode as thieves do?

No no no. I said might and that was thinking big picture where the pop of warrior Fotm players and angry thieves are likely to move. Instead of thinking," Well that’s not inherently OP" think about how the pop moves with the slightest sign of trouble. With vigor nerfs for engineer and some (I consider small) nerfs to necro plus the Hammer nerf there is good chance that mesmer (which will be seeing considerable buffs but not entirely to that build) will likely become the flocked to class for players receiving nerfs.

It would not be the first time or the second or the third as it happens each balance patch. With the increase volume of PU mesmers comes the increasing likelihood stacking those mechanics will lead to over saturation of the class. If that happens then players are more likely to notice how good it is (which they know but have other builds they are playing on other classes), and how it might be a replacement for what they lost. With nerfs incoming to spirit rangers, engineer, thieves, warriors (S/S + LB might take the new meta spot too from Hambow), and the minor ones to necro it would not be surprising to see PU (untouched so far) come up in the world.

As far as the stealth goes. Condi attrition builds are pretty much top their in the meta atm and that is unlikely to change after the patch. PU is not a permanent stealth build while not true point holder bunker it is strong enough to pressure. When you consider the gaps between random arena solo que and team you’ll notice that the point holding and strategy become considerably more important. In the randoms it is all about killing the the most annoying or hard to fight builds generally get singled out for QQ. A build primarily becomes OP here. Players evaluate how hard it is to deal with a build before they take to the forums or map chat to complain. PU get over shadowed by a number of other builds but if those builds get brought down then the target changes (which happens often). DD burst thief, burst warrior, DD ele, Shatter memser, Phant Mes, Spirit ranger, condi burst necro, warrior, etc. Meta changes when minor things are buffed, and new builds arise. Even small buffs here and there lead to drastic meta shifts.

I was simply guessing the next target for complaint as OP vs balanced is mostly in the eye of the beholder.