Guild Wars 2

While Mesmers have received a number of favorable buffs in previous updates, overall we have suffered an immense number of nerfs since the beta. Scepter originally applied confusion with the auto attack (obviously overpowered), cool downs on all phantasms were extended at one time or another (which would be the equivalent of giving longer cool downs to key skills on the weapons of other professions), the EFFECTS of time warp were nerfed in the last patch (take it however you wish), portals were given longer cool downs and allowed for fewer people to use them (even though the nerf was largely made due to it being abused in sPvP). Just re-read the patch notes—oh wait, many of our nerfs came as ninja nerfs that weren’t even MENTIONED in the notes. Remember the LoS problem, first apparent in the iBerseker whose attacks failed to connect with the intended target. This problem persisted for several weeks, despite crippling a good number of Mesmer builds. Oh, the days when our phantasms couldn’t even be summoned because a bump in the ground rendered your line of sight obstructed.

Yes, I’m ranting. I get that. I’m just saying. We are a profession that helped define guild wars 1 back in the day. I think we deserve better than constant disappointment. Are we still one of the best professions in the game? Of course we are. We are still capable of excelling in 1v1, of being viable in parties, contributing to high level fractals, and killing mindless noobs in WvW that spam 1 when confusion is coming out of their ears. Even so, many other professions are equally desirable, if not more so in certain situations. When I re-read the warrior notes and the anticipated buff that will make them bunker-slaying gods, I can only pat myself on the back for leveling an alt, and getting over having never played a “brute” class in any other MMO. We aren’t broken, we aren’t undesirable, we aren’t weak.

I’m simply stating, I’m am overwhelmed with disappointment.

P.S. looking forward to the next major nerf—I mean, UPDATE.

This same sentiment can usually be found within every single sub-forum the days before a major patch. You’re not alone. And because you’re not alone, I’m inclined to believe things won’t be near as bad as you believe.

I’m starting to get my bearings and rationality back after sleeping on the issue. Well, it also helped to look at the elementalist forums and see how bad over-reaction to changes not even implemented yet can get. Seeing the ugly side of passionate gamers really forces you to look long and hard in the mirror and ask yourself some pretty tough questions.

I will encourage you to hang onto hope with me. You can’t forget that, along with the stealth nerfs, they have been stealth buffs that usually don’t stay in the limelight for long and thus, easily forgotten. There’s also a host of other changes that haven’t been mentioned in the lifestream. Some of them just might be good. There may even be some last minute changes in response to the monumental backlash the livestream caused.

Let’s wait until the patch releases and do some testing to see how things feel. I have my fingers crossed that these guys turn out to be mad geniuses and the overall effect of their rampant tinkerings does make the game better. It may even be possible that the new dungeon is so good, we overlook the nerfs or find new and interesting ways to use the powers we already have. It may even be like the Wintersday patch where I was having so much fun, I couldn’t be bothered to give a rotating rat’s rump about profession changes.

However, if we’re right and things are as bad as expected, feel free to rant all you want. I’ll probably join you and everyone else that decides to vent their frustration. I will also vote with my wallet. If they screw up this time, I won’t sink another cent into this game until they apologize and actually do what they said they were going to do: boost weaker builds until they are on par with the best ones. They can start with making support builds that outshine dps ones.

I think the thing that bothers me most is that Anet hasn’t even posted anything on their OWN forums. They always seem to go out and casually mention huge changes like this in some random secondary source that you have to go fishing around for.

I was thinking of going back through the patch notes since release and seeing exactly how things have panned out, opposed to how I perceive them.

But I do feel that when I rolled a Mesmer at release, because I was thinking it would be the most under-played class, I wish I’d have known how obscenely OP I was back then.

I don’t really mind the # of buffs or nerfs or the actual balance situation. At least… not the way it is right now.

The way I see it, we have lots of bugged traits, non-sensical trait-layouts and weird tooltips and functionality quirks left.

I’d fix those first (for all classes). Then start on balance. I’d rather have a lot of choices right now than a single balanced choice.

Carighan.6758:

I don’t really mind the # of buffs or nerfs or the actual balance situation. At least… not the way it is right now.

The way I see it, we have lots of bugged traits, non-sensical trait-layouts and weird tooltips and functionality quirks left.

I’d fix those first (for all classes). Then start on balance. I’d rather have a lot of choices right now than a single balanced choice.

Given how long it took to fix the map completion star bug, we might have to wait a long time for future fixes. But yeah, I’m with you on that. Bugs should be a priority.

Mesmer’s are actually one of the stronger professions and I’ve seen some of the nerfs coming for a long while now. Just like ele’s.

The important thing is not to focus on the amount of nerfs or buffs but instead on the capability you still have. While I wish mesmer’s had a bit more AOE power they have every other role down in a really strong way. Even confusion is still going to be very strong, it just won’t be brokenly strong anymore. Check here for my words on that:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Confusion-Nerf-Move-on-to-Power-for-WvW/first#post1916543

Edit: Moved numbers to a more relevant thread.