Guild Wars 2

Hello mesmers! Come out of stealth for a second and talk about specializations! Either answer my questions directly or simply post about what you think the devs should know about the specialization changes.

Questions:

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

1. Very much so.
2. Harmonious mantras!
3. No, stealth might be strong in a 1v1 but it is not as strong in conquest or wvw, being able to run away is not op.
4. No, I suck at inerrupts.
5. Have not tried Inspiration yet.
6. Both torch and staff require more work to get the same 20% just because there is the potential to get slightly more. I would just prefer the consistent 20%
7. No
8. No, cooldown is too long and it has a high chance to be wasted when you need to move.
9. I don’t recall, I guess I just target other classes first.

1. Yes.
2. GM? Hm, maybe Phantasmal Defender. My two favorite traits are definitely Blinding Disipation and Restorative Illusions.
3. Do you think this needs adjustments? Yes. It needs to be tuned down.
4. Tried it, but I while CI is a great trait in Chaos, the adept and master traits (special after the nerf) are just meh.
5. I love Inspiration.
6. No, I dislike them.
7. Yes, for JPs to reset my portal.
8. For PvE strong as ever, for PvP I still prefer the moa. Huge cooldown and small radius are still a problem.
9. Well, yes, who is better at blinding and dodging is going to win. Haven’t met a good PU-Shatter yet so, maybe with the stealth duration he would have an advantage in a 1v1.

1: I have no issues if Mesmer is easier to play. They need to have the appropriate reward if they are easier to play though.

2: There are so many amazing GM traits its hard to say. But atm I would say Power Block.

3. PU mes is pretty much OP right now and needs to be either 33% stealth duration or 50%. 100% is just lol.

4: I mained CI mes before CI even got buffed (Ancient times lol) and it is absolutely amazing now. I have talked to Supcutie and other top mesmers and we all agree that staff/gs ci mes will be meta.

5. I am either taking chaos or inspir in every build I use now. They are both incredible.

6. I have no issue with condition recharges as long as they are stronger then flat cooldown traits, considering you have to work for them.

7. Mimic feels a little on the longer side of cds. I feel it should be double the cd of whatever you copy, then apply the master of manipulation trait.

8. I haven’t tried it yet because mass invis is so hard to give up but Supcutie has told me it is amazing. I probably would take this in a competitive tpvp match but I am not sure.

9. Every Mesmer I have fought is much easier then before pre patch. If I tied with that person pre patch, I now win almost every match. With how much burst we have, it isn’t hard just to 100-0 them from nowhere.

1- I feel indifferent about it.

2- Imagined Burden, Harmonious Mantras, Master of Fragmentation and Illusionary Inspiration.

3- Stealth itself is not the problem, but it could be toned down, no less than 50% in my opinion.

4- I haven’t, yet.

5- No, but in PvE Inspiration is my new love.

6- I do but I’m afraid they’ll all get nerfed to ineffectiveness.

7- I did use for a while and it’s great, I hope they don’t change it anymore.

8- In PvP I haven’t tried yet. For PvE, in my opinion, Slow should have its effectiveness reduced in Champions and above, like Blindness, 25% should be good enough.

9- I have seen a huge number of mesmers moving from shatter builds to interrupt builds, I believe it’s because of the new Power Block and 100% CS.

I’ll try to answer everything in a neat little rant:

I think Mesmer is easier to play moreso for people who have played Mesmer in the past. The core changes alone had a huge impact on the class with the biggest factor being iPersona (Shatter effect on Mesmer) allowing for us to take traits that were previously inaccessible or impractical without Deceptive Evasion( clone on dodge). The feeling of not being forced into taking DE to be anywhere close to competitive is extremely liberating and has helped encourage so much exploring.

Speaking of exploring, these new traits are fantastic. For once nearly every grandmaster is build-defining and has a direct impact on your playstyle. A lot of trash traits were scrapped in favor of new and innovative ways to build your Mesmer. Right now the most interesting GMs are in Inspiration, which is the only traitline to gain three entirely new grandmasters. My personal favorites are Illusionary Inspiration, which may revive bponshare Mesmer and Power Block because it makes me grin with sinister anticipation every time I glance at that trait. Honestly though, I can’t think of a single Grandmaster that doesn’t impress at the moment.

However.. Prismatic Shatter is indeed a problem in my opinion. We’re talking about a build that can literally one-shot faster than a thief can while roaming around completely invisible until they decide to kill you. This will either promote tankier builds or need to be adjusted. Honestly, this wouldn’t be a problem if stealth was reworked to reveal the player on a missed/evaded attack. The fact that you can attack indefinitely from stealth and not worry about being revealed until you’re hit is absurd.

I’m loving the changes to the Chaos line, it was previously a mostly selfish tree, now it has more ally-related abilities such as the minor that increases your outgoing boon duration based on the number of boons you have. With the changes to Chaotic Dampening (that got nerfed so hard. Please change to 3% at least) there WAS a very tempting reason for many Mesmer to invest in the chaos line. Right now the grandmasters are the biggest reason.

The main interrupt spec Dom/Dueling/Chaos (that everyone and their momma has made a thread showing off like they’re trying to plant their flag on a new planet) is fantastic. Right now it is the only Mesmer build that can clearly compete with shatter for tournament viability. I know I’ve always advocated lockdown, but with the specialization change lockdown is stronger than ever, the biggest thing that kept shatter above lockdown was IP, but that is gone now. (However if you Nerf PU you’ll see many more interrupt Mesmer)

(to be continued)

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?

HELL YEAH! And they’re much more enjoyable now to play!

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?

Definitely the Imagined Burden and the Illusionary Inspiration. Master of Fragmentation makes an honorable mentino.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?

No. I believe it’s fine as it is.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?

Pre-specialization? Yes. Post-specialization? No. I’ve been trying out phantasm builds in PvP to prove its effectiveness.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?

In my two phantasm builds that I use, it’s generally a staple and I love it. Inspiration makes it more supportive to phantasm and support biulds and chaos adds a lovable mix to the mesmer’s tactics.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?

I haven’t tried out those yet so no comment.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?

Yes. I can double Blink, double Decoy in a PU build, or use double Signet of Midnight. All those are pretty fun.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?

Honestly, no. I see it in PvE but not in others. Signet of Humility and Mass Invisibility make it better.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

1. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

Feel skillful? Wrong word. Feel more fun? Yes.

I can’t stress enough how much of a bad move it was to nerf Chaotic Dampening to 2%. They took one of the most interesting traits and made it much less lucrative out of fear of it being too strong. This wasn’t a “small adjustment” it was a 60% slash without much thought or math done behind it. Combined with the knee-jerk 50% overnerf of Maimed and the devs are quickly losing the trust they only recently regained from us. How long it takes to adjust this will speak a lot about the balance team.

On the bright side, the pistol trait is awesome! … Except its bugged. (and while other classes got bug fixes, we got continual nerfs since the patch) However it does promote skilled play as was intended… Just not in PvE.

Mimic rocks and was a great and extremely “mesmery” change. I was running it before and I can see its potential. I think it will see use.

Every Mesmer I’ve fought runs the same two builds. And most are decent, but “skillful?” not in general. There is still a very profound difference between skillful Mesmer and spammy Mesmer… And I’m somewhere in the middle, depending on my opponent. X.x

Alright, here goes.

1)It’s not that mesmer got easier to play in my opinion, its just not necessary to be that skilled anymore.
Now mesmers can properly fight other classes & players with the same skill lvl.
I think that’s a good thing.

2) I think most of them are pretty awesome. Deceptive Evasion, Imagined Burden, Mental Anguish,…

I do feel a lack of damaging phantasm GM traits though. As someone who loves phantasm builds I keep feeling like we’re being pushed to shatter our phantasms.

I also feel like the way Harmonious Mantras works is counterproductive in a way. I like mantras to help out allies, give stability, cleanse condis,… I don’t want to spam (waste their effects) to get a damage increase.

3) I think this trait is fine the way it is. I feel like other shatter builds without PU are just as strong.

4) I haven’t tried it out yet. But it does seem interesting & I do want to try it out at some point.

5) I personally don’t but I believe these trait lines can be useful. I want to try out an interrupt based build with chaos though.

6) I’m loving these.

7) I think Mimic is a lot more useful now. I use it quite a lot (mostly for PvE)

8) I love the slow on Time Warp. I think the elite itself is strong & worth I like taking it (PvE ofc but also in PvP. It’s great for teamfights.)

I like the concept of the trait but I don’t think its good enough to make it worth.

9) More skillful than fights against other classes at least.

Other things devs should know…

People want Confusing combatants. Especially now MtD got nerfed. It would make condition builds more viable (in both PvP & PvE) Conditions in PvE (at least for mesmer, idk for other classes) still aren’t strong enough to make people use conditions in PvE over power based builds.
I don’t feel like it would be OP in PvP at all, would just open up more build diversity in my opinion.

1. The only reason why people are saying this is because our damage has increased. This is something that is happening with other classes too. No, I don’t think Mesmer is easier to play at all.

2. Power Block, CI, DE

3. I think overall CI is more powerful right now. We have a lot of tools to use for positioning and disengaging already.

4. Yes, I’ve settled on this build and played it almost exclusively since the patch.

5. Yes, I think Chaos is still strong post Chaotic Dampening nerf. I think there is room for the boonshare and bunker Mesmer builds so Inspiration is viable also. I just haven’t played with those builds yet.

6. I think they are interesting and good for the game as they require intelligent skill use and raise the skill cap, but conditional recharge skills should grant more recharge than passive unless the change is made across the board for all classes.

7. I haven’t used it in a build nor have I seen it been used in a build yet so I can’t comment.

8. Mass Invis is a really hard elite to give up but I am excited to see someone integrate Time Warp into a PvP build.

9. I don’t do much dueling but I have had a few 1v1 situations and XvX situations where the opposing Mesmer and I were fighting directly. They have been good fights and remind me of Thief vs Thief duels.

Before I answer the questions – the most important thing and utmost priority – fix Maim the Dissilusioned! 1 torment stack is a joke – it needs to be reverted to 2 stacks. If you feel it is too much then reduce the duration from 6 seconds down to 4 or 5 seconds but keep the stacks at 2 per shatter.

Right, now that is said:

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
Yes and no. Yes I like the added quality of life and survivability options, no I don’t like the brainless options where you get huge reward for little effort, and no I don’t like the nerf to Maim the Disillusioned making condition shatter effectively useless.

2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
Deceptive Evasion as always.

3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
Yes – either in the boon/second department or the duration increase.

4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
Yes.

5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
Yes.

6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
Honestly? No – I preferred the flat 20% reduction. The only decent one is Pistol.

7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
No – I’d rather use 3 different skills.

Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
Cooldown is too long, I prefer traited Mass Invis on 72 seconds.

How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?
Yes because I’m trying to use the broken Maim the Dissilusioned WITHOUT scepter, and I need every bit of skill to actually be able to kill opponents.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Hello mesmers! Come out of stealth for a second and talk about specializations! Either answer my questions directly or simply post about what you think the devs should know about the specialization changes.

Questions:

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

Strictly casual player here. I have been playing Necro (main), Mesmer, and Engineer in that order of popularity.

I have been playing a cheesy condi-shatter PU build with MtD/DE/and the traits that add blind to shatter and then confusion on blind.

The character seems impossible to kill. You just dance around spawning clones and shattering them and going off and on invisible. And the damage is really pretty good with the shatters so all of the invisibility doesn’t hurt much.

I use scepter main and just alternate torch and pistol. It is the most brainless play style imaginable, as you just dodge around all of the time alternating spamming clones, summoning phantasms, shattering, and going invisible. I am so dodgy that most of the time I don’t even know where I am myself, but it doesn’t really matter because I am still attacking the other guy. The person attacking me has the disadvantage that they pretty much never know where I am. And it is not due to skillful play on my part…It is just kind of spammy.

I think something needs to give—be nerfed—but I am not sure exactly what.

I think I could almost do exactly what I am doing without PU so I am not sure that PU is really the crux of the problem.

I do think it is hilarious that the clone death traits were ditched in favor of a more “Active playstyle” when this active playstyle is completely brain dead.

I think that you could maybe nerf PU sightly but you are not really getting to the crux of the matter, which is more about how stealth works and clone generation.

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this? I feel like its easier to play
2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite? I’ll go for Mental Anguish
3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments? I think its quite strong, specially when 1v1 against other professions.
4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out? No
5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all? Not at the same time, but i’m planning on trying a support build using these 2 lines
6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these? I like the concept, hope Anet balance them out and make them viable
7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all? I’m using it on PvE while running and stuff, just to show people how awesome is to use 2 blinks one after another.
8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites? Not yet, but im planning on using it on my support build
9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful? Usually if i hit them first, i’m abble to kill them. That is not always the case, i’ve been obliterated by some mesmers even if i attack first (l2p issue? )

Since I’m not using DE, I have to put more effort into producing clones. Nothing else seems more difficult than before however. I would say yes, mesmer’s are easier than before.

I love Bountiful Disillusionment and Master of Fragmentation (makes slowing a target so much easier and Scepter trait is bugged still!). Other GM traits have been amazing and actually make me think to choose which I want for the most part.

Ooooooh yeah. Perma stealth or near to it should never be possible, especially with the strong burst capabilities immediately afterward. This is what makes thieves so annoying for me. They can stealth for a while and then burst without any time to react only to stealth again right away.

Not really. I’m terrible with interrupting and I’m having too much fun with condi shatter right now!

My condi shatter build is Chaos, Inspiration, Illusions. I took inspiration for the condi removing capabilities and the healing on shatters, but also because of the summoning iDefender on dodge GM trait, to assist in clone production and add a little more defence. It’s been working great in WvW (I don’t do sPvP yet).

I do enjoy the staff one, which was OP before the nerf and UP now. Torch is terrible unless you’re PU, in which case it might actually be OP, though I haven’t tried it.

Freaking awesome! Double blink is great for catching up to enemy or friendly group, and double MI is amazing for two nearly instant shatters for quick confusion and torment stacking.

I haven’t had any reason to take the stealthing elite. Plus with TW, I can get up to two more chaos armors from blasting with torch 4 or leaping with staff 2. It’s great to throw onto an enemy zerg as well to reduce their burst.

It’s tough to have a fair fight in WvW so I can’t say. Though PU ones seem unskillful compared to the rest.

Id say that mesmer is way too easy to play. Confounding suggestions combined with mantra of distraction and power block is a bit too strong, since being able to stunlock someone in a 1v1 once, and then five seconds later if they don’t have stability is a really frustrating to fight against, and makes it too easy for them to land their burst so they don’t even have to use stealth to set everything up.

Overall the ideas of the traits are fine, but tons of things need to be shaved in numbers to make the class more balanced as a whole.

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
   I have not PvE’d with my mesmer since launch (PvP only) because I felt kind of ineffective with him DPS-wise compared to other classes. I feel the buffs to mesmer has narrowed the gap and am excited to take him for a spin in some PvE content now.
2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
   Favorite GM traits are going to be defined by the build you’re running but I thought the new Mistrust trait was pretty interesting and clever even though I don’t use it in my build.
3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
   I don’t play PU but if the spell allows you to 100-0 someone without any counterplay as people are reporting, then it needs to be adjusted. Personally, I would like to see the duration kept the same or slightly reduced so that the utility/defense portion of the spell remains intact for PvE and WvW applications and instead reduce the offensive damage you can do from stealth.
4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
   Have tried PB but not in conjunction with CI
5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
   Yes, both lines are strong and offer a compelling reason to take them. With conditions so strong in PvP though, I feel Inspiration is almost necessary to take over Chaos just for the cleanses. Would like to see some condition removal sprinkled in Chaos line to help it better compete with the Inspiration line which are both defensive in nature.
6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
   *Yes, for min-maxers it is nice to be rewarded for good play. As others have stated though, we should have not to go through hoops (having multiple mesmers using chaos storms, picking up glamour traits, etc) to get the same 20% cooldown. Instead raise the percentage and put a cap on max cool down reduction or implement diminishing returns to prevent abuse/unintended play. *
7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
   Sounds like a good change but have not used it; may in the future.
8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
   For PvE only. Would not use for sPvP for the same reason I’ve never used it; too long of a cooldown. The long cooldown though is understandable for tournament play where its more important to win the first team fight which this elite excels at, so am fine with the long cooldown on it.
9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?
   Yes. Now that damage has been increased, skill differences are exaggerated and one small mistake can mean a quick death. Duels between evenly matched mesmers are fast and furious and can still last quite a bit of time through counterplay.

Would like to bring up one additional point if I may.

The lead designer(Robert Gee) mentioned in one of the live streams that he added a delay to the first part of iLeap (Sword#2) to help mesmers land the spell more reliably. I think his intent was to help us but it turned out the delay is making the spell harder to use reliably (e.g, we can no longer use the first part of the ability and dodge immediately). There is a thread on this forum with more details. Please bring to his attention if you can. Thanks!

1) I suppose it depends on the build of said mesmer, its certainly gotten more fun.

2) Prismatic understanding (which leads nicely onto…)

3) No i don’t think it needs adjusting but im pretty certain it will be judging by reactions. The new traits were supposed to be meaningful decisions to compensate for less choice. I dont think a grandmaster trait paired with an elite utility that grants 10s of stealth is too much. the rest of our stealth skills (unless you build all out for stealth) are on long cooldowns. (personally i use decoy and mass invis only … less stealth and id drop the chaos line completley now that Chaotic Dampening is useless in my opinion)

4) Yes it plays much nicer than it used to, having access to all the interrupt traits make it feel so much better

5) Yes Chaos so far ive not played around with inspiration

6) I absolutely loved conditional recharges when the patch first hit. I’ve never had as much fun on my mesmer as patch day, everything felt so fluid and right…then came the nerf to the % recharge and now? No it absolutely sucks. Having to use skills i might not want to, or leap through my chaos field just to get the same and less of a cooldown compared to prepatch is ridiculous. I thought the new traits were supposed to be meaningful not weaker than prepatch. if all traits are ‘balanced’ the same as this one then the whole trait system will be unexciting. What really irks me is that 3 of the elementalist cooldown traits have been boosted to 33%! and combined with extra goodies like 10% damage or 190 precision and best of all, Ele’s dont have to do a thing to get the cooldown/bonuses except spend a trait point..no blasting fire fields or standing on their heads in waterfields…and did i mention 33% cooldown? on all the skills in the attunement? Firey breath fire skill 3 seconds of 4 burns stacks every…3 seconds?? nice synergy as the kids say nowadays. Im no matematition but 2% conditional recharge over 5 seconds equates to 10%? that means it shaves a whole 3.5 seconds of chaos armor? So the master trait makes Chaos armor 31.5 secs instead of 35? Can i have a flat 33% instead please? (ok rant over)

7) yes so far im absolutely loving the new mimic skill…best incarnation of mimic yet GJ devs.

8) not used timewarp much yet so can’t comment

9) lost a lot to condi mesmers on patch day…should have brought some condi clears ..doh.

1. Mesmer is definitely easier to play now that we have more defensive capabilities at our disposal without having to completely hamper our offensive ones.

2. I don’t think there’s a single gm that is lacking in usefulness in some shape or form except for perhaps malicious sorcery. I’ve heard it doesn’t even work yet. Gms I haven’t used yet: PU, Mistrust and Malicious Sorcery,.My absolute favorite gms in order of most to least:

• Deceptive Evasion (this doesn’t count lol duh), Chaotic Interruption, Power Block, Illusionary Inspiration, and Ineptitude.

3. I haven’t used PU yet in the new patch, but I really don’t understand why it was buffed in the first place???

4. I’ve tried out the Powerblock/Chaotic Interruption build, and it’s really good!! Though if I’m playing shatter, I’m going with signets and Mental Anguish instead for the bigger single-target burst.

5. LOL hell yes. I’m running four builds at the moment:

• Signet Support (Dom/Chaos/Ins) PvP
• Signet Power Shatter (Dom/Due/Ill) PvP oops I guess this one doesn’t count?! lol
• Mantra/Glamour Tank (Due/Chaos/Ins) PvP
• Phantasm (Dom/Insp/Ill) PvE

6. I thought the Staff CD was a bit overpowered initially. Now that it’s underwhelming. If I’m taking it, it’s for the protection, not the CDs. I haven’t used torch at all yet.

7. I keep meaning to try it, but I haven’t been able to. I’m currently trying my hand at condi shatter again with Arcane/Blink & manipulation CDs. I was gonna go for Mimic, but I’m liking the 20% condi duration from S. Midnight in conjunction with Nightmare Runes! In theory, mimic sounds pretty amazing though. I’m sure I’ll get around to it at some point.

8. My thoughts on Timewarp: it’s like having sex without lube, and your enemy is on the receiving end… Sorry, that was really declasse of me, but Time Warp is amazing!! I’ll always use this trait unless I’m using signet trait with S. Humility. And even without traiting Time Warp, it’s still very very VERY good. The resistance and super speed are just icing.

9. Maybe I’m just a noob, but I’ve always had a tough time facing other Mesmers. The stun locking has been kind of overkill though. That being said, I know when to spot a good Mesmer and a bad one. I don’t believe the ratio has changed since the revamp. The good ones are really good, and the bad ones have a lot more survivability before they eventually get stomped anyway.

I’d say:

Leave PU alone. It has a place. I’m not playing it atm but it’s appropriate for Mesmer and will be an excellent tool for making us relevant in dungeons.

I’m loving the new Inspiration. What a revelation to have some sustain.

Not tried the new Mimic

Love that Time Warp is now a glamour gives me a reason to use it instead of Moa.

I’m winning some fights v. other Mesmers. Skilled? Yes! and very fast.

Absolutely loving having some success as a Mesmer at long last. My big fear is that the nerf hammer phantasm will appear and shatter us again.

I play WvW 99% of the time, so my answers are biased in that way.
Also, I strongly believe ANet is overreacting and knee-jerk overnerfing mesmers. So I’m biased that way too.

1: ANet lowered the skill floor. The skill ceiling is still there.
A lot of people that did like the class but weren’t good enough to play it in day to day are giving it a try again and having decent results because the traits have been reworked nicely and – most importantly – we don’t have to waste attribute points in useless stuff (condi dmg, condi duration) for a power shatter build. That increased the burst potential and we finally are on par with D/P thieves now.

2

If you are decently skilled, there’s no way you gonna take anything else than Power Block in Domination. The shatter trait feels week in comparison. I tested the Greatsword traid and I think it’s the weakest of the three: you can stack a bit of might and kite the few classes that don’t have gap closers for a few seconds, but that’s it.

If you can use Harmonious Mantras to get the damage buff in a sensible way in PvP I /bow to you. I can’t. I’ll consider it a PVE trait and move along.
I tried mistrust with runes of perplexity and the skill/reward ratio is abysmal.
So… we end up with Deceptive Evasion. A trait most Shatter builds can’t live without. Nothing more to say, still pretty much the only choice here in PvP.

Chaotic Interruption is a dream came true. You get rewarded for skillful play and your enemy gets punished. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Prismatic Understanding feels a bit too strong, but we should consider our counterpart – the thief – has much more on-demand access to stealth, with stonger benefits from it. Also, sitting in stealth for a long time doesn’t really help you doing anything except maybe run away from an angry/hungry zerg in WvW.
Bountiful Disillusionment is possibly the weakest of the three. Also, I don’t like the fact that you don’t really get rewarded for skillfully shattering: you get the boons even if your clones don’t hit the target at all. I would buff it, but link the buff to the number of clones successfully hitting the target: 2 might/1 stab per Mind Wrack, 2s Vigor/1 stab per Cry of Frustration, etc.

I didn’t test Mental Defense yet.
Illusionary Inspiration looks great – in theory. Feels clumsy in practice. It’s hard to predict when your boon share (and possibly Invulnerability) will go up and very hard to keep tabs on the cooldown. It’s probably very good for PVE dungeons and stuff, but I can’t really rely on it during a frantic outnumbered fight in WvW.
Temporal Enchanter works very well for Timewarp and Null field, and terribly bad for all the other Glamours. Veil should apply it while going through the Veil, Portal should apply it while going through the Portal. Feedback… oh god, make feedback ground targeted or something. It’s terrybad now really.

Didn’t get to test Ineptitude much, yet.
Master of Fragmentation gives you… utility on your shatters, but not much else. Doesn’t feel like a Grandmaster to me and doesn’t feel mandatory at all, if I take Illusions is for the CD reduction on illusion generation and on shatters, and for Maim in a hybrid or condi build.
Malicious sorcery would be nice, if only it worked.

3: does PU deserve a nerf tomorrow? No.
In a month if everyone still feels like it’s too strong? Sure. Make it a 50% or 66% increase. But let the meta settle before.

4: I played interrupts some times even before the patch. It’s good to have the traits consolidated so we can have a bit more options for our builds. After Power Block damage has been nerfed it feels perfectly reasonable: high risk and skill requirements, high reward.

5: After the Maim nerf, Illusions is arguably our weakest traitline, while Chaos – even with the gutted Staff trait and horrible alternatives in Master tier – is a good option and Inspiration offers interesting options to support the team.

6: both Staff and Torch are in a pityfull state right now. If I invest in a trait that requires a specific condition to be met, I expect for it to be stronger than other traits, because I’m going out of my way to pick it AND out of my way to use it. It’s not something that randomly happens while I play in my usual way.

7: I’m not planning to use mimic. Our utility slots are precious and very limited, can’t afford to waste one slot to play the same trick twice (on a long cooldown) even if it’s a good trick.

8: As I said, from a WvW point of view, TW is amazing. And yes, I’m using it over the alternatives.

9: WvW is full of people that picked up mesmer after the patch because they heard “it’s OP”. Fighting them is unexciting and boring most the time. I’ve faced one or two decent mesmers and those fights were actually very entertaining.

As with any profession, what you play and how you play will decide your best build. There is no one size fits all.
In WvW, at least what I have seen you run across ALOT of of gank squads, 3 or 4 just roaming around waiting on one person to walk by and your dead.
So I found PU mesmer to be the most handy. No I wont beat many in a fight. Good luck trying to kill me, cause if I get in a bind, I will stealth and blink my way out of most issues. So I live when most people die.

Hi there, I’d love to give some feedback and I try to keep it short.

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
Yes. This is mainly because the patch has helped resolve a lot of gameplay issues mesmer had before and especially with baseline IP, shattering is more natural and useful now regardless of what spec i play, making it a worthy class mechanic to utilize.

2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
I’ve pretty much tried all the gm traits except the ones in Illusions line.
The new version of Chaotic Interruption is certainly my favorite. But if I have to pick a brand new gm trait as my favorite, Illusionary Inspiration is my pick.

3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
It certainly needs adjustment in certain game modes (WvW and sPvP). I can’t offer any suggestion here but I just want to stress that any adjustment to this trait must be well thought out in order to not break it.

4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
Yes I have and its really fun combo.

5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
Chaos and Inspiration are the 2 lines I almost always take in my mesmer build. Thats probably because my playstyle leans toward group support and enemy control a lot.

6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
I like the concept but currently I can only enjoy the pistol recharge mechanic. Staff recharge mechanic has been adjusted to be too low to make it any real significant impact in combat. Keep in mind these recharge mechanics require players to “micro manage” their gameplay a lot more than usual to gain the benefit (comparing to the flat cdr) and thus it should be more rewarding. On a related note, Duelist’s Discipline is currently bugged: the bleed stacking bit is not working.

7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
I’ve been using it extensively for double portals in jps and WvW. Its very creative and kudos to whoever came up with this change for Mimic (I suspect its Robert Gee, our mesmer patron dev).

8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
I take this over Mass Invisibility in combat situations where area denial is important, namely point capturing, choke point fighting, etc.

9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?
If I fight against another interrupt mesmer, then the fight can feel like a mind game and it really puts me on edge. Whoever makes the mistake and get interrupted first could well go down defeated. Skilled play is certainly a big factor to decide the outcome of the fight. Playing against PU mesmers though is not fun, but then again, going up against stealth users is always gonna be frustrating.

3.

Before the patch, PU was not a popular choice ever since its adjustment to give might/swiftness. In order to make it a competitive trait with the other buffed grandmasters in the chaos line a buff to it is needed.

The problem with the 100% stealth duration now is that a mesmer can have very little downtime in stealth if he has his skill bar full of stealth skills; this is not a very fun playstyle for many mesmers who are asked to “hide in keeps” in WvW nor for those tasked with hunting them down. Also, it may encourage a playstyle of being permanently invisible while only using phantasms.

I would adjust PU by keeping the 100% stealth duration, but adding an ICD to the stealth increasing portion of the trait. This will discourage stacking multiple sources of stealth, but make it still attractive enough for builds that can play around with stealth.

5.

Yes, I am pleased with the support options in Chaos/Inspiration.

6.

I don’t like the torch’s recharge condition because too heavily encourages taking PU.

A lot of good stuff already said.

Before the change I was running 6, 6, 0, 2 “Phantrupt” with Halting Strike, Confounding Suggestions, x3 Mantra, and menders purity (MoR and MoD), full glass. Post changes I kept the lines and rebuilt the Phantrupt experience. So here’s my impressions.

I feel much much glassier now which means I have to stay well on my toes. However I also have a hell of a lot more tools at my disposal to help get me through a fight. The Inspiration line has a lot to do with this. I’ve been running Mental Defence, and while this helps me, it’s also introduced an amazing group support aspect to my build which I’m loving. The synergy with previous build choices lending themselves to Inspiration is fantastic and fun.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my AoE potential seems stronger and is more fluid. I attribute this to the general increase in power, and IP. Running Harmonious Mantras gives me that damage boost too (PvP btw) and the presence is frequent from my fluid use of mantra charges.

I’ve been an Interrupt Mesmer for a long time, so these changes have been amazing. Exactly what I wanted out of the game. All that said, I’ll agree with the statements made about the skill floor being lowered but the ceiling still being high. There might be a lot of mesmer out there at the moment spamming through their CI rupt/lockdown builds, but being a through and through on release mesmer player, I don’t find Mesmers a problem to tackle now same as was before.

Leave things how they are for a while. Let the playerbase adjust. The average mesmers will find themselves in a world of hurt (and run back to whatever it was they hid behind before) while the pros will have to continue to keep their Mesmer game high.

1) Easy would not be the term I would use since we still require more than two to three button presses and coordination (depends on build I suppose). To me the patch brought us on level with the other classes and made us less than an afterthought than we were before. Which is a plus for me.

2) New GMs are definitely a treat. The ones that were combined from pre-patch traits have been synergizing really well. So far I’m still build testing (so long as no major nerfs come right away I hope) but I really like the Power Block, Harmonious Mantras, and even Master of Fragmentation traits. Those were just at the top of my head, haven’t delved into Inspiration much yet. Although, that Scepter grandmaster trait feels like it could be more since it’s at that tier.

3) As much as people advocating that stealth is the reason for the 100-0 burst, it is not, however, I do agree that it does need a reduction to at least 75% and nothing less. The 100-0 burst damage is not unique to the Mesmer class therefore it is unfair to judge a single trait from a single class because of that. I suggest the devs to look at EVERY CLASS before making any major changes damage-wise.

4) It’s definitely great for lockdown as it still promotes skill in finding interrupts against opponents. This is in a great spot, please don’t change it. It’s been my dream build ever since I’ve wanted to force a Shatter Lockdown trait before the patch. And now I can!

5) I’m still twiddling with builds, but Inspiration definitely looks good for PvE and some team support play.

6) At the moment, as well as from the recent Chaotic Dampening nerf, I would argue that the two conditional cooldown traits (torch/staff) are close to garbage compared to a flat 20% reduction. Right now, for the staff, it requires TOO MUCH EFFORT in the form of maximizing rotations revolving one trait that does LESS than pre-patch effect. The devs need to look back at what they did to it.

7) New Mimic is great, it has great synergy with Master of Manipulation trait. Very happy with the rework.

8) The new slow on Time Warp I’m not too sure if enemies feel it at all. Although, the resistance and superspeed trait feel like an afterthought. Resistance is too short and SuperSpeed doesn’t really give much advantage over anything, it’s like you just walked over a dodge’s distance and that’s it. The two second duration increase on glamours is a welcome addition though.

9) Going up against mesmers still trying to get the feel of the new traits, it feels okay, granted everything has been upped in the offensive side with no counterbalance on the defensive within the patch so it’s not the Mesmer class’ fault for the insane burst. One of the main complaints is the Insta-stun-to-burst combo, stealth or no stealth doesn’t really matter. In that situation, I’m actually torn because I don’t want anything done to Confounding Suggestions trait since the stun durations and cooldowns feel fair, but at the same time, I hate having to sacrifice a Utility slot for stability to counteract it.

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?

Previously, mesmers were very weak more or less everywhere in the game, countering them on a base mechanical level was something a competent player could do on several classes with a special mention to the thief hardcounter.
On top of this you had the generally poor baseline for most skills and the crippling reliance on traits to bring them up to par.
The old trait system required you to overspecialise and would usually leave pretty big holes elsewhere in your abilities.
A result of this meant that Mesmer players had to jump though a bunch hoops to achieve something less efferently than other classes could with half the effort.

TL;DR: I don’t think its so much a matter of Mesmer ‘getting easier’ its more that they can finally stand toe to toe with other classes in a fight.

1. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?

I’m biased because I like interrupt builds, so instead Im going to give a special mention Illusionary Inspiration, since it really opens up some interesting playstyle options.

1. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?

I think the biggest problem is the implementation of stealth in general and the ability to attack without consequence while in it, and save for a single engie trait, doesn’t have any real direct ways to counter it.
All that aside, the trait is a bit over the top with its duration right now.

1. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?

High skill requirement with a high reward. Its fantastic and offers a nice amount of flexibility in playstyle.

1. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?

I always liked to experiment with new stuff and now that new stuff is actually viable.

1. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?

They limit you in a few ways, forcing you into specific uses of the weapons, but with the right level of reward for doing so, they can be great.

Right now the staff trait is not.

1. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?

Meow yeah.

1. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?

The change does give it a nice boost, as does the ability to stack TW with quickness being a boon, I still use mas invis most of the time though.

1. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

Mesmer mirror matches have always been really interesting and fun, and I think they are even moreso since the changes.

@ Ross Biddle

I quote you; “The average mesmers will find themselves in a world of hurt (and run back to whatever it was they hid behind before) while the pros will have to continue to keep their Mesmer game high.”

Wow.. that’s quite an attitude. You must believe you’re a top class player.

Entertaining that for a moment: I think a reasonable person would have to agree that the game shouldn’t be oriented to hyperskilled players, unless it wants to alienate the majority.

I’m an “average” Mesmer (with more than 1700 hours on Mesmer alone ) and I’d like not to be nerfed so much, even if it pleases the top players to make the class hard to play.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Hello mesmers! Come out of stealth for a second and talk about specializations! Either answer my questions directly or simply post about what you think the devs should know about the specialization changes.

Questions:

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

For the 1st time since the game launched I can play a condi mesmer in all aspects of the game. Even though it still situationally lacks here and there, it is actually playable everywhere, so that is a huge thing. Dont have to have 3-4 full sets of armor / weapons / runes anymore along with 4 different kinds of consumables as I go from WvW roaming to large scale battles, to silverwastes and some dungeon runs. This is great. I have basically only 2 sets of armor now, offensive and defensive, dont even need to change weapons, only some jewelry for agony resistance for fractals. Thats it.

So really love this patch so far.

I love fighting other mesmers in WvW. Won some and lost some across a variety of builds so the profession overall feels fairly balanced with itself to me.

PU is a bit over the top for power / crit shatter builds, but not for condi since condis dont get the giant frontload burst but rather take time to build up.

I use timewarp here and there mainly in PvE on dungeon bosses, not in PvP though, neither sPvP nor WvW. Tried it in WvW but the problem is groups move so fast in / out of its area its just kinda pointless for such a huge CD. Fights are too mobile for it unless you just get a jump on a bunch of text chat pugs, or good on golems on golem rushes. Otherwise not very usefull.

Love the way staff and condi recharge works now. Makes you really think about the fight, pick up the rhythm of it. Makes it more tactical. In fact, one of the mesmers I fought wasnt using the timing well, I won with ease.

Havent tried mimic yet.

I’m trying out Chaos , Inspiration in sPvP. Doing great in low end unranked matches, but as soon as I get some better opponents it is unfortunately very low use. They just have too much burst combined with too much CC against which neitehr one of these lines provides enough of a defense. I can of course stealth away, but that in itself is kinda pointless. For sPvP, these trait lines do not provide adequate defenses nor burst nor extra stunbreakers etc.

There is however one thing I seriously don’t like about this patch. That is scepter 1 still majorly sucks and sword isnt really an option for condi builds. Please either address it, or give us a 3rd option for primary 1h weapon.

Ithilwen.1529:

@ Ross Biddle

I quote you; “The average mesmers will find themselves in a world of hurt (and run back to whatever it was they hid behind before) while the pros will have to continue to keep their Mesmer game high.”

Wow.. that’s quite an attitude. You must believe you’re a top class player.

Entertaining that for a moment: I think a reasonable person would have to agree that the game shouldn’t be oriented to hyperskilled players, unless it wants to alienate the majority.

I’m an “average” Mesmer (with more than 1700 hours on Mesmer alone ) and I’d like not to be nerfed so much, even if it pleases the top players to make the class hard to play.

Yeah, I don’t know what you were reading into my post but you’re telling your own story here, bud. Good luck with whatever your agenda is I suppose.

1. So So
2. None
3. Yes PU needs adjustment. Very less counter play vs F1 – Hide – F1 – Hide. 6s Stealth is so hard to predict compared 4s stealth and very easy to buy ur next cooldown.
4. Yes.
5. Without Illu Trait Phantasm recharge will be slower. For a DPS Role having longer cooldown means longer time to kill which never good. So Nope. Haven;t try Chaos/ Inspiration Trait.
6. I don;t use Staff. Sorry.
7. Good for run away. But other Utilities are still better.
8. TW becomes so good. For zerging Yes, For Roaming still Mass Invis
9. In PVP room. Berserker Amulet Can 1shot another Berserker Amulet. In WVW Map… Well they use torch to run away when situation doesn;t give advantage to them.

My “agenda” is what I said. I’d like the Mesmer class not to be nerfed so much. I’m finally having a good time in my 3rd or 4rth year of play.

Ithilwen.1529:

My “agenda” is what I said. I’d like the Mesmer class not to be nerfed so much. I’m finally having a good time in my 3rd or 4rth year of play.

Yeah cool, just don’t try and pin me up as your scarecrow to charge at with your bayonet.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Hello mesmers! Come out of stealth for a second and talk about specializations!

oh i use to w8 5 sec now you w8 10 sec lol….

regarding pvp (not pve or wvw)

1. am i enjoy it? yes lockdown memser as other have said will become meta. mid low tier its too easy sometimes

2. GM trait power block atm

3. PU need to be deleted it ruined mtd . it got buffed 100% which hardly needed for average players. as it not support shatter play stlye rather stealth game stlye.
in pvp you hardly need stealth. myabe for short disengage . and thief should be the stealth master not mesmer.
4. power block and CI yes really strong and remind me GW1
5. chaos or inspiration chaos for sure but with chrono out it wont be needed as much unless anet will nerf it like mtd
6. condition recharge? i like the pistol recharge but it force you for a certain of combo which after a while can be predicted. i would combine between passive and active recharge like 10% flat recharge and another 3-5% if conditions are met
7. mimic? used it with mtd when it was 2 stacks to burst with MI twice and fast. other then that not very strong with 90 sec cd
8.* time warp* i used it with mtd shatter when it was 2 stacks to control the point and doing fast massive dmg with my team . but power shatter needs moa for a fast burst while condi shatter can take it instead
9. other mesmer fights against pu power or condi – hate it hate it. although we used to win in pvp as they cant control the point the have nice 1v1 abilities defense and offence combined. as playing thief against pu now i have to count his skills before i use SR and burst him down or just walk away
10. how do you feel about mtd nerf? – didnt get it at all while other classes can do 5k dps with condi we can do 3k top for 3 sec and w8 for another 20 icd. while other w8 only 5-10 sec for skills recharged. condi shatter will be gone (pu condi is not a build to play with). it just make me play condi with other classes

1. far easier to play and not enjoying it. thats mostly caused by the daze → stun trait which should only work on interrupt and the new PU trait which made playing mesmer before the patch already far easier
2. Chaotic interruption,power block,deceptive evasion,illusionary inspiration
3. i think more stealth isnt good for pvp in this game. And with the new PU trait u just over-egged the pudding. Its a egoistic way to play and its no fun to play against. should get deleted
4. tried it. very strong and thats how mesmer always should have been like. Interrupts lead to longer cooldowns remind me of the gw1 mesmer which is awesome
5. i am experimenting with all traitlines and think most have some decent traits. I dont use Illusion traitline anymore since Mtd got nerfed to the ground again and the traitline is most effective for condi builds.
6. didnt use those yet so no comment
7. i tried it out with signet of inspiration in a zerg which worked pretty well
8. not using it atm since Mass invis and Moa are stronger for me
9. currently its just who bursts first. Since there are many players trying mesmer out cause it got hugely buffed, most duels end very fast and painful. Against PU mesmers its of course very boring…
10. mtd nerf was needed but again too much. It got buffed with the patch and nerfed hours later to the state it was before when noone was using it. Shatters are burst mechanics. Now mtd does less dmg than 3 scepter clones up

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Hello mesmers! Come out of stealth for a second and talk about specializations! Either answer my questions directly or simply post about what you think the devs should know about the specialization changes.

Questions:

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

1. I am enjoying playing my class as it now feels like I have more tools to deal with the “meta” classes. Well except for infinite-sustain Elementalists… they are still way too good at not dying.
2. Power Block, Prismatic Understanding, and Master of Fragmentation.
3. It is pretty strong, but to put things into perspective, D/P thieves have infinite stealth and have no penalty for missing a back stab (that being said it is one of the only forgiving things thieves get; it’s not as easy as it looks). Since I am sure the nerf is coming no matter what I think, I could live 50% over 100% increase.
4. I ran with Power Block before patch and still do now; haven’t tried out Chaotic Interruptions before.
5. I run Domination, Chaos, Illusions currently.
6. No. Having a conditional recharge on torch has forced me into PU to be sure that I can continue to cleanse conditions efficiently. A flat 20% would be preferred.
7. Nope. Still seems like a gimmick; that being said, i have yet to try it out fully.
8. I will definitely be using this for PvE and some WvW stuff.
9. They have been about the same as before.
10. As a special bonus feed back item, lets talk about Confounding Suggestions. This skill is very useful but I think that reducing the CD to 10 seconds would possibly make the skill to unreliable to seriously consider. One way to balance it would be to make the stuns on interrupt only and eliminate the duration increase to stun/daze. The other way would be to eliminate the stun completely and increase the daze buff to 50% (for a 1.5 sec daze).
11. Regarding Maim the Disilusioned: If the nerf is staying in place, consider increasing the duration of the torment applied to make up for the lost stacks. 1 to 2 seconds per stack should help balance it out.

EDIT/UPDATE: Ok, the more i think about it, the more it makes sense: Increasing the CD Confounding Suggestions to 10 makes a lot of sense. Could definitely work in making the skill more balanced. Also, did some minor editing to make sure I am communicating my feedback correctly.

UPDATE: As the meta is beginning to settle I have been noticing a marked decrease in the “OP” feeling of CS. It seems like it might not be so bad after all in its current state… it seems strong w/o feeling too strong. Maybe just remove duration increase and call it a day? I am still all for decreasing PU to 50% though.

Anyhow I hope this feedback helps.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Questions:

1. One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?
2. For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?
3. Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?
4. Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?
5. Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?
6. Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?
7. Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?
8. Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?
9. How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

My answers:

1. Hrm, quite the opposite IMO. As all builds can and should utilize a moderate~heavy amount of shatter now, it feels much more that I have to engage with our class mechanic instead of just sitting there.
2. Personally I live confusion on blind and Bountiful Disillusionment.
3. Hrm… yes, but conceptually I have an issue with traits affecting elite skills in the first place, so I’m biased against traits such as this.
4. Nope
5. I do Chaos / Duel / Illusions condi shatter now. Did before the patch too, though.
6. Hrm… not really. Pistol is good but the trait is bugged, Torch is meh because it relies on having PU, should be context-free. The staff one used to be good, but is now so/so, Prot on Chaos Armor is very strong, so the low CD reduction is ok, but it feels meh as a result.
7. Not used it enough to judge it.
8. I <3 Time Warp now. It’s my goto Elite. The slow catches people off guard and works really well in melee trains.
9. Yeah, interesting. Especially the interrupt vs shatter standoffs are really explosive now. Loving it.

1. Not really. Pretty much the same as before, some builds only became easier to execute while others disappeared.
2. PU obviously. And the GS might/cooldown one is also rather nice though it could use a buff. Everything else is frankly somewhat underwhelming. Oh and Deceptive Evasion as always is king.
3. PU is fine as it is. Maybe turn it down a notch to 75% but I think it’s a solid, strong trait.
4. Interrupt/Lockdown builds are gimmicks that make use of specific mechanics with specific timing on a very narrow window of opportunity for little gain. Won’t ever bother with them. The game was not built with this in mind.
5. I run condi shatter/PU and Chaos is pretty good at keeping me alive. Dom is weaker now I feel and Inspiration should be deleted/reworked into something else entirely.
6. Very much so. I love having to manage Chaos Armor and actually getting a benefit from it. It also offsets Chaos Storm’s rather large cooldown and generally makes the staff a better, more fun weapon. Don’t nerf/change it or I will find you and kill your hamster, you hear me devs?
7. No. It’s a great skill but I have little use for it. There isn’t a single utility skill that I feel the need to use twice in succession once every 90 seconds.
8. Time Warp is still the go-to elite for mesmer. Not because it’s good but because it’s the least terrible one we have.
9. Same as always, predict their burst, avoid it and kill them since everyone and their cat is still running power shatter.

Overall the mesmer feels better. Some traits are all over the place and Inspiration is worthless but we’re going in the right direction.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

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1. As others mentioned, Mesmer got more powerful but so did other classes. Compared to them, Mesmers still have to do more to have similar effects, while there might be some outliers at the moment. I generally still enjoy Mesmer gameplay, though.
2. I love the new Power Block and Chaotic interruption. However, I already did before. So not much new here. I didn’t have any time to use them, but I’m also interested in the new Inspiration traits which probably had the most work done. I initially liked Mistrust but with Confusing Combatants gone it doesn’t look too appealing anymore. Maybe there could be some adjustments there.
3. I’m all for more group stealth – namely through Veil and Mass Invisibility – but the buff to PU feels somewhat uncalled for. I personally don’t think that Mesmers should have that much personal stealth. It just promotes dull and cheesy gameplay and might ultimatively lead to nerfs in other areas. I don’t want to see this happen.
4. Of course.
5. I run Chaos in PvP since ages. I usually only go for Inspiration in PvE, though. It could be interesting for more sustainable PvP or WvW buildw. I haven’t tested it so far.
6. I generally like them if they actually feel rewarding. After the nerf Chaotic Dampening it doesn’t. The current recharge value is so low it locks you into predictable rotations. If a great amount of recharge reduction for specific builds wasn’t intended, why go for a conditional recharge bonus after all?
7. I haven’t used Mimic so far. It will remain a niche skill but it is very interesting and way more useful than the boon-copy-Mimic we had for a while. I’d like to see the recharge changed, though. Something like +33-50% than the copied skill feels more reasonable than a flat cooldown. Otherwise it is too unappealing for skills with low recharges.
8. Resistance is awesome, Super Speed is not. I simply don’t see the benefit. That being said, the recharge feels extremly excessive when looking at the new Guardian Shout.
9. In PvP many Mesmers currently abuse the new PU to land their bursts. It doesn’t feel too skillful. You can’t predict when the burst will come – if you even know at all that the Mesmer is around – so there are few counters other than blinking away. For my specific build, I also can’t interrupt anything. I don’t enjoy it. Other than that, I feel that people experiment with different trait set ups which is a good thing.

• 1. It’s certainly less punishing than it used to be. There’s an actual reward for the Mesmer and a nice bit of punishment for your opponent for setting up strong bursts and other such trickery. Mesmer is far more rewarding. But, it is very different to pre-specilisation Mesmer so people really really do need time to get to know the new Mesmer.

• 2. All the new Grandmasters are fun to use except Malicious Sorecery (bugged, not a very interesting GM anyway) and Prismatic Understanding (too disruptive to the flow of gameplay, also boring).

• 3. Yes. I think the stealth duration should be +2 seconds of stealth and one of the random boons should be removed.

• 4. Yes and it’s so much more viable and fun. Interrupt Mesmer could force its way into sPvP regularly now. Confounding Suggestions however, is too strong and not a true interrupt trait in its current form. Someone mentioned above that it should only convert the daze to stun if the target is interrupted – much more balanced.

• 5. Yes, often. I will always have either Chaos or Inspiration in my build. Chaos is decent, but Inspiration offers some fascinating group support (distortion share).

• 6. I like the concept of them but Chaotic Dampening has been nerfed to a point where the CD functionality is almost completely superfluous compared to a flat 20% reduction. The Pledge is also in a similar state unless you have PU. The bleed stacks on pistol are bugged so I have ignored this trait. Overall, not a good start for conditional recharge.

• 7. Yes it’s the best it has ever been and quite fun to use now. However, the overly long 90 second CD makes it a bit of a chore to use especially as you are sacrificing a unique utility in order to cast another one twice. I would like Mimic to share the CD of the utility it is mimicking.

• 8. Not really using Time Warp at present. The Slow is negligible and Guardian offers far better quickness uptime for your group now. I expect it won’t see much use now because of this and the importance of Mass Invis.

• 9. Feel about the same really, although Mesmers using Confounding Suggestions and Prismatic Understanding make for a rather lopsided fight unless I too am using these traits. Condition Mesmers are more ignorable then they’ve ever been. The nerfs to Maim the Disillusioned and the lower singular burn tick damage from staff clones in conjunction with the removal of confusion from Phantasmal Mage has made condition Mesmers weak and very easy to kill, especially if you have the Inspiration traitline. Mesmer can stack some high confusion ticks, but that’s just one condition that is easily removed.

1. The buffs the class got made it a lot easier to play due to the shear power it now has, so you can mess up rotations and still end up wining but this is also true for most other classes so not a big deal.

2. Power block, because it was one of my favorite skills in gw1.

3. PU is not a fun trait now, it makes fighting mesmers frustrating since they have insane burst, and when they can stealth for 10 sec it becomes a stupid guessing game of when to dodge their 15k shatter combo and if you misjudge you die. This is even worse if the mesmer is running a condition build where he can load you with cancer and just sit in stealth until you melt, again not a fun encounter.

4. Yes it is fun to play, but again if you are on the receiving end it feels not fun and frustrating and cheezy, especially if you are on a class with little to no stability (like that even helps seeing how they can trait to remove boons on shatter). The issue is power block with confounding suggestions, a instant non telegraphed stun that can deal high damage and puts weakness and lengthens a skill cd is to strong. Maybe change confounding suggestions to only stun if you interrupt a skill with a daze, this way a mesmer can’t just spam mod every 5 sec to stun lock.

5. All lines are good, inspiration is strong for sustain and condi clears and chaos is good to if you are a condi mesmer or if you want your interrupts to be even more op.

6. They are fun but i prefer the standard recharge traits

7. No, it will never be arcane echo!! On a more serious note you rarely ever need 2 of the same utility, it would be much better if you could copy healing and elite skills but at a lower potency, say a mimicd heal only heals for 40% or a mimicd elite has shorter duration.

8. No, why would i ever need any of those when i can simply moa someone and then instagib him, or take a traited 10 sec invis.

9. No ,and this is important, when playing a power shatter mesmer with stealth or a power cc shatter mesmer with power lock if i am up agains another zerker class if i get a drop on it he dies, if not i cc spam with mod and power lock until he dies. Even bunker classes die in 1 or 2 shatters.
Mesmer feels over buffed, dealing too much damage and having way to strong instant cast abilities. In fact when on my mesmer i feel like i am playing quake.

One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?

I’ve mostly been playing my mesmer in PvE. In fact, I hadn’t been playing my mesmer in PvE for a long time until the specializations. Now I enjoy playing my mesmer a lot more in PvE. It’s not only easier, but more enjoyable.

I haven’t had much luck with my mesmer in PvP. Everyone keeps talking about how much more damage the mesmer has now, but I’m not seeing it. Before the patch, I found shatter mesmer to be one of the most effective classes I played. Now I feel woefully behind. I’ve been unable to burst down engineers, guardians, and elementalists. And they are able to crush me with their conditions and AoE.

I suspect a lot of the complaints about mesmers comes from people learning new builds. Mesmers are able to take advantage of that confusion. Once the meta settles, we’ll see if people still have complaints about mesmers beyond getting confused by clones.

For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?

My favorite right now is Illusionary Inspiration. It has such great syngery with Blurred Inscriptions and Inspiring Distortion. Having your phantasms be able to cure a condition, share your boons, and grants distortion to your allies is awesome. The only difficulty is that its cool down makes it a little hard to time.

Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?

I tried this in PvP with little success. Again, I just wasn’t able to churn out the damage to counter the defense of engies, eles, and guards. I suppose that it is a good trait for escaping, which is fine. But long stealth simply isn’t as useful in conquest That said, if you really are able to go perma stealth, then this should be reduced because it could be abused in WvW.

Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?

I have not, but might given how shatter seems lacking to me atm.

Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?

I’ve tried shatter with Chaos instead of Illusions, with limited success.

Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?

Other than the sword, I never really worried about these before the patch, and don’t much now.

Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?

Yes. At least in PvE. There’s frequently times where one utility really shines (i.e. feedback) and the rest seem like minor additions that may or may not even be used. Now mimic allows me to use that skill a bit more.

Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?

Haven’t tried traiting it yet, but the problem with it is that Guardians can now bring quickness a lot more frequently. That said, until Chronomancer, it is still the best elite to bring in PvE group play.

How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

These seem to be the only ones I’m doing well against atm.

Questions: And answers

One sentiment I’ve read is that mesmer has gotten a LOT easier to play. Are you enjoying this?

Not sure that it is a lot easier to play. It is a lot more effective though. Certainly top tier now.

For me, the grandmaster mesmer traits have been an absolute candy store. Which GM traits have been your favorite?

Most of them good. Wasnt happy happy about the loss of Harmonious Mantras due to conflict with DE. But the changes to mantras have ameliorated that loss significantly.

Prismatic Understanding (PU) has proven to be a really strong trait for shatter builds (PU shatter). Do you think this needs adjustments?

Yes. I would just get rid of it. Stealth should be a thief characteristic. Combined with shatter it is bonkers right now. Mesmer should be the art of deception not invisibility.

Another build I’ve seen around is a power block/Chaotic Interruption build. Have you tried this out?

No – I will be running Dueling and Inspirations come the Chronomancer and want to develop the playstyle that will work with that – so sticking with Illusions as a stop-gap.

Normally, mesmers really only took Dom, Dueling, Illusions in PvP. Are you taking Chaos and Inspiration at all?

Loving inspiration adds a lot to survivability except for a full shatter hit

Mesmer got a lot of conditional recharge abilities (reduced recharge on staff when you have chaos shield for example). Are you liking these?

Not using them

Mimic got a huge change. Are you using this at all?

Yes – loving it with blink and decoy. Cool down is perhaps a bit long but still worth it

Time Warp gained slow and now can be traited for resistance and super speed! Are you using this at all? Would you take this over the other elites?

In PVE yes – in PvP no.

How have your fights against other mesmers been? Do they feel skillful?

Mesmers are a lot harder these days. Used to be easy meat but now a single mistake and you are in trouble. Also get blindsided and hit by a bezerker then shatter much more often. Too much cheese these days – they need to change the stuns and the invisibility.