Guild Wars 2

I’ve read a lot about how mesmer used to be “OP” back in the day, and then then got nerfed. I’ve head this a lot here in these forums by mesmer players. I say “they” b/c I wasn’t playing a mesmer then. Can someone fill me in on how the mesmer used to be OP, how long ago, and what has done to nerf them?

Ideally, I’m trying to educate myself on the history of our class, so I can be a more well-rounded player who understands how the mesmer has evolved over the years.

sirrealist.1360:

I’ve read a lot about how mesmer used to be “OP” back in the day, and then then got nerfed. I’ve head this a lot here in these forums by mesmer players. I say “they” b/c I wasn’t playing a mesmer then. Can someone fill me in on how the mesmer used to be OP, how long ago, and what has done to nerf them?

Ideally, I’m trying to educate myself on the history of our class, so I can be a more well-rounded player who understands how the mesmer has evolved over the years.

In PvE long ago, Time Warp was nerfed— quickness went from a 100% attack speed bonus to 50%. That was a big hit, but probably warranted.

In PvE recently, Empowering Mantras was moved to the Domination line, which killed all the meta builds which allowed you to stack maximum reflect damage and maximum reflect uptime in one build. You need separate builds for this now, so it’s irritating, but not the worst nerf.

In WvW long ago, confusion with glamour (Domination VIII) used to be very powerful, letting you stack lots of confusion on zergs very quickly. This was also nerfed to the ground.

I think these have been the major hits, but I could be missing a few.

maxinion.8396:

In PvE long ago, Time Warp was nerfed— quickness went from a 100% attack speed bonus to 50%. That was a big hit, but probably warranted.

In PvE recently, Empowering Mantras was moved to the Domination line, which killed all the meta builds which allowed you to stack maximum reflect damage and maximum reflect uptime in one build. You need separate builds for this now, so it’s irritating, but not the worst nerf.

In WvW long ago, confusion with glamour (Domination VIII) used to be very powerful, letting you stack lots of confusion on zergs very quickly. This was also nerfed to the ground.

I think these have been the major hits, but I could be missing a few.

Thanks!

Diferent meta, condi b/c hard counter for standard shatter build, and this one was considered OP. Also Illusion clerity was once adept minor, and even phantasm builds has low CD on illusion skills.

Before we had the ICD on shatters, we could cast 2 shatters with 6 clones within less than a second, which caused all 6 clones to shatter with Mind Wrack while also applying about 18 stacks of Vulnerability and giving yourself upwards of 15 stacks of Might.

This typically involved using macros, though. (Spawn 3 clones → Diversion → Decoy/Mirror Images → Mind Wrack.)
This bug is still “do-able” but the timing makes it really ridiculous and it’s not really worth the effort at all.

Blurred Frenzy used to count as Invulnerability, which means it didn’t count towards the daily dodger, but it stopped fields, retaliation, and ignored lightning shield.

Phase Retreat used to be a stun breaker, now it’s usable while cc’ed but doesn’t break the cc.

Also Chaos armor on staff skill(not from the fields) always gave protection on use.

Blinding Befuddlement lacked an ICD, and could be used in concert with Glamour builds.

Confusion damage was nerfed by 50%, and along with icd on blinds on glamour, confusion builds were nerfed to non-viability.

In general across all mesmer builds, the confusion damage nerf was an overall damage nerf to mesmer. We’ve never been compensated for that.

Staff chaos armor was nerfed, no protection on skill use. Chaos armor was nerfed introducing an icd per target between condis/boons applied. So immortal builds became unviable.

The condi meta put mesmers on the back foot.

Phantasms retal trait was nerfed in the healing line.

Vigor on crit was just nerfed to 5s instead of 10, so no more perma vigor for 5 in dueling. This effects everyone, but hits shatter builds clone production hard. Also makes us more prone to things like hammer stun spam warriors etc. Note: perma vigor is still accessible, but you need to trait differently.

So many other nerfs its hard to pull them all out of the hat.

It may also be prudent to note Nerfs to skills such as Portal or Chaos Storm in a long collective list dubbed “Intended Nerf”

and then create another list for “Unintended Nerf” whenever Anet bugged or broke a skill, and then either hotfixed it without fully fixing it or just left it completely broken.

Our forum, actually, all forums for professions should have these.