Guild Wars 2

Mesmer

For this update, the mesmer is receiving mostly baseline utility changes. Both the Phantasmal Disenchanter and Defender skills now have on-cast effects to gain a little more immediate effect and to differentiate the utility skill from the Mental Defense trait. Mirror Blade’s last bounce has also returned, offering higher damage to power builds.

Weapon Skills

• Mirror Blade: Increased the number of bounces produced by this attack from 3 to 4.
• The Prestige: The number of burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 3 stacks for 3 seconds.
• Illusionary Mage: The recharge of the mage’s attack has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds. Burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 2 stacks, with the duration reduced from 6 to 3. The missile velocity of the mage’s attack has been increased by 33%.
• Echo of Memory: Updated the skill fact for Echo of Memory’s duration.

Utility Skills

• Signet of Midnight: This skill now delivers an unblockable attack and will no longer apply blindness through evade. This skill now applies 10 stacks of vulnerability as well as cripple for 5 seconds, in addition to blinding enemies.
• Mirror Images: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Arcane Thievery: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 45 seconds to 35 seconds.
• Mantra of Distraction: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 20 seconds to 12 seconds.
  • Power Lock: The recharge between uses has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Mantra of Resolve: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
• Mantra of Concentration: The stability duration has been increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds per activation.
• Phantasmal Defender: This utility skill now applies protection for 4 seconds in a radius around the mesmer. The damage reduction from this illusion has been reduced from 50% to 33%.
• Phantasmal Disenchanter: This utility skill now delivers an additional attack when it is initially cast, removing boons from enemies and conditions from allies in a radius around the target.

Traits

• Phantasmal Haste: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working with Illusionary Avenger.
• Ineptitude: This trait will now track the internal cooldown for confusion application on a per-target basis. The blind earned from dodging and evading will now properly apply confusion as well.
• Illusionary Inspiration: This trait will no longer activate Signet of Inspiration when phantasm casts are interrupted.

I expected nothing and was still dissapointed.

Levetty.1279:

I expected nothing and was still dissapointed.

This list of changes buffs Mesmer in every conceivable game type. How on earth are you disappointed?

Thx Pyro

If anyone has a little time to test, it would be nice to see how the new disenchanter skill works.
- How many condis/boons does it remove on initial attack?
- If you have an effect like blind on you that spoils the phantasm cast, does it also ruin the initial attack?

Thx

I definitely see a few things to make me rethink some of the skills I take just for kicks.
They said the main goal was to refresh things and I think this update did that.

OH YEAH, Mirror Images on 30s!

kitten , that has made my day.

Fay.2357:

Levetty.1279:

I expected nothing and was still dissapointed.

This list of changes buffs Mesmer in every conceivable game type. How on earth are you disappointed?

Fay, you put that so nicely. You must be one infraction off a forum suspension XD

Nothing to help with the reliance on Inspiration in PvP
Small number changes to poorly designed skills so they can pretend they did something to make them useful and leave them alone for another year
Useless traits left untouched yet again
No QoL changes to help with living world 3 when living world 3 was the whole point of the patch

The only thing of note in the tiny list was a revert of a nerf that should have never happened.

Fay.2357:

Levetty.1279:

I expected nothing and was still dissapointed.

This list of changes buffs Mesmer in every conceivable game type. How on earth are you disappointed?

Buffed in ways nobody wanted or needed. More quickness where permaquickness was already a thing.

Buffed some phantasm utilities that nobody will use in raids or WvW (illusions still die before they even get to do anything) anyways.

The only generally good thing to come out of it was mirror blade reversal.

Levetty.1279:

Nothing to help with the reliance on Inspiration in PvP

Did you miss the massive buff to mantra of resolve and the change to pDisenchanter?

Levetty.1279:

Small number changes to poorly designed skills so they can pretend they did something to make them useful and leave them alone for another year

The prestige got the change it should have gotten a long time ago, and I’m now satisfied with it.

PMage is still garbage, but it’s slightly better garbage.

Mirror blade just got drastically improved with that nerf reversal.

Signet of midnight got significantly buffed.

All mantras got massive buffs, particularly the daze mantra. This really boosts our offensive capability in PvP.

Mirror images got a huge cd buff. Arcane thievery did too, but it’s still pretty bad.

Both utility phantasms got significant boosts.

Overall, they did very well with these changes, leaving only 2 skills that were changed but remain garbage.

Levetty.1279:

Useless traits left untouched yet again

Sure, but if you truly came into this expecting nothing, that wouldn’t bother you. I was going to be happy with simply a lack of PvP nerfs.

Levetty.1279:

No QoL changes to help with living world 3 when living world 3 was the whole point of the patch

Sure, I’d love more damage too, but ultimately LW is very possible to do on Mesmer. I agree that it needs changing, but this is still in the category of ‘not actually broken, just feels really bad.’ If you really need help, I’ll be happy to come by and help you when I’m online.

Below is the build I’ve been using for WvW roaming before this patch. I really liked it before, and it’s even nicer now.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQNAr+fn0nBFqhNqBmpBEgiFnjquQT0G9MAGgEDtx2nEA-T1xCQBZR5XBPBg6PJSJIe2foe6FAwBBYCPAgAAIAzsMjMDO6RP6RP6RbmzcmzcmzsQALWDA-w

Weird how different this is than what people uncovered in the API.

Disappointing to not see any meaningful changes to Mesmer traits, but the changes to a lot of the skills sound great really. My two builds have been buffed in rather significant ways so I will be able to get more out those builds than before.

It was the right time to bring back that Mirror Blade bounce. I did feel it was too strong after the specialisation patch so wasn’t particularly surprised to see it nerfed. But now, it’s just a drop in the ocean of the craziness that HoT introduced and power Mes needs help, so it was the right thing to do.

Good buffs to torch and utilities, but the sad truth is that the most annoying aspects of mesmers aren’t adressed.
- Still horrible AA damage across all weapons.
- Still anet fails to acknowledge that the issue with mantras and utility phantasms are cast times, not CD’s.
- Still abandoned weapons like focus and staff.
- Still annoying projectile based phantasms missing hits all over the place.

A few things that affect the Mesmer but not in the Mesmer section:

Superior Rune of Perplexity: Changed the sixth bonus. This rune now applies 3 stacks of confusion for 6 seconds in a radius of 240 around the player upon using a healing skill. The internal cooldown remains at 15 seconds.
Rune of the Nightmare: The random activation of fear in the sixth bonus has been replaced. The sixth bonus will now apply blind and transfer one condition on up to 5 enemies in a radius of 240 when players use an elite skill. This skill will now have a 45-second cooldown.

Adrenal Health: The amount of healing generated per stack has been reduced by 10% in PvP only.
Stealth Attacks: All stealth attack skills will now have a 1-second recharge between uses. AKA: They can’t just spam 1 in stealth now for backstabs.

Any 50% damage reduction skill reduced to 33% on ranger, mesmer, necro, scrapper and also just general nerfs to scrapper and tempest sustain make power Mes more viable especially with GS2 bounces.

Especially with no nerfs to Mesmer, on the PvP side of things, we’re coming out of this pretty great. Still need to wait and see how other classes like Necro and DH fair with their buffs/changes. Rune of nightmare change along with buffs to torch could potentially make an Illusion, Chrono, no inspiration condi Mes “viable” with some condi clear from 2 other sources and maybe a 3rd with pdisenchanter. Blind on shatter with a slightly better ineptitude could also be some added defensive offense that could replace inspiration.

For PvE, still no nerfs if nothing else and it’s doable. I just really hope there are no encounters that have enemies immune to phantasm damage.

Overall, most curious about the new signet and will have to try that out.

Don’t knock the patch until you have at least absorbed most of the info and processed how it interacts.

Levetty.1279:

I expected nothing and was still dissapointed.

WTF ???

Are you one of those people that just reflex post stuff without reading the notes ?

I’m surprised by the patch. I like their approach they took this time. Giving small buffs to a good portion of our unused skills. Nothing to huge just nice little tweaks.

Yes it’d be nice if there was more to the AT change, like “fixed a bug that caused AT to fail”. And some more of our unused traits/weapons getting touched, but this is a good start.

The change I’m most excited for its this:
[Quote]Rune of the Nightmare: The random activation of fear in the sixth bonus has been replaced. The sixth bonus will now apply blind and transfer one condition on up to 5 enemies in a radius of 240 when players use an elite skill. This skill will now have a 45-second cooldown.[/quote]

I’m hoping this is a premonition of a new ANet direction towards more dynamic gameplay.

I don’t know how to feel about these changes. Significant buffs to all mantras except the healing one, signet of midnight gets a huge buff as well. GS2 is un-nerfed, and torch 4 is buffed, torch 5 is technically buffed. iAvenger being affected by phantasmal haste is a bug fix, so I’m not taking that into account.

Its a buff yea. And it does make greatsword more desirable, but I guess I was expecting some more direct damage buffs to our weapon skills in general. Not just adding 2 more stacks of burning to the prestige and unnerfing 1 skill on GS.

I don’t know how to feel about these changes. Significant buffs to all mantras except the healing one, signet of midnight gets a huge buff as well. GS2 is un-nerfed, and torch 4 is buffed, torch 5 is technically buffed. iAvenger being affected by phantasmal haste is a bug fix, so I’m not taking that into account.

Its a buff yea. And it does make greatsword more desirable, but I guess I was expecting some more direct damage buffs to our weapon skills in general. Not just adding 2 more stacks of burning to the prestige and unnerfing 1 skill on GS.

I’d be honestly curious to see what sort of DPS a condi mesmer could make in a raid setting with these patch changes.

Dahkeus.8243:

I’d be honestly curious to see what sort of DPS a condi mesmer could make in a raid setting with these patch changes.

No change. Nothing changed about that build in this patch.

Fay.2357:

Dahkeus.8243:

I’d be honestly curious to see what sort of DPS a condi mesmer could make in a raid setting with these patch changes.

No change. Nothing changed about that build in this patch.

• The Prestige: The number of burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 3 stacks for 3 seconds.
• Illusionary Mage: The recharge of the mage’s attack has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds. Burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 2 stacks, with the duration reduced from 6 to 3. The missile velocity of the mage’s attack has been increased by 33%.

And just to clarify, I’m just curious, even though I know that mesmers won’t suddenly be viable as condi with this or anything. =P

Dahkeus.8243:

Fay.2357:

Dahkeus.8243:

I’d be honestly curious to see what sort of DPS a condi mesmer could make in a raid setting with these patch changes.

No change. Nothing changed about that build in this patch.

• The Prestige: The number of burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 3 stacks for 3 seconds.
• Illusionary Mage: The recharge of the mage’s attack has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds. Burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 2 stacks, with the duration reduced from 6 to 3. The missile velocity of the mage’s attack has been increased by 33%.

And just to clarify, I’m just curious, even though I know that mesmers won’t suddenly be viable as condi with this or anything. =P

Even with those changes, torch is still at least an order of magnitude lower dps than pistol, which received no changes.

Fay.2357:

I was going to be happy with simply a lack of PvP nerfs.

QFT

Fay.2357:

Dahkeus.8243:

Fay.2357:

Dahkeus.8243:

I’d be honestly curious to see what sort of DPS a condi mesmer could make in a raid setting with these patch changes.

No change. Nothing changed about that build in this patch.

• The Prestige: The number of burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 3 stacks for 3 seconds.
• Illusionary Mage: The recharge of the mage’s attack has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds. Burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 2 stacks, with the duration reduced from 6 to 3. The missile velocity of the mage’s attack has been increased by 33%.

And just to clarify, I’m just curious, even though I know that mesmers won’t suddenly be viable as condi with this or anything. =P

Even with those changes, torch is still at least an order of magnitude lower dps than pistol, which received no changes.

To supplement, the sustained dps of the new condi arrangement is identical (6 stack-seconds of burn per attack), which means only the drop from 5 to 4 on period has changed. That’s a roughly 20% (?) increase in rate, while the Duelist was pumping out far, far more than 20% more dps than the Mage from bleeds alone, and an order of magnitude more physical damage with Viper/Sinister.

For my part, I like the changes. They might make me come out of mesmer retirement for a little bit.
I just wince at some opportunities they missed, like fixing Arcane Thievery, or making Phantasmal Mage actually competitive instead of just a little better.

Fay.2357:

Traits

• Phantasmal Haste: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working with Illusionary Avenger.

So, PH is still being “fixed” many years later?

mesmer got buff directly and indirectly by nerfing other sustain abilities

condi mesmer still strong or even stronger
power mesemr little bit more dmg but more cc
support mesmer gone with the wind (no cleric so no toughness)

I guess the important question is, can power chrono replace inspiration with mantra of resolve + the healing well :P

No dps buffs, no improvements to greatsword (can’t call 4th bounce an improvement because they are only giving it back after taking it away some time ago). Nothing of value here.

Question is now : which ones of these changes will be nerfed soon?

powerspike damg is gone or a bug dono

lulz anet do not understand this game

I LOVE the power shatter love. I HATE the refusal to nerf condi mesmer and actually buff OH torch burns.

Either way we made out gentlemen and we’ll be top dog for the next 3-4 mos again

Some changes were in a good direction but as others have already said – most of them are just good changes because they ain’t no nerfs. But they are meaningless and not what the Mes required.

This is a nice treat to come back to the game too <3

Looking forward to playing with some of the new toys like midnight, and mmm <3 Love that mirror blade revert.

I don’t think the state of mesmer will change to much with this when you consider the context and mindset revolving around this game, but hey if rumors of up coming PvP/WvW/PvE split changes are true. Maybe the future has good things in store… Maybe. (Tho perhaps it’s been long enough for me to give some optimism.)

@Daishi I actually think this changed the state of the class quite a bit. It made it easier to run a lockdown build with the reduced cooldown on mantra of distraction and power lock, and it gave us more access to condi cleanse outside of the inspiration traitline which could actually allow someone to run a build without it and not get killed immediately with a condi burst

People are going to QQ so hard about mantra of distraction and mirror blade getting its 4th bounce back even if it doesn’t translate to power shatter being that good. I do agree with messiah, best thing is the reduction of damage sponges like bulwark gyro etc. However once again ANet hit a fish, just a shame they somehow missed the ones in the barrel and nerfed the % reduction and not the sheer utter spam of damage reduction.

Heck even Azukas is already flying his “mesmer top dog” flag after a few months at half mast.

Heck even Azukas is already flying his “mesmer top dog” flag after a few months at half mast.

Do you want nerfs? This is how you get nerfs.

tobascodagama.2961:

Heck even Azukas is already flying his “mesmer top dog” flag after a few months at half mast.

Do you want nerfs? This is how you get nerfs.

That’s typically how Azukas has rolled, yes.

sees reversion of mirrorblade after it got put and removed…

Ty for the changes. Cancer mesmer really needed a buff and we finally got it… woot woot

yiksing.9432:

Ty for the changes. Cancer mesmer really needed a buff and we finally got it… woot woot

What on earth are you on about?

Seriously though, no one is interested in my question? lol

Would love to get out of inspirations at time, it’s durable, yes, but boring at the same time.

Ross Biddle.2367:

tobascodagama.2961:

Heck even Azukas is already flying his “mesmer top dog” flag after a few months at half mast.

Do you want nerfs? This is how you get nerfs.

That’s typically how Azukas has rolled, yes.

I want condi builds nerfed across the board along with the passive gameplay that has plague GW2.

I’d like to see all classes meta be along the lines of power shatter in terms of skill. This is so when I tune into a pro league stream i’m actually impressed by the players controlling the characters.

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

A few things that affect the Mesmer but not in the Mesmer section:

Superior Rune of Perplexity: Changed the sixth bonus. This rune now applies 3 stacks of confusion for 6 seconds in a radius of 240 around the player upon using a healing skill. The internal cooldown remains at 15 seconds.
Rune of the Nightmare: The random activation of fear in the sixth bonus has been replaced. The sixth bonus will now apply blind and transfer one condition on up to 5 enemies in a radius of 240 when players use an elite skill. This skill will now have a 45-second cooldown.

Adrenal Health: The amount of healing generated per stack has been reduced by 10% in PvP only.
Stealth Attacks: All stealth attack skills will now have a 1-second recharge between uses. AKA: They can’t just spam 1 in stealth now for backstabs.

Any 50% damage reduction skill reduced to 33% on ranger, mesmer, necro, scrapper and also just general nerfs to scrapper and tempest sustain make power Mes more viable especially with GS2 bounces.

Especially with no nerfs to Mesmer, on the PvP side of things, we’re coming out of this pretty great. Still need to wait and see how other classes like Necro and DH fair with their buffs/changes. Rune of nightmare change along with buffs to torch could potentially make an Illusion, Chrono, no inspiration condi Mes “viable” with some condi clear from 2 other sources and maybe a 3rd with pdisenchanter. Blind on shatter with a slightly better ineptitude could also be some added defensive offense that could replace inspiration.

For PvE, still no nerfs if nothing else and it’s doable. I just really hope there are no encounters that have enemies immune to phantasm damage.

Overall, most curious about the new signet and will have to try that out.

Don’t knock the patch until you have at least absorbed most of the info and processed how it interacts.

Dh op….

The sigil of air nerf has been a bit annoying though.

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

Especially with no nerfs to Mesmer, on the PvP side of things, we’re coming out of this pretty great. Still need to wait and see how other classes like Necro and DH fair with their buffs/changes. Rune of nightmare change along with buffs to torch could potentially make an Illusion, Chrono, no inspiration condi Mes “viable” with some condi clear from 2 other sources and maybe a 3rd with pdisenchanter. Blind on shatter with a slightly better ineptitude could also be some added defensive offense that could replace inspiration.

Yesterday I was playing my fun-build-of-the-moment, same as pre-patch, duel/illu/chrono sw/ps, scepter/torch instead of shield, and found myself able to survive just good. I was using b.dissipation & ineptitude for the blinds and Eternity, pledge and disenchanter for condi removal. It was fun.

I must admit I like disenchanter now, mainly because it removes boons, it is more reliable than AT, and if you manage to keep it alive it will remove more condi/boons than any other tool we have. Only down side is, it is not instant cast, but I usually summon it from stealth. Even if I shatter it, I still have a second one thanks to Chronophant.

I’d love to slot in the new SoM for extra blind, but I feel it would be an overkill

The changes to condi application on Pmage is more important than just the 20% increase because frequency increase. I noticed in several places they shortened condi duration in favor of more stacks, which has the benefit of us actually DOING more of the condi damage instead of it being WASTED when the enemy drops before the duration is up. The only time long durations on condi is possibly desired over more stacks is with champions and bosses (world, raid, fractal, etc), and even then I don’t see why you’d want duration over stacks (only a few things have reachable caps on stacks after they changed that back last year).

bearshaman.3421:

The changes to condi application on Pmage is more important than just the 20% increase because frequency increase. I noticed in several places they shortened condi duration in favor of more stacks, which has the benefit of us actually DOING more of the condi damage instead of it being WASTED when the enemy drops before the duration is up. The only time long durations on condi is possibly desired over more stacks is with champions and bosses (world, raid, fractal, etc), and even then I don’t see why you’d want duration over stacks (only a few things have reachable caps on stacks after they changed that back last year).

Yeah, but the point is that the skill is still garbage even if you get 100% effectiveness out of the attacks it uses.

Fay.2357:

bearshaman.3421:

The changes to condi application on Pmage is more important than just the 20% increase because frequency increase. I noticed in several places they shortened condi duration in favor of more stacks, which has the benefit of us actually DOING more of the condi damage instead of it being WASTED when the enemy drops before the duration is up. The only time long durations on condi is possibly desired over more stacks is with champions and bosses (world, raid, fractal, etc), and even then I don’t see why you’d want duration over stacks (only a few things have reachable caps on stacks after they changed that back last year).

Yeah, but the point is that the skill is still garbage even if you get 100% effectiveness out of the attacks it uses.

Fair but as you said, less garbage. They’ve done the same thing on some other classes, which means they realize this is a general problem with condi, and are trying this out to try to fix the problem. That is cause for hope imo.

bearshaman.3421:

Fay.2357:

bearshaman.3421:

The changes to condi application on Pmage is more important than just the 20% increase because frequency increase. I noticed in several places they shortened condi duration in favor of more stacks, which has the benefit of us actually DOING more of the condi damage instead of it being WASTED when the enemy drops before the duration is up. The only time long durations on condi is possibly desired over more stacks is with champions and bosses (world, raid, fractal, etc), and even then I don’t see why you’d want duration over stacks (only a few things have reachable caps on stacks after they changed that back last year).

Yeah, but the point is that the skill is still garbage even if you get 100% effectiveness out of the attacks it uses.

Fair but as you said, less garbage. They’ve done the same thing on some other classes, which means they realize this is a general problem with condi, and are trying this out to try to fix the problem. That is cause for hope imo.

Well, one data point does not make a trend I’m afraid. If they continue to make incremental adjustments to the skill over the course of future balance patches, then we’ll have a trend to be pleased about.

Unfortunately, they’ve really hamstrung themselves with respect to how capable they can be with their balance patches. Balancing once every 4-6 months means 3 times a year at best…hardly a pace to do incremental adjustments at.

Fay.2357:

bearshaman.3421:

Fay.2357:

bearshaman.3421:

The changes to condi application on Pmage is more important than just the 20% increase because frequency increase. I noticed in several places they shortened condi duration in favor of more stacks, which has the benefit of us actually DOING more of the condi damage instead of it being WASTED when the enemy drops before the duration is up. The only time long durations on condi is possibly desired over more stacks is with champions and bosses (world, raid, fractal, etc), and even then I don’t see why you’d want duration over stacks (only a few things have reachable caps on stacks after they changed that back last year).

Yeah, but the point is that the skill is still garbage even if you get 100% effectiveness out of the attacks it uses.

Fair but as you said, less garbage. They’ve done the same thing on some other classes, which means they realize this is a general problem with condi, and are trying this out to try to fix the problem. That is cause for hope imo.

Well, one data point does not make a trend I’m afraid. If they continue to make incremental adjustments to the skill over the course of future balance patches, then we’ll have a trend to be pleased about.

Unfortunately, they’ve really hamstrung themselves with respect to how capable they can be with their balance patches. Balancing once every 4-6 months means 3 times a year at best…hardly a pace to do incremental adjustments at.

More than one data point. This change of less duration, more stacks was done in several places (looking at all changes not just in mesmer). So I do think this will make condi in non-boss fights more of a thing.

Also, they said every 2-3 months, so we should be getting patches more often not less often.