Guild Wars 2

Two new specializations are re-purposing weapons. This was a unique trait of Mesmer, with the ranged Greatsword.

Engineer is apparently getting an aoe [Polymorph Moa] a signature power of the Mesmer.

Other classes now generate Chaos Armor, once the sole province of Mesmer.

Other classes now generate confusion better than Mesmer can. R.I.P. another unique power of Mesmer.

I think that ANET is “generating content” by thoroughly watering down the individual classes and distributing the traits to other classes.

This shows basic laziness and a very low level of respect for any RP quality of a given class. I don’t want a game in which the classes are basically the same, differing only in minor detail.

While I’m ranting, I also don’t want my play ability based on long chains or cycles of keypresses. Is that the limit of your creativity anet?

Ithilwen.1529:

Two new specializations are re-purposing weapons. This was a unique trait of Mesmer, with the ranged Greatsword.

Engineer is apparently getting an aoe [Polymorph Moa] a signature power of the Mesmer.

Other classes now generate Chaos Armor, once the sole province of Mesmer.

Other classes now generate confusion better than Mesmer can. R.I.P. another unique power of Mesmer.

I think that ANET is “generating content” by thoroughly watering down the individual classes and distributing the traits to other classes.

This shows basic laziness and a very low level of respect for any RP quality of a given class. I don’t want a game in which the classes are basically the same, differing only in minor detail.

While I’m ranting, I also don’t want my play ability based on long chains or cycles of keypresses. Is that the limit of your creativity anet?

Chaos Armor wasn’t that great.
But nevertheless, I am gonna guess you haven’t been following the changes done to the mesmer in the streams so I will try my best to regurgitate as much accurate information as possible.
Though for future reference ithil, I would recommend going to dulfy.com
She(or he) usually has the newest information regarding gw2 in an easy to read format.

Mesmer with the new spec is getting an unique mesmer only boon called alacrity.
Mesmer will be the only class in the game in HoT that will be able to boost the recharge of a parties skill’s
Mesmer is also ( through some OP on paper traits) getting great access to confusion, and slow.

The changes to traits is going to Open up a lot of play for mesmer, especially with some of the more potent traits becoming baseline to the class. For example I.P. for mesmers will be a baseline mechanic.

From watching the streams so far, Mesmer has the least to worry about as far as “unique” class mechanics.
No one will be a mesmer, and the mesmer cannot be anything else.

Also we are getting wells. So we will actually be more than a portal/viel bot in WvW ( I am excite about that).

Again go check out Dulfy.com
Look at the mesmer changes, and the new specialization calculator ( it is amazing what we have with the new traits)

Ithilwen.1529:

Two new specializations are re-purposing weapons. This was a unique trait of Mesmer, with the ranged Greatsword.

Er, Necromancer uses an axe like a focus just like Mesmer uses a Greatsword like a focus. Just wanted to scratch this one off your list.

Ithilwen.1529:

Other classes now generate Chaos Armor, once the sole province of Mesmer.
Other classes now generate confusion better than Mesmer can. R.I.P. another unique power of Mesmer.

Chaos Armor and confusion are actually two of the combo effects I’ve proc the most for a long time with my thief since Throw Gunk is a really common steal result in my experience, and it generates an ethereal field. Both the ranger and the necro could do the same if they wanted.
And without fields, the engi has 4 skills that can confuse (including a multitarget blind+confuse)

The thing is, they aren’t that great (be it in PvE or PvP).

They are tentative specialties of the Mesmer, but not unique to it.

Have you SEEN what Mesmer is getting with the specialization rework? It’s getting arguably the biggest buff of the bunch as far as core specializations go.

I’m honestly a it saddened necros didn’t get access to the ne slow condition, would really help a lot. But I guess we are getting a good damage buff so, not that bad I guess.

I agree with the basic idea that Anet should NOT base their innovation on taking elements that are trademarks for certain classes and making them commonplace.

Aside from that, the only specific example I agree with you OP, is the Moa Polymorph for engineer. It should be a Hologram Poly or a Ooze Poly, or some other more “sciency” creature like that.

TheLastNobody.8319:

I’m honestly a it saddened necros didn’t get access to the ne slow condition, would really help a lot. But I guess we are getting a good damage buff so, not that bad I guess.

Where do you see that one spamming gravedigger is at the moment weaker then dagger auto.

Time perversion is and always should have gone to Mesmer.

And us Necros did get access to the slow condition. It’s called chill.

DresdenAllblack.1249:

And us Necros did get access to the slow condition. It’s called chill.

Except chill and slow have two entirely different effects.

1) Mesmer isn’t the only caster that uses a melee weapon as a ranged focus. You have Axe on Necro and Daggers on Ele. Greatsword is just the most flamboyant of these. Either way, this isn’t really a Mesmer ‘feature’, it’s just a cool thematic and I’m glad to see other non conventional uses.

2) The whole purpose of Elixir X is to borrow from other class effects. And they’re just getting an effect that is reminiscent of Moa. As I recall it’s an AOE very short duration version.

3) It’s just a combo aura effect. Ele’s get similar direct access to auras on their weapons and fields to generate them but other classes get those same fields. Revenants are the first profession other than Mesmers who it would make sense to have an ethereal aura.

4) Engineers have pretty much always been rather competitive in this with Static Shot.

Is this a joke ?

Have you even read the Mesmer updates ?

They have given them purpose beyond Veil bots in WvW, they have more build diversity for SPvP & PvE.

These changes actually make me want to play my Mesmer again.

Black Box.9312:

Have you SEEN what Mesmer is getting with the specialization rework? It’s getting arguably the biggest buff of the bunch as far as core specializations go.

Per ANet Mesmers got the second most changes. Most of the changes are to Engineer, which we still don’t have the full details of.

Ithilwen.1529:

Chaos Armor, once the sole province of Mesmer

That just ain’t true at all

My response to this thread is below, not my words though but I feel they are the expert.

Ithilwen.1529:

This shows basic laziness and a very low level of respect…

Diovid.9506:

DresdenAllblack.1249:

And us Necros did get access to the slow condition. It’s called chill.

Except chill and slow have two entirely different effects.

Different thread subject, but if you also note how much chill a necro actually has, on top of what it’s getting.
Chillmancers (at least on paper) are going to be a force you don’t want to deal with 1 v 1.
And resetting the fight and hoping they dont pull you back is going to be a major concern.
Chillmancers will be kings.

Ithilwen.1529:

Engineer is apparently getting an aoe [Polymorph Moa] a signature power of the Mesmer.

Hmm… I’m not going to complain that a bit. For now, it just feels indifferent.

Ithilwen.1529:

Other classes now generate Chaos Armor, once the sole province of Mesmer.

I feel like even if we’re the only class with only the Ethereal Field and any thing to proc Chaos Armor, we’d be limited on our choice of methods. Very bad blast finishers and the leap feels lackluster at best. Plus Chaos Armor doens’t always help in some situations.

Ithilwen.1529:

Other classes now generate confusion better than Mesmer can. R.I.P. another unique power of Mesmer.

Actually, I think the mesmer can do the best confusion than the other classes now. But remember while we have good confusion, our class also has the deadliest means to bring tons of Torment into other players. No other, not even the necromancer, can inflict Torment as much as we can.

Ithilwen.1529:

I think that ANET is “generating content” by thoroughly watering down the individual classes and distributing the traits to other classes.

This shows basic laziness and a very low level of respect for any RP quality of a given class. I don’t want a game in which the classes are basically the same, differing only in minor detail.

I’ll have to disagree. They haven’t been lazy and they always strive to keep their customers and loyal fans of the game satisfied 110 percent. I mean the difference between LS1 and LS2 has been substantial. Not only that but we got two new regions for free and soon we will have a new expansion that may have 3-5 maps, each with 3 different layers. I bet it’ll be mind boggling to see what they did when HoT comes out.

Now for how the classes might not be different as any other anymore, again I’ll disagree. Even with other classes doing a few stuff other classes would be normally doing, there’s a lot of things that differ with them. A mesmer will not get the elementalist’s 4 attunements, the ranger will never get the guardian’s virtues, and the necromancer will never have initiatives. Plus I think it’ll be near to impossible to do that, because skills and traits are tied to their respective class’ core mechanic.

Plus a final addition, if what you said is true… I’m willing to sacrifice it in order for the mesmer class to rise to prominence again!

Ithilwen.1529:

Two new specializations are re-purposing weapons. This was a unique trait of Mesmer, with the ranged Greatsword.

No it wasn’t. Ele shoots spells out of daggers, necro waves around an axe.

Ithilwen.1529:

Engineer is apparently getting an aoe [Polymorph Moa] a signature power of the Mesmer.

sigh. No they’re not. If you listened to literally anything they said, you’d have realized that they said they were just playing around because it was fun to slap that onto a skill, and it almost definitely wouldn’t be released like that.

Ithilwen.1529:

Other classes now generate Chaos Armor, once the sole province of Mesmer.

I seem to be seeing a pattern here. Literally everything that you’ve said so far is factually incorrect. Mesmer is not the only class that has access to ethereal fields, and so they’re not the only class that can generate chaos armor.

Ithilwen.1529:

Other classes now generate confusion better than Mesmer can. R.I.P. another unique power of Mesmer.

This is hardly a recent development.

While I sympathize with the Moa thing, I don’t really think it’s an issue. Engi’s elite elixir is always about borrowing other classes’s elites with some drawback like uncertainty or lower efficiency. While it’s mesmer’s mechanic, it’s engi’s mechanic too. Whether its a good one or not is another discussion though.

I’m not too worried about confusion/chaos armor. These things should have general access from any class anyway. They are like bleeds/poison/burn and other various generic armors/buff like swiftness etc. Mesmer still has the most access to confusion though its application effectiveness/efficiency are still subpar compare to war or engi or even thief.

And mesmer does have a lot of unique things. Interrupt build, which is about to become much stronger. Red harring condi staff clones + PU, which is also about to become much stronger. etc.

idk if I can take the OP seriously. Maybe he isn’t caught up with the updates… Someone help him out. I’m lazy.

MailMail.6534:

idk if I can take the OP seriously. Maybe he isn’t caught up with the updates… Someone help him out. I’m lazy.

Just check the posting history. This person is a chronic poster of utterly absurd complaint threads.

Fay.2357:

MailMail.6534:

idk if I can take the OP seriously. Maybe he isn’t caught up with the updates… Someone help him out. I’m lazy.

Just check the posting history. This person is a chronic poster of utterly absurd complaint threads.

If I could -1 his posts, I would. I think from now on we should just use a “non-response” to posters like this.

There is a lot to complain about with the Devs and their “balancing”. <_< Sure, I’ll give anyone that. However, I wish people would use reason, logic, facts and context more often when creating complaint threads. It would help a lot in fostering helpful dialogue between players of all professions and the devs.

Btw BRAVO to Anet for the hard work they’ve shown in making positive changes to the Mesmer class these last few months.

Chronomancer is a pvp spec, as are most of the traits. Hardly a change to the main issues of mesmer in PvE. Clones will still die right and left to aoe/cleave, they will despawn on mob death making phantasms less useful on trash, and mesmer will still require 3 phantasms to barely compete with the top classes, which involves ramp up time. Mesmer autoattacks still suck very much. Guardian reflects are still better. Phantasms still will not benefit from runes or sigils. Shatters will still be subpar in PvE, especially Cry of Frustration.

Chronomancer will fare on pvp depending on what happens with the thief specialization. If thieves get as much of a bump as mesmers got from their specialization, things won’t change thieves will probably still outclass mesmers in the meta, as they outclass all other berzerker roamers in spvp.

Black Box.9312:

Have you SEEN what Mesmer is getting with the specialization rework? It’s getting arguably the biggest buff of the bunch as far as core specializations go.

You need to go and read the other classes changes before you say things like that.

Short and sweet, yo:

Alacrity.
Amazeballs interrupt powers. Now that Power Block is being merged with a bunch of other stuff it’s actually looking pretty good.
Undisputed mastery of the Slow condition.

Moreover, the core mesmer stuff is getting so much better.
More shattering!
More quickness!
More reflection!
More stealth!
More mileage out of your phantasms!

You’re not gonna find me sitting in the corner clutching my toys and shouting “NOBODY ELSE CAN HAVE THIS!” A profession isn’t just a set of special gimmicks; it’s a package deal. And the mesmer’s getting a significant upgrade that’s focused right at some of the most interesting and unique parts of the profession.

Clones, Phantasms, shatters, portal, alacity…. We still have stuff other classes do not..

I think the OP is about arenanet’s effort to eradicate the identity of classes but that is hardly a mesmer-only problem. Also it started a long-long time before so it’s not that new either.

Fay already alluded to this, but it was clearly said it’s unlikely that the morph of Elixir X will stay a Moa. This was basically a place-holder, possibly a side effect of cutting & pasting the code from the Mesmers Elite, and tweaking to to be AoE and short duration.

And no, Necro’s with any reasonable amounts of Slow on top of Chill would be a bit much and also in some way redundant. (Yes, I realize they’re completely different, but somewhat related none-the-less.)

It makes far more sense to have Slow on a Mesmer as a manipulation of time.

I find it really hard to play my Mesmer at the moment, because I’m so excited about the changes. We’re forced into making so many really bad trade-off build decisions at the moment, many of which will get far better under the new system.

Mesmer has THE best access to confusion in the game and has the only trait in the game that further increases confusion duration. Our only downfall has been somewhat clunky application of said confusion along with heavy handed confusion nerfs.

However, after the incoming core specialization update and the rework of confusion we will have hands down, no competition, THE best confusion application and in particular aoe confusion. New confusing combatants and MISTRUST FTW.

I have an interrupt confusion build in mind after the update, with mean, copious amounts of confusion and potentially 100 plus percent confusion duration (depending on what they do with condition duration after the update.

What about retaliation?