The sword skills for mesmer and ranger are very similar. Both have a skill that provides evasion. And both have a distance closing skill with an additional activation skill, which is what I want to discuss: the difference in utility between the activation skills are noticeable with the mesmer’s allowing more variety.
Regarding numbers, the mesmer’s distance closing skill, Illusionary Leap, has a 12 second cool-down, and 5 seconds within to activate Swap. Comparing these two numbers, 5/12, yields 0.416.
The ranger’s distance closing skill, Hornet Sting, has a shorter cool-down of 8 seconds. However, because there are only 2.5 seconds within to activate Monarch’s Leap, the comparison between these, 2.5/8, is less that that of the mesmer’s; it is only 0.3125.
The difference between 0.416 and 0.3125 might seem negligible, but actually this means that a mesmer has about one-thirds more comparative time for the activation skill.
I play both classes in WvW, where I find this difference to be especially prominent. When I play the mesmer, the activation Swap of Illusionary Leap has more time and thus allows me to consider its utility. I can use Swap immediately on a target as an immobilization utility. Or, if someone is chasing me, I can delay using Swap and activate it as a position utility.
When I play the ranger, the shorter amount of time given to the activation skill provides only one option: I have to use it almost immediately, and thus I have less time to consider the skill’s utility.
I propose two possible changes to improve Monarch’s Leap:
A) Add a second to activate it: so 3.5 seconds instead of 2.5 seconds. 3.5 seconds would bring the ratio of time for the ranger’s Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap closer to that of the mesmer’s Illusionary Leap/Swap: 3.5/8 yields 0.4375.
OR
B) Bring the time given to activate Monarch’s Leap to 5 seconds—the same for the mesmer’s—because the comparison between ratios may not even be so relevant; the issue is a necessity for an acceptable amount of time to consider the ranger’s Monarch’s Leap.