Guild Wars 2

What i meant was:
Under the effect of blur, you can take retaliation damage (plus the other things). With distortion, you wont.
Also dont mix up blur (the buff that grants evade) with blurred frenzy skill. Yes, blurred frenzy gives blur, but isnt blur that gives damage.. Just to be clear.

Ranael.6423:

I have yet to see a video of someone playing full berserker gear, with domi/duel/illu build and people around to buff the iSwordmen (because in raid situation your phantasms will also get might, quickness and area effect). Then the question of the DPS boost will be a thing.

You still dont know what are you talking about do you?… Phantasms dont get boosted by might on them, quickness have close to no effect on their dps since they dont auto-attack but their dps is tied to CDs… Oh well….
Even then, if their dps could break 20k dps… still misses another 15k to tie the most selfish dps class can pull off (theif) and would bring even less utility than thief with basilisk share for cc. And let alone the huge ramp up time and the single target factors… ye.. thief can 35k dps cleaving, not single target.

Ranael.6423:

Right now, Mesmer is Meta in raid (look how 4-men VG requires one)

Dont you deceive yourself… Mesmer on 4 or 5-men VG isnt there cause their buffs/dps… If it wasnt distortion share for green circles you would rather see a hammer guard, rev, or another ele.

Ranael.6423:

recommended in Fractals

Are you talking about low fractals? cause there everything works and its recommended. On high lvl fractals? im not really sure. Boon thieves instability makes a pain to keep quickness uptime (since its tied to rather long cds, and not easy reapplied like ps might). Maybe for min-max top players? yes, for the everyday casual run? no. I would prefer another necro.

Ranael.6423:

has some good solo builds (I don’t know for power but condi build is correct), has no issue for tons of open world activities (personal experience where I can better solo champs with mesmer than Ele)

Dont mix “the better solo build” with “good build”. Being it the better cause the way condi ticks/dps uptime works doesnt mean its a good build. Compare it with a necro or condi engie, heck even a burn guardian….
Open world activities? Portal.
And maybe your experience with mesmer is like summon 3 phantasms and ai ai ai run around 15mins until champ dies… Slacker relying no AI while you play defensive with the character… If you actualy could pre stack some might/fury with ele and actually using defensive skills/dodges for avoiding dmg instead of moving faster… You can even summon glyph of elementals pets and actually make AI tank for you…. Completly biased comment…

has always a place in the sPvP Meta

Yes, as long as portal and moa are a thing AND it has a semi-decent build not to be a liability.

Ranael.6423:

I am not sure so many professions around are so much wanted then mesmer.

For dps just everything is more wanted and for support just the rest of the other support classes are more wanted. Thats why they stack druids and wars to make sure everyone have their buffs..
If a single mesmer cannot mantain at least 80% quickness uptime to ALL other 9 ppl it is automatically a failure. You would be better off with another dps class. Stacking mesmers doesnt worth. Alacrity doesnt make up for it. (this last paragraph is an aprox. quote from raid comps guide in a top PVE guild)

Ranael.6423:

I can totally see that players want to have a super broken DPS spec because not being first hurts feelings

Its not a matter of being first or last. Look at ele current situation. Ele still King of dps charts. But since their rotations “feels bad” (i personally think its a matter of habit and ppl will eventually get used to the new cds/rotations) they are complaining. Just like playing mesmer feels bad in other pve content other than raids.
Having the very same raid build reaching ~18k dps by spot on buffs on sustained dps (aa, mods affecting phantasms, reduce dead traits on pve builds, increase low mods numbers, wep coefs/skill coefs, etc.) wouldnt break anything, mesmer would probabily still be last on dps, everyone would benefit from it, and the most important thing, it wouldnt feel baaad and a liability in most cases.

Yep. Basically we knew only half of the nerfs.
The buffs were only on already useless things instead of lacking but usefull/better things.
Some QoL (feedback/ Ether Clone)
Rework/buff on scepter was basically the 5%

Rejoice!!

Fay.2357:

The issue isn’t the mechanic of getting the might. The issue is that the fact that Anet coded this skill to give might to phantasms means that whoever made this change (presumably a balance dev) simply does not understand basic mechanics in their game.

It’s a troubling but extremely unambiguous confirmation of a fact that most people have suspected for a long time: the balance team simply is not qualified to make changes to this game.

Dunno if +1 Will increase this post visibility for Anet to see, but there, take mine. This should reach Mo own eyes.
I got so triggered when saw it. It rly refutes what i thought about balance dev. Its not the first time he does/says things like this… But ppl always said they had data and they know better… Bs…

OriOri.8724:

I highly doubt we will receive any large damage buffs due to our incredibly party support with alacrity :/

I cant understand why it is so hard to see the need of a dps boost on mesmer.

Even if you consider perma alacrity+quickness:
warrior buffs > druid buffs > mesmer buffs (dps wise on a dps class).

The personal dps of the same builds follow the same pattern:
ps warrior dps> druid dps > mesmer dps

Again the same pattern applies with how easy this classes can mantain/reapply their buffs.

And if you consider the rest of utility the same classes can also bring in the very same builds:

- warrior brings tons of cc ( and can play condi variant if needed to condi bosses)

- druid brings tons of heal(translating in dps uptime or +10%dps to scholar users) and can still bring fury and protection(translating again in dps uptime) and can play condi variant if needed for condi bosses

- mesmer not really too much to add other than gimmick distortion share and boon copy with signet( that is irrelevant to other boons but quickness, i guess it can help on disorganized groups) and a bit of other utilities that all classes also bring.

Seyiwaji.4082:

I ask him for which mode does he need continious block.

Thats exacly the purpose.. It being usefull in everygame mode..
Zerg fights in WvW… Harder PvE content (present and yet to come), alternative defensive mechanic (stealth) to the current “meta” mesmer and opening ways to new build possibilities in pvp… Being just another block like sword or scepter wouldnt change this like shield currently does.

Kyori.6091:

So overall due to its lack of damage phantasm (once again). Shield is a defensive weapon. Allrighty, what’s our other defensive weapon? That’s right torch. Unlike stealth the block has a huge tell and dosnt provide the mesmer with a disengage and a reposition, and unlike the torch shield block actually has some counterplay in it, for example not actually attacking the block prevents the mesmer from using it again, sure in team fights its easy to run into a aoes but that’s why deja vu is there right?

Unlike the torch once a mesmer activates the block he’s in straight out defense mode, unable to quickly revert into offense which is the usual “qq” on these forums anyways.

Also to the person I quoted, it honestly only looks like the continuous block is attacking your “image” of mesmer as a class and nothing else. You seem so confident on knowing what mesmer is “supposed to be doing” or else they are a “bad mesmer”, can we stop this shoehorning into a specific role that you alone seem to think mesmer is supposed to be doing. Variety anyone?

^ This paragraphs summarizes pretty much the way i interpret this posts and ppl behind them.
And you had a great guess when the same user says things like:

Mesmer Channeled block just doesn’t suit.

Now You block and you have to wait 4 sec for a running chicken phantasm.
what is wrong with you? to like it…..

I don’t like it and i hope that he will considerably review it.

or

Seyiwaji.4082:

Feed back,
The change occured on Shield “4”, as i thought is not the best thing for Mesmer.
It slowed down the Mesmer Rotation, you could do a great quick pace before.

Ok they got longer block, but it just doesn’t suit the class. I required some skill to use the previous version. It just feels bad now.

The block was weak, but was a trademark of mesmer.

Again about skill, being skillfull is also know when to burst (or use that important skill/ skills combo) and wait target defensive mechanics to be down and not just doing it and “oh well, i didnt make my 100% of dmg just like 80% cause he blocked the 1st damage application”.

Silverkey.2078:

Honestly, this may be a small change, but this is huge for condition mesmer in PvE.
With duelist’s discipline buff + scepter QoL, I think condition mesmer will now be the highest possible DPS.

Doenst change the fact that torment/confusion conditions sucks in pve.
Meaning: ye its a buff in condi pve mesmer. No, still wont make it a thing.

The “combo” you discribe only can happen on 1st encounter on pvp when all CDs available, and cause of that easily countered… You know its coming.
Remember if u want to use cs mid match for sure you will have some skills on CD and activating cs will just prolong that CDs.
Its, at max, a 5 seconds time window… just kite. Wells are static on ground, rest of combo easly telegraphed.

TL:DR > l2p

Agree on gs ambush. Low power dmg only, long cast and no utility, making it even more useless for clones. It could have some util like boon rip or smthg.

Bad heal is bad.. Lacks burst, no bigger than ether feast and mirage mirror mechanic is bad even more when delayed.

Jaunt needs definitely more range 600 at least and then further number tweaking depending how anet wants this to be defensive or offensive. 2 condi clear or better dmg or even better range.

Mirage Mirror needs to shatter also when an enemy touches it, appling its effects no matter what range mirage is, like a dh trap. It also needs permanent lifetime until same util reused else where, repositioning it, again like a dh trap.

Trait line needs tuning, so much bad trait with no alternative that feels like we dont even know what to choose.

Deception trait has no cd reduction or other synergy utility with mirage concept. Smthg like 10 endurance restored. Clone production doesnt seem a problem on mirage, and definitely not if you açready have 2 up. Redundant.

Shards of Glass bad because mirrors are bad, very limited lifetime and only shatter when mirage touch them.

Mirage Mantle and Renewing Oasis not even merged would be a first pick. I risk to say even tri merged with Same for Riddle of Sand.

Speed of Sand could be at least 1s long. Feels short.

Detarget needs more testing but I feel like it have little impact.

Tldr: many lacking traits, deceptions are lackluster and cant be proper improved even when traited. Elite annoying range, lacking ambushes with no follow up synergy. Mirage Mirrors bad, dodfe mechamic good potential but poorly supported by the rest of the class.

QoL/mechanics changes:

• Phantasm weapon skills should have 2 tooltip boxes – One for weapon skill itself, the part of summoning the phantasm with it cd/cast times, range and other mechanincs – see leap finisher on swordsman summoning-; and another tooltip for skills used by those phantasms – damages, cd/cast times and other mechanincs (like leap/whirl finishers of evade/projetile blocks/bounces/boons etc). And this phantasm skills tooltip box values should get updated dynamicaly like other skills (damage with might/traits, attack CD with Phantasmal Haste traits, etc). At present we have one tooltip mixed with some of both, not only we are missing a ton of important data but can also lead to confusion. (Example: http://i.imgur.com/N1qYYfZ.png)

• Phantasmal summoning weapon skills should get its cast time normalized. We have 3 weapons with 3/4s cast time and other 3 with 1s cast time. It makes it simple and easier to keep track and the feeling of how long that time is in your self-conscient and reduce the cases of auto-interrupt the summoning time with dodge/other skills (like healing skill). So i propose to normalize all this casts to same time (be it 3/4s or 1s).
  Phantasmal summoning utility skills have exagerated (1 1/2s cast) time when the phantasm themselves already have cast time/ranges rules to follow of their own skills.
  I propose reduced summoning time from 1 1/2s to 1s.

• Phantasms also get affected by +% dmg modifiers applied on mesmer. Its very frustating having like 70% of mesmer dps on phantasms and then moddifiers from sigils/runes/traits not work on phantasms… Its already bad not using shatters to preserve the single target sustained dps from phantasms and then any +% dmg, lets say, from force sigil, not affecting our biggest dps source its very bad.

• Projectiles that bounce should be able to bounce to already hitted targets just like GS#2 and Staff#1 across the board. Simple and consistent and reducing the less optimal effects this skills have (rng bounce, less player controlled “aoe effect”).
  (Talking about torch phantasm, disenchanter phantasm and pistol#5 for ex.)

Weapon skills:

• Sword Autoattack: (chain #1 and #2) should have its coeficients bumped to 0.7 or 0.8 (like other sword classes, guardian thief revenant…) and making its chain shorter like recently in thief sword (increasing its attack speed). Not only would give sword “more sustained dmg” but also more often/faster boon strip. Mesmer sustain damage is the lowest. And we are talking about the hightest dps autochain in mesmer weapon repository.

• Mind Stab: a skill with this dmg and that immobs you in place during cast, should do more than just removing 1 boon. I would make it remove 2 boons or 1 boon from foes and 1 condi from allies. Cooldown could be further adjusted from 12 to 15s if that presents balance problems (i doubt).

• Magic Bullet: (Pistol #5) First i will just highlight point #4 from QoL/Mechanincs section. Then bumping its dmg wouldn’t hurt since this is a damage oriented off-hand weapon( 1.5 coeficient dmg, i would say, even if just the 1st bullet, not the bounces.), then this skill should apply all the remain effects on last target (when no remaining target available to keep bouncing)
  For example it would apply all 4 bounces conditions/effects to the same target when used single-targetly (without no other foes nearby to proc bounces).

Utility Skills:

• Null Field: It its current state its too much penalizing. It misses a “burst” effect or a better “constant” effect. Yes it can possibly remove 5 condi/5 boons. But it removes them during 5s AND on that specific area. In 5s too much things/movement happens. Its a “drop you aoes/condis here” flag. Also enemy can block/evade/blind null field pulses or simple step out of it.
  It could do smthg like remove 3condi/2boons on casted area(when you set it on the ground or1st pulse) and then proceed normally, or having faster pulses (decreasing field lifetime). Just few ideas.
  Also what about making it pulses unbockable/non evadable?

• Arcane Thievery: Even after CD reduction this skill is frustating.. It fails too often, it has a huge aftercast delay, we cant rely on it to be a condi clear skill. And the reason is simple… If we dont have a target on valid terms to send the conditions to, they wont be removed from self… So a simple cast without a target, out-of-range target, obstructed target, evading target is enough to make the skill go on CD and nothing happens.
  I just wish the condis could be removed no matter what (offensive part/target state condition) and then the offensive part (sending them to enemy and stealing boons) yes, actually need a target in good terms to land… If its impossible to do then just make it smthg like elementalist Cleansing Fire: “Cure three conditions and steal 3 boons from your target”.. Its theoreticaly a nerf since we didnt send the condies to the target, but hey, if it doesnt fail at least it would be a reliable skill.

• Signet of Inspiration: I always thought that the passive of this signet never gave you the desired boon.. And the timers are so low (mostly 3s-5s boons) and the boon pool is so big that it is unreliable to make use of its passive, a boon application signet.
  Thats why i choose the following suggestion to try to fix this problem, its passive now reads: “Passive: Increase boon duration (20%)” this way signet can aid in boon application by increase the time of the boons we choose to.
  (The trait that reproduces this signet active effect could get some QoL and have a trait icon on buff bar when it is off CD like other classes traits.)

Traits:

Domination:

• Imagined Burden: This trait simply doesnt work. Might on auto / clones is easy to figure… Bad auto, bad clones plus getting overwritted by phantasms. And cripple on all the rest of skills is redundant and boring.
  I would change to the following, making all skills getting a new effect instead of all getting cripple/might on auto: “All of your greatsword skills get an added effect. Reduces recharge time of greatsword skills.”.
  Auto-attack would inflict max range dmg at all ranges, gs#2 could keep inflicting cripple, gs#3 would daze for 1/4s (mini daze), gs#4 would make phantasm inflict chill instead of cripple and gs#5 become unblockable. Recharge 20%.

• Furious Interruption: Gets its position swapped with Chaotic Transference in Chaos line. Chaotic Transference now converts thoughness to power instead of condi damage.
  (see Chaos line for FI changes)

Dueling:

• Desperate Decoy: How many times your heal got interrupted by this? And your res/stomp making you die? How many times it triggered at the wrong timings making you get the revealed effect and rending the following and timed stealth ablities useless? It brings more harm sometimes than benefits… I suggest to change this to instant non-interruptable “cast time”. Also having an icon like other classes when this trait is off-cooldown is also good to have.

• Sharper Images: Added effect: “Additionally you(mesmer) have a 33% chance to cause bleeding on critical hits”. Its a step to make mesmer not exclusivly rely on AI (phantasms) to apply a more universal condi.

• Fencer’s Finesse: With a long rotation (shatter/wells/tw/block/summoning phantasms, etc) we mostly solely rely on mesmer autos to stacks these ferocity stacks. And they are so short that is hard to maintain them on max stacks. They start fading away as soon as we stop autoattacking and begin with the rotations stated above making it impossible to benefit from this ferocity increase on other skills (naming wells or active phantasms) even when not using other weapon other than sword main hand!! My suggestion goes towards increasing this stacks time to 15s long or even permanent passive bonus like other classes similar traits.

• Deceptive Evasion: With vigor and now with energy sigil nerfs this trait lost to other clone generation traits.. I would add a passive increase regeneration (50%) or making vigor effects enhanced (vigor have 100% effectiveness).

• Harmonious_Mantras: Instead of giving a stacking damage bonus, it reduces mantras cast time, making them 1.5s cast time skills. So it becomes smthg like: “Mantras can be activated three times before needing to be channeled again. Charging a mantra is faster.”

Chaos::

• Chaotic Transference: swapped with Furious Interruption(i feel like this trait belongs to chaos, where boons are, including boons on interrupt). Furious Interruption also gives 2s Superspeed in addition to quickness.
  (see Domination line for Chaotic Transference updates)

Inspiration::

• Illusionary Inspiration: this trait deserves an icon when its off cooldown. Thats all.

Chronomancer::

• All Wells That Ends Well: Now reads: Grants a boon associated with your well when they end. Reduces well recharge.
  Eternity grants 10s Regeneration.
  Calamity grants 3 stacks Might for 8s.
  Action grants 5s Fury
  Recall grants (additionally) 3s Alacrity
  Precognition grants 5s Vigor
  Gravity grants 5s Protection
  Recharge 10%.

• Danger Time: Gain increased ferocity while under the effects of Quickness. (+250). Gain additional critical-hit change against slowed enemies (10%)

• Improved Alacrity: (PvE-only) “Alacrity applied by you lasts longer.”
  In pve, chronomancer is a support class. Alacrity uptime is measured on allied mates and not on self. This would make things more interesting and less redundant since chrono already have another source for self alacrity uptime (Flow of Time).

It’s all for now. I think its a step in a better Mesmer experience.
Feel free to comment on my changes and let me hear yours.

Edit: Removed Ether Clone / Feedback suggestions since they were introduced with 26th Jan. Patch.
Edit2: removed sword block suggestion. It got some love on 19th April patch. Still it could get it “teleport”-on-counter block deleted, makes movement odd and can be harmfull like falling off platforms. It could also function like ranger gs/ warrior sword block. Continuous blocking if target is out of range to its counter (>900 range for this skill).
Edit3: Removed Mantra of Concentration, Mirror Images, increased burning from torch phantasm and additional mechanic when casting utility slotted phantasms since they got introduced in July 26th update

frifox.5283:

Also, Disenchanter is nuts. Attack every 2.46 seconds with PH, which is more or less the same as sword AA rate! 2xDisenchanters (with mimic) with your sword AA now strips 2 boons every second!

Why wasting mimic when u can use healing signet? Much faster CD

Embolism.8106:

GREATSWORD
.

Mirror Blade – I feel that making Illusionary Elasticity baseline for this skill (which I don’t think any Power Mesmer took before the patch anyway) allowing you to hit a single target up to 3 times is too much. I’d reduce the number of bounces from 4 to 3.

The old builds:

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_Double_Ranged_Shatter
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_Traditional_Shatter

It only made sense sub Illusionary Elasticity with Illusionary Invigoration possibly in sw/t variant since it would only affect 50% of your weps composition. And even then it would compete with eachother very closely.
I would estimate 75% of all traditional shatter builds used it. Close to 100% if u used staff and 50/50 if you used sw/t.

me too but in another map. i didnt create another topic cause seems like general problem since this is the 2nd topic is see in this section.

Esplen.3940:

Why are we arguing? These people are playing the legendary 6/6/6/6/6/6 build. Able to spawn phantasms capable of constantly attacking with no cooldown. Clones that override your targeting, making you have to reclick on that pesky mesmer. Every shatter gains mind wrack in addition to their other effects, like applying Confusion, Torment, Might, and Vulnerability. Distortion is always readily available, despite being on a 40s cooldown. Able to use both MI and TW in a single fight. Uses Decoy and Desperate Decoy to bypass Revealed. 100% Slow uptime on enemies with permanent AoE pulsing Alacrity to all allies. Able to both (yes, both) stealth with Torch while spawning Duelist, Berserker, and Swordsman with a single weapon swap (or two). PU for infinite stealth whether or not you’re slotting Mimic… and more, duhhhhhh.

Humm you are forgetting the new flavour… You will mostlikely add few more things (cause the nerf train wont stop and will always find new excuses to qq), but dont forget to add at the end of the list:
“And all of that can be made x2 cause the F5!!!!!” (permantly and just upsides! cause having 20s cd on your heal or other skills before u pop f5, after the amazing 100 seconds f5 provide to double all phantasm spawn and elite pop and shatter faceroll, you return back in time but your cd will be ready and just then you enemy looses the petrify effect from a invis box of fun that made him unable to move or press buttons for the entire time).

ps: also, the same box of fun gave you the purple color, cause rigged.

From a pvp prespective, mesmer damage didnt increase with chrono. Shatters/skills does the same dmg. Yet shatter accuracy and access to interrupts (shield#5 and gravity well) to trigger power block is higher. Also you have access to quickness so you perform actions faster.
in Pve well really helps to increase sustained dps. ~1k more in a 30s fight

Ok since mantras have been suffering so many changes and recently they are a hot topic, I think they deserve a dedicated topic just for them and their traits. This is my thoughts about mantras and their traits in a mesmer daily routine:

Pre-Specialization patch:

PvP: unusable, since (old)Harmonious Mantras competed with DE, with the exception of MoResolve. Despite of not being that good, between null field (standing inside for a 1 cleansed condi /sec)and arcane thievery (cause offensive property, long cd and easly failed -range and LoS) it was the least bad condi clear.

PvE: Mantras hurted in our utility slots, yet they compensated the lack of dmg mesmer have and it was almost permanent mantained (2/3 mantras if we spec into reflect, 3/4 mantras if no relfect needed) so it was a 8/12% or 12/16% dmg modifiers and if we intelligent managed mantras charges we only had the annoying trick of swap in&out a mantra and recharge it again to refill the charges in the dead-times.

Specialization Patch:

PvP: It felt so good. Even without trait ( 2 charges ) we could feasibly use mantras since when last charge was wasted we had it rdy or almost rdy to recharge again. Trait or not was only a matter of how often we recharged them. Yet i agree some became too powerfull cause their innate low cd and start recharging in bg would make them have the channel time as their cd ( unless u spammed them like a monkey).

PvE: Awsome HM trait change. With the Harmonious Mantras merged with the Empowering Mantras opened more choices possibilities and made overall mantras better (33% more, since it became mandatory for PvE). With the dmg modifiers becaming a buff it freed utility slots in our bar.
The bg recharge became a QoL mechanic since we didnt need that annoying trick of swamp in&out mantras to prepare next boss/fight encounter with full charges.It rewarded intelligent play and charges management cause a player who didnt spend all charges in previous encounter just had the 2.75s recharge time to regain the full charges or just had to waste the last charge(s) between fight and instantly recharge again without the need of annoying tricks. For those who spammed like crazy the only difference was they just saved few seconds in the cd time. (just like the-no-more-present-mantra-cd trait Mantra Mastery did).
The only negative about it is the dmg modifiers. 8s of short lasting buff is short and the 5 max stacks (20% dmg) was (and still is) realisticly impossible to mantain ( ~2/3s of it). Yet no one complained. I bet everyone was so happy with the freed utility slots and QoL mantra bg recharge and since pre-update max dmg mod was 16% that no one cared if we couldnt realisticly reach the 20%. Also even after reach 4 stacks they only last for a mere ~5s, oh well, at least it gives us time for a buffed AA chain or a feedback. 2 stacks is the fair amount of HM stacks buff we realisticly have for like 30s of normal fight until our mantras exhaust. After those 30s our dps would drop significantly, even more if we need to recharge them to use them in same encounter.

Positive thinking guys! Alacrity is not mesmer-only! Now it can be buffed!
Just give mantras to other class so ours can be also buffed.

Fay.2357:

zealex.9410:

Levetty.1279:

zealex.9410:

Last thing chrono needs os a buff. Of any kind.

Lowest dps increase of the 3 support classes in Raids
Lowest dps of the 3 support classes in Raids.
Useless in Open/Stories/Achievement hunting.

Lowest dps increase he says LUL your are delusional. I solo everything in open world fine idk about u and what should you be usefull to in open world? There you can tw and make pressing 1 a better experience for 10 ppl…

Ranger with spotter, frost spirit, and gotl adds more DPS than quickness and alacrity.

Warrior with ea, banners, and 25 might production adds more DPS than quickness and alacrity.

Your absurd claim isn’t worth spending the time to dig up the old thread that we calculated this in, but levetty might have it bookmarked or something.

+1 to add that both war and druid dps > chrono.

The only thing that chrono bring is unique buffs (additive with others) decent tanking ( a dd with 1 trait swap could do better with less expenses) and a gimmick distort share in the SAME package.
Thats why they are taken. They carry nabs. Defensive support like this could be replaced by simple better positioning, dodging or if rly needed a 3rd party support, aegis.

Gw2 pve always was and still is all about squeezing the most dps possible. Glass cannons. The rest is l2p. Built in mechanics like dodge and self heal enable this.

Ppl also tend to forget the indirect dps of classes. Engie for example, does not bring 35k dps. Account his condi aura on other 3 condi classes ( PS, druid, other dps) and it is like 40k of direct + indirect dps.
Now do this indirect dps calculation to all classes and add to the already present direct dps benchmark and build a True benchmark table. Bring actual balance to pve based on it.

Axe #2 clone shouldnt replace a phantasm (when 3 up). This will cripple our dps.

Phantasms should have synergy with ambushes, for example, ambush on phantasms refresh their skill cd.

Seriously, this kind of topics/posts have to stop… I kinda miss some tight moderation i’ve experienced in other Ncsoft games forums.
I bet if banhammer start hitting some users, people will only post “nerf posts” when actually it is needed / with proper and constructive feedback.
This is just pure bashing just like many other posts… I bet if mesmer was nerfed in everyway ppl want, they would find another thing to nerf and eventually when class was dead, they would change their aim to another one.
That said, i wanna say that the “overpowered” new mesmer things ppl cry of, are just as “op” as other class things that we got used with time/that no one complains about maybe because they are older?
Evolve and adapt… you cant play the same way with same things all the time and do fine all-arround. Things change. If it didnt change, game would become boring and repetitive. Embrace new classes in “meta”, new mechanics, re-try/re-use unused traits/skills/weps you “trashed” out.

TL:DR: most posters like op have the “its new, i dont know how to deal with it, i dont wanna think about it, why should i try to deal it if i can just go forums and cry to just nerf it” condition.
I felt amazing beating many thiefs when they hardcountered mesmer… Hard? yes, some. Yet i have no nerf thief or this and that posts.

I dont think phantasms will have ambush skills, for several reasons:

- Phantasms dont have the #1 wep skill to turn into ambush
- Not a single ambush phantasm skill datamined so far
- Seems just odd for example a sword phantasm performing a scepter ambush

I think phantasms wont have ambush skills yet i do hope they benefit from the trait/utility. Something like instead of casting an ambush skill phantasms would have double damage in the next attack. Or they could get their attacks refreshed for insta follow up.

So this suggestion will be with current state in mind aswell with a previous suggestion i made about core mesmer.

Traits:

• All Wells That Ends Well now reads: Grants a boon associated with your well when they end. Reduces well recharge.
  Eternity grants 10s Regeneration.
  Calamity grants 3 stacks Might for 8s.
  Action grants 8s Fury
  Recall grants 5s Alacrity
  Precognition grants 5s Vigor
  Gravity grants 5s Protection
  Recharge 10%.

• Danger Time: Gain increased ferocity while under the effects of Quickness. (+250). Gain additional critical-hit change against slowed enemies (10%)

Wells
General Well Suggestions

Normalize wells cast time. Same way you reduced Well of Eternity cast time. I think the same explanation apply to all, except elite because strong cc/game changing effect.

• Well of Eternity: I like the idea of subing vigor pulse with condi removal. But vigor is also good. Regeneration also… Since its a more team oriented heal, changing well type to water… Just few ideas.

• Well of Precognition: Pulsing blur and giving a burst of unblockable+stability makes more sense to me.. It feels lacking and in a long cd at the present state.

• Well of Recall: Another unfortunate lacking well.. Setting this well 3s previously so after we can chill enemies and give them a minor dmg doesnt feel rewarding enough considering a 45 seconds cd…. And pulsing alacrity with new wells trait seems irrelevant.

• Gravity Well: With it 1s cast time wich already causes enough counterplay, it could benefit from a wider radius. At least the pull radius. Also it could scale the dmg increasing as close as you are to the center so it wouldnt be completly negated if enemies have 3+ Stability stacks.

Traits

• Illusionary Reversion: By itself and after the change it become hard to get to use the potencial of this trait. Building illusions take time/cooldowns and illusions are fragil things. I agree the previous form was over the top by itself. A 0-illusion shatter would generate a clone is same than counting 1 illusion (+ IP) in each shatter after the first one. I would change it to 1 illusion requirement and a small ICD (1s probabily) to avoid mindless shatter chain. It would open combo possibilities with some skill/management gap.

• Danger Time: The biggest disapointment in this awsome specialization, it is such a redundant trait… You have to have a good critical chance to reliably build Lost Time charges to apply slow on next hit. Yet we this trait awards more critical chance on slowed targets.. Mesmers already give critical chance a lot of weight when deciding their builds… ( reflects, ferocity bonus on sword trait Fencer Finesse, Sharper Images, then we have Master Fencer and Phantasmal Fury to support it), i feel mesmer doesnt need more critical chance.. I think it would be proper if it was a dmg modifier for mesmer and its illusions, or a simple bonus ferocity increase versus slowed targets, again, for both mesmer and its illusions. Slow is a short time condition, so i guess it wouldnt break the game if our dmg source (mesmer+phantasm) hit harder on slowed enemies. It would also fit its name better. And it would make a chronomancer potencially more dangerous inside a Time Warp, see? win-win theme synergy.

• Lost Time: Unless it synergies better with rest of traits and we really have a bigger reward to make our target few more times slowed, this trait wont compete with the others in its category… Between Time Warp, wells, phantasms, and even minor Delayed Reactions we have enough slow application mechanics and they are at least as good as this trait in applying slow and we dont give up so much picking them. Unless, and for example, Danger Time decently rewards having few more slow applications on our targets, this trait will be forgotten.

Shield

• Echo of Memory: Making it a channeled continous block would make up for the delayed phantasm summon. It would also allow to better positioning setup to proper summon the phantasm cause i found it failling due to LoS/range.. We got to be always moving you know.. And kitten rangers hitting from horizon makes the phantasm fail to summon. It would also make up for the skill overall since phantasm is a bit underwhelming. I just feel sorry for Deja Vu, such a great name and if this sugestion gets implemented 2nd phantasm + this have to go…

• Tides of Time: Could you make it instantly return back when a it encounters a wall/obstacle in its path? FeelsBadMan when you have to cast it in narrow zones yet losing more than half of it potencial (the returning stun/projectile block and the cd reduction).

Overall feels like a solid specialization. Glad i could test it and participate in it tunning/refinement with my feedback.

For me in void its not bad. We have to see how meta will shift.
It definitely could have less dead traits to make it feel like a progression when specing:

The good:
- Elite: fills a gap. Mesmer dont have low CD elites and jaunt is flexible enough to be used offensively or defensively. Also condi clear is fine if it is enough if it prevents you from specing into insp to survive. Could have a bit more range though…
GMs: intetesting for pve and pvp. Elusive Mind seems great for pvp the others are more pve condi oriented since i dont see the durability of clones changing in pvp.
Utilities: seem a little pvp oriented, which is good, also 1 solid choice for condi pve that is enough since we have 2 signets that go well with it.

The meh:
some traits like Self Deception are very conditional.. It could offer smth baseline like 20% CD reduction to the category or 10 endurance restored on use;

The minor that gives superspeed since it is the only bonus… Not rolling for dodge makes it have a deficit of movement and a trait only to fix that feels we are gettingg the short stick.
All the rest..

The bad:
Mirage Mantle: waste of oportunity to make a intetesting or good trait.
Renewing Oasis: also redundant trait… Ppl spec into condi clear to deal with condi not this…
Gs ambush: why? A worst auto and dmg only to makr it useless on clones… Why anet why?

Well lets see if the the rhe less good things end up being good or falling to bad… Only on live and after a good chunk of time the things will settle. Time will tell…

Remember that “perma alacrity” is only possible cause chrono stacking.
Im also in love with superspeed on clones(so i dont use well trait)… Makes the accuracy of shatters much higher.
Less time to evade, harder to kite, they reach target faster so less chances they get cleaved/aoe. Im only using gravity well.. and as solo mesmer, i dont feel the alacrity effect that much… ~1s on shatter… Certainly not as heavly as you ppl talk.

Perhaps if they change it to only give alacrity when in combat would prevent to shatter during roam.

Phantasms are affected by might on mesmer since they inherit stats from mesmer.
Might on them have no effect. Only boons that have a % moddifier increase affects them when applied on them.
But %moddifiers on mesmer have no effects on phantasms.

Summary:
All stats related buffs/boons must be applied on mesmer to affect phantasms. They have no effect when applied to phantasms on their own.
(ex. might, banners, spotter, etc.)

%increase boons/buffs only when directly applied on phantams affect them. These applied on mesmer only, have no effect on phantasms. (ex. force/accuracy runes/sigils, GoTL, fury, quickness, alacrity, etc.)

All condition damage counts as coming from mesmer it self. Even if was a phantam attack that “applied” them. Phantasm only serve as a trigger.
(For duelist discipline/sharper images bleeds, keep in mind c.rate from phantasms since they are the trigger to proc bleeds, yet all other calcs, condi damage/duration, its mesmer related)

Simonoly.4352:

That sceptre auto-attack change seems to have been lifted straight out of the many sceptre threads on here. I might actually turn on the auto-attack now if I’m feeling super lazy.

I just liked the way they made it. (sarcasm)
So scepter is one of worst mesmer weps -> buffs = 5% and overdue QoL
Sword/Dagger of thief = best weapons ( and top dmg coeficients over all Sword/dagger wielders) -> buffs = 40% on dmg and ~30% (?) faster chain (attack speed)

I guess we got the amount of “love” when nerfing than other classes in buffing
Same applies to buffing: we got the same amount of love when buffing than other classes in nerfing.
Mesmer world is upsidedown. Kappa.

I still didnt say anything about the changes because they are not all out ( yet im just waiting for 26th to rest my case. no hope)
But i can comment on the way they putted it. When the dev responsible for balance says that alacrity increased dps for 66% when in fact:

1- IF mantained 100% of time , it reduce recharges by 40%. (you have to stand still in that confined area and wait for 3s to get the last well pulse, the alacrity pulse)
2- you hardly can maintain it 100% of time in normal scenarios. (guess it was tested on golems). It is just easier to maintain on mesmer himself cause 50% trait.
3- It only boosts dps from those skills other than autoattack. So class that mainly autoattack to dps get little to no bonus
4- it only affects 5 ppl.
5- mesmer dps was low and still the lowest even if mesmer could mantain personal alacrity 100% (cause nr.3)

I could just say his way to balance was biased. Cause in fact alacrity “broke” the game cause it made dps god tier classes go even further (ele, warrior, engi, etc) and the only class that was fine in terms of dmg and was only in shade cause the way game functioned (conquest and raids) due to lack of offering party support than just dmg, was thief. And got no 5% boosts. Instead he made it 30%. And guess what. Thief is the only class that benefits even less from alacrity. Not only cause he is a autoattack class but also cause the way their wep skills work (and iniciative).
And ye, thiefs are also fasting for mesmers since the day traits got revamped and until the PU nerf. Also right after PU nerf more or less, rev took their place and bunker meta started. (no longer ezpz thief food, infact until PU nerf, mesmer could mantain stealth high enough to be the one having the 1st burst)

So ye. I guess is a way ppl could interpret things.

Also to answer to some comments i saw here:
Alacrity didnt balance the fact mesmer dps was low. In fact it have little effect on mesmer dps. What alacrity made was making mesmer viable/required cause introduced a strong (too strong) way of support that boosted a lot the other classes.
Dont mix up the things.

PS: Also dev agrees that stack mesmers (from 1 to 2 probabily) to benefit from alacrity is bad. But stack eles/wars etc is normal.

Xillllix.3485:

It’s completely OP but at least it’s an elite profession done right. Tempest just makes me wanna cry and change class.

“Im used to mesmer being non-factor class, so its OP (in mesmer purple world prespective)”
“Yet, im an ele. my class is the strongest in every game mode. We deserve the strongest elite spec, we are spoiled and used with it”

messiah.1908:

i like the idea mesmer is all about fields but i would
i would also like more fields with weapon like torch can be smoke or fire field, shield can be dark field and not ethereal.
well of eternity – water – common a heal skill aoe so if ppl blast it it would be so good as party support. the mesmer alone cant use it unless he take torch
well of action – ethereal – like time warp should be ethereal in concept
well of calamity – fire – well which does dmg so if you leap or blast you get might stacks or fire aura which increase your might stacks
well of precognition – light – with stability and the ability for retaliation and light aura
well of recall – ice – it chill so why not get frost aura or chilled with projectiles

this

Embolism.8106:

Just a random idea… what if Mesmers gain access to a new type of field, say Time Field? Blast and Leap Alacrity, Whirl and Projectile Slow. The Wells would be Time Fields, and Temporal Enchanter could convert all Glamours into Time Fields.

Just a thought, I’m not actually advocating it. I’m quite okay with most of our fields being Ethereal, it makes Chaotic Dampening easier to use for Protection.

or this!

My sugestion is simple: Just make the prestige apply 2 blast finisher. At begining and at end ( like present ). Or/and mind stab on gs, it would fit the animation..
There you go, community happy. But i confess i liked that “time field” idea. Usefull field without being overused already by others professions, cause lets be honest, chaos armor/confusion is hardly good outside condi builds, and even then… It mostly serves for traited protection.

Silverkey.2078:

FJSAMA.2867:

Silverkey.2078:

Honestly, this may be a small change, but this is huge for condition mesmer in PvE.
With duelist’s discipline buff + scepter QoL, I think condition mesmer will now be the highest possible DPS.

Doenst change the fact that torment/confusion conditions sucks in pve.
Meaning: ye its a buff in condi pve mesmer. No, still wont make it a thing.

Yes, which is why condition mesmer in PvE works with bleeds mostly. Now conditions should outDPS power.

You will still rely on AI (duelists) to apply it. (Ex. seekers will soak it up)

Self-Deception: No one will wait to have 2 clones to use a deception skill and benefit from this trait. Ppl will use Deception skills when the circumstances say so. (in need for a heal or a break stun) and not to spawn clones.
Change: Reduce CD of Deception skills by 20%. Deception skills restore 10 endurance on use. If endurace full, heal instead (400 hp).

Renewing Oasis: Dealing with damaging condis must be reactionary.
Change: Gain regeneration when Mirage Cloak is active. Cure damaging conditions when you gain regeneration. (1 condi, 5s icd to the cleanse part)

Shards of Glass: Low chance and very high ICD.
Change: Shattering 3 Illusions spawn a Mirage Mirror. Mirage Mirrors shatter into a water field that remove movement impairing conditions (1 condi). Water field, small radius, 2 or 3s duration.

Mirage Mantle: This trait is at minor traits lvl. Completly lacking for a master trait. Note ranger Companion’s Defense or necro Beyond the Veil. Both minors, both give more protection and have similar functions.
Change: When you shatter a mirage mirror you gain stealth (1s) and protection (1s).
Proper reward picking up mirage mirrors pls.

Speed of Sand: Increase superspeed from 0.75s to 1s. Gain swiftness when you dodge. 5s. (Note, dodge, not mirage cloak from other sources)

Infinite Horizon: Meh… Clones are not a big deal apart from shatter fodder. Ambushes are not a big deal in it current state. Ambushes on clones even have smaller bonuses.. This trait is so meh it could be baseline without noticeable impact. Or could be deleted (no one would miss it) and replaced with a GM with proper impact. I remember devs saying GMs to be by design line defining traits…

Embolism.8106:

First thought: I expected Echo of Memory’s block duration to be reduced for continuous blocking, but it isn’t. Really strong with Persistence of Memory and Chronophantasma.

If you ask me, i think the block is pretty balanced. Other classes continous blocks are 3 secs instead of 2,25 secs and 15/20 secs CD , ours are 30. We just get 2 of this if we block an attack. And synergy with persistence of memory or signet of ether for its cd reduction can “sub” for a shield CD trait we dont have.
One step closer not to rely on stealth. Any “omg OP nerf” is purely the trend thats going around against any good thing mesmer have.

Best thing of this patch is that we have our own class meme!
Just like engie have “purity of purpose” we have “more constant pressure” built in our 0.09 coeficient dmg on summoning some phantasms Constant pressure on mesmer Kappa…

Srsly Anet, if you want more constant pressure just speed up our slowpoke sword auto chain, give mesmer access to dmg moddifiers, make phantasms get affected by them and add proper impact to phantasm summoning skills :S

Quote for reference “Also in this update, we are implementing initial attacks on several phantasm skills, allowing the mesmer to deliver a primary attack in addition to the summon in order to provide a bit more constant pressure on your targets.”
(sry for somewhat jk post)

Bubi.5237:

FJSAMA.2867:

Kappa, right?
Saying sword 3 is a good skill for a leap finisher when you rely on a clone and an enemy target close and basically standing static cause it may fail due LoS or out of range…
Who stands still inside an enemy field anyway…

If YOU are standing in the allied field and sword #3 to an enemy, you’ll get the “reward”.. Even if the clone was destroyed and you are not leaping anywhere!

Its false. You only activate combo finisher on yourself when you use 2nd instance of the skill, the swap.
Im not saying its a terrible skill, im saying it is a terrible combo finisher leap.

SkiTz.4590:

FJSAMA.2867:

Levetty.1279:

I think people asking for Mesmer nerfs should look at what the other elite specs are doing.

Berserker Kill Shot?

Its bugged and hitting twice…. its not a viable spec outside of sniping light armor classes in WvW lol… pretty much trash in PvP and rifle is a joke in PvE…

Chronomancer is the one elite spec that is strong in all facets of the game – its extremely good and the one spec that has little to no negative feedback other than its too strong….

Even the top PvP players are in agreement that chrono is EASILY the strongest elite spec released….

Wanna compare Chrono and Berserker? OK, lets compare vanilla Mesmer and Warrior first, shall we?
Like warrior needed this elite spec as much as mesmer needed chrono…

robertul.3679:

People hate mesmers for 3 reasons
Domination : power block on heals is pretty guaranteed win, and the 30% more shatter damage is not too shabby either.

You cant have both.
And its 15% dmg. Only 30% if target its not activating skills… even stunned (1s most common mesmer stuns) its not so common to get it in pvp… just against slow kitten s.

robertul.3679:

Inspiration: healing mantra removes 4 condis(6 after the bug gets fixed on last cast), aoe team heal too, heal on shatter, more heal etc.

Also if they go into harmonious mantras for 3 mantra charges they loose clone production and therefore shatter power ( dmg or healing) and healing prism has 10s ICD

Stop qqing “nerf this that and ect.” cause mesmer just needs some tweaks, rest is up to ppl to adapt. l2p wise and “theorycrafting” wise (builds and way to play with and against).

Curunen.8729:

Well it looks like the last 6 months were extraordinary.

Now for the slow decline until the next Expansion/new overpowered Specialisation.

If you mean extraordinary = not “way worse” than mesmer are used to in every role. Yes finally. But it still was a long road to balance.

Honestly 6 months ago only made mesmers less “way worse” when comparing to other classes. Like giving a lollipop to a kid thats crying cause didnt got his toy tele-car.
The only thing that got better than other was bunker mesmer due to its res capabilities. A role that was created due to other classes/meta push. A role that was surprisingly good. Way too good.
But slow/quickness/alacrity nerf wasnt enough.

I think the way to balance isnt actually bring all classes in different roles par with each other. But rather have really High highs and Loooow lows. There! the highs balance with lows.

Pointless… Ive posted 2 topics about it.. One especifically for mantra functionality and other with proposed changes to core mesmer (both on signature) long before “balance patch” and with even more slight but spot on changes not to freak out the devs/balance team.
Not even sure they are taken into consideration.
Last dev post on mesmer sub-forum was a reply to me saying to worry not about the preview balance patch being posted on PvP subforum because it was just to take feedback about amulet changes, yet balance was/is made with all gamemodes in mind.
Aaaand it was kinda right. It indeed “balanced” mesmer in all game modes (balance = nuke)

About OP sugestion. I like the phantasm skill “reworks”. Not sure if phantasms it self need to be further adjusted. Not like mesmer dps will sky rocket with 1 more dps skill while summoning a phantasm..
About the rest not rly sure yet, its hard to see the big picture when its all on text.

In theory its all fine, but right now we have the others 2 “buffer” classes giving higher dps increase buffs and also having higher self dps.
Heck warrior buffs give ~ 20-30% more dps than chrono buffs and having almost 2x more personal dps.
Its so easy to confirm. Go golem tests with ele do the same rotation with raid wide buffs and then without each class buffs individually and check how much dps you lost doing it.
Then if you want, consider each “buffer” personal dps + additional utility + ease of buffing.
Its naive to go with math on paper when you can test on reality. Like saying current alacrity gives 25% dps and old one gave 66% dps increase like a dev said.

And sure its fine to kill sw mordrems and hot maps mobs bursting them with mesmer every ~12s BUT as long as they are normal ones. It doesnt take too much for them to upscale to veterans and then your burst wont work and the real pain starts… Sure mesmer’s great to min max raid comps. But i can safely say:

Mesmer is the most painful class for solo play like maps and story, no doubt.

So i question your reiteration, why not? The only answer i have is the all-time answer for many mesmer things: “Because mesmer…”.

Daniel Handler.4816:

buffs that can give up 150 ferocity are only suppose to last 6 seconds.

This is false!
– Buffs that give stackable 15 ferocity are so stronk that have to last 6s, since they cap where the others begin. +100 status buff need at least 60s timer, cause 15>100 and because they can only stack 5×. +150 status buffs can be permanent on wielding weapon, or, if its an aura, permanent only while in combat using a box of chocolates and wedding dress. They fade in 9s cause thats the time the chocolate melts in your mouth.. average.
+250 status buff on thiefs can be explained by their profession mechanic. They initially went +150 on a det. boon and they saw a warrior after using a signet and stole the +100 from them… performing a total of 250! Mathematicians… Remember they hit with rulers therefore if we check the length of dmg coeficients they needed it. Mesmer’s became, on last update, 0.66 vs 0.8 thiefs have. Just measure it with a ruler. Our dmg coeficient bigger than theirs.

or

- mesmer have a way to insta 10x attack on target to get 6s of 150 ferocity. Otherwise it would be 1s of 150, 2s of 135 etc etc. Busted. Raportered for cheating. I bet that you even had to swing the sword to get the buff… Poor warriors.. they have to blow the horn near mobs to get such result… Yet they get so dizzy after blowing it so hard…

Eponet.4829:

For anyone that wants to know. The initial attack on Illusionary Duelist is like a .2 power coefficient. I don’t know if the Torch change is good enough to make it worthwhile, but I doubt it.

0,2 is magic bullet coef. The initial dmg is like 0,09 coef. Kappa

AtomsOrSystems.9420:

Exactly one of us.

Exacly like before the nerf! God forbid mesmer stacking! Or the only mesmer cover alacrity/quickness necessities (building all-in for it, sacrificing what we dont have) or sit on the bench and start handing over some water bottles (portals and veils)

Yes i know, druid dps isnt good either. Yet it still have more utility variety and can pump slighty higher dpses (personal and party buffs). Even better than this, druid(and warrior) can play both power and condi variant within same role and as effective. Its a plus for some raids / higher fractals.

Enjoy and discuss. Let me read those opinions!

FYI this initial casts are not from phantasms, but from mesmer!
Just like on shield you block and then summon phantasms, now you do smthg and summon those phantasms… So it makes sense not triggering those effects on chronophantasm ofc.

Its simple. Conditions that phantasms apply counts as mesmer conditions (and so inherit mesmer buffs/status/etc).
Only phantasm power damage is counted as phantasm attack.

Esplen.3940:

we have pretty good leaps in our weapons with Sword3 .

Kappa, right?
Saying sword 3 is a good skill for a leap finisher when you rely on a clone and an enemy target close and basically standing static cause it may fail due LoS or out of range…
Who stands still inside an enemy field anyway…

Its an added effect on cast end. Only with utility phantasm.

I really dont understand whats the problem with block. Its so much better now (be aware of the amount of multiple hit attacks there are in the game)…
I really start to think you guys complain about it cause you dont like the increased time you have to wait to summon a phantasm….
Its a shield, it makes sense being a more defensive/cc weapon and its phantasm a more supportive one too…..
Its not like it will create balance problems when you have, for example, ranger gs block: 3sec block on 15sec CD without 20% reduction from gs trait. Or Warrior shield block, longer block, less CD… Or any other continous block….

“Chrono will never be a real bunker”.. Since you touched from a pvp prespective i guess it is funny if we had only D/P thieves, trap rangers, d/d eles, bunker guards, signet necros, shatter mesmers, soldier rifle engies, etc… right?? Well, for me, diversity is fun and refreshing… What boring it would be to see a class and auto-know his build/play role….

Cheesy block you say? Are you like the ones who call “condi cancer” when you die to a condi oriented build despite not having a single condi removal on your build? Same thing about blocks… There are unblockable attacks… Not as many as condi removal skills.. But some… And when the guy is blocking theres not many things he can do since it is a channeled skill…
Its also being skilled (but now from the attacker prespective) if you wait to block go off to burst instead of just burst with you 5/6 skill combo and just have attack one negated just because…. And mesmer block have an increased visual distinctive animation that helps you identify it…