Guild Wars 2

What’s it a build for?

Also whatever its for I know that shattered strength is worse than phantasmal haste for power and maim the disillusioned for condi.

I think the real problem is that Mirage isn’t an anything spec. It doesn’t do damage, it doesn’t do support, and it doesn’t give any utility. Its a slightly more gimmicky version of what mesmers already did. Thats why we cant decide on what kind of spec its supposed to be.

mortrialus.3062:

Saying Chronomancer is THE shatter spec and nothing else is nonsense. I never said ambush skills aren’t supposed to be what Mirage bring to the table and be good at. I just said it’s supposed to shatter. Yeah, Mirage has clone generation in it’s traits as well. The problem is that Deception Skills are really bad so it’s clone generation pales in comparison to Chronomancer’s Chronophantasia.

Wait I’m confused if three traits make Mirage a shatter spec then what Chronomancer’s:

Continuum Split: A whole new shatter
Time Catches Up: Super speed on illusions
Illusionary Reversion: Shatter skills generate a clone if you have enough illusions present.
Chronophantasma: Phantasms are resummoned after a shatter
Seize the Moment: Shatter grants quickness

By my count thats 4 traits and one additional shatter. So by your logic that makes it more of a shatter spec than Mirage. And in your words: “Chronomancer is a defense and support specialization”

So can you clarify why three traits make Mirage a shatter spec while chrono’s 4 traits and new shatter make it defense and support?

I love this idea. I suggested something similar on reddit earlier today. If mirrors could be picked up and stored in an extra bar then activated at a later time through and F5 whenever it would do loads for our survivability and dps potential.

Alternatively just make then restore and endurance bar.

I could see something like, “the mesmer forgoes illusions for magical constructs.” And get something kind of like the green lantern, make purple swords rain from the sky or instantly raise illusionary walls people cant get past. Then shatters blow those up.

For the love of god, do this now.

Given chrono really pushed us into a support role, I would like to see a more damaging elite spec. As we all know mesmer dps is really sad, like really really sad, and I want some way to improve it. We have pretty great burst but our sustain is really lacking. While im not sure how to accomplish this, and personally enjoy the support role, I think a damaging role should be next.

Great video man! Havent had that much fun watching a PvP vid in a long time!

If you let moa land on you during a 1v1 then you kinda deserve it. You’re fighting a mesmer, its the #1 thing you should be looking out for. Also its functionally on the same cool down as CS because no one in their right mind would use it twice in a row and put it on cooldown for what could be a third of the match.

Would you guys be happy if they nerfed the duration to something like 5-8 seconds? Cause the CD issue won’t be fixed unless you make CS not work on elites/

I know a lot of the time it is situational, but do you guys have any general strategies you can share?

Correct me if im wrong but didnt he say “there will be other buffs, these are just the ones I want to talk about” so dont panic yet

Something I’ve been thinking about is using mistrust for a chrono condi build. Cause with gravity well its fairly common to get clusters of 2-3 interrupts in PvP team fights which would share out a good amount of aoe confusion.

I just hate feeling like all the time I spent getting Hero points pre expansion was a waste of time. It took me probably 50+ hours to do map completion and all that time only got me enough hero points for less that halfway through the elite spec??? Feels bad

Substance E.4852:

Loony.3714:

I’m not asking to be handed the spec on the alts that I havent played much, just that all of hero points I collected with map completion actually meant something instead of being devalued by the 10x inflation in the jungle.

lol, I logged on with 182 hero points on my Ranger all psyched to play on the BL with the Druid only to me met with massive disappointment.

Now I’m faced with either not being able to play a decent role on the class I love in WvW for the next week or so, or having to blast through HoT to get all the hero points.

Neither is appealing and both together just make me want to play something else.

This is exactly how I feel. And don’t get me wrong, I was going to explore and 100% the hell out of the new maps, just in a month or two when I can really sit down and do it thoroughly. Now if I want access to chrono I really have to just power through it asap

Gaile Gray.6029:

No one — especially me — is diminishing the thoughts, concerns, and input on this subject being shared by our forum members. But I believe that it is premature to make a comment about “forever” in the context of a game that has been playable for less than 24 hours.

I stand by that, for it is what I believe. I believe that time will give everyone a better view of this situation. The outcome may be that it’s seen that yes, the difficulty is too high. The outcome may be that eventually, the number is seen as reasonable and properly attainable.

I think that all of us — players and developers alike — do not have sufficient information yet to know what the “sweet spot” is. I suggest we allow us — as players and devs — to attain the necessary info to analyze this situation through gameplay and the passage of time. I want to assure you that I don’t mean months and months, either, but some amount of time on which to base an informed opinion.

I say this especially when I see this post:

Nike.2631:

It been just over 18 hours and I’ve unlocked everything I wanted for my main including the GM I intend to use. Needed one mastery level of gliding and one mastery level of mushroom bounce. Still trying to pick some ‘low-hanging fruit’ Hero Challenges, but basically I’m good to go anywhere.

Day one Dragonhunter. I can live with it. Still need another 90 points for the armor/runes, but I don’t plan to use either so that’s just showing off .

I don’t think anyone feels that the difficulty is too high. Its just a timegate. I have 900 hours on my mesmer and pre-expansion full map completion (and thats not even a lot by some standards) and it sucks not being able to roll chrono right off the bat. I don’t have tons of time to play but im not a casual player either, I was really excited by the idea of pushing fractals past level 50 that its been capped at for a while, but I cant do that with chrono because it is gated behind either exploring the jungle or WvW. And Anet even recognized this by making the jungle HPs give 10. I’m not asking to be handed the spec on the alts that I havent played much, just that all of hero points I collected with map completion actually meant something instead of being devalued by the 10x inflation in the jungle.

I was really disappointed with how much time it is going to take to unlock the elite specs. I dont want to just be handed it, but I had pre-expansion map completion which is a pretty heavy time investment and even then I only made it 46% of the way through the track. I dont have a ton of time to play anymore and I wish that I didnt have to grind hero points for a week or two before I can play chrono in what I was really excited for, fractals.

What about something like high stacks of bleed or maybe poison (although it doesnt make a lot of sense) so that way we it isnt burst from just confusion or torment

All of these changes are amazing. I’ve wanted a block like this on mesmer since I started playing

Out of all our existing options what do you guys find is the best for PvP. I don’t like mantra of resolve cause if I get engaged when its on downtime I find it difficult to get prepared mid fight. Null field is great for boonstripping and team support but doesnt clear condis fast enough to save you. I’ve had a ton of fun with Arcane Thievery but I find that it doesnt work about 1/3rd of the time.

What are you guys running?

If we a time can be found that works weekly for people I would be down to spend a decent amount of time on this

I was expecting someone else to have said this by now but I’m pretty sure signet of ether is the best heal in PvE by a fair amount. Its in a really good place and doesn’t need to be changed, especially with the signet trait so readily available

Can we get confirmation on if these will be purely cosmetic or actually have a stat boost???

My biggest issue with this skill is that the difference in rolls from a PvP perspective between thief and mesmer are already so small and this just pushes them closer together. We are both stealth burst classes, and now they both can build around an interrupt focus too? I know its a little bit of a gut reaction, but I just want to maintain some harder distinctions between the classes

Noss.4105:

@AlphatheWhite.9351
I’d say you didn’t write anything to change my mind. “You’re wrong because I think 0% of good mesmers agree with you” doesn’t really do it.
I have played PU a little bit after the patch, but I don’t really like to play anything that I think is OP. Mostly I use common sense and compare it to other grandmaster traits.

Also, is there actually people who think Bountiful Disillusionment is incredible trait?

I do!

Silverkey.2078:

• Chronophantasma: in its current form still too strong. A very good idea has been made in the forum which is that the phantasm should keep its usual attack rotation and on the first shatter, it “clones itself” and only the clone gets shattered. This clone would not count for the illusion count of course. This prevents the phantasm burst after the shatter, and also keeps the phantasm position.

Would staggering the phantasms stun times help? Like first phant get stunned for 1 sec, next for 2-3, and the third for 4-5. It might make for a nasty volley of damage but it would prevent serious all at once burst.

Djahlat.9610:

@saalle lol I hope you’re kidding? Ele is by far the most overwhelming class to play, seconded by Ranger because of pet micromanagement. Thief is quite easy to play. Quick fights, no cooldown to worry about, has the best access to Stealth. And basically you roll through your skills until you kill something. With a bit of thinking you can be really good though.
Edit : forgot to mention that you can also decide do completely disregard pets and sit back with a longbow with a ranger, you’ll get most things killed efficiently, but it’s the type of gameay that’s the most hated on for selfishness when you’re in a group scenario

I think you’re forgetting engineers and the spreadsheet you need to use their rotations optimally.

I agree that wells are not great for PvP, but is that what they are for? I always got the impression that the main function of wells was PvE to give mesmer something to do in stacks. As it stands now a lot of our utilities are pretty situational. I know we have stuff like mantra of pain but that is a very time intensive skill. Wells seem like something to drop in PvE to group support/control mobs.

That said they should definitely see use in PvP but we already have a lot of good utilities for that

Before the beta I wasnt excited, now I cant wait! Chronophantasma allows for actually engaging PvE gameplay (I know chronos dont seem super useful in PvE but still). I now do more than just summon all three phants than spam two other skills.

Well are underWELLming but I cant really complain with mesmer’s plethora of other useful utilities

Try Dom/Illusion/Chrono. Take Persistence of Memory and Chronophantasma. It makes for some incredibly engaging game play regardless of weapons. Simply summon 3 phants shatter them twice and enjoy your alacrity, and massive reduction to your phat cooldowns.

Thank you for putting the first half of this post into words. The minute I have time in game and a incomplete mantra charge I burn what I have left and recharge it. The post 6/23 patch really eliminated this problem for me or at least made it more bearable so I wouldn’t spend as long sitting around. As of now mantras are at the point where I don’t even feel like they are worth taking at all in PvE. Despite using no mantras I am forced into taking Harmonious Mantras in dueling because the other two GMs are useless (for PvE) but Dueling is a great line.

tobascodagama.2961:

Loony.3714:

I think the whole thing is stupid. Damage right now is just too high in PvP, and it isn’t a mesmer issue. Yes mirror blade hit too hard, but so do most classes right now. I think that the mirror blade nerf should be kept, but other classes need to get the same treatment.

They’ll eventually recognise this and adjust PvP amulets or damage formulas. And forget to reverse their stupid-kitten knee-jerk Mesmer nerfs, again.

I don’t doubt it either, I’m just incredibly frustrated with their consistent treatment of mesmers. They have done stuff like this over and over with old Power Block and now Chaotic Dampening or MtD. The nerf is a step in the right direction gameplay wise but why doesn’t this happen to other classes.

I think the whole thing is stupid. Damage right now is just too high in PvP, and it isn’t a mesmer issue. Yes mirror blade hit too hard, but so do most classes right now. I think that the mirror blade nerf should be kept, but other classes need to get the same treatment.

First of all thank you OP everything about your post. I appreciate how well articulated it was.

Now then,

Zatoichi.1049:

i think the thing that really kittenes people off, is not the fact that the Mesmer does this or that, RAAAGE!!! Rather, is that so many Mesmer’s atm, straight up refuse to acknowledge even the slightest possibility that maybe, just maybe, they were over-buffed (or other classes were under buffed, which I feel is more the case)

This is what I have a problem with. I dont think most mesmers just refuse to admit things need to be tweaked slightly (which, lets be honest, they do). There are as many mesmers that scream against any nerfs as there are players who rage for them because they lost 1 encounter with a mesmer.

There have been at least 5 posts in the last week made by well known mesmers polling the community on how they would like our traits to be shaved down. Every single reasonable player acknowledges that things need to be nerfed, but still kept useful.

As with everything in life you just have to ignore the extremists on both sides. I don’t want to see PU watered down to what some people have suggested, but I do think it needs to be changed. There is a middle ground and if people keep arguing about if it needs to happen then we wont be prepared to give feedback when it happens.

I think a Domination/Illusions/Chromomancer spec with Chronophantasma + Persistance of memory could make for a great Shatter/Phantasm Hybrid spec. Just pump out three phantasms, shatter, and then pump out another three. No DPS lost!

I dont understand how stealth is not a mesmer thing, this argument comes around here pretty regularly and I’ve never understood it. Im not trying to bash what you’re saying but could you explain more in depth why mesmers should not have stealth, outside of the lack of counterplay that applies to other classes too.

Also by “change mesmer mechanic” you mean changing the shatters to the way to swap places? or would you use the utility skill slots taken out by removing stealth?

Replacing shatters would seriously cripple the class by removing our main source of competitive burst. And it would be incredibly difficult to implement a system for swapping that was useful in just one or two utility slots.

The challenge is still there and works as intended, there is just no icon for it on the map before or after you finish the event

Is there a difference between the chaos armor the staff gives and the one the trident gives? I know they just stuck it on an existing trident skill, but the trident skill has an 12 second CD while the staff is almost 3 times that.

Also, I’ve heard there is no target cap on it right now. Might be misinformation, but thats what I’ve heard

ASP.8093:

Jackums.3496:

Gender neutrality is possible the moment you choose to stop ascribing things to either sex according to society’s standards. The issue is you, not the unicorn.

#prounicorn

Exactly.
The unicorn is for everyone.

Agreed, but male mesmers could use some love in the In Game art department

Personally I like it, but I agree that mesmer on the whole could be a bit more male friendly. The artwork on both Domination and Chaos features a female, and I think it would be cool to see one of each.

Toxsa.2701:

Menaka.5092:

Toxsa.2701:

For that single trait it’s really abit too much. I don’t even use boon duration stuff and still 12 stacks of might by spamming 1. On the other hand, there’re traits that trigger at 50% health and only grant 1 might per second for 8 seconds, resulting in 8 stacks of might from staying at <50% health and it’s a GM trait with no additional effect..
Nice balance.

Yeah mesmers have tons of skills that can basically oneshot a squishy target from 1500 range in 2.5 seconds (or less with quickening zephyr). Nice balance!

Thankfully, the game isn’t balanced around single skills or traits.

Have you not seen a Mesmer post patch dishing out 16k damage in one combo (less than 1.5 second), and the downed 3 phatasm dealing 6.5k damage? You can play blind idc, but I’m testing it right now. I’ll test and report what I see and experience instead of hiding it like you guys, fearing for a nerf despite you knew it’s OP.

Yeah mesmers can do 16K in one combo, so can most other classes if they blow their cooldowns like mesmers do to get those numbers. The fastest way I can think to get that damage is to Mirror images, dodge roll (with DE), and then blurred frenzy + mind wrack. Go ask a warrior what damage they can do with 3 skills combined (and spending half their endurance).

The inspiration unicorn

With the impending change to Empowering Mantras, I was wondering what people were planning to run after the patch for dungeons and the like:

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMCdASYAaw~

With them saying they have changed inspiration a lot since the live stream I’m not too sure how things will pan out.

Whats everyone else planning?

Sorry no answers from me I’m in the same boat. I just wanted to ask how most people deal with condi heavy builds. I just find myself getting overrun and no way to clear them.

I’m not all that familiar with WvW but its something I’’m interested in.

Im currently on Yak’s bend but can transfer to FA when this gets up and running.

My mesmer is Nick the Magician

I find this spec to be the best way to get phant damage higher:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsdRnsISraWmGmqB1aIR1QObxhosbaSFocdA-TBBEABMt/o8DgnAQiq/slSwAAHA87v/+7v/GA-e

Depending on the boss ill swap out focus for pistol and warden’s feedback for either temporal enchanter for longer reflects or persisting images for better phants.

What spec are you running? I use a shatter spec and thieves are the reason i run around with mainhand sword active unless I see someone. Right after a thief opens if you can Blurred frenzy and mirror images then mind wrack (if you play shatter) you can usually get them to back off which allows for some more clone generation for distortion on their next burst or just move in for the kill if they are at lower hp.

I’ve tried out interrupt over the past few days and its beautiful when i can get in a good play 1v1 but when it comes to larger groups fights of even 1v2 or 2v2 I just lose sight of what to do. Do you guys have suggestions or potential roles in a team fight?

Bug fix
Bug fix
Bug Fix
Nerf
Bug Fix
Bug fix
Bug Fix
Slight buff
Bug fix
Bug fix
Nerf
Nerf
Nerf
Bug Fix
Bug fix
……..

Hoping to break the trend this time around.

Something else I have been thinking about is the fact that retaliation cant crit, and that is something mesmers have a decent amount of access to. And while it might not be the deciding factor its just another benefit of berserkers