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Mesmer Personality Quiz! Exclamation Points!
Sup guys.
Wanted to make a thread that hopefully will help our maybe/potential forum specialist and allow us to really get a clear picture as to how the Mesmer community feels about the class as it stands currently and in the future. If you wouldn’t mind answering some questions…
From a PvP perspective, I feel Mesmer is currently lacking variety. We being pidgeonholed into only one or two viable builds mostly because so many of our traits just kind of suck. Most traitlines have about 4 out of 13 viable traits.
I can’t really say as I only really play one mode. =P
This may take some time. Will supply answers when I can.
I can’t think of anything that would make me stop playing Mesmer, but I’d return to PvE if the encounters were more than DPS stack-fests. I’m hoping the new defiant change helps make control-based specs more viable, but the fact that running a support build is actually counterproductive rather than an alternate option is extremely off-putting to me.
I remain foolishly optimistic, but mostly because I’m not to worried about being let down. I have fun with the class in it’s current state and that’s enough for a simpleton like me. Nonetheless, the randomness of the nerfs we recieve (Chaos Storm? Really tho!?) and the complete lack of transparency makes it hard to trust in the devs. I really wish that there would be more balance previews besides the one big once-a-year patches where we could actually submit our input on upcoming changes.
A rework to our current lockdown traits – Furious Interruption, Disruptors Sustain, Power Block, and Wastrels Punishment – to make them actually lucrative.
Your inbox is full you dope!
/sweatdrop
Fixed!
@Dondagora: Once we find out who it is, we can start making a mesmer priority list of fixes/buffs/changes.
His left-arm sideswipe passed just inches over the ducking elementalist’s head. Gasmic easily weaved his following right thrust, grinning in Aeoldyn’s face. Spinning with the motion, Aeoldyn swung both blades low in a slice that’d sever Gasmic’s legs, but the elementalist easily jumped over it.
As Aeoldyn was expecting, and the low swipe was a fake to lead into a double upward chop while Gasmic was helpless in the air.
Except that Gasmic had expected Aeoldyn to expect that, and the elementalist’s foot snapped up faster than Aeoldyn’s blades, crunching his nose and sending the sylvari stumbling back several feet.
“Ha! Didn’t know Elementalists could read minds too, huh!?” His last word was smothered under the boom of thunder. The human lashed out with both arms, sending whips of electrical filaments cracking towards Aeoldyn. Aeoldyn jumped to the side, predictably, and with a subtle adjustment of the elementalist’s fingers the lightning struck the sylvari.
A flash, another boom of thunder, and Aeoldyn was gone.
“Hiding now? Fight like a man!”
“I’m a plant.” A clone of Aeoldyn appeared behind Gasmic, stabbing both swords through his back.
“… You know my meaning!” Though he suffered a superficial cut, the mage easily destroyed the clone.
Aeoldyn watched carefully from his concealment, thoroughly unnerved. Gasmic was reading his mind? Impossible! Yet every single one of his attacks had been dodged or parried no matter how intricate or advanced the technique. In all his three years of life Aeoldyn was a student of the sword, so much so that oftentimes the Mesmer felt more kinship to warriors than others of his profession. He knew that his knowledge of swordplay was far greater than the elementalist’s yet Gasmic seemed to know his techniques before he even executed them.
… Like a shark.
Aeoldyn’s eyes went wide. It all made sense! Sharks, having organs known as electroreceptors, were not only able to track prey by the electrical signals the brain sends to the body, but could even acutely read those signals to know when and which direction the prey was going to turn during a chase.
Gasmic, attuned to air, was doing the same thing.
That explained why Aeoldyn’s clone, a construct with no central nervous system, could harm the elementalist while Aeoldyn prime could not. His mind was hidden under the safety of his cloaking spell, but the Mesmer knew that would not last long. He had to force Gasmic to switch attunements, and fast.
Seconds after the human had destroyed the first clone behind him -causing it to burst in a swell of dancing ethereal lights- two more illusions appeared in his face, slashing at him wildly. An arcing surge of lightning dispelled them, and Gasmic made certain to keep his focus peeled for when the real Aeoldyn would strike. These clones also burst into scattering chaotic energy, but where two had fall, four more took their place, charging the elementalist from all sides. Knowing Aeoldyn was getting desperate, Gasmic didn’t mind. The more energy he spent producing clones, the less he’d have to defend himself.
Then he sensed it.
The energy the dying clones were leaving behind was not harmless. Gasmic realized he was breathing in deadly chaotic magic, and could feel the effects of the caustic energy throughout his body. His wounds, instead of closing, were tearing themselves open. His skin felt softer, more vulnerable, and the electricity he was generating was surging weaker and weaker.
And the blasted sylvari would not stop squatting out clones!
Chronomancer is pretty much Mesmer 2.0.
The Chono traitline (and new utilities) open up strong options for Mesmer support (via control/boons) in PvE/PvP while wells and Shield allow us to do meaningful damage in zergs in WvW. You lose almost nothing by jumping to Chrono (except a traitline), and gain more diversity and flexibility for Shatter, Lockdown, Boonshare, Phantasm, and Condition Mesmer.
Both Scepter and Sword work great with the shield, Shield also seems to fit into any build you want to create (though shatter Mesmer will likely still opt for torch). On it’s own, Shield provides the best defense of any offhand (except maybe torch’s stealth in PvP/WvW, but in PvE it’s defense is unmatched) and surprisingly decent damage when traited with Power Block. It also holds one of our strongest CC’s with Tides of Time and one of the few reliable ways for us to stack quickness.
Here’s a link to some PvE Chrono talk/videos
And here is a link to a PvP lockdown build thread with Chrono
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
All nice ideas but what I’d rather see is the precision aspect removed and sword skills deal bonus damage to targets with no boons.
-20% CD, Sword skills do 50% more damage to boonless targets.
And yes, it is painfully obvious I’m thinking of PvE but hey, it’ll take a lot of skill getting that damage buff going in PvP.
Actually, I think this is really good for all game modes. I’d really like this.
@Tealots: I was running mental defense, actually. =P That’s what made me so hard to kill.
@messiah: I’ve run the same build with blink/portal/signet and its worked fine. Restorative Illusions offers me enough of a cleanse that I can get by with portal
Jon said that they’d change Maim the Disillusioned, it suddenly got “OP” because of iPersona. I said that maybe if he changed it to apply 1 stack of Torment per illusion it’d be ok and he said that’s exactly what they have in mind for now. Let’s wait and see.
Well, it looks like nerfs to MTD are already confirmed by Jon Peters and Karl in chat : ( (8 torment stacks at 3.1K a tic when standing still was pretty awe inspiring)
Ehrm… the 3rd minor trait in dueling isn’t confusing combatants anymore but a trait that grants 5s of fury whenever we hit a target with less than 75% hp. (some icd) does someone know all changes we didn’t know yet? Did any of the streamers go through all of these?
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
“Chaos Storm is useless”
… I think thats the first time I’ve ever heard that.
Plz fix Scepter / Torch first.
Neither can disenchanter!? Blasphemy!
You have a point. But is it worth a trait point then? I can’t think of any other traits that involve trade-offs. Usually they just give something, at no cost.
Well if its worth it depends on what you’re using it for, like any trait.
The heal Mirror gets dropped to a 12s heal with a 4s reflect. Blink gets turned into a 24 second 1200r port immune to most projectiles. You don’t have to use Mass Invis to take master of manipulation, and even when you do its still useful, you just have to use it more intelligently.
Sup guys!
In preparation for the interesting new traits and the inevitable increase in lockdown Mesmer, we in the Mes forums have been working on putting together a massive guide to playing a lockdown build. While this will obviously benefit mostly Mesmer (and thieves, and everyone else to a lesser extent) I was hoping to extend the invitation to anyone who’d like to help us fill it out. It won’t be as big as the Super-Ultra-Mega Mesmer Guide but I want it to be extensive and detailed with as much info as possible, topics include:
This is not simply about interrupting. I want this guide to cover chain-dazing, reflects/absorbing, soft CCs like Weakness/Chill/Blind, and more. Since I only play Mesmer and Elementalist, I don’t know other class rotations as well as I’d like to and thus why I’m hoping other classes would help give insights on what to look out for when fighting against them. Also, if anyone is good with formatting and data presentation, any and all help would be welcomed! To give an idea of what I’m thinking of, I’ll copy what I wrote in the original thread.
(Please note this isn’t just for versus high-end players and builds. I want this guide to be able to be useful for all players in any versus format, be it hotjoin, Solo’q, team’q, or WvW)
Again, any and all assistance will be much appreciated and you will be credited in the guide. Some thieves have already pitched in and have been a huge help. Thanks again!
I choreographed a contemporary dance routine to this song once, does that count for the contest?
Well you’re a Mesmer so.. I don’t see why not. (and I’d really like to see that)=P Got any vid/links?
((WARNING: READING FURTHER MAY CAUSE VETERAN MESMER TO WET THEMSELVES))
MESMER
General
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
(my response is from a pvp perspective)
GOOD MESMER
- Have different ways to engage a fight.
- Can run multiple builds, but have one mastered.
- Knows PU isn’t as cheesy as everyone proclaims.
- Can fight other Mesmer confidently.
NOT SO GOOD MESMER
- Will spam their rotation immediately, usually starting with greatsword.
- Cannot land a shatter burst without sword (I’m somewhat guilty of this. xD)
- Random dodges all day. (again, me)
- Has trouble vs other Mesmer.
- Uses greatsword at close range.
- Always engages from stealth.. Literally. Always.
- Does not shatter! (Worse thing to do as a Mesmer on any build!)
What say you?
What’s wrong with using GS melee range? GS 2 actually benefits from being in melee range.
GS in general benefits more from being further away for several reasons:
- Since you lack any sort of real defensive skill, you benefit from kiting and remaining at range (which is why the GS trait cripples on each skill).
- All skills are 1200r (giving you an advantage against many other weapons, though moreso in WvW). Autoattack does more damage the further you are.
- You’re right that GS2 is better for closer ranges, but GS2 tends to be used in shatter-combos (such as GS2 + GS3 & F1 in about 1 second), and shatters in general are better the closer you are.
So when you see someone trying to spam greatsword auto right in your face, you know there’s a problem. =P
@Ithilwen: It could be that you’re trying to shatter too many clones at once? I dunno if you run DE or not, but if you do then you can often get by with a single clone summoning skill (like GS2 or Phase Retreat or iLeap) and dodging through the opponent, leaving a clone near them to shatter. 2-clone shatter bursts in melee range hit for pretty hefty damage and can be pulled off fairly quickly. Even 1-clone shatters can be rather painful and put you at an advantage.
Otherwise, Distortion [F4] is the number 1 shatter to get comfortable using. In any build -even Phantasm- a well-timed Distortion will save lives and keep you in the fight.
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New thief spec is playable. =P
If you had any power, you would have been fine. You didn’t. If you’d been in a teamfight, he would have lost that 10% immediately. You’re running headfirst into a brick wall – that is one foot wide. Step 6 inches either direction and you’ll be fine. You can try to argue “oh I shouldn’t have to” and keep running into that wall, but please don’t complain about the immobility of the wall when you’re choosing to run into it.
So much this.
To be honest… Iunno.
When looking at the boons, all ele boons tend to be rather short duration. Same could be said for Mesmer, but we can double-share.
Mesmer have better access to:
And… Crap. We lost vigor. Thing is that sharing the boons just ONCE every 30s wasn’t enough for us, and I dunno how well it will work for Ele. However..
In terms of pure support, Tempest seems to take it by far. The boons actually aren’t what caught my eye so much as the sheer amount of support that comes with practically EVERYTHING a tempest does.
I don’t think we have to worry about boonsharing from their war horn competing with us because honestly Tempest’s all-around support just blows every other class out the water.
However, when Chronomancer rolls around, offering the possibility of sharing boons four-six times over in addition to alacrity and slow and wells and all that, Mesmers may be able to share the support spotlight.
Possibilities, man… Possibilities.
(Sorry for formatting issues x_x will fix! )
So the staff ele build I was working on before has evolved further, and I’ve finally found a pesudo-sweet spot between damage and support (still more leaned towards support). As I’ve been running it I get a lot of whispers with questions on what I’m running and how to make it work, so I figured I’d post a bit of a breakdown here for those looking to play their own Healer Staff Ele. Keep in mind this is for the purpose of PvP, and while most of the tips are specifically for staff, I feel any weaponset can make effective use of Aquatic Benevolence as long as they have Evasive Arcana.
0/2/0/6/6 – Celestial Amulet – Strength Runes – Sigil of Energy/Battle
Air: I – Water: IV, X, XIII – Arcane: I, VIII, XI / Arcane Brilliance, Arcane Wave, Cleaning Fire, Arcane Shield.
Keep in mind that this build is NOT easy to use. In order to play an effective support build there are numerous things you have to do:
Peeling: When you’re not being focused, you have to be able to “peel” enemies off your allies. Discouraging AoEs like Lava Font (Fire 2), Ice Spike (Water 2) and Eruption (Earth 2) are all ideal for both forcing dodges and taking pressure off of enemies.
Boons: You offer Fury, Regeneration, Swiftness, Might, and Protection in abundance. Use them! While Protection, Regeneration, and Swiftness are particularly important defensive boons that help make it easier to keep the allies you’re healing topped off, Might and Fury are more important for yourself to gain a respectable damage output. You also have to keep in mind what classes you are supporting and their personal boon access. (More on this in the “Boons” section)
Positioning: Playing a competent staff ele means putting yourself in a location where you can offer benefits to allies while keeping out of harms way. Playing a HEALER Staff Ele means you’re significantly closer to the heart of the combat, and thus have to be more aware of Thieves/Mesmer, AoEs, and allies in danger.
Cleanses: You have an abundance of AoE condition cleanses, from your [Water] dodge heal to attunement swapping to Healing Rain. This, combined with the actual act of healing, is a huge reason to both keep an eye out for specific classes (Necros/Engineer) and keep an eye on your allies’ meters.
Healing: Your main job, of course, and it’s not as simple as tossing out Geyser and Healing Rain once in a while. Learning to be an effective healer means making split-second decisions on who to use your heals on and exactly what heals to use for specific situation. Overhealing is useless, underhealing isn’t effective enough, and trying to heal a poisoned ally can end up being a waste. People who don’t play healers often think it’s a simple job of “healing the lowest HP ally” but who gets healed when you have both a Warrior and Elementalist at 25% HP? Which classes are more likely to accidentally dodge out of one of your AoE heals? While a lot of tips and tricks are covered in this guide some things can only be truly learned through experience.
HEALING
Like previously mentioned, healing requires more than simply splashing water over allies like an epic wet t-shirt contest. You have to have an understanding of each of your heals; how much health they restore, when to use them, and what additional effects they have. Also, I’ll be referring to the dodge+attunement swap combo heal as the “splish-splash combo” because I’m silly like that.
- Soothing Mist applies to all allies (1200r) whenever you’re in Water Attunement; and thanks to Lingering Elements it lasts even when you’re not attuned to water. While not too epic on it’s own, it combines with Regeneration to give a passive heal stronger than Warrior’s Healing Signet.
- Regeneration can be a bit tricky to apply, but you should be trying to grant it as often as possible. Swapping to Water will be the quickest, easiest way to apply AoE Regeneration when you don’t have Healing Rain up.
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
“its not about you, even though you spent $50-$100 on a product and when you (and the rest of the elementalist community) determined you got a disfigured, horrific version of that product you paid for, you got mad, but you shouldnt be because its not about you or your money or your experience – its about Anet shoving whatever piece of disfigured confusion down your throat, whether you like it or not.”
The product you paid for hasn’t come out yet. As of this minute, they owe you absolutely nothing. They could exclude the Tempest from all beta weekends and you would still be getting 100% of everything you paid for.
Now, when HoT launches, that’s what you paid for, and if the Tempest is awful, then you have every right to be upset about that. For the time being though, if you’re disappointed in the current state of the class because you’re concerned about where it will end up, giving constructive feedback is perfectly appropriate, but complaining about the current state because it’s the current state is entirely worthless.
I personally really like the overload concept. Everything else? … Not so much. But I think you’re misunderstanding the outrage over the changes OP.
If you look at the other class forums at least for Necro and Mesmer, you can clearly see that changes were made as a direct result of player feedback. Not only were the changes (and even the nerfs on Chronomancer) intelligent and interesting, but they clearly demonstrated that a dev is reading our input, values it, and attempted to work with us.
Tempest changes, on the other hand, show a lack of understanding (or denial) of why the Tempest was so lackluster, with few edits that actually address what players were complaining about.
So while other players get to actively participate in the development in their elite specs, Eles get a note that says “lol deal with it. beta not about you.”
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
I know you can see someone’s +1s based on descending order, but can you see exactly how many people voted?
Overall I’m really happy with these baseline changes. iPersona being baseline alone would’ve been enough to merit a backflip or two, but if I had to rate my top three favorite changes it’d be:
3) Glamour 20% Recharge Reduction
2) Manipulation Range Increase
1) iPersona! Still can’t get over this! /hypetrainoverload
I think these three changes will have the most noticeable effect on overall Mesmer gameplay, no matter what the build. Glamour Cooldowns makes Null Field a very strong contender for condi removal/boonstrip, especially with the Chaos Armor buff (more on this soon), Blink is a staple of most Mesmer, so the range increase is fantastic. And iPersona.. Jeez, I really can’t explain all the benefits this grants us, but no matter what build you run iPersona will grant you a noticeable damage/defense/control boost. 1 extra shatter may not seem like much, but it makes a massive difference in the fast-paced playstyle of the Mesmer.
(Pt 2 will detail traitlines)
I definitely see your point here, and I don’t know if I agree or disagree.
The way I see it: Reapers give a Melee option, DHunters give a Ranged option, Chronomancers allow a support option.
Mesmer support has always been rather meh. Strongish boonsharing when done right, but the process is overly complicated. Glamours are good but don’t merit a “support” build." The Inspiration line isn’t something you’ll often build from. We have a lot of good support options but yet still don’t quite have what it takes for a support build.
Chronomancer helps to fill in a couple gaps in the Mesmer style: AoE damage and meaningful supportive options. At the same time, it manages to enhance what we already have in just about every other build. I’ve always felt that Mesmer is a more “creative-oriented” class in that very little of our abilities are all that straight-forward. Guardians were build to support. Necros for condis. Rangers for ranged DPS. Eles/Engies for a bit of everything. Thieves for damage.
Mesmer? Moreso up to the user.
With Chronomancer I think they’re continuing that theme. They don’t wanna say “Chronomancer plays like this” so much as they want to give us some interesting tools to be creative with and say “How does your Chronomancer play?”
When you look at build possibilities, I feel Reapers are rather limited. Melee power DPS build… Melee condi DPS build… That’s about it. Dragon Hunters are mostly the same as well. Ranged power DPS or ranged condi DPS.
I see far more possibilities with Chrono, from melee to ranged to support to bunker to condi to power. How effective these possibilities are? We’ll have to see.
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
Welcome to Mesmer! All of the weapons are pretty decent to use, but for now since you’re just trying to get a feel for the class I’d recommend trying all the weapons, but I think the best set for leveling is Sword/Focus – Greatsword.
That set will give you good speed and mobility and a way to manage groups while also doing good single-target damage. Once you start deciding to branch out into other things (Dungeons, PvP, or WvW) you’ll move on to other sets but in general sword is your best friend.
(Lyssa’s Grimoire is 80% updated! While I add in the Chronomancer bits, I’ll work on mini-threads -that’ll eventually be merged into the Grimoire- to help get the info out as soon as possible)
So you wanna make a Chronomancer for PvP real quick, but not sure what traits work? Perhaps theorycrafting just isn’t your thing? Here are some quick notes for building your own Chronomancer.
TRAITS
SHATTER: (Dom/Dueling/Chrono) – Mental Anguish, Shattered Concentration, Deceptive Evasion, Time Catches Up, Illusionary Reversion
CONDI: (Dueling/Illusions/ Chrono) – Deceptive Evasion, Ineptitude, Maim the disillusioned, Malicious Sorcery, Illusionary Reversion
LOCKDOWN: (Dom/Chaos/Chrono) – Power Block, Chaotic Interruption, Mirror of Anguish, Delayed Reactions, Danger Time, Lost Time
PHANTASM: (Domination/Illusions/Chrono) – Empowered Illusions, Persistence of Memory, Phantasmal Haste, Improved Alacrity, Chronophantasma
SUPPORT: (Chaos/Inspiration/Chrono) – Chaotic Dampening, Bountiful Disillusionment Illusionary Inspiration, Shattered Conditions, Alls Well that Ends Well, Improved Alacrity, Chronophantasma
WEAPONS
AMULETS
POWER: – Marauder, Berserker, Celestial
CONDITION: – Rabid, Celestial
RUNES
POWER: Strength, Hoelbrak, Chronomancer, Lyssa, Melandru, Pack
CONDITION: Undead, Nightmare
SUPPORT: Altruism, Mercy, Pack
SIGILS
POWER: Fire, Air
CONDITION: Geomancy, Blood, Doom
GENERAL: Energy, Generosity, Purity
UTILITIES
STUNBREAK: Blink, Decoy, Well of Precognition
TEAM FIGHTS: TimeWarp, Mass Invisibility, Well of … Anything, really.
STOMPS/REZZES: Well of Precognition, Well of Action
MESMER-SPECIFIC GREATNESS: Portal, Gravity Well
SAMPLE BUILDS
Anddd you’re good to go. Any further questions feel free to post in this thread!
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
Embolism long time no see. And try casting Mirror under Master of Manipulation and then dodging. You can get a mean 6s reflect.
Still experimenting with Condi mes?
I wouldn’t automatically assume Marauders means glass. You can essentially have perma-protection in addition to your usual distorts, heals, blinds, ECT. When you take the proper traits. Check out Holl’s boonshare thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Vid-BoonShare-Mesmer-Post-Patch-WvW-PvP
I run a similar build to that (also in that link) with mercy runes. Even with Mirror granting a small heal, restorative illusions mixed with perms regen-protection and more blinds than I know what to do with (not to mention stability) gives me plenty of sustain.
In any given fight I hold on to perma: fury, swiftness, protection, regeneration, might while still holding decent uptimes of retaliation & aegis. Its one of the strongest builds I’ve played since the patch behind shatter/lockdown
“Cuz, swords.” Is exactly my Sw/Sw logic.
Also “Cuz, Drizzt.”
@Gaia: I didn’t check the timer tbh, but I was running iCelerity with Malicious Sorcery and the Scepter’s counter recharged almost exactly as the last torment stacks wore off.
@Skcamow: You know.. It probably would’ve been a smart idea to make those threads for guide info. “Top 5 Least Favorite Traits” & “Top 5 Favorite/Least Favorite Skills”
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
Awesome! Noted for the guide.
Gasmic’s head jerked backwards as the electricity that had been racing through his body jolted out of his eyes. It jumped defensively around him until molding into a spherical barrier around his body. He crouched low as the clones’ blades raced in, not surprised as each and every one of them were halted by the shocking aura. They’d only be held for a moment, but that was all he needed. The mage snapped up, leaping into the air and coming down with a heavy stomp.
Obfuscate.
Impossibly heavy. As if he were a meteor crashing into the earth, a shockwave rolled through the ground and took all the clones (and a hidden Aeoldyn) from their feet. Gasmic, his face as expressionless as stone, landed in a kneeling position with his daggers plunged firmly into the earth. His head was bowed low and his entire body was impossibly still as he focused. He could feel the pulse of the earth, the tectonic activity that controlled the planet’s movement, and he called to it. Like a focal point of an earthquake, the ground began to shudder for miles.
Disorient.
Neither Aeoldyn, nor any of his clones could find their footing. The churning earth was relentless, shaking them off the floor, then slamming them hard when they landed. The Mesmer cursed, hitting the ground seizing hard and shaking down to his core. Now would’ve been such a perfect time to stab the impertinent elementalist! He had to settle for the next best thing though, and while laying on his chest on the shaking ground the sylvari pointed one sword towards Gasmic. The elementalist’s focus was absolute, and he continued to build up seismic energy. He couldn’t react in time as the remaining mob of clones made a desperate run towards him. All semblance of realism had flown from these illusions, and they had charged the human with one goal in mind: Shattering, and wracking apart his mind in the process.
But Gasmic, a powerful guild leader and veteran Mist warrior, had faced countless Mesmer before. As the clones advanced on him, hairline fractures raced from the ground beneath the elementalist’s feet. Large chunks of stone ripped themselves from the ground, orbiting around the human before coalescing onto his skin, forming a solid stone exoskeleton. Aeoldyn’s clones surrounded him, each one of them overloaded with chaotic energy, and though they were illusions and mostly figments of his own imagination, they burst violently all about the human. None of the shattering illusions released any kind of concussive force, yet the shockwaves of energy blew off chunks of Gasmic’s stone armor and sent pain through his head like a dagger being lodged into both his eyes.
But Aeoldyn, who was less than ten paces away and prone, had failed to knock him out.
Gasmic screamed, and slammed his fists down to release all the energy he had built up into a titanic seismic wave. He hadn’t intended to kill Aeoldyn of course, but the massive shockwave had all the force of an avalanche, splitting the ground open and pushing up uneven spires of stone and debris. Dust would fill the sky and the mesmer’s screams were smothered under the roar of the still-shaking planet.
… Atleast, that was what the elementalist intended.
Confuse!
The instant before his fists hit the ground, Aeoldyn thrust his mind into Gasmic’s. His mantra burned into the elementalist’s thoughts and suddenly the human’s world went white. The mental intrusion only lasted for a moment, but Gasmic had suddenly felt extremely dizzy. Try as he might, in that short amount of time Gasmic couldn’t remember where he was, why he was there, or even what his own name was.
Water. His first clear thought was thinking of water. A quick attunement swap, a refreshing cleanse, and he’d be ready to fight again. Yet when his vision cleared, he was still kneeling, but he was looking down at a blade tucked dangerously under his chin and less than an inch from his throat. Aeoldyn, smiled before dipping a respectful bow.
“Victory appears to be mine.”
“Tch. Mesmers…”
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
Just to give a heads up.. major update coming soon!
There’s a certain type of people that gravitate towards “weird” or “difficult” characters/classes/builds in games. From what I’ve seen, these people tend to be the same people that are turned off by “average” or “normal.” Hell, the word “normal” defined means “Conforming to the standard type. Usual. Regular.”
It’s that last one that gets me: “Regular.”
… Ew.
It comes down in a large part to personality. Mesmer is a cerebral class. You have to be forward-thinking, strategic, and adaptable in order to be successful. While there’s no right or wrong way to play, people often find success with a class that matches who they are.. Just like with sports, music, school, jobs and… anything else in life. (Yes, some people don’t have a main class and prefer to multi-class but that in and of itself is a personality trait, too.)
And no, I’m not saying Mesmer players are smarter or more cerebral than anyone else, I’m simply saying that these are traits of the class that draw people. My brother hates mages, his personal pride makes him abhor magic-focused classes and steers him towards Warrior, Guardian Ranger, and/or Thief. He doesn’t like paper-thin classes because he likes to be in the thick of a fight trading blows, which narrows him down to Warrior/Guardian. He thinks Guardian is cool, but not enough damage, so Warrior it is. This man will never touch an Ele, Necro, or Mesmer. My other friend loves rushdown (rapid in-your-face) and flashy combos characters in fighting games, he was right at home with Elementalist but would refuse to play Warrior feeling that it was too simple, even though he admits it’s fun.
Maybe Mesmer is fun, but just not for you. For me, it’s Mesmer allday errday with the occasional spice of terribad Ele.
You’re not an iWarden fan here?
I love Warden, but couldn’t find a place for it here. Its a better PvE phantasm and I’ve mostly had success using it defensively.
(also, if I did take it I’d be taking it over offhand sword and I’m just way too biased for that)
Traits (This system has undergone significant changes. The following traits are a full representation of the new core specialization lines.)
Domination:
Minor
Adept:
Master:
Grandmaster:
Dueling:
Minor:
Adept:
Master:
Grandmaster:
@keenlam: That sounds good to me, really good actually. Thanks man!
@all: I really wanna push this first training session for sometime soon too, I’m willing to do it for this weekend throughout next weekend if anyone else is willing/wanted. Alissah can help me coordinate on the EU side?
You know, I don’t even think the devs were all on the same page when it came to whether or not this was a bug. What I think happened was that it was originally decided to be working fine and then somewhere along the line someone else decided it was a bug.
To those saying “look at the tooltip! it was clearly a bug” the tooltips are not the most reliable things to count on, and the devs don’t always realize what’s a bug and what’s not depending on the tooltip. For example…
There was some confusion regarding the malicious sorcery + Illusionist’s celerity. I made a mistake. To clear things up, using combinations such as Wardens Feedback and Illusionist’s celerity shouldn’t double reduce phantasm skill cooldowns. I thought that was regarding that issue but I see it was for a mainhand trait.
~posting from home, apologies.
Tyler, doubling up on cooldown traits has been a feature since the beginning of the game.
Respectfully, I believe you’re badly mistaken.
The dev had assumed that the 40% cooldown reduction was a bug because of it not reflecting in the tooltip. Luckily Pyro helped prevent it from getting “fixed.” The same argument here could’ve applied there. “Look at the tooltip, it was obviously a bug!”
If the devs actually played the class, they’d know what a big nerf this is and there’s a chance the tooltip would’ve just been changed to “Swap places with the clone’s last position” or they could’ve exercised a bit of foresight and creativity by realizing how badly this hurts the class and instead changing the skill to be something more like “Feigned Surge” (Spear 2 I believe) where you leap forward rather than the clone and then teleport BACKWARDS to your last position, applying the immob in an AoE where you used to be.
And to those who don’t think the nerf really changed anything… I’m sorry to say but no matter how long you’ve been playing, you weren’t using the sword to it’s fullest potential (though technically it also depends on what gametype you play). There were a lot of creative tricks you could pull off with the teleport; one of the best techniques, especially for a Mes using CI, was sending the clone out, F3 shattering it, and swapping in behind the daze.
If there’s any bug to the skill, it’s the stunbreak. I’d rather that have gotten fixed rather than the asinine clone swap “fix.”
I don’t suppose there’s any hope for them giving the new torch phantasm something other than fury as a boon.
Utterly bizarre change. It’s on a condition weapon and there’s no use for it, unless your build also has dueling, in which case all your phantasms have perma fury and there’s still no use for it.
Torch 4 can do decent power damage, adding fury makes the phantasm more flexible for power builds.
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
What Ross is trying to say through his power trip (dam, bro. Why we gotta kill them in the bathtub tho? Nothing is sacred anymore…) is that Mesmer feels absolutely awesome at the moment.
- 4 out of 5 of our traitlines are great (with the last one having to settle with “decent”), nearly every single one of our traits are useful. Pracically all of our grandmasters are fantastic.
- Build diversity has gone up as well as the ability to play different roles.
- Most veteran Mesmer wet themselves when the patch dropped. It’s like they took a llama off our back and are actually allowing us to ride the kitten thing!
As for non-meta builds.. check out this thread
Shatter isn’t dead. Anet just gave us – gasp – some build diversity! Shatter specs haven’t really been nerfed.. but you’re definitely gonna need some condition removal nowadays.
I’m starting to agree with the sentiment that threads like these are going to get us nerfed into oblivion…
Double nerfing confounding is overdoing it. Making it proc on-interrupt with the 5s ICD is fine (but also conflicts with Chaotic Interruption.) Increasing the ICD to 10s would also be reasonable, though I feel the ICD should be per-target like Ineptitude.
Nerf Harmonious Mantras because.. it’s becoming meta?
Nerf the dueling line granting near permanent fury despite the fact that.. other classes can do the same?
… You’re suggestion the Inspiration line, a line you admit to not have even tested or know much about, be nerfed.
Actually.. 3 of your points are advocating changes to things you’ve never tried or tested yourself. This is guaranteed to do more harm than good, and will have a much worse effect the potential of new builds and strategies rather than standard shatter. -_-
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
I dunno the answer to yer question, but Frifox’s word is law.
I dunno if it’s gonna be the grandmaster trait they’re talking about, and while I’m HOPING it’s gonna replace Wastrel’s Punishment, I won’t hold my breath… but putting the trait ANYWHERE in the domination line is painful, Halting Strike/Mental Torment/Empowered Illusions/Shattered Concentration/Traited Torch/Harmonious Mantras/Confounding Suggestions.. ughh.
I like bouncing attacks. I don’t think the bouncing is the problem, I think the problem is several of the bounces are simply lackluster at best.
I will be honest with you, I think the shield phantasm is just fine, but I do agree that the torch phantasm and disenchanter are both extremely weak.
The problem with bounces is that all of the bouncing attacks are two-fold. This means you have to rely on it hitting the opponent in order to have a chance at getting the benefit. So if I want alacrity from iAvenger I need to make sure:
- I’m not blinded on summon.
- Phantasm isn’t blinded when it casts
- The projectile isn’t blocked.
- The projectile isn’t dodged.
- The projectile isn’t absorbed.
- The projectile isn’t evaded/invulned.
- The projectile isn’t reflected.
- The projectile doesn’t get body-blocked.
- I’m in range to receive the bounce.
They’re just way too situational, and the odds get lower and lower as more people join the fight.
To my utter and complete shock, especially considering how that other thread was just going, I find myself agreeing with you on this. But I think they can be improved by just making them more powerful, to address those other issues. I would have to think about it.
I like Kool’aid though. =P
The one thing I think would really help bounce projectiles (besides reworking the entire bounce mechanic) is to make them unblockable, or have the projectile burst a little AoE on each bounce. OR Be able to target allies with these phantasms.
Mesmer
General
Phantasm damage has been increased by 15%.
Summoned clones will now show your equipped off-hand weapon.
Fixed a bug in which underwater clones did not show tridents.
Fixed an issue where the Illusionary Rogue’s attack was being listed as “Smoke Bomb” in the combat log. It is now referred to as “Shadow Assault.”
Skills
Mesmer skills that create bouncing projectiles will now have them bounce one
additional time.
Reduced the recharge on glamour skills by 20%.
Using any shatter skill now creates the shatter effect on you as well by default.
Mantras now give 600 toughness while channeling them.
Manipulation skill range has been increased to 1200.
Pistol skills used by you and your illusions have had their range increased to 1200.
Mind Wrack: Reduced the recharge from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
Cry of Frustration: Reduced the recharge from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
Diversion: Reduced the recharge to 38 seconds. It now shows the number of targets dazed (1) when untraited.
Distortion: Reduced the recharge to 50 seconds. When affected by traits such as Maim the Disillusioned and Illusionary Retribution, this skill now strikes 1 target.
Chaos Storm: Increased poison duration from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.
Confusing Images: Added one additional strike to this skill. Strikes from this skill now display an additive total rather than individual hits. This skill now activates 50% faster.
Ether Clone (Scepter skill 1, chain 3): Adjusted the timing of this attack to flow better with the other attacks in the chain. The projectile is now launched sooner, but the attack has slightly longer aftercast. The number of clones generated per second by this chain is unchanged.
Feedback: This skill now requires a target. This change addressed an issue that allowed this skill to be cast at an unspecified location if the player did not have a target.
Ineptitude (Trident skill 2): This skill has been renamed to “Blinding Tide.”
Illusionary Defender: Updated the description of this skill to more accurately convey that it also absorbs damage directed at allies. Functionality has not been changed.
Illusionary Leap: Increased the delay before the clone is summoned by about 0.25 seconds to allow players to start casting this skill while moving within range and not have it fail. The speed of attack of Illusion has been increased by about 0.35 seconds to allow for better tracking against moving targets.
Mass Invisibility: This skill is now classified as a manipulation.
Mimic: Updated functionality of this skill. This skill now causes the next utility-slot skill you use within 10 seconds to recharge in 1 second. Increased recharge to 90 seconds.
Mirror: This skill is now classified as a manipulation and has a unique mirror enhancement that can be applied by traits.
Polymorph Moa: This skill has been renamed to “Signet of Humility” and is now classified as a signet skill. Its passive effect reduces the duration of stun, daze, fear, and taunt by 20%. Its active effect remains unchanged.
Polymorph Moa—Kick: Movement-speed adjustments no longer affect the intended travel distance.
Polymorph Moa—Flee: Movement-speed adjustments no longer affect the intended travel distance.
Phantasmal Mage: Instead of inflicting confusion on foes and granting retaliation on allies, this phantasm now inflicts 1 stack of burning for 6 seconds on foes and grants 3 seconds of fury to allies. Removed undocumented condition removal from this phantasm.
Portal: Attempting to create a second portal entrance while you have an active portal will destroy the active portal.
Signet of Illusions: Reduced recharge to 60 seconds. This skill now specifies which skills it recharges.
Signet of Inspiration: Reduced recharge of this skill to 30 seconds. The passive effect of this signet now grants 5 seconds of swiftness plus one other random boon every 10 seconds. It no longer grants swiftness as one of its random boons.
Signet of Midnight: The passive effect of this signet now grants 20% condition duration instead of 10% boon duration.
Spinning Revenge (Trident 3): This skill now applies chaos armor to you when cast.
Time Warp: This skill is now classified as a glamour. It now pulses 1 second of slow every second on foes in the affected area, in addition to its previous effect of quickness on allies.
I posted this in the main thread in General but I think it got buried. If anyone answered it there I missed it in the pages of posts that appeared overnight. Does anyone here have clarity to offer on this for me? Have I completely misunderstood how things work?
Mesmer question: Given that Feedback now requires a target, and that Feedback can be cast when reviving an ally, where will it appear during revival? I may just misunderstand, but I thought it was only useful when placed over a foe firing missiles. If it appears over your ally, is it any use at all if no mobs are standing there firing point blank?
Feedback works on anything in or out of the bubble. Placing it on yourself/ally on rez means that no projectiles can hit you while you’re reviving. Medics feedback has always placed it around the Mesmer, and its great in group fights.
Hey Chaos! I saw in one of the forum threads that you’re computer is having issues, sorry to hear that, I hope it can be fixed soon.
I was wondering if there was any where on the mesmer forum that had a list of people that specialized In certain aspects of mesmer play? For example I know if I wanted to know anything about the ins and outs of lockdown you or Warlord would be the go to people to ask. But what about shatter? Or the multiple variations of condi? I was just wondering if there was something like it for people like myself that wants to go to individuals and learn more about a certain type play style.
Why didn’t we think to do this sooner? o_O
Do me a favor and take a good long look at all your utilities, and all your traits. Ask yourself what drew you to Mesmer in the first place? Don’t you want to try out everything the class has to offer? How many builds do you normally play on average? One? Two? Take the time out to explore, to try something new and to discover all this class has to offer. Leave viability for speedruns, tournaments, and any time you feel like being hardcore. In the mean time… try something new!
SHATTER
Jurica.1742 / Lord Jurica
Supcutie / Supcutie the Red
jportell.2197 / Johnny The Gray
Coulter
Zerothousand.3089
Terrorsquad.2349 / Cute Denial
Warlord of Chaos.7845 / Rylock Dreadstone
Liam McColgan.7689
Shintei.9061
shimmerless.4560 / blissless
Slininstien.7546
PHANTASM
Jackums.3496
MandJ.8965 / Momekas
LOCKDOWN
Chaos Archangel.5071 / Aeoldyn
Warlord of Chaos / Rylock Dreadstone
Flufferz.8907
PU
IcyIcyIcy
Pyroathiest
MAIMED (Condi) SHATTER
MailMail.6534 – Cho
Dondagora
twisted fate.7251
messiah.1908
MANTRA
Fay.2735/ Fay
SIGNETS
alanis.6094
WVW (ROAMING)
Nehvie
Xiao
Iavra.8510
Trooper
Warlord of Chaos.7845 / Rylock Dreadstone
WVW (GUILD VS GUILD)
Warlord of Chaos.7845 / Rylock Dreadstone
Me Games Ma.8426
DUNGEONS
Xyonon.3987 / Madame Le Blanc
Frifox
Jerem
Sanderinoa
maha.7902 / Serah Mahariel
FRACTALS OF THE MISTS
Xyonon.3987 / Madame Le Blanc
PVE OPEN WORLD
Calliope.8675 / Vinesta
GENERAL MESMER STUFF
Frifox
Pyroathiest / Pyros Everywhere
Ross Biddle.2367 / Buton
Xyonon.3987 / Madame Le Blanc
Daniel Handler.4816 / Kentigem
skcamow.3527 / Kortham Raysplitter
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
I had the hugest grin on my face by the time I read the first “shatter.” (which drew odd looks at my job =P )
That was a very interesting read! At some points it was a bit hard to follow grammatically and hard to keep a mental picture of the entire story with so many things happening seemingly all at once, but even still it was …
Hm, I can’t think of any more fitting word. It was fun! It was fun to read, as if the characters were enjoying themselves and I could vicariously enjoy myself reading it.
Its easy to see the work you put into this, and it was definitely enjoyable so thanks a lot for posting it. And double-thanks for the shoutout, it really means alot and made me feel extra proud!
(P.S. If that Sylvari was who I think it was, I’m so honored! )
Shatter, Glamour, Confusion, Inspiration, Mantra…. I can honestly say that if I had never browsed the forums, I wouldnt know half of what I do about builds and Mesmer versatility. There are a lot of extremely helpful players in the Mesmer forums running all kinds of different builds, so it made me curious..
Bunker - 5
Glamour/Condition - 28
Hybrid - 20
Inspiration/Support - 6
Mantra - 4
Phantasm - 22
Shatter - 27
Interrupt - 4
“Bad Mesmer”: Jax =P
Like my signature says, I run a full support Sword-Focus/Staff Mesmer in PvE/WvW. I chose this because, in the first few months of the game, so many people claimed that Mesmer couldn’t make reliable support characters compared to a Guardian or Elementalist and were better suited for damage. I havent played many MMOs (AoC, Champions Online) but Ive always felt a special satisfaction in saving/supporting ithers both in games and in IRL so I seeked to prove ppl wrong. With the help of many people on these very forums, I believe I succeeded.
In sPvP, Im currently running a hybrid Sw/Sw glamour-Shatter build.. but it changes often.
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
This is kind of sad. =/ Not even a Dev response on the subject? It’s been over a year now….
Somebody… explain.. the math….. can’t.. brain.. it.. =[ My phantasms never do .7878 damage. /Twists blonde hair around index-finger
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