Guild Wars 2

Leveling a mesmer is a bit of a pain according to some, but i had my first (and only) leveling experience as a mesmer, and it was pretty awesome.
I think mesmer and elementalist are boththe same difficulty for leveling actually.

Mesmers are like the jack of all trades, master of whatever they feel like. Really, you can do pretty much anything with a mesmer!

In a group situation you can:

• provide damage and survive (not higher than a berserker warrior, but you dtill have stealth, teleports and evades. while a warrior sacrifices defense for damage, you can keep it)
• provide a whole lot of boons, i believe up to par with guardians if youre specced for it.
• provide alot of healing. You cant do anything else while healing though, unless you only use the perma regeneration.
• alot of projectile reflection that can easily fit in any build. Just equip a utilty, or have 10 or 20 in a single traitline to get acces to 3 cooldown traited reflections.
• alot more!

Elementalists use alot of combo fields and finishers to stack might and healing, all in their normal damage rotation. They seem to be more focussed on damaging the enemy, but if an ally is near to receive boons its more of a “lucky for you” thing.

Mesmers can trait for boon support and focus on doing that, placing skills to support allies instead of damaging enemies (although youll be doing both at the same time usually).

That said, you should choose which one cosmetically pleases you the most!
Would you prefer doing damage and healing with fire, water, earth and wind, or would you prefer confusing enemies and protecting allies at the same time with chaos magic… While your phantasms and clones are killing stuff at the same time?

Bad example, i know.

I feel like the ideas in the OP are just roleplaying…

And yes, feed ack creates an area where all projectiles are reflected, not a dome :P.

Raever.9483:

How about George Cloney?

LOL
Quoted for awesomeness.

It would be cool if the first hit was a blast finisher and smoke field (but it doesnt combo with itself). The torch phantasm sill would have stealth potential without being overpowered or randomly annoying allies : D.

Create a phantasm that shoots an explosive orb akittens target, which creates a confusing field and then bounces for confusion to foes and retaliation to allies.

Cooldown: 25

• First hit triggers direct damage 3 times (3.0 total damage mult). It triggers 3 times so it has more chance to proc sharper images ^__^
• the other hits from normal bounces trigger 2 times at a damage mult of 0.75 (1.5 in total)
• Each time the projectile hits something, projectile velocity is increased by 25%. This is because the first hit is the most dangerous, and should be telegraphed for PvP.
• The first hit/explosion makes a smoke field, which pulses 7s confusion (1 stack)(no direct damage), lingers for 7 seconds. (Assuming attack speed is 6s)
• On creation of the smoke field, foes are 3s blinded and 2s burning, a blast finisher also triggers (but not with itself).
• The projectile bounces, makes small explosions with a 150 radius, 3 stacks confusion 5s duration, 5s retaliation.
• If an enemy is hit by the projectile theyre also blinded for 1s (but not enemies in the aoe zone).
• The bounce prioritizes enemies
• if the projectile fails to hit anything, an explosion will occur as if it hit something, but the projectile also dissapears. (After the orb exceeded maximum range or collides with the world)

edit: the orb would look like that lava ball from underwater fire elementalists : D. When it explodes and bounces away, the smoke field that’s left is a purple mist that looks like the #2, boil.
After the smoke field creation, it gets the graphics of out current projectile, but a bigger version. It shrinks with every hit : D.
Maybe the smaller explosions can have a lingering graphic aswell? It wouldnt change gameplay but it would look pretty awesome!

Nononono

Finishers (limited use) can only be used 5 times after you consume them.

The unlimited rank finishers will have the infinite symbol, bt limited use finishers will have a ‘5x’ below them.

It seems like a nerf to me… I have 3 super adventure finishers, 15 uses, would have been 1 and a half hour before the update. If i jump in hotjoin mathes they can literally be gone in 15 minutes, assuming i can get 1 kill per minute.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Yata.8932:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Ok, new question. You don’t appear to be wearing TA armor. Did you get your armor set fully from TA and then transmute it to something else +put in new runes?

I’m wearing Whispers armor with TA stats and runes of the mesmer, but I transmuted it like a year ago lol and it’s not from me being hit. Also, it’s not a problem with the rune of perplexity, cause i don’t have those yet.

Ahah, so here’s the deal. When you use an armor set that originally had runes come with it, like any of the dungeon sets, those runes seem to be somehow hardcoded into the armor. Your clones will get some of the bonuses of the original armor set, but not yourself. In this case, your clones are displaying the on-being-hit fear proc.

Eureka!

I cant wait for someone to prove you wrong.

Im actually really interested in knowing if this applies to all dungeon armor, and maybe <name>‘s armor aswell (like menlho’s coat).

I wonder if they give the stats from runes aswell… And what about other player summons proccing runes :O. (Ranger pet, minions, spirit weapons etc)

Some months ago there was a thread about phantasms creating golems :p.

Mesmers and rhieves both have hith burst, mobility, stealth and disengages and stuff.

If you were to fight a group of 10 kittens with a mesmer/necromancer, the necromancer will die. Lets assume 5 kittens target the mesmer and rhe other 5 the nedromancer.

The necromancer probably has more hp/armor, so the mesmer will lose health quicker, and they will blink or stealth. Then all he kittens lose interest in the mesmer and all 10 zerg the necromancer. Once a kitten targets the necro, its really hard to draw aggro as a mesmer.

If you know what i mean :P. Im not saying that necros cant roam, im just saying they cant stealth or disengage.

TL;DR: mesmer/thief both have mobility, stealth and disengages=good!

Rune of tormenting :o?

I feel like im missing so much on holiday >_<

Im going to assume both are using shatter builds.

The staff mesmer will try to hug you very closely to reduce greatsword damage, but when theyre using shatter, thy wont get much damage from the staff. Simply dodge the illusionary leap shatter combo, and there wont be muh other damage coming from him (relative to your gs damage).

Surviving with a GS is harder with a staff, so you have to learn when to use blinks and decoys, also pan your camera and turn around and run and stuff.

The staff mesmer has more room to use their utilities offensively, because they have defense with the staff, but they do less ranged damage.
The greatsword does more damage, basically.

Ive been experimenting with a GS recently in hotjoin pvp, but i have ro disengage and pan the camera alot. Sometimes when i dont turn around and kite i just simply die :p. I recommend a staff if you want to survive better actually.

Never trust tooltips in this game.
Same goes for patch notes :/.

I thought this bug was fixed some months ago?

Interupt traits should have an effect when you interupt (as they do now), and a minor effect when you apply control effects without interuption.

halting strike: deal damage when interupting a foe, or deal 33% damage when controling them without interuption.

chaos grandmaster: (cant remember the name) inflict immobilize and then randomly blind chill criplle upon interuption. Only randomly apply blind chill cripple when controling without interuption.

bountiful interuption: gain 5 stacks of migt and another boon randomly. Only gain another boon randomly when controling without interuption.

Something like that.

Activation times should also be faster on interupt skills, but others have probably already said that.

Anothe rproblem is that theres only few skis you can react to with an interupt, like churning earrh and hundred blades. Ive had some nice interupt on eartshaker and other warrior hammer skills too. I already had the temporal currain placed, but it would be impossible with say magic bullet :P

A funny skill to interupt is illusionary leap. Push or pull the clone away, and rhe average mesmer will swal regardless of where the clone is ^__^. Im getting a bit side tracked here

In dungeons i usually go phantasm or boon support. Long ago i always went shatter eerywhere, but both damage and support is kind of lackluster compared to ofhers :/.

For wvw roaming i pretty much always go shatter, same for Tpvp and hotjoin pvp.
For hotjoin pvp i like trying random builds from the forums and other unique builds, but i alsays come back to shatter :P.

I dont do much roaming though, mainly because on certain days its really hard to find action, and Spvp is full of it :p.

I still see myself as a Shattercat, because in games and fantasies i always pick rhe agile characters, instead of the “brute force” or “someone who only uses magic from really far aaay and dies when sneezed on” characters. Cats are also my favourite animals :D.

@xaylin.1860
Thanks for the detailed response!
My holiday has been quite miserable so far… But ill save you the life story >_<.

Ive made a lot of changes to traits today, hopefully toned down the OPness of most. All text between brackets (()) wouldnt be displayed in game to keep it cleaner.

I never intended to make a perfectly balanced suggestion, but more make some points of discussion so the community can help me with it, so i really appreciate your response.

I still think null field is better for group play than AR though.
Null field: removes 6 (?) condiions in total on up to 5 allies, 7(?) with temporal enchanter. (Temporal enchanter was never used, but i hope my new traits make it a bit more viable). Also removes boons on foes standing in it. Cooldown 40 (32)
Arcane thievery: transfer 3 of your conditions to foe, steal 3 boons if it hits, remove 2 conditions from yourself with both far-reaching manipulations and master of manipulation. Remove 1 condition from allies (15s cooldown, only 1 condition) with inspiration grandmaster. Transfer 3 boons from foe to yourself. Cooldown 45(36).

When i said “manipulations remove a condition from yourself and affected allies”, i meant only if the manipulation actually affects allies! Blink only affects yourself, so does mimic and arcane thievery. Only Illusion of life would remove conditions from allies.

Arcane thievery “removes” 5 of your conditions and 1 aoe, nullfield removes a condition per second, all of them are aoe. 5 removed conditions os a bit over the top though :/.

I had no idea mimic actually blocked attacks O.o.

Either far-reaching manipulations or master of manipulation can instead of removing a condition, inflict confusion instead! It can go in dueling because condition removal doesnt really fit in the tree, but it could also go in chaos because its a condition damage tree, kind of!

Blinding befuddlement didnt have an internal cooldown since the start of my suggestion.

Confusing combatants is very lackluster… Im not sure why arenanet put a confusion trait in the critical hits/evasion tree… What about something like "clones inflict 5 seconds of confusion when they are attacked (cooldown of 5s per clone). Most builds that take 25+ in dueling are shatter builds as far as i know, so making it on death but nothing on shatter doesnt really make sense imo.

VIII: Confusing enchantments – glamours pulse confusion (5s) to up to 3 foes (5 with temporal enchanter). Also inflict 3 stacks of torment for as long as the glamour lasts upon creation.

This is what i came up with. Feedback lasts 7 seconds, i think. If you place it on a foe, they would receive 3 stacks torment that lasts for 7 seconds. If you regive with medic’s feedback, it only inflicts like 3 or 4 seconds of torment (it doesnt last as long as the real feedback)

That said, i made alot of changes everywhere, and hopefully toned down the OPness. Thanks for the [feedback]!

Yea i agree thyre oer te top, and i want to edit some stuff xD. But im currently on moile and its really hard to read/edit big posts :/.

edit: made alot of changes to my suggestion, and theyre hopefully not as OP anymore :D

But isnt the nightmare runes fear when you get hit?

Can you try using different clones and see if they apply fear? I remember readif a thread months ago where illusions benefitted from items like menhlo’s coat, strange stuff xD.

I used the weirdest build ever…
10/20/10/0/30 i think.
signet mastery, far-reaching manipulations, blurred inscriptions, master of manipulation, illusionary invigoration, phantasmal haste and illusionary persona.Yea, i know >.<.
Used a sword focus and greatsword, signet of midnight, blink and feedback.

In phase 1 i stayed in sword/focus to use reflections, i occasionally switched to greatsword to kill the rift thingies and attack visions that dont aggro (and to get vigor because you can still crit 0 on them).

At phase 2, just doege the initial leap attack, and pretty much every other attack. Then you just run in circles and after a while the visions get stacked in a little ball and dont cause any trouble.

I used knight headpiece, top, gloves and shoulderpiece. Berserker skirt and boots. Cavalier rings, knight trinkets (i wanted to buycavalier but for some reason i didnt pay attention and bough the wrong ones >_<) and a berserker 16vit amulet.

The problemwith this build was that i literally killed her in te last second :O the announcer was already counting down and i killed her just ehen she hit 1 :P
Well, atleast i managed to survive… :/

Thief!

I actually like condition engineers too, they never target drop but they can kite really well with bombs or grenades. Usually the rngineer just uns circles shile i melt people in the back/low hp targets :P.

@xaylin.1860
Im currently short on time and ill respond to you as soon as i have time. Thank you for the feedback!

One thing i want to say is that the “remove condi on blind” was just a random though i had and im going to agree its overpowered. (I quickly skimmed through to see if i had enough time to intesively read it)

Edit: can you comment on how balanced all confusion traits are while im gone?

Lets assume a 0/10/10/30/0 build with y traits and compare arcane thievery and null field.

When using arcane thievey, you send 3 of your conditions to your foe (unchanged), then you remove 2 more conditions due to the manipulaion traits. Additionally, all nearby allies will also remove 2 conditions due to the moment of clarity trait (name is subject to change, but i didnt want to call it blank)

Im not sure how long null field lasts, and my resources to go on the wiki are very limited (on holiday, typing from iphone).

But i think 5 conditions and 2 aoe condioon removed is kind of up to par with null field :P. not to mention arcane thievery already hampers the enemy by stealing boons and sending conditions!

Now mimic… Maybe it can have a trait that makes the radius bigger? The pros vs feedback will be that you carry it with you and a lower cooldown. it also removes 2 conditions with rhe new traits!
The cons vs feedback is that you have to channel it and thus, cant do anyhing else and the radius is still smaller. (Im thinking a 150 range area around you that is protected).

I put alot of work in making this list, so please keep the suggestions and stuff coming

I believe there is no one “true meta”. Atleast not for pve, wvw and hotjoin pvp.

If you want a support build for mesmer, all you really need is 10 or 20 inspiration for projectile reflections if the situation calls for it. Any phantasm build already has 25 inspiration, both damage and support, so theres still a huge 35 points to spend. In my oppinion these 35 points can go anywhere, and you have a functioning (possibly not optimal) phantasm build!

The minimum requirements for functioning builds are… Minimal in my oppinion. (10/0/0/25/0, 0/20/0/0/30 just to name popular damage templates).

Any new player can pick a functioning trait template and then spend the remaining points anywhere they like.

Its all a matter of oppinion offourse. Some may argue that phantasm builds outshine all builds because of their amazing sustained damage while still keeping team support.

Even with trait points st in stone, each mesmer build still has viable choices. If using 10/30/0/30/0 build you can still for example trade projectile reflection for vigor on shatter, conditon removal or manipulation range etc.

And about the one in the link:
Bunker builds have more survivability.
Boon support builds have more boons.
Shatter builds have better burst damage and 1vsX flexibility. (For pvp atleast)
10/10/0/25/25 has better illusion cooldowns (:o!) and can keep perma reflection up.

I think for pvp tournaments there isnt any choice though :/. Just 20/20/0/0/30 and anything else is not optimal. Maybe im jus biased by seeing all mesmer Tpvpers use it, and i like doing significant damage :p.

edit: fixed some spelling errors.

I recommend mesmer. It may not be very easy like guardian for open world pve, but the versatality of the mesmer is amazing. Really, you can do pretty much anything with a mesmer! The versatality doesnt really open up untill you get traits though.

You can spec to be very evasive in pvp. You stand in ranged most of the time, but you often run in melee and do massive burst damage while evading all damage at the same time, then you go into ranged while not even being scratched.

Mesmer survivability in pvp depends alot on active defense. Invulnerbailities, stealths, peojectile reflects and more! People can literally run with a full berserker set without any toughness or vitality, and still just not die, or something :p.
in the beginning you will feel very squishy and kind of randomly use invilnerability skills, but after practice yoy gt alot better. Ive played my mesmer for almost 2000 hours and im still learning!

Open world pve statts a bit difficult, but it becomes alot easier once you get o level 40! At this level you create a clone every time you dodge, you just get so much clones youre not even sure what to do with them.

There are alot of amazing support mesmer builds (healing too!) out there, just like there are bunker builds and damage builds.

Thqt said, all professions are wanted in all areas of the game and theres alot of room for personalisation through traits. Id recommend going with the one that cosmetically pleases you the most. Mesmer is by no means the “best” profession. They are the only ones with purple butterflies though.

Oh, and female sylvaris are amazing.

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to send me a forum pm!

Well, it may feel like each weapon omly has a few good skills, but thats just because theyre really deep and theres room for a lot of improving! Believe me or not, but ive played my mesmer for almost 2000 hours since launch, and there are still things to learn and try out!

Engineer is balanced, but alot of their strength comes from their kits and stuff. With things like warrior and guardian you can pretty muh tank everything and never die, while almost all other professions have lower armor and die quicker. This may seem like a bad thing, but its not! They have low passive defense, but also get otherthings to compensate! Mesmer has clones, stealth, invulnerability, evasion and teleporting. Elementalist has burst healing for example.

These low defense professions may be harder to start out with, but trust me when i say: it only means its more rewarding once you learn how to use it.

As for healing, it is very usefull in parties, dungeons for example. Mesmer, guardian, ele and engineer are all very good healers, they do it in different ways though. Other professions can also heal in some way.. Except thief, but they have other support like stealth :/.

Mesmers are the jack of all trades, master of few. The beauty is that every skill and aeapon has a purpose, and you can simply swap some utilities, weapoks and traits to have the optimal build for the right situation, no retraiting required!
You can reflect projectiles, which not only damages the enemy, but also protects your team! You can heal them, you can apply allt of boone (dodge twice as often, do more damage etc) and you can do damage.

Try getting in a friendly guild! Just ask around in map chat and you should get a response. Im in a guild full of helpfull people, you can do dungeons and stuff wih them, explore or even just chat about the weather! If youre interested, feel free to forum PM me(or if you want to talk about anything else).

Oh, you should try a sylvari female, theyre just totally awesome. Always smiling and a super cute accent and stuf

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a forum PM and ill try to help as much as i can

When you talk to a master crafter you have a “what can i craft as an X?” Option. If you ask them that they trll you exactly what you can craft.

The crafting guides on he internet just tell you how to level as fat as possible. This is usually done by older players who already have money to level up their character quickly.

What you found in Divinity’s Reach is the Queen’s Gauntlet i think its called. There are 2 areas here, one where you zerg in groups of 30ish players to mindlessly attack stuff for loot. Yea, im making it sound rather bad, but its the truth. Alot of people seem extremely reward driven in this game.
The second area is a one versus one boss battle, these are made for level 80s, but for the easier ones you only have to pay attention and use common sense to win, really.

If you dont want to mindlessly press 1 or fight challenging bosses, you can still do the ballons you find on the map.

Also: if you hover your mouse over items, it tells you what type they are :O Rangers use medium armor!

Dont worry about missing the living story, we get new stuff every 2 weeks so there will always be more things to do if you at one point decide to do living story. There are still balloons though. If you do 30 balloons you get a wearable balloon :o

People already sent reqlly usefull links here, but i just wanted to add: try lookijg for a friendly guild! Its much more fun if you have people to play with :3.

If you every need live help, feel free to whisper me in game :D. I wont be able to play untill like 8 days though :’(

edit: forum PM works too ;).

I think it would work!
You pretty much have 20 flexible points in shatter builds, so imo it could work with 20 inspiraion, sacrificing mind wrack damage.

I recently made a rebalance of all useless mesmer traits (like gain 5swc retaliation when going down, who uses that, really xD).
I stuffed alot of condi removal in the chaos line and a little bit in duellig, sadly no one really commented on it.

I dont wan to ninja this thread so ill jsut post some trait ideas i have:

Duelling
I: Far-Reaching Manipulation The range of your manipulations is increased. Manipulations also remove a condition from yourself and affected allies when cast.

VIII: Blurred inscriptions: activating a signet grants 1 second of distortion and 10 seconds of swiftness. Activating signets is instant. (This one doesnt remove conditions but it synergises with another trait)

chaos
III Master of Manipulation Manipulations have 20% shorter cooldowns. They also remove a condition from yourself and affected allies when cast.

VII: Mirror of anguish: when affected by a control effect, mirror it to one of your illussions(60 second cooldown), illusion suffers from permanent cripple.
When affected by 1 or more conditions, mirror a condition to your nearest illusions (30 second cooldown), destroying the illusion.

IX: Cleansing inscriptions: Signets remove 2 conditions when activated.Reduced signet cooldown by 20%.

Ok, so theres alot of text in some of them. Maybe in game they could remove all the time in seconds to make it more readable :P.

I think moving shattered conditions to master would be really cool, but yu would have to change it wih another master trait, i didnt make much changes to inspiration because i think its a really… Complete traitline :P
The full list of changes i made are on my thread at like the 3rd page in the mesme forum if youre interested.

edit: updated the post to match the updated traits.

Whats a PTS?
15char

Its kind of off subject, but i think t would be nice if there was a rating for the conquest we have now, but also a seperate rating for how good a person is at combat (because in conquest team strategy is more important than combat imo).

I really looove the pvp in gw2, but i just never do random tournaments unless i have 4 friends i can play with. I feel so useless when i do tournamenets with pugs, when we lose theres just nothing i can do >_<.

I really hope theres maybe some rated duelling or other things to measure personal rating… Currently pvp for me is just jumping in hotnoin and running around and killig people (i dont even bother capturing points). I still like the combat though!

Before patch
Non traited
Phantasm summon: range 1200
Phantasm attack range: 900

Traited
Phtantasm summon range: 1200
Phantasm attack range: 1200

after patch
Non traited
Summon range: 900
Attack range: 900

Traited
Summon rnage: 1200
Attack range: 1200

Im lretty sure thats what it means.

i saw a champion of stony shield or something. but i coudlnt interact with him :o
When i went to a balloon it jsut activated another event :o.
edit: and yes, i like how they make actual challenging content now :3

In the story isntance thing they did reconize me… but in the actual open world overflow thing they didnt reconize me D:

:’(

wow that is so awesome! wish i was there.
If you ever do something like the first one again, maybe record it from different angles? I think the ball POV would be fun :P

Im always willing to help people :D
…and willing to receive drawings ^__^

Just whisper me for anything, really, mechanics, lore, profession builds and stuff or even the weather :O.

Maybe youll get more attention in teh players-helping-players forum, but i wouldnt recommend offering free drawings there (fan generated content is one of the least used ones :o).

ok thats amazing :o

Goloith.6349:

I would rather spend 20-50% more time doing something that I can actually accomplish and enjoy it.

What are you waiting for? Go! Go! :D

The only thing i dont like are the mist walkers, the other things are fine.

Actually no, theres one more thing. I dont like how people just grab 10 rations in teh firs tminute of the game and camp it out.

They should limit rations to 3 maximum, but make more passifloras near camps. Atleast we would see some action isntead of people sittin’ in a tree.

Oh, they should remove mist walkers and just add spectator mode like with real pvp.

Bovinity.8610:

---

Please check all that apply.

You are:

[ ] Married
[X] Have Girlfriend
[ ] Employed
[X] Have Pets
[ ] Have Children
[ ] Are an Adult
[X] Have a Life
[ ] Have no Manual Dexterity

You Think Living World is too:

[ ] Hard
[X] Time Consuming
[X] Temporary
[ ] Full of Jumping Puzzles

You are Currently Threatening to:

[ ] Quit
[ ] Uninstall
[ ] Kick Colins’ Dog
[ ] Tell the Internet That You are Upset
[X] Eat Icecream

---

Thank you!

Well i didnt like the temporariness of the living world things, but theyre actually making more permanent things, and theyre also bringing back the molten facility and aetherblade retreat dungeons back, so.
And i think the living world being time consuming is a good thing

I would buy the person who claimed the character name “alissah” out…
I had it in the beta, but when i tried getting the name at release i spent too much time creating a character and couldnt get the name :’(.

I try to whisper said person every day but they are just never online… ever.

If i cant buy the person out, ill just bribe teh devs to delete the character, since he/she probably doesnt play anymore anyway :o.

Oh, i would also buy my own spot in the balancing team and “balance” the mesmer.

Example builds:
30/10/10/0/20
name: stunfusion, LOL
sword/(pistol or sword), staff or greatsword, decoy, blink, signet of domination.
Your defense comes from stunlocking and blocking, offense comes from direct damage and secondary confusion.

• halting strike, dazzling demise, empowered illussions,
• greatsword training, confusing enchantments (if you want to replace decoy or blink with glamours), any adept trait.
• any grandmaster or lower trait, with harmonious mantras you can replace blink or decoy with a mantra.
• any dueling trait, depending on weapon choices.
• master of manipulation or illusion of toughness depending on weapon choices.
• Master of misdirection, or masterfull reflection if you use a sword or feedback
• master of misdirection, masterfull reflection, dazzling glamours or blinding befuddlement depending on other trait choices.

As you can see, even if 2 people use the 30/10/10/0/20 build, they can be using completely different weapons or traits!

0/20/20/30/0
sword/focus, staff
A supportive build. can use 3 signets :o.

• any dueling adept trait
• any master or adept trait, except duelist’s dicipline, depending on your utilities. Deceptive evasion if you want to shatter alot.
• Illusion of toughness is recommended for boons support, although the others will work aswell.
• Any master or adept trait, cleansing inscriptions for signets
• vigorous revelation for shattering, glamours and focus reflects are situational. Mender’s purity if you want Moment of clarity
• Shattered conditions if you want to shatter, Moment of clarity if you want to use signets and blocks.

can get massive aoe condition removal with signets and boon support with signet of inspiration and staff.

Another good thing about these choices are, you can make a balanced build and change traits on the fly to adapt to new situations, without needing to reset trait points!

If you find any traits or combinations that are clearly overpowered or superior to others in the tier, then please say so.
remember to keep it calm and constructive, discuss!

Inspiration
adept minor alternative: vengefull images Phantasms gain 2 seconds of retaliation when they are attacked. This effect can only occur once every 5 seconds.
I really just want to revert it back to the old perma retaliation… But thats overpowered according to arenanet >_<.
XI: Shattered conditions: remove a condition from yourself and neaby allies for each illusion shattered, heal them for each condition removed. (Im thinking 600 per condition, scales badly with healing power)

XII: Moment of Clarity: allies gain distortion (15s cooldown, capped at 1s) and remove conditions (15s cooldown, removed conditions are capped at 1) whenever you do so through selfish traits. (radius: 600)

Illusions
Adept
minor: Illusionary retribution. All shatter skills inflict confusion, You radiate 7 seconds of confusion when you activate a shatter skill.
I: Precise Wrack
II: Confusing Cry. Cry of frustration grants retaliation and 3 stacks of might for 5 seconds.
III: Compounding Power
IV: Masterful reflection. Distortion and Blur grant reflection, all reflected projectiles inflict 2 seconds of confusion. (no cooldown, including reflects with temporal curtain and feedback)
V: Master of misdirection.
VI: Illusionary Invigoration
Master
Minor: Shattered strength. Shattering Illusions grants you 1 stack of might per illusion (10 seconds) and Radiating confusion from yourself, illusions or foes had it’s radius increased to 600.
VII: Illusionary elestacity
VIII: Dazzling glamours. Glamour skills Pulse 2 seconds of blindness and confusion per second, can only occur 3 times, or 5 times with temporal enchanter.
IX: Blinding befuddlement Cause 3 stacks of confusion for 5 seconds when you blind a foe. (no cooldown)
X: Phantasmal haste
Grandmaster
minor: Illusionist’s celerity
XI: Illusionary Persona
XII: Imbued diversion. Diversion hits up to 5 targets in a large area. You radiate 5 seconds of blindness whenever you activate a shatter skill. (600 radius, 5 targets)

Master
minor: Sharper Images
VII: Mantra Mastery Mantras recharge 20% faster. Mantras recharge (at their normal cooldown speed) 50% of their cooldown per charge used while readied. (33% per charge with harmonious mantras)
VIII: Blurred inscriptions: activating a signet grants 1 second of distortion and 10 seconds of swiftness. Activating signets is instant.
IX: Duelist’s Dicipline
X: Deceptive Evasion
Grandmaster
minor:
XI: Masterfull evasion: inflict 1 stack of vulnerability (15s)to your attacker and nearby foes, while applying swiftness(2s) and might (10s)whenever you evade, distort or block an attack. (Cooldown 1s)
XII: Furious Interruption

Chaos
Adept
Minor: Metaphysical rejuvenation
I: Chaotic Suspension: Gain permanent Chaos Armour when downed. (this Chaos Armor only affects each foe every 2 seconds, but boons remain 1 second. Regeneration and swiftness are replaced with aegis, might, retaliation and fury.)
Gain chaos armour (5s) and distortion (2s) when you rally.
Deception uses ground targeting.
II: Descent into madness
III Master of Manipulation Manipulations have 20% shorter cooldowns. They also remove a condition from yourself and affected allies when cast.
IV: Illusionary defense
V: Debiliating dissipation clones apply a random condition to nearby foes when they are killed, They also inflict 7 seconds of confusion.
VI Illussion of toughness: gain aegis (4s) while inflicting weakness (5s) and confusion (7s) to your attacker and nearby foes when you block or distort an attack. (Cooldown 15s)

Master
Minor: Illusionary membrane
VII: Mirror of anguish: when affected by a control effect, mirror it to one of your illussions(60 second cooldown), illusion suffers from permanent cripple.
When affected by 1 or more conditions, mirror a condition to your nearest illusions (30 second cooldown), destroying the illusion.
VIII: Bountiful interruption. Gain might for 5 seconds when you interrupt a foe, then gain another boon randomly.
Only gain another boon randomly when controlling a foe without interruption.
IX: Cleansing inscriptions: Signets remove 2 conditions when activated. Reduced signet cooldown by 20%.
X: Chaotic Dampening
Grandmaster
minor: Chaotic Transference
XI: Chaotic Interruption. Immobilize and confuse (7 seconds) your target when you interrupt them and randomly inflict blind, cripple, chill.
When controling a foe without interuption, only inflict confusion, then randomly blind, cripple or chill. (cooldown seconds)*
XII: Prismatic Understanding

Domination
Adept
Minor: Wastrel’s punishment "deal 5% increased damage to inactive foes, inflict confusion for 7 seconds when dealing damage to a controlled foe (can only occur once every 2 seconds per foe).
I: Mental Torment
II: Halting Strike: inflict 3 stacks of confusion (5s) when you control a foe. Also deal damage when interupting them, or 25% when controling without interruption.
III: Empowered Illusions
IV: Rending Shatter. Shattering illusions causes vulnerability for 8 seconds to nearby foes. Vulnerability duration is increased by 20%.
V Crippling Dissipation
VI Dazzling Demise: daze (1s) and confuse (7s) your foe when they reach 50% health. Also confuse nearby foes. (Cooldown 20s)
Master
Minor: Illusion of vulnerability: Dazing a foe also applies 5 stacks of vulnerability (8 seconds). Inflict 10 seconds of vulnerabilty when you interrupt a foe.
VII: Shattered concentration
VIII: Confusing enchantments – glamours pulse 3 stacks of confusion (1s) to up to 3 foes (5 with temporal enchanter). Also inflict 3 stacks of torment for as long as the glamour lasts upon creation.
IX: Cleansing Conflagration
X: Greatsword Training
Grandmaster
minor: “Lingering distraction”. "Daze(1s) your foe and inflict confusion (7s) after your control effect on them ends (excluding dazed). This effect can only occur once every 15 seconds.

XI: Harmonious mantras: mantras can be activated 3 times before needing to be channeled again. All mantras inflict daze (1s) to target and confusion (7s) to nearby foes when. Activated. (Cooldown 20) (Mantra of distraction increased to 2s daze)
XII: Comfounding suggestions: stun a foe for 2 seconds when you daze them. also inflict confusion (7s) on nearby foes. This effect can only occur once every 15 seconds.

Dueling
adept
minor: Critical Infusion
I: Far-Reaching Manipulations The range of your manipulations is increased. Manipulations also remove a condition from yourself and affected allies when cast.
II: Phantasmal Fury
III: Reliatory shield: gain 4 seconds of retaliation(no cooldown), while inflicting 3 seconds of blindness (cooldown 15s) to your attacker when you block or distort an attack.
IV: Blade Training
V: Desperate decoy: Gain 4 seconds of chaos armor, 5 seconds of aegis and use decoy when you reach 25% health. This effect can only occur once every 45 seconds.
VI: Protected mantras

i was very excited for the build diversity patch, and really hoped that every single trait would have multiple uses and are vialbe in some way, but as you all probably know, the build diversity patch did more harm than good.

Some time ago I decided to keep my complaints to a minimum and come up with actual feedback, in the form of rebalancing traits :D.
I added more ways to apply confusion, for most of them you have to be in a 600 range of foes, i also brought back glamour builds, but they have a 3 hit limit or 5 with 20 inspiration (temporal enchanter).
Confusion is still mostly secondary damage, you can build for ways to apply it, but not build it as your primary damage. (atleast i hope so)

in short, this is what i did to the trees:
Domination:

• Primary damage is direct damage, secondary is confusion
• utility: lockdown

Dueling

• Primary damage is direct damage
• utility: evasion and counters, a little bit non-damaging condition removal

Chaos

• primary damage is condition
• utility: “static” defense, boon application, condition removal

Inspiration (i didnt change much here)

• primary damage is phantasm
• utility: support

Illussions

• Primary damage is confusion, or shatter with Illusionary Persona

My goal is to make every trait viable, and if possible to give them all multiple uses. Traits that are already strong shouldnt be changed, I’m only changing non viable/useless traits. I dont want to make a “power creep”, so traits have to remain a choice, even when for example using a shatter build, there should still be some choices in the traits you take, and one should not obviously be better. (bad example, i know)

Whenever I mention “inflict X condition to nearby foes”, its in a 300 radius.
at the end I’ll also give some example new builds using new traits and showing how much choice (build diversity) you have!

ok, lets get started ^__^

keenlam.4753:

Blimm.5028:

Mimic. If you have the retaliation trait never go without mimic. Its OP!

Tbh, i never used it before, didn’t know it is considered blocking. Edited OP to include it.
Thanks

no xD.
im pretty sure that was a joke :D.

…wasnt it? I thought mimic blocking everything was just a rumor….

question #1 – should this create a devastating effect if your targets receive and retain that amount of confusion and continue committing actions?
Yes.

question #1a – should a cry of frustration executed by a condition damage focused Mesmer be roughly equal to the damage of a mindwrack from a power/crit mesmer? Power only?
I think it should, but it willb e very hard to balance due to confusion being kind of a gambling thing, you never know how many times it will proc. Cry of frustration is also double the cooldown of mind wrack.

question #2 – after utilizing this series of actions do you feel that you are making an impact that correlates to the amount of resources and actions being committed?
Not at all. Signet of illusions has a cast time and long cooldown, eating one of my utility slots, and the combo takes way too long to go through, kind of disturbing the flow of the fight.
Oh, confusion is also not worth it.

question #3 – taking into account either all meta environments since inception or no meta-driven environment, what are you thoughts on the likelihood of a confusion stack being cleansed vs. a mindwrack being blocked, dodged, etc.
cleansing depends on the player, but doing just MW – cry – MW – cry adds only 1 or 2 conditions without cover conditions, so itd be easy to cleanse.

question #4 – after experiencing this method of mesmer’ing did you have fun? do you think this type of Mesmer gameplay should be encouraged?
Confusion mesmer? I did try it once and i enjoyed people being total kittens and killing themselves. Most of the times theyd have died atleast twice as fast if i used shatter though…

edit: we need more ways to apply confusion, confusion should have a longer duration and lower stacks, maybe then it would be worth traiting (but not compeltely focussing on only confusion)

You can run a condition build, but a glamour confusion build is practically impossible now. Most traits got invisible timers :/.

As for your mesmer feeling weak, maybe you just got rusty in those 6 months :P.

The staff in a shatter build is more of a “get in, get out” gameplay.
The greatsword is still a “get in, get out” gameplay, but while youre out, youre still doing damage, but you also have less defense.

In my oppinion greatswords are more usefull in very high damage builds where you have to kill very quickly.

Also, when you use a greatsword instead of staff, you have to use your utilities defensive most of the time instead of offensive, because if theyre all on cooldown you cant phase retreat or chaos storm your way out :P. Surviving is harder but also more rewarding in terms of damage.

I prefer high bulks, and things that stack to 250 in one inventory slot.

Fast moving ones are ok, if they show some kind of regularity and arent completely random ;).

Edit: i keep y profit margins above 10%, usually its more like 20-50% though. Its past midnight so i cant think straight :D.
edit: ok, so i didnt read the OP properly… I usually flip as many different items as i can. When im not lazy, im a day flipper and i just buy as much as i can of a single item per day. The rest of the money goes to ofher items :P

HorridForm.5926:

6. Compounding Celerity: Gain 5 seconds of swiftness when you create an illusion.

make it: Compounding Celerity: Gain 5 seconds of swiftness when you create an illusion. (5 seconds cooldown)

9. Temporal Enchanter: Glamour Skills last 50% longer.

That is overkill O.o. Maybe we can instead merge the 20% longer trait with one of those nerfed confusion traits? “Glamour skills last 20% longer and inflict blind when they are cast.”

12. New Forceful Mantras: Create an area of effect knock back when casting a Mantra. (Cool Down: 10 Seconds) Radius: 180, Damage Coefficient: 0.65, Cannot Critical

please dont remove the cleanse shatter, im loving it :/.

11. Restorative Illusions: Heal nearby allies when you shatter illusions.

" Restorative Illusions: Remove conditions from nearby allies when you shatter illusions, gain health for each condition removed."

5. Master of Misdirection: Confusion you inflict lasts 25% longer.

Youre aware that you nerfed this trait? It currently makes confusion last 33% longer.

6. Phantasmal Haste: Phantasms Recharge 20%

I dont see a change here.

9. Illusionary Invigoration: Reduce cool down of Shattered Skills by 20%

This trait is already very powerfull, id prefer the effect before this change actually.

Blurred Frenzy: Increased Cool Down to 15 seconds.

Oh, come on.

Arcane Thievery: Range 900, Radius 240, Duration 5 seconds, Target area pulses removing boons on target foes, allies gain removed boons. Increased Cool Down to 50 seconds.

That would turn it in a glamour. I think transferiing stolen boons would be fun to copy to allies with a trait though.

Mantra of snip

We would be way too good at healing allies, not sure if its overpowered or not.

Mantra of Pain: Reduced Casting Time to 1 second. Increased Cool Down to 15 Seconds.
Power Spike: Radius 180.

I like the radius, but i wouldnt use mantra ofpain for damage due to the damage simply being pitiful. With the cooldwon it also loses its healing >_<.

Signet of Chaos: Passive – +10% Condition Increase, Activated – Range 1,200, Radius 240, Blindness – 5 seconds, Chill – 3 seconds, Confusion – (2 Stacks) 4 seconds, Torment – (3 Stacks) 5 seconds, Vulnerability (3 Stacks) 5 seconds, Damage Coefficient – 0.35, Cool Down – 90 Seconds.

Well i like it, but i dont think it fits with the mesmer profession.

Signet of Inspiration: Passive – Movement Speed Increased by 25%, Activated – No
Changes. Reduced Cool Down to 40 Seconds.

Suddenly solo players would use it, maybe even team players but they would never activate the signet unless theyre built for it… Maybe retain the passive we currently have, but your movement speed is increased by 10%, and an adittional 5% for each illusion you dont have? Well i dont know actually :/.

HorridForm.5926:

8. Cleansing Conflagration: Now effects up to 5 players. Radius:

I like it, but it doesnt make sense to put a support skill in the domination tree >_<.

9. Great Sword Training: Increase range of Great Sword Skills. (+150) Reduces Recharge of Great Sword Skills by 20%

It wouldnt be in line with the ranges of other weapons from other professions… Maybe making the damage treshholds for range 300 lower could be a thing?

Grand Master – Confounding Suggestions: 20% Chance to apply 1 second stun
whenever you daze a target.

This one is veeeeery underwhelming, needing 5 dazes for a single stun, no thanks. Id suggest “stun a foe whenever you daze or interupt them for 1 second (5 second cooldown)”

12. New Concussive Strike: Deal 20% more damage to target that has confusion on them.

Imagine this trait in a shatter build. Due to a trait the target will have confusion on them whenever you shatter, which basically increases brst damage by 20%, too high if you ask me.

1. Chaotic Revival: No Changes.

I think this trait should give us permanent chaos armor whenever were downed, but the internal cooldown of it activating is 2 seconds. Just a random suggesiton i jsut thought of though.

6. New Lingering Malady: Winds of Chaos, and Chaos Storm have a 30% chance to inflict Torment (2 stacks) for 3 seconds on critical hit.

I feel like this trait is in teh wrong tree, Duelling is for critical hits. Maybe a trait could be like “inflict torment whenever you block, chill or cripple a foe.” blocking, chilling and crippling happens alot with a staff.

9. Bountiful Daze: Gain Might (3 stacks) for 5 seconds and a random boon when you daze a foe.

make it: 9. Bountiful Daze: Gain Might (3 stacks) for 5 seconds and a random boon when you daze or interupt a foe. I dont want to lose my might stacks with temporal curtain and the like

11. Chaotic Daze: Inflict Blindness, Torment (3 stacks), and Cripple for 5 seconds when you daze a target.

It should immobilize.