A) The problem with the current mesmer (chrono) is not the damage, its the sustainability.
Namely Mental defense, Deja Vu, Blurring frenzy, Distortion, Restorative illusion
Mesmers sacrifice their damage for sustainability. This is a fair trade, and needed with all the spam that they other classes get. Mesmer is actually one of the least spammy classes
B) When talking about shatters you should remember that the meta mesmers use signet of illusions and also blow all their shatters during continuum split.
There is also alacrity decreasing both shatter and illusion cd’s by quite some time.
Shatters should be strong skills used tactically to change a fight at the cost of sacrificing precious illusions. Not spammed tools to apply as much condi as possible.
Because shatter is where 90% of mesmer damage comes from. When shatters are all on cool-down a mesmer is doing nothing but trying to survive. Also, signet of illusions have a painfully long cast time. So try interrupting it or pressuring hard when they cast it.
C) The sheer uptime and access of/to illusions is incredible thanks to Persistence of memory, Illusionary reversion and Chronophantasm.
Now dont get me wrong, mesmers should be able to maintain many illusion…but not by shattering them.
You dont shatter you illusions: you have 3 illusions up most of the time.
You shatter your illusions: You dont have many illusions up most of the time.
Doesnt sound so hard, does it? Unfortunately anet seems to be thinking different.
Again, they need to shatter to make those illusions do anything. Mesmers need to have illusions up or they are extremely weak and vulnerable. And if they exhausted their shatters, their illusions are fairly useless. What you are complaining about is that mesmers can actually attack and defense. It’s like complaining that warriors can use weapon skills.
D) As powerful as mesmers are, it gets much worse considering their mobility. If you have a class that you can either not beat at all or at least is tanky enought to make a kill take a lot of time is usually supposed to be slow, so you can outrun and outrotate them.
Right now mesmers are like a slightly slower thief with much higher sustain and more sustained, harder to avoid damage. Just like thieves (edit by Dashi: and eles, and rangers, and revs, and necros, and engineers, and warriors) a smart mesmer is also able to disengage from most fights, making a kill almost impossible.
Mesmers aren’t tanky. If you are playing a dps class, one hit can hurt them a lot. Mesmer is one of the few classes that uses mostly active defense. They have to do something to block and evade. They have to do something to shed conditions. Mesmers can’t hold a point against two players. Mesmers can barely hold a point against one (and will lose the point in a stalemate because so much of their defense relying on moving and skills that prevent point capture).
Mesmers are not easy kills, but they are not as challenging as you make them out to be. Your statements sound like your want them to be easy kills though.
