Guild Wars 2

I missed the Immortal Mesmer and the Confusion Bomber by a short time, sadly. This kittening about Mesmer is paranoia in my ( not very ) humble opinion.

“I got beaten by a Mesmer, therefore they are OP.” Or even worse, “(insert pro player name here) said Mesmer is OP and doesn’t want the class in there matches. Therefore, Mesmer is bad regardless of any facts or logic to the contrary.”

I’d also note that it is quite possible to kill a Mesmer while in moa form. It’s not as if a moa is helpless.

A Mesmer alone has a tough time producing enough DPS to kill a Moa if they were in good health prior to the Polymorph Other.

@ Cynz.9437 And that I think points to a bigger issue that is creating many of the problems we’re seeing.

The “Zeitgeist” if you will of this period of PvP is; “Every Wo/man for Her/himself. Exploit everything as much as possible.” This leads to “Haves vs. Have-Nots.”

The game has lead people to want to be elite. Thus the inflated egos, rage quits, afks because the team isn’t good enough for the player…

So long as that is the prevailing attitude we will see constant conflict. No balance patch can succeed under such circumstances.

Someone will always be perceived as somewhat lower than someone else. So, those upper will scream to keep there advantage. Those lower will scream for justice.

The way to improve PvP would be to move it more toward a true sport. A spirit of sportsmanship and nobility would erase many of the issues we’re seeing.

Not to mention LOS’d which is fairly easy on many maps.

Continuum Split is the central part of the Chronomancer. To make it not affect elites would be to destroy the central theme of Chronomancy.

I’ll say it again. Double Moa uses up the Mesmer’s two biggest cooldowns, leaving them weakened for a considerable time. A skilled player isn’t going to do that very often.

There’s a lot of counterplay to Moa. This freak out about Moa is gaining momentum, but it’s based on paranoia and not fact.

I recommend actually playing a Mesmer. Double Moa is a hugely debilitating move that uses up the Mesmer’s two biggest cooldowns and leaves them down for a considerable time. A skilled Mesmer won’t do it except in pretty special cases.

You need to learn to LOS,dodge,interrupt,block or blind that very long and obvious cast. For a necro, this shouldn’t pose many problems.

This is a learn to play issue.

The reason people are asking for ranked is they feel it’s more “competitive” viz, more elite. Before the move to seasons, I preferred ranked.

There were fewer random players. In unranked there is always the chance of picking up someone with little or no experience on your team. I’m OK with playing teacher, but many are not.

That’s the real issue here. Many players feel ripped off and are offended if they get a teammate they regard as not skillful enough to be worthy to play with them.

Truthfully though, with the new ranked matchmaking designed to make me lose I much prefer unranked.

I agree wholeheartedly.

A truly skilled player could play all modes, not just one.

Continuum Split is also on a long cooldown. While you can fire an elite twice, it is almost never done. Normally a Mesmer will use CS and moa. They will then save back the second moa. Doing it that way makes the cooldown of moa close to that of other elites.

Sure I can fire an elite twice, but then I pay for it with a very long cooldown. Unless the situation is desperate, that’s a noob move. A skilled Mesmer won’t double fire in most situations. If they do, they are penalized with a very long cooldown.

-edit- If you can force a Mesmer to double moa you have won a significant advantage. Now two of her strongest cooldowns are kittened for a good long time.

@The Devs

There were a couple of glaring things I noticed in Skyhammer Beta.

The shield wall behind mid instantly reminded me of the wall between the allied zone and the minefield in the Dyson Sphere. It made me wonder if my doffs had gathered good r&d materials this time. (Star Trek online lingo as I’m sure you know. )

The new overhead walk reminded me instantly of a standard Borg cube interior. I was looking around for the Vinculum.

GW2 is a Sword and Sorcery venue, albiet techno magick enabled. Too much tech will spoil things badly.

To use a cooking metaphor; Many foods are enhanced by trace amounts of salt. So small that it can’t really be tasted. The salt brings out the other flavors. Too much salt rapidly makes food unpalatable or even inedible.

Also, I’m noticing in both Star Trek Online and GW2 a trend to a dialogue style where the player explains back to an npc a nutshell version of the instructions. This is effective and is used constantly in some places in the military… However it’s also quite annoying. Please consider toning that down.

Broken, what can I say?

You’re dead wrong on that, as any long term Mesmer can tell you. I remember when a warrior could take me out with two button presses. ( a pommel bash stun > 100 blades = dead Mesmer 98% of the time. ) Not only that, there healing signet would face tank any dps I could output. Necro was a similar matchup. Thieves long considered a Mesmer free lunch. It was quite literally a near certain kill for the thief.

Mesmer was UP for years, so much so that it was acknowledged even here on forum.

I’m guessing you are relatively new to the game?

ANET devs have been on record as making one class or another strong in order to “shake up the meta” or similar statements. So, I suspect they make classes more powerful in turn. I think that’s a huge mistake.

That being said. Mesmer has been underpowered for a majority of the life of the game. There is no reasonable way you could make a case that anet favors Mesmer.

I am not finding Mesmer at all OP. We have been nerfed repeatedly and just finally got a little bit granted back. That is not the end of the world folks.

I notice that Mesmers are NOT overwhelming the queue, unlike Hambow warrior for example.

Pro players really ought to be much more careful of there comments.

This is rapidly becoming a situation of a witch hunt. One poster mimics another and the volume snowballs without justification.

1 second is an eternity in PvP. This is why the aftercasts on some skills are so strong a control.

If you cannot interrupt, block or dodge in a full second you really do deserve to get moa’d. In addition to that, it’s not a death sentence. It’s a hard hit, yes.. which is what elite skills are supposed to be.

Wow I just came back from Beta Skyhammer. That was pretty bad. I never once felt threatened by the hammer or the map.

I think that the hammer platform needed a rework to make it so a single reaper, dh, or engi couldn’t dominate it.

This is too de-tuned. Skyhammer’s lost it’s character and become a pretty blah map.

The new spirit watch is an improvement because it’s not a courtyard battle in the center with the slower spawning spirit globes. I think anet did a reasonable job on Spirit Watch.

Consider bringing back Raid on the Capricorn.

-edit- The side bumpers are not a bad idea, perhaps they could actually be springy? An avatar hitting the sidewalls would bounce or be thrown back. That would create all sorts of possible scenarios.

I’d return the breakable panels and the cannon. After all.. the cannon is the main theme of the map.

Moa is dodgeable, blockable and has one of the longest casts. The cast itself can be interrupted.

This is truly a learn to play issue. As to the idea of rewarding my enemy by removing conditions and granting stability at the end of moa. I strongly suspect this is a troll thread.

I know that it’s currently fashionable to hate moa. It seems to be building into a nice witch hunt frenzy… but I don’t see as based in fact or logic.

I haven’t been able to vote in the new skyhammer yet. I liked the old version with the crusher cannon. It did need for the hammer to be less easy to dominate though. I look forward to seeing it.

I’d like to see Capricorn come back. It was my first PvP map if memory serves.

Please don’t pay attention to the anti Mesmer witch hunt. I see it as near hysterical and in truth, unjustified.

The personal attack on my gameplay is meaningless.

Helseth is a strong Mesmer. Your statement implies that an Anet employee is by virtue of working at the company a strong player. I dispute that. Your comment isn’t relevant.

As to Moa being “supposed” to be nerfed; Is it possible that paid players are given scripted comments to make?

I maintain that the decisions made are good ones.

Given what I’ve seen of Mesmer, I believe ANET has made good decisions with respect to my favorite class.

Mesmer has nothing approaching the sustain or damage of Last Season’s Scrapper, Necro or Ele.

Yes, we have one count them one skill that is strong. Moa is dodgeable, blockable and very obvious with a long cast. If you get hammered with moa it is genuinely deserved.

You’re talking about one of the squishiest classes in the game and claiming it’s unfair that in return we get a strong attack.

In my opinion this truly is a learn to play issue.

I agree, well said.

It’s becoming clear that the game design is corporate to some extent. I strongly suspect that the decisions are being made at a level above those Devs reading this forum.

I just finished an episode of The Iconian War in Star Trek Online (STO). My reward? a device that allows me to step out of the time stream for 5 seconds. Another possible reward was a “kit” that generated alacrity and slowing.

The two games show enough similarities that I think the decisions are being made for both by the same people. B&S with it’s heavy emphasis on combinations and icons designed to coordinate team combos ( GW2 recently got nearly identical icons ) falls into the same basket.

Extrapolating from that; PvP is nearly dead in STO. This is mainly because of “wallet” pvp and the very heavy dependence on exotic gear.

However, open world space or ground PvP is available. It’s seldom used. For that reason, I’m guessing that it won’t be introduced to GW2.

My guess is that GW2 design decisions have to be ratified by a higher level corporate group. This would tend to explain the general slow response and unwillingness to comment.

GW2 will never be balanced because it’s not intended to be.

There are multiple incidents of devs saying that they change things to “keep the meta moving” or similar statements. Classes and styles (condi, power, cc ) are made deliberately OP because that keeps people grinding/buying new gear.

Personally, I think this is very bad policy.. but it is born out in the way classes rotate to the top of the heap. I suspect Warrior is next in line. Perhaps we’ll see a return of the Hambow meta.

Hi Ross. Yes, I have acknowledged in the past that you are a skilled Mesmer player and will do so again now for the record: “Ross you are a skilled Mesmer player.”

I’d contend that you are an outlier as opposed to a majority player, however. How’s B&S treating you?

I play Mesmer because I am fascinated with the concept. This is true of GW1 and GW2.
I’ve gone so far as to study the writings of Mesmer and his healing method.

When I started playing class, the huge confusion nerf had just happened. Senior Mesmers advised not even bothering to engage a warrior or necro. Damage was too poor and a warrior with stun > 100 blades was near certain death. Necros too could count on an easy kill.

I lived with being a virtually guaranteed kill for thieves. Skills like Illusionary Elasticity were broken and left broken literally for a year or more.

An anet executive complained on stream about being killed by a clone death Mesmer. That build was very much in keeping with the spirit of the GW1 Mesmer and was my favorite. It was entirely removed from the game.

I bought HoT, (twice,) on the hope that I could have fun as a Chronomancer. That has been evicerated.

So, yes I’m very defensive about Mesmer. There have been years of being trash tier. I want to be able to play my favorite class with a fair chance of winning.

-edit-

If in fact you are a strong Mesmer player; I would remind you that not everyone is. What would be a balancing setback for you might easily make the class unplayable for another.

I met a player in HoTM whom I knew from City of Heroes where he used to lead elite missions in the Rikti zone. This player is highly skilled and can jump on just about any class and do well. Yes, with him at the controls, any given class is OP. That does not however mean that class needs a nerf.

I’d urge folks to remember that normal PvP is not Pro League. Pro League players think and respond in a significantly different way. Balancing for the needs of the elite will of necessity create balance problems for the majority.

How is stability relevant in this case? It’s not a knock, launch etc. As to “condi bomb,” it requires setup and skill to deliver. The reaper can deliver similar condi without as much set up.. DH can deliver similar damage with a trap bomb, In fact most classes can create comparable damage in one manner or another.

None of the other classes require 3 live “soap bubble” clones that die almost instantly to damage in order to set up there burst.

I detect a desire to “get” Mesmers here.

FYI a Tartarus isn’t a mouse.

On the advice of some of the posters here, I got a Razer Tartarus and temporarily switched to MM Reaper.

The Tartarus buttons are easier to manipulate and I did finally make Ruby. This keeps me in the running to possibly win the wings this year.

Thanks all for the feedback.

No, actually I made Ruby.. after buying a Razer gaming keypad for my left hand. Thanks for that advice to some of the forum posters.

As to dodging when the visual mess is up… well it’s one of the longest casts in the game. How is dodging moa in the middle of the visual garbage harder than dodging everything else? With the extreme cast time it’s easier to dodge than say DH jump>trap bomb.

No I can’t say that I do.. Mesmer has “a” build and 2 tricks. The Pro League isn’t really relevant to day to day play.

I don’t find Mesmer excessively “good” in comparison to reaper, rev or druid.. nor scrapper for that matter.

People really just kind of freak out about the Moa thing… but that is a learn to play issue. Even if it was not an l2p issue, it wouldn’t justify slamming an already weak class.

SupCutie and the other both claimed that Mesmer needed a nerf. I’m actually a bit in shock…

You can find it roughly 26 minutes into the video. It sounds very much like anet is planning to slam Mesmer hard.

This is really not the right move, anet.

I am so disgusted… I feel like vomiting. How can they talk like that? Mesmer is going to get slam hammered again.

I believe those comments were scripted by ANET .

I think the takeaway from this is that the majority of posters are high level players. It follows that there opinions likely DO NOT reflect those of the majority.

Competition is well and good. However, if it is made so harsh that it drives away too many players it will collapse.

At many auto racing tracks there is a “claim rule.” If a particular car is winning too often and hurting competition the track may “claim” it for a relatively low fixed price.

This keeps people from over engineering race cars and insures that no one driver or team will be excessively dominant.

GW2 is a recreation. As such it needs to be fun for a majority of people. PvP is not fun for a majority in it’s current state. That will be to the detriment of PvP.

The high level players posting here need to bear in mind that the game needs to serve , (within reason,) all skill levels.

The suggestion is not about 1v1. Solo Queue used to mean that matches were made up of 10 players with no party grouping. That was combined with the old “50%” match making and it felt a lot more fair.

I’d point out that Condi damage is pretty much the only thing Mesmer has going for it. I can’t speak for the other classes, but I’m guessing there are one or two others that are heavily reliant on condi.

I wish solo queue would return and that GW2 would change course away from trying to promote group play. GW1 was primarily solo in pve and that was a good thing.

Group incentives simply mean exploitation, often at the expense of other players.

A big thank you to ANET for bringing in Gwen’s Attire. That’s probably the coolest outfit yet and very appropriate! Huge Kudos.

(Now bring back clone death Mesmer so we can be about punishment again )

Perhaps you’re right. I have seen a couple of perma invis trap thieves running around. Maybe I’m panicking over nothing. Sorry for that. It certainly devalues portal some if an enemy rev can ride through on the Mesmer.

That’s possible, but then how did the thief do it? Why did I see the rev emerge from my portal as an ally should?

-edit- It does? bizarre. This did also happen with a thief though. Shrug, please check anet.

The revenant confirmed having used my portal. I saw them appear just as an ally should. They said “I’m teleporting to you thro (sic) it when you use it.” That’s not a revenant teleport and it wouldn’t apply to thieves in any case.

At the very least this is worthy of being checked carefully.

The revenant states that they traveled through my portal when I used it. I’m reasonably sure it was too far for a revenant teleport. I admit I haven’t played rev enough to be certain of that.

Also, I actually saw them emerge from my end of the portal.

I’m reposting this here because it really needs to be seen by the devs.

During a recent pvp match, both an enemy thief and Revenant (different occasions ) were able to use my portal to travel to me and kill me as I attempted to escape.

I wasn’t recording at the time, but I spoke to the Revenant shortly after they killed me and they confirmed they had used my portal.

Chat log picture follows;

During a recent match, an enemy Revenant and thief were both able to use my portal. They traveled through it as I attempted to escape and quickly killed me.

Portal should not be permitting the enemy team to travel through it. This will pretty much break portal plays and to a lesser extent the whole Mesmer class for ESL purposes.

I was not recording at the time, but I did speak to the Revenant shortly after they killed me. They confirmed having used my portal. Chat log follows;

This is worthy of an emergency fix before the next ESL matchups.

If I understand the question accurately; The league crossings reset each time you move up a “season.” So, none of your crossings will count toward the next season. You have to do it all again. This is the way I understand it at least.

At the request of some of the forum, I posted a video today of my gameplay. One particular high level player had agreed to review it and give constructive criticism. So far that person hasn’t responded.

I did get a good, if harsh, evaluation and several very good ideas. However, now being identifiable in game I’m asked to stop playing and told to “kill yourself.”

I took a risk. I knew it was a risk when I did it. Still, this hurts. I do not recommend anyone post video or even ask advice if you are identifiable in game. Check out the feedback I’m getting in game:

It may amuse the posters here that I just came from a match in which I tried out an old school phantasm build. I was flamed and told that I was playing an “op bull…” class and “easy moad” (sic) by three daredevils. We won by a few points, though I died several times, trying to improve on pressure.

The daredevils it seems were annoyed that I dared to play a Mesmer in there presence and focused me.

Thank you, Deimos, I’ll look into Reaper. I had some success as an MM reaper.

@Salamander.2504 that’s a good suggestion, thank you. I’ll look into that.

Still haven’t heard from you, Chaith.

It’s permanent, a long story involving destroyed nerves and shattered bones. I click f5, frankly because I’m out of buttons on my gaming mouse.

12 buttons 1-10 are skills 11, f2 12,f3 Mouse rocker button forward f1 rocker button back weapon swap mouse wheel press f4. That leaves no more good options for f5. So yes, I click it manually..

This also explains my using keys to turn. sometimes I use key press turns while I’m reorienting my thumb and finding skill buttons.

So, yes, I’m generally slow on triggering skills. That’s why I missed the f4 distort on the dh stomp, just too slow. It also why I don’t do an about face and phase retreat to move faster. Decoy is also a source for a quick clone to fill out a shatter. You may have missed that.

I argued strongly for clone death Mesmer because it helped me.

I maintain that matchmaking ought to be matching me with players of similar skills.

Thanks for the feedback.. one has to expect harsh feedback on pvp.

My left hand does wasd and double tap dodge. Yes, I do in fact over click at times, causing a random dodge. More complex moves are going to take a lot of training time.

Thanks for feeedback so far. Bear in mind, I am playing more or less one handed. My left hand doesn’t work well.

This means some combos are not available. Yes, I do “dumb thumb” skills from time to time. I’m multitasking hard on my right hand and sometimes miss and/or continue with an intended button push when it is no longer needed or relevant.