Guild Wars 2

My big fear is that there will be a hidden mega nerf for mesmer. ANET always seems to be looking for a chance to cripple Mesmer

I am practically licking my chops waiting on the nerf so I can powerslam any engi I happen to meet.. I lost 60 + places on the leaderboard last night , mostly to engi combos.

Hope I meet that 5 engi team again, post nerf.

I just came from a games vs 5 turret engis. They admitted being OP and said they didn’t care. While I have no problem with turret engis as they stand, I do have a problem with profession stacking and outright exploitation.

I think premades should be banned for PvP generally or should be confined to team queue.

I main a Condi/shatter Mesmer. Currently running Scepter / torch with energy and torment sigils and Staff with energy and torment. Soldier Amulet and runes of the Undead.

As to no skill, I did manage to down Chaos Archangel in a 1v1 after I was myself downed. I use shatter with [Maim the Disillusioned]. Yes, he got me the other 4 or 5 matches.

In an ideal world, I’d like to be a traditional shatter Mesmer. Shatter is a catch 22 in my opinion though.

Clones are slow “dumb” bombs and will miss 9 times in 10 unless the enemy is immobilized or otherwise confined to a very small area. The most reliable shatter is to aim at a downed enemy that is being rezzed. The clones are also often destroyed running in before they can do damage.

Shatter has a very large theoretical burst but in a real game, that’s pretty rare to see happen. More often you do pretty pathetic damage and use your cd’s.

Making the clones have better terminal tracking and some survivability would be a major incentive to play more toward shatter.

To mitigate that and have a chance of landing a shatter one needs to be close to the enemy.

On the other hand, most enemies can take out a Mesmer in seconds. This is especially true of a high cc class like a ranger or hammer user. So getting close is just short of suicide.

Clones are extremely delicate. This means that to be used at all in a shatter, they need to be used quite quickly. Most will not survive to the target. For this reason, clone production should not be nerfed again.

The logical response is to pick clone death traits and attempt shatters, knowing that most clones will be destroyed or miss and explode in a more or less random spot. If the shatter lands, so much the better. I actually count on my enemies defensively destroying the incoming shatter clones for my damage. A Mesmer-ish strategy.

In my view, ANET has a history of way overnerfing Mesmer and crippling the class. It’s usable at the moment if less than perfect.

Let’s not ask ANET for too many fixes.. historically speaking, we might well get crippled again.

With sufficient time, I have a reasonable chance to take a turret engi out.

Thieves are tough if they get the jump. They will go down though if they aren’t careful to hit the right target.

Guards and wars are similar, though they seem to have gotten tougher to kill lately.

With a necro I figure I can win if I want it bad enough.

Rangers … don’t even get me started on pew pew rangers.

In general, matches have been pretty bloody good for most of the season. Tonight I’ve lost 3 or 4 games straight to the same combination of warrior and guardian. I’d have done better on leaderboards to go to bed early.

I’m all for rewarding good play. I’m not for rewarding exploiting a situation.

Matchmaking should be separate for parties. It should also weigh win/loss.

How is it fair matchmaking to send me to three straight losses with PUGs against the same group?

If I could stomach it, I’d start just abandoning my team in those matches since there’s no penalty for it.

+1 I keep getting matches full of people who really don’t know how to play a particular class and getting crushed.

Check your settings for “promote skill target.” If you fire randomly using auto target and another target happens to be hit, your aim will shift. To prevent that, uncheck promote skill target.

I resolved the issue by restarting my game and computer.. duh

I’m leveling a human female Mesmer. She’s currently wearing clothing that’s transmuted to look like a Phoenix top and Embroidered pants bottom.

edit: Her full ensemble is: ravaging magician mask of hoelbrak(hidden), ravaging student mantle (hidden),phoenix vest, ravaging magician gloves of the pack(hidden), ravaging embroidered pants of the traveller, and blessed steps

Using [The Prestige], [Decoy] or [Veil] causes my clothing to go invisible (full alpha) in my viewer. My character does not go invisible in areas not covered by clothing. Those areas that are covered do disappear properly. PVE enemies do seem to acknowledge me as invisible. I’m too tired to fight effectively in pvp for a test right now.

edit 2: The game is set for autodetect on graphics. It’s showing an average ping of 73 and 63 fps at the moment.

edit 3: I’m running windows 8. I tested with another player watching. They said that I went invisible to them each time. So the problem seems to be in my camera only.

The trouble may have begun when I equipped the new Balthazar outfit but changing outfits did not remove the issue.

I have to admit, I don’t agree. I can usually get a turret engi on necro or Mesmer. The big thing is to avoid the pulls.

I need to have a better idea how points are determined.

Just came from my second loss in a row to the same premade. This is simple victimization. Since win / loss counts for ranking, solo players are just screwed.

I have in the past suggested that matchmaking consider win/loss. Did that happen?

How much am I losing by being repeatedly pounded by the same premade? Can I make it up somehow?

I find a ranger whining about Mesmers truly laughable. Between your guided missle pet, long immob and one shot kill from outside my range… oh and did I mention almost thief level stealth?

There is no reason in the world you should feel put upon by Mesmers. You know? I don’t like to say this but in this case I will return what rangers are so fond of saying to me;

LEARN TO PLAY

Like the Ranger pet, ANET seems to want Mesmer wedded to clones. ( and thief to steal and poison ) I would be quite surprised if that changed.

@ANET

Next year, how about providing a jumping puzzle or some task that will allow us to be “cured” from the April Fool thing?

I like the idea, but finding it annoying in play. ’Course I felt similar about bobbleheads.

I don’t like it. I do like the idea of April fools. It’d be better if there were a way to shut it off.

I disagree that playing in a team is “the highest level.” It’s troubling to see the way younger ( I suspect younger ) players go in for the herd mentality.

Last time I checked, this game was about heroes and epic deeds. I play my best when I’m trying to work with a PUG and adapt to changing circumstances as rapidly as possible.

Organized gaming, with carefully scripted plays belongs in the world of console video football games.

If you need a team to play well and you don’t think a game is good unless it’s scripted and played by a playbook.. then I suggest that you have lost perspective.

As I said, I play both Mesmer and Thief often. I win the majority of the time against a a d/p or s/d thief.

Power Block doesn’t need a crutch aimed specifically at thieves. It’s not worthy of a GM skill anyway imo. ( though I love that it is similar to some gw1 Mesmer abilities).

My points are two fold: Thieves are underpowered already and don’t need another nerf and building around power block is, shall we say? Less than optimal for any sort of PvP anyway.

I’d recommend that the OP change to a better build.

If by “subtle” you mean “works occasionally in specific circumstances” perhaps. I doubt that it is an oversight. Power Block was introduced then almost immediately nerfed.

I think it’s deliberate and appropriate. A power blocked thief would almost certainly die rapidly without a reasonable chance to defend herself.

Stealth has already been overnerfed and passed out like candy to too many classes. If ANET wanted to destroy what makes thieves special, they chose an excellent path.

Back to the topic. What I see is one player with one build complaining that specific build doesn’t work well against thieves.

As one who plays Thief, ( and Mesmer, ) often, I find the paranoia about this class amusing. My attitude is that thieves are already long time witchhunt targets and have been nerfed to the point that there are few combat approaches that are effective.

I’d like to hear the kind of “l2p” kittening that people trot out when anyone complains about ranger.

There is no reason a change that specifically targets thieves,( a.k.a a nerf,) needs to be made because one Mesmer build, ( which isn’t very good anyway imo, ) doesn’t work well against it.

@Sorel.4870

Your logic is flawed. Adam could just as easily solo Q when his team isn’t online. Why should I. as a solo q player, have to cater to adam and his friends’ schedules?

VOIP is known to be easily monitored by a third party. A certain free VOIP provider that rhymes with snipe is infamous for the practice of allowing governments to listen in. I have some personal experience with this issue and the former Thai government.

The technology is untrustworthy and is known to be monitored by third parties. I definitely would not like to see it in game on principal.

Absolutely not. Not only does voip carry known privacy and security issues it would be another accessory to create lag and bugs.

I don’t think this is a good idea at all.

I gave my opinion. If you have some thought out counter opinion I’d love to hear it. Sarcasm is meaningless. I think you are a very good Mesmer, have met you in PvP.

That doesn’t mean I agree with you though.

With respect to Forest. You are missing an important point. If the enemy steals your beast, it’s a serious chunk of points and more than you would get for holding a point for the same time period.

Killing beast is therefore, logical gameplay. Getting points is well and good, but preventing the other team from getting points is really the same thing with a slightly different perspective.

I meant that I consider Power Block an unreasonably weak skill for having to go 6 into a trait line to get it.

In addition, I think thieves are already underpowered, and for that reason I don’t agree that a change that specifically targets thieves should be made.

@StickerHappy.8052 What can I say? I disagree. Having mained Mesmer for the majority of my PvP matches.

Also, read more carefully. I said “isn’t a particularly good skill…” I went on to qualify the statement by saying that there are better options.

Is power block a viable skill? probably. I decided not to use it after it was insta nerfed. Do I think there are better things to trait for? yes.

Thieves, like their Mesmer sisters, have already been way overnerfed. Power Block isn’t a particularly good skill in any situation. There are much better options.

Countering thieves is about stopping or evading the stealth/backstab burst. Drop Chaos Storm on yourself. Use sword 3, or the scepter block. That will be far more effective.

This is clearly a troll thread. Anyone foolish enough to try what the OP says.. will learn that firsthand.

What bug is that? This ranger hit me with the RF and remained stealthed. He popped back a bit later.

@Shomaruki

I suggested that in another thread. Great idea. If only.

I think the OP is dead wrong. Mesmer was virtually a guaranteed loss for more than a year and is just now moving toward being a good PvP option.

The zerker isn’t all that great and is pretty easy to kill. It often dies on the first attack.

Shatter damage is practically self nerfing since it’s quite rare to land a full shatter train.
An elementalist ( sword / dagger ) can kill me with a single move. To do similar damage to the Ele I’d need to land 2 shatters and a couple more steps such as mind stab > mirror blade. If anything shatter needs an indirect buff, by making the clones actually target.

As to overnerfing. Mesmer PowerBlock was nerfed within minutes of being buffed. Warrior hambow rolled on for weeks. ANET has a long history of adjusting Mesmer with a 30 lb nerf warhammer. I don’t honestly trust that any adjustment would not be a complete hamstringing again. For that reason.. I don’t support any kind of “shaving” or down adjustment to mesmer.

So what I hear you saying is “Rangers should have special privileges and stealth rules shouldn’t apply to us.” ( we only have; nearly as much stealth as a thief, more damage and more range by a considerable margin… of course we should have special stealth too.)

@shanks.2907 That’s inaccurate, Rangers have two stealths. You know that since the second stealth was just buffed. You also know that rangers have on-demand stealth from longbow.

@Josh Davis

Rewarding fighters for winning is well and good. The fly in the ointment is that the teams are necessarily mixed. Punish for losses and you are doing collective punishment when it may be only one player doing badly causing the loss.

If you insist on doing this; The matchmaking needs to weight w/l ratio heavily. Otherwise, there’s going to be a lot of victimizing going on and teams will almost certainly dominate the board.

I just came from a match in which a ranger fired RF ( naturally ) into me while stealthed and was not revealed.

It’s crazy making to see rangers keep getting increased in power and stealth given to practically all classes.

Allowing ranger to fire from extreme range from stealth and not be revealed is just way too much.

Yes, in point of fact, I’m a coder. Still please don’t post bad info.

@kirito.4138 That’s old information. Please know what you’re referencing before snarking.

I can normally take out a Power Ranger, assuming a fight that begins with both at full health and powers and at a relatively short to mid range.

At long range, I’m in deep trouble. Entangle lasts way too long and it allows the ranger to stand out of my range and plink until I die.

Lately, I’ve been seeing two or more power rangers acting in tandem, which is a ridiculously OP setup.

The longbow is too strong. I think that will become more and more obvious as we see premades like the group I met last night with 4 power rangers and an Ele.

Does matchmaking also consider win/loss?

If it does not, premades will simply exploit pug teams all day. This would essentially exclude solo players from the higher standings.

I’m hoping that ANET has taken this into account?

An L2P issue? No, I play well enough to make Dragon rank. The old L2P saw is a thin disguise to deflect criticism. Truthfully, I’m sick of hearing it.

Now I at least know what was happening. Thanks All.

I was seeing teams with 2-4 power rangers for most of last night’s gaming session. I maintain that the long bow is OP.

Damage should scale DOWN with range as it would in reality.

I encountered the Ele again, S/D. Though he may have changed builds, no big leaps this round.

This was definitely a very long leap in what looked like fire. I saw him use it out of stealth. blush I didn’t catch the weapons though I should have.

In tonight’s matches I had an ele jumping a very long distance from stealth. A Thief SR’d him.

He repeatedly killed me from full hit points in a single move.

What is a very long leap with nuke damage from an ele? and is there a counter?

edit: I’m a terrormancer Necro with 18,472 health

If it were my task to design a Mesmer shield:

Skill three would absorb incoming attacks, possibly for nearby allies as well. The incoming attacks would be stored as energy in the shield.

If the shield’s maximum capacity were exceeded it would overload damaging the Mesmer and allies.

At any time prior to overload, the Mesmer could choose to expend the absorbed energy as an attack, stacking Torment tied to how much energy was expended and damage.

Such a weapon would be a boon or a ticking time bomb. If a new enemy showed up and used a burst skill it might well overload the shield unexpectedly for example.

I think there were better choices than a shield, but I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

Upon reading the release notes for the latest update; My impression is that ANET has targeted Mesmer and Thief and overtly promoted ranger again.

I really don’t understand hammering already under dog classes.

Mesmer being Mesmer.. I’m hoping the shield turns out to be an offensive weapon as opposed to what another class uses it for.

We are a “Heyoka” type class. Case in Point, one of our better ranged weapons is a Greatsword. For anyone else this is a close up, in-your-face type weapon.

Shield Dream Weapon: you absorb attacks. If too many are absorbed a feedback explosion damages you… but up until that time the shield is charging a massive blast wave with confusion that you can trigger at any point before the explosion.

I play Mesmer in PvE and PvP modes.

The number one thing I find lacking is in the clones. They don’t survive well enough to reach the target reliably when shattering. When they do survive, they don’t target worth a kitten. Shatter is the build that captures my imagination but I end up playing condi /clone death in Pvp because I know my clones will die en masse.

The phantasms also are too weak both in “hit points” and damage.

Mesmer doesn’t excel in any game mode. I can run dungeons that I know well as a Mesmer. On the other hand, I can run any class when I know the dungeon well.

Reworks? there are so many.

The number one thing that reduced my faith in the devs was when Power Block was almost instantly nerfed. Around the same time, Hambow wars were rolling unchecked over most PvP matches and it took months to fix those.

It made me think that the devs specifically dislike Mesmer.

One reasonable wish? Make clones tougher and make them mimic the Mesmer’s movements. Oh and make them seek the target when shatter is invoked

Shatter is the main mode of a Mesmer imo. You should be aware that it’s difficult to land a full shatter, much less the kind of shatter chain that will result in a kill.

Basic defenses:

Dodge

kill the incoming clones.

Mesmer is already a very underdog class and that’s AFTER the recent buff. To be honest, I don’t give much credit to anyone kittening about mesmer. You really need to improve your general play skills.