Guild Wars 2

It happened to me before the last patch.

They seem pretty quick to nerf our stuff. Priorities…

King Stinkeye.3560:

Veil – triggered around the caster when they drop a veil (not when passing through)

nope, it triggers it around where you place the veil in a 240 radius

King Stinkeye.3560:

Portal – triggered around the caster when they place both Entre and Exeunt

basically, as above, in the area around where you place the entry AND the exit portal

King Stinkeye.3560:

My expectations for how this trait would work would be, that the buff would be applied when entering/being inside a glamour field, or using a portal. For example, my allies would get the buff when running through a veil, or using a portal… you know, when they would actually need it.

Can this just be a bug too please?

Not a bug. I agree with you that it works horribly on Portal and Veil, but it’s working as intended (they explained it during one stream).

Josh Davis.6015:

Anyways, as Peters said, we’re keeping a really close eye on everything right now and things will definitely continue to shift

Yet the patch notes in the last 2 days have been:

Other classes:

• Bug fixed

Mesmer:

• nerf
• nerf
• nerf
• nerf

I hope you see the pattern there.

Sebrent.3625:

A Unicorn can kill you with its head (i.e. its horn) … I don’t see the problem.

how much damage does the unicorn do on a golem, tho?

Funny that everyone is complaining about power shatter combo mirror blade/dodge/mindwrack and that’s… pretty much identical to what you had before… If you still play domi/dueling/illusions, the build is pretty much the same, the big difference in damage is that you don’t need to waste points in condition duration (domi) and condition damage (illusions), so your playing in full zerk gear gives you this “amazing damage” with the same identical combo you used before.

It was broken before, it’s fixed now. Stop calling for nerfs for kitten sake.

try out other classes, is the perfect time to experiment

consider that our mantras didn’t have the cooldown reduced and we lost the cooldown reduction trait: I think this solution is what ANet (shall we say Robert?) devised to make up for it

and it’s great!

Sebrent.3625:

Fay.2357:

…. there will almost definitely be some blanket nerfs to tone them down. Unfortunately, MtD is going to be forgotten when that happens, and will be even more worthless than ever.

Sadly, this does fit the patterns of the past.
(1) Specific nerf to a Mesmer skill
(2) Broad-stroke nerf to mechanic that Mesmer skill fell under … without reverting the first nerf or accounting for it

we all remember what happened with confusion and glamours…

Feral.3609:

I vote to revert back this nerf if they remove 50 seconds of stealth. Otherwise keep it the same.

yo Feral, I see you main guardian, wanna talk about your burning by any chance?

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMBqAJ0BNg~ I tested this for a bit in open world and worked nicely.
Mantra of Restoration, Blink (in dungeons you’ll probably take Mantra of Concentration or Portal), Mantra of Pain, Signet of Inspiration, Timewarp

the thing that really stings (and stinks) is that it feels like while everyone else’s meta will have time to settle down in a few weeks, mesmer condi meta “has been settled” by anet in less than 10 hours based on “golem testing”… unfair much?

Hey ANet, guardians with rune of the guardian can stack burning up to 5k per tick, nerf plz?

Why in earth and sky they feel the urge to nerf mesmers after less than one day

Siobhan.3582:

Menaka, Thank you..

Love our mesmer community.. So helpful and friendly

You’re welcome have fun!

StickerHappy.8052:

Menaka.5092:

StickerHappy.8052:

So slow does not stack? TW just refreshes the slow.

Didn’t test with condi duration gear/food, but should stack in duration.

Just tested 5 mins ago, it just refreshes it self.

Weird, possibly a bug?

It’s a minor trait in Inspiration. If you pick that specialization, you’ll automatically have it (actually, it’s better than before because it cleanses AoE)

Basically, the cooldown starts counting when you finish charging the mantra, instead than when you use the last charge. If you charge the mantra, wait for a few seconds and burn the charges, the mantra will be ready to charge again.
Very nice change that works well with Restorative Mantras.

StickerHappy.8052:

So slow does not stack? TW just refreshes the slow.

Didn’t test with condi duration gear/food, but should stack in duration.

Yeah I was testing it on my hybrid (rabid armor, traveler runes, sinister jewels) gear and even the direct damage from scepter was nice (AA crits for 600+) with around 1.7-1.8k power

Toxsa.2701:

Menaka.5092:

Toxsa.2701:

For that single trait it’s really abit too much. I don’t even use boon duration stuff and still 12 stacks of might by spamming 1. On the other hand, there’re traits that trigger at 50% health and only grant 1 might per second for 8 seconds, resulting in 8 stacks of might from staying at <50% health and it’s a GM trait with no additional effect..
Nice balance.

Yeah mesmers have tons of skills that can basically oneshot a squishy target from 1500 range in 2.5 seconds (or less with quickening zephyr). Nice balance!

Thankfully, the game isn’t balanced around single skills or traits.

Have you not seen a Mesmer post patch dishing out 16k damage in one combo (less than 1.5 second), and the downed 3 phatasm dealing 6.5k damage? You can play blind idc, but I’m testing it right now. I’ll test and report what I see and experience instead of hiding it like you guys, fearing for a nerf despite you knew it’s OP.

Thankfully, the game isn’t balanced around the downstate skills either.

16k combo in 1.5s? Possibly, from stealth, playing full squishy and from close range because there’s no way someone is gonna eat mirror blade from full range unless they are AFK. Your argument is still invalid.

Oh, yeah, in case anyone didn’t notice, the tooltip on Mantra of Concentration is wrong. Actually gives 5 stacks of Stability, not 3.

I tested the scepter a bit and it felt a lot better than before, especially CI is a lot less clumsy.

Did anyone test it with TW?

MailMail.6534:

Menaka.5092:

MailMail.6534:

The slow on TW is literally eating people alive. Just a psa for you peeps.

Reaction of my guardian friend to a TW test in PVP “WTF was that?! I couldn’t cast my skills!” :°D

I literally haven’t seen a Mesmer use it outside of myself today.

I think it’s going to be the new go-to elite tbh. S. Humility if you’re running signets.

For group fights is so strong (especially if traited) that I can’t really take Mass Invis over it… we’ll see after the meta settles a bit.

Toxsa.2701:

For that single trait it’s really abit too much. I don’t even use boon duration stuff and still 12 stacks of might by spamming 1. On the other hand, there’re traits that trigger at 50% health and only grant 1 might per second for 8 seconds, resulting in 8 stacks of might from staying at <50% health and it’s a GM trait with no additional effect..
Nice balance.

Yeah mesmers have tons of skills that can basically oneshot a squishy target from 1500 range in 2.5 seconds (or less with quickening zephyr). Nice balance!

Thankfully, the game isn’t balanced around single skills or traits.

We only got one decent fight – after that everyone disappeared from the borderlands

The build was: http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMBbAP0BLw~
(some random traits, I know)

adelaide.6213:

Doesn’t seem to have a target limit right now. (Trait text says 5). Have fun in WvW!

Uh? It seemed to hit only 5 targets when I tested it :O

MailMail.6534:

The slow on TW is literally eating people alive. Just a psa for you peeps.

Reaction of my guardian friend to a TW test in PVP “WTF was that?! I couldn’t cast my skills!” :°D

General

• Signet of Inspiration + Trait (in Domination) + Inspiration traitline: awesomeness.
• New Timewarp: amazing

Domination

• The signet trait is really nice, but I need more data to see if Signet of Ether will be my main heal over MoR/Ether Feast
• Mental Anguish feels “ok” but not mandatory, with 2 strong traits in competition

Dueling

• Blinding Dissipation seems really helpful
• Seems quite easy to have 10 stacks of Fencer’s Finesse when you need them most (for burst)

Chaos

• If you proc Chaos Armor back-to-back, Protection stacks in duration.

Inspiration

• Healing Prism felt amazing with the Necromancer Vampiric Aura

Illusions

• Master of Fragmentation felt… meh. AoE Diversion is nice, but still…
• Scepter after the changes and traited almost feels like a decent weapon, I’ll need more time testing it

Yep, got a melee party today in our raid and they really liked it :>

The trait works very well with Timewarp and Null field and very poorly with Veil and Portal. I didn’t test Feedback.

They should really apply the effect only when going through the Portal/Veil.

Didn’t test for this, but I agree with Pyro (Chaos Storm works the same way).

Silverkey.2078:

I did some maths and confusion combatants was just bad. On the other hand perma-fury = massive bleeding from sharper images and with the pistol traits and the fast procs of the duelist, pistol may just be our best condition off-hand weapon. Before I saw these changes, that’s actually what I was hoping for…

assuming it still works as it did before the patch, fury will NOT influence your illusions’ crit chance

It looks so pretty!!
Clearly mesmer mechanic.

Haven’t touched anything about interrupts builds yet, but I’m really happy with the changes (and MtD not being nerfed)

10088 on a boss in Silverwastes… I think he had some damage debuff because my Blurred Frenzy was over 16k on it…

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I dunno what happened to my post on the Illusion tree. O.o

killed by aoe?

I’m speechless.

if he was testing on a golem, it’s probably gonna be nerfed…

Me Games Ma.8426:

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?

ok so I’m not crazy… in the build they were playing it was changed to that crappy trait… If that trait actually makes to the game along with MtD nerf, condi mesmers will probably be worse off than before…

Maybe that golem was secretly a thief and went crying on the forums…

What I’m concerned about with the Staff trait is… let’s say I drop Chaos Storm on the spike, the melee blast over it and I get Chaos Armor, so the source is another player: from what they said during the stream this should not proc the trait, so I would need to overwrite Chaos Armor with a leap to apply protection and cooldown reduction. This need proper testing (and sucks a bit: I’m providing the field to blast!).

One thing we can probably work out is the best rotation for each weapon combination.

I don’t think with only Phase Retreat it’ll be possible to leap twice on Chaos Storm, even using Illusion’s CD reduction, but that could be supplemented with leaps/blasts in other ethereal fields… and traiting glamours both Feedback and Null Field should provide the field long enough for leaping twice.

With the tons of changes we’ll see on tuesday, I was thinking I might need a proper checklist to go through to test everything.

Some things I will test for sure:

General

• how effective the new condition meta will be in WvW group fights
• how good will Signet of Inspiration be in WvW group play and the synergy with Inspiration and Domination traitlines
• how does it feels to play a power shatter build without Illusions (losing some CD reduction, might on shatter, etc)
• how does traited Mirror (12s CD) feels for roaming and group play
• scepter in a power build…?
• the new Timewarp in group fights (especially with Temporal Enchanter)

Domination

• how does the new Confounding Suggestions stack with Runes of the Mesmer and/or Sigil of Paralyzation
• if Blurred Inscriptions makes the case for taking Signet of Ether over MoR/Ether Feast in my WvW build (whatever that build will be after the patch… not sure yet)
• how many might stacks I can keep up in a wvw fight with Imagined Burden and how annoying it’ll be cripple on the other skills (if at all)
• how does Mental Anguish “feel” for shatter burst
• how much damage on interrupt you get from Power Block

Dueling

• if the cooldown reduction from Duelist’s Discipline applies to all interrupts or only pistol-generated interrupts
• how much does Blinding Dissipation helps against thieves
• how does Evasive Mirror feel against rangers, shortbow thieves, necros spamming life blast
• how much uptime we can keep on Fencer’s Finesse in WvW (playing either a sort of midline mesmer or straight frontline)
• how good Confusing Combatants is in WvW roaming and group fights
• how many stacks from Harmonious Mantras I can keep up during a WvW fight
• how does Mistrust fare in big WvW fights

Chaos

• how the Mirror effect on manips works (when it procs, how reliable it is, etc)
• the new Staff trait: if I proc Chaos Armor back to back, will Protection stack or overwrite? How much CD reduction can I get in a normal WvW fight?
• how good the new PU will be for WvW groups (4s veil/10s Mass Invis)
• bountiful disillusionment

Inspiration

• if it’ll be worth considering Restorative Illusions in a group WvW build over Protected Phantasms (probably not given the current Pirateship, but conditions will be killers after the patch)
• how much of the self-heal is shared with Healing Prism
• how good Illusionary Inspiration will be in WvW groups (double the stab for melee parties? sounds nice)
• how exactly does Temporal Enchanter work on Portal/Veil/TW and if it has a target limit

Illusions

• how much does Persistence of Memory influence Shatter play for power and hybrid
• how it feels to play without Shattered Strength (taking MtD)
• how exactly does Ineptitude work: does the ICD apply on the confusion application, on the blind application, or both? If I blind an attacker, I apply confusion on him. If I evade an attack from the same attacker during the next 10s, does he get blind? Does he get confusion too?
• if Master of Fragmentation is worth anything at all (love the idea of cripple on Cry of Frustration and Diversion AoE, but is that enough?)
• how it feels to play scepter with the trait

I would say that most mesmers are ok with how the trait makeover looks on paper and look forward on testing it in game before screaming OP/Nerf/Whatever.

I’m using the Mistforged Hero torch (from WvW tournaments), but I like the Nightmare torch from TA a lot and the new Scientist skin looks amazing too!

Another one that looks cool and it’s quite easy to get is the Zenith torch.

For pistol, my favourite is the Tormented.

Chronomancer won’t be in game next week

From an organized group WvW perspective:

• Similar to my current build: http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMBrAJ0BLw~ (ranged damage and support). GS/Staff. Signet of Ether, Blink, MoP, Veil/Portal/Null field, Timewarp. Or can switch Power Block to the GS trait like this: http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMBpAJ0BLw~
• Frontline/Support: http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMB3AP8BKw~ (any of the GMs in Chaos are good: boons on interrupts or boons on stealth with torch or boons on shatters?) or a bit more aggressive with DE http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMB3AP8Apw~ using Sw/X+Staff, Ether Feast, MoC, Null Field, Veil/Portal, Timewarp
• Power Shatter: http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgMBWAVYApw~

I don’t think massive condi will have a comeback to WvW (as it was with glamour builds), but we’ll see…

All this will obviously change when HoT will arrive.

Me Games Ma.8426:

I see a real cool thing incoming there… (when HoT ships)

F5->Mimic->Well of Calamity->Well of Calamity->F5->Mimic->Well of Calamity->Well of Calamity->/dance

you forgot gravity well before mimic… twice :°D

skcamow.3527:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

• Restorative Illusions: Using a shatter skill removes 1 condition from you and heals you based on the number of illusions shattered.

At first glance you think, “oh they merged restorative illusions and shattered conditions”. Looking again, it appears the AoE condition removal is gone. That’s unfortunate. Still a great trait in the master tier but sad to lose the functionality.

Uh. That sucks

We got many strong – and long awaited – buffs (IE, IP, phantasm damage, shatter cooldowns, blink range).

The changes to Confusing Images and Scepter AA 3, alongside with the new scepter traits, are the love scepter deserved.

Looking forward to test the changes to Illusionary Leap this. But the problem in big groups remains: the clone will die before we can swap.

Mimic: oh, nice! Another 90s skill for our skillbar, exactly what we needed! </sarcasm>

Mirror: traited it could be quite strong.

Phantasmal Mage: will the condition removal come back when traited? This phantasm needed a buff, if anything… this feels like a nerf

Signet of Inspiration: Mesmers can’t have perma swiftness, can they? :\
I love the cooldown reduction, tho.

Time Warp now pulses 1 second of slow every second on foes in the affected area: WOW!

Domination minor traits: still can’t understand why interrupting an enemy applies less vuln than merely dazing. Fragility will require a little more work for that +12.5% damage, but it should be very good in PVE where vuln is always on the target.

Rending Shatter: feels really weak compared to the alternatives.

Imagined Burden: even if I loved the cooldown mechanic they announced the last time, this trait feels a lot more solid. Tons of might (will work better in roaming and PvP than zergs) and cripple uptime for kiting. Nice!

Mental Anguish: nerf compared to what we currently have as an adept trait, with a slight buff if you manage to land mind wrack on a dazed/stunned/etc foe. Feels weak to me, although 25/50% was probably too strong. From the wording, it applies to Cry of Frustration too (so the overall damage might be buffed actually), but that’s not our primary burst… and without burst we won’t be able to kill anything.

Confusing Combatants: even if only a chance on crit, this will probably grant huge confusion uptime

Duelist’s Discipline: guess the recharge will work even with interrupts NOT made with a pistol? And even when you are on a different weaponset?

Fencer’s Finesse: Soooo they moved the stacking ferocity buff from mantras to sword and somewhat nerfed it (it was a percentage of your ferocity iirc). 6 seconds seems way too short, even considering that BF will give you many stacks. Upkeep won’t probably be a problem when fighting multiple opponents, though.

Harmonious Mantras: it went back to the flat damage buff that won’t apply to our phantasms :\

Illusionary Defense: “We want you to shatter! But we also want you to keep your illusions alive!” — Anet.

Mirror of Anguish: still on a huge cooldown. Not worth it imho.

Prismatic Understanding: I can already hear the crying.

Bountiful Disillusionment: I’ll try it, but I still think it’s horrible.

Mender’s Purity: minor! WOW.

Inspiring Distortion: This is cool! Love it.

Healing Prism: Support mesmer is real!

Restorative Mantras: I like how you split Mender’s purity from this. Good job!

Restorative Illusions: the merge is real! Strong trait!

Protected Phantasms: I guess distortion on the illusions on shatter was too strong. Not sure how useful Protection will be, but I still like the trait since it allows us to use iZerker in zergs

Mental Defense: can’t really think of any scenario where this would be useful. Maybe dueling thieves? But the summon will fail because blind/evade/stealth.

Illusionary Inspiration: with the cooldown lowered to 30s, this trait feels a lot stronger.

Temporal Enchanter: the wording on this is unclear at best. Does this apply to people going through portal? Or veil? Or timewarp? Does this have a max target limit?

Shattered Strength: I don’t know how I feel with this now being a major trait and not being buffed.

Ineptitude: does the ICD apply on the confusion application, on the blind application, or both? If I blind an attacker, I apply confusion on him. If I evade an attack from the same attacker during the next 10s, does he get blind? Does he get confusion too?

Master of Fragmentation: some utility but nothing that really screams “PICK ME PICK ME!”. Weakest choice in this tier…

Malicious Sorcery: considering how awkward scepter has always been, this is the weapon trait it deserved. Looking forward to test it!

Made a quick spreadsheet with lv 80 condi damage values and scaling.

Maybe only on Mind Wrack or Cry of Frustration… still possibly too strong, but not OP like having it on F1-F3.