Guild Wars 2

If ascended gear would have identical stats to exotics (+jewel) and the only difference would be the infusion slot then I’d be all in favor of it. As it stands now, I think it’s a horrible idea.

Magic find has it’s place but all dungeon drops should be unaffected by it (and instead the dungeon loot drop chances should be increased)

If you want gold then sell (since the unidentified ones are also used for legendaries), if you want more character customization then use. The chances of getting a rare is quite low and even then there are only a few ones that really sell well so opening them is like The Mystic Toilet, you gamble but the most likely outcome is that you’ll lose.

Methinks the jade sea isn’t the only green in this topic

I’ve never done it with a mesmer, just have good damage and know how to focus that damage and you should do ok with pretty much any group composition. 2 guardians and 3 warriors would probably be easier than 5 thieves but it’s more important to play to the group’s strengths than to focus on a specific group composition.

Welcome to the magical world of mesmers, we have butterflies!

I’d say the easiest way to get exotic gear and a starting capital is to run dungeons. The two quickest ones are probably AC (all paths) and CoF (path 1&2). From AC you can get tokens for Power/Vitality/Toughness gear and from CoF tokens for Power/Precision/Crit.dmg%. Runes and Sigils will depend on your build (more on that below), if you’re just after pure stats you can often get a better deal by just getting orbs instead of runes but in some cases the set bonuses are nice and you can even mix and match from various sets (2/2/2, 2/4, 3/3) and get something that fits your style better than any one set of 6. My two favorite rune sets are:
-Air, helps with crit damage (good for shatter builds), gives better swiftness (mesmer is the slowest class so anything that means quicker movement is nice) and chance for a lightning bolt that does good damage when hit.
-Golemancer, also gives crit damage, adds precision worth about 2,5% crit chance, chance to summon a golem when hit (this is the one I really like, might not be the ‘optimal’ choice but it can be extremely funny and the golem is decent help as well in dungeons)

There are several builds you can use, I am a fan of shatter builds and have been running 20/20/0/0/30 for the last 4 months and it’s working fine. On this forum you can find several guides for various builds so I’d recommend you check those out and perhaps try them yourself with green gear first before committing to getting the exotics (you can probably get a full lvl80 set of green items for less than 50 silver).

I can’t say about exploration 100%, there used to be a bug that enemies in WvW could tell you apart from your clones by your exploration star, I think it’s been fixed but I’m not entirely certain. Exploring higher level zones will give you exotic gear which you can sometimes equip or more often either salvage for ectos or sell on the TP (I recommend always checking the TP first, some of them have very valuable runes in them that boosts the price by several gold).

For armor skins I recommend checking http://gw2armorgallery.com/asura-light.htm

guza.6170:

The ele change u suggest doesnt do much at all, they should replace the EA water dodge heal with something else like maybe cond. removal, i think that would do the trick. But yeah they should then also fix the thief burst guard defense and a couple other classes like the ranger spec which is near imposible to kill too….

Eles doding in water with EA already remove conditions, it’s one of it’s best uses

I’d also definitely recommend you start with clovers since you will get some of the other mats you need from the transmutations that don’t give clovers. I’d save the precursor for last since ANet have said that they are working on a scavenge hunt system for getting a precursor so if you’re lucky they will implement that before you’re done gathering the other mats.

I actually find it to be much easier on my elementalist than on my warrior to explore orr solo. Using an auramancer build with all defensive utilities (I count Lightning flash as one) I might not be able to fight the enemies at contested points but I can get in and out without dying at least

Skills you’ll want on any class are: stun breakers (for when you’re knocked down or dazed/stunned), condition removal (especially for cripple and immobilize), blocks/invulnerabilities (self explanatory), and movement skills (teleports really help a lot, as do anything else that can get you out of danger more quickly). Try to take the time to see where mobs are before rushing in, not only will it mean that you are less likely to aggro all of them but if you stay and fight you will have a general idea of where other mobs are so you don’t accidentally dodge into them.

Depnds on what you’re after. If it’s just damage then 6 ruby orbs will give you nearly the same damage as Divinity but at a fraction of the cost. I’d also recommend looking at other bonuses from runes than just the stats since e.g. the 6/6 bonus from soldier runes (remove a condition on shout) is worthless to an ele but a guardian with 3 shouts equipped and a low health pool will benefit from it greatly. Superior rune of the air is another good one if you’re a class that gets hit a lot but it is quite expensive (IIRC about half the price of Divinity) since the recipe for it requires charged lodestones.

jportell.2197:

and also if possible these changes should be split between PvP and PvE

I completely agree. If the skills were split the proper balance for both modes could be better done instead of the mish mash we currently have where some skills are balanced for pvp and some for pve.

@Darnis: I’d guess the reason people are focusing on pve and wvw is that almost no one plays pvp anymore (I’d be surprised if it’s more than max 5% of the player population that focuses on pvp). It might be true that it’s very good in pvp (ok, it is true) but it’s of no concern to the vast majority. If it would be split between pvp and pve then most probably wouldn’t mind if it’s changed in pvp.

I find mesmers great fun in wvw but having ised all classes quite a lot during sieges I can definitely confirm that mesmers have way more LoS issues than the other classes. For those not playing a mesmer, it’s not that people want back the old “no LoS required” summoning (well, it would be fun but that was OP) but rather that almost every ranged attack except scepter and chaos storm is more likely to be obstructed than not. As was mentioned earlier, it seems to be the case that mesmer LoS is calculated from the feet so even the small difference of standing a but back on the wll will make mesmer attacks become obstructed while e.g. a warrior with a rifle can hit them just fine from the same angle.

WvW isn’t meant to be perfectly balanced though according to ANet, it’s focused on large groups doing battle and not small scale skirmishes with only a few combatants. This means some classes will provide a better benefit at times than other ones, mesmers provide good support but e.g. elementalists and engineers (even with the over-the-top grenade nerf) perform much better during sieges. There are several ways to counter TW, depending on the situation. If you’re defending during a siege and the attackers use TW then have e.g. a Guardian place Reflective wall on the castle walls and watch as all those sped up attacks bounce right back. If it’s during a fight on open ground such as a supply camp, get retaliation up on your group and try to apply some confusion on the enemies in the TW (by mesmer shatters, engineer bombs, etc) and see how long they will keep attacking.

Learn how to overcome challenges rather than demanding that someone else remove them, it’s good advice for both a game and for real life

Other examples include:
-Nerf to Shattered strength
-Blind (and blocks + evades) stops summoning illusions
-Moa morph have skills that makes it less useful in dungeons (several enemies are more dangerous if they have been transformed)

It’s limited, yes. Not certain how it activates though.

Nuka Cola.8520:

Rainu.6871:

Time warp in
-Dungeons: Very good and benefits the entire group. Also the only good option with a very few situational exceptions.
-WvW: Decent for a small group, something that should be encouraged so it’s less ZergVsZerg, but mass invisibility still has better uses unless it’s something like quickly taking a supply camp.
-PvP: Two things. 1) The CD is so long that it will likely only be used once. 2) The part if the playerbase that focus on pvp is so incredibly small that balancing around it is like balancing around what is good/bad in Caledon Forest.

If a balance is needed then do a split between pve and pvp versions.

How could they even split it? If they half its time to 5sec and CD stays 210 wtf kind of ELITE will it be? Elite skills are supposed to be more powerful and as is, with its long * CD its far from OP like some nabs spam on forums.

Just to clarify, I am saying that it is perfectly fine and shouldn’t be changed. Split means that it behaves differently in PvE and PvP, not that its halved. E.g. have it last shorter with a shorter CD in PvP since that would mean it could be used more than once but have it stay unchanged in PvE so that for e.g. boss fights in dungeons you would still get the full effect (and a shorter CD wouldn’t be as beneficial since it boss fights don’t last that long anyway).

Time warp in
-Dungeons: Very good and benefits the entire group. Also the only good option with a very few situational exceptions.
-WvW: Decent for a small group, something that should be encouraged so it’s less ZergVsZerg, but mass invisibility still has better uses unless it’s something like quickly taking a supply camp.
-PvP: Two things. 1) The CD is so long that it will likely only be used once. 2) The part if the playerbase that focus on pvp is so incredibly small that balancing around it is like balancing around what is good/bad in Caledon Forest.

If a balance is needed then do a split between pve and pvp versions.

QSatu.1586:

“G) It will be in a blog later once translated”
My fav reply. And then waiting 3 weeks for the translation. you would think ANet writes blog posts so sophisticated that translators need days to translate just 1 sentence.

Gives a whole new meaning to “lost in translation”.

Seether.7285:

Rainu.6871:

If it’s split so that any change only affect PvE then fine. If not then I don’t see why something that only affects a very small (I’d guess max 5%) of the players should lead to more nerfs for a class that is already very weak in pve.

I’m glad we got the PvEers speaking up in every balance thread in the PvP section. Scripted NPCs are pretty tough to fight, any more nerfs to mesmers and they won’t be able to kill anything!!!!

You sure you had enough question marks there? Maybe a few more and you would make an even better point? If Anet listens to whiners then yes, there is a need for people to also speak for the downsides. The part of the player population that focuses on Spvp is extremely small and shrinking all the time (I used to be a part of it but stopped since spvp is a joke at the moment) yet as long as the skills aren’t split any changes made to one game mode will affect the other. If you are so set on only considering one of them then the logical solution would be to go with the on which the vast majority plays. Wince that is not the caee and the devs are looking at both types of gameplay I’d say that it is reasonable that both parts are mentioned in a discussion about balancing.

Realistic expectations? A bunch if tooltip fixes and changes to underwater skills. Oh, and better throw in some new bugs as well and maybe a handfuls of nerfs. I’d love to be proven wrong.

Remove spvp! Actually, if “balance” changes made to a form of play that (I’d guess) max 5% of the population plays continue to affect pve then I would support such a measure. More plausible though, split pve and pvp skills.

If it’s split so that any change only affect PvE then fine. If not then I don’t see why something that only affects a very small (I’d guess max 5%) of the players should lead to more nerfs for a class that is already very weak in pve.

Hermes.7014:

This smells so much like poor design.
A particular class should never be left out from any activity, let alone endgame.
I constantly see topics about thieves being “overpowered”, and then nobody wants them in fractals because they’re “too weak”? Bah.

It is poor design yes. The complaints about thieves being OP are for pvp (which might or might not be correct, what is true is that thieves are at the very least very powerful in pvp (spvp andwvw)). For dungeons though, thieves aren’t as powerful since the nature of combat in pvp and in dungeons is so different that with the current skill design a thief will most of the time not contribute as much. Are they bad? No. Are several other classes better? Yes. A split between pvp and pve skills might help alleviate some of the issues but the thief class could certainly do with a major overhaul.

Doubloons are also crafting ingredients used to make runes (and silver doubloon is used in a legendary ingredient so it sells for about 4-5 times more than platinum doubloons)

Daecollo.9578:

That would be Mesmer, Mesmers have much higher Burst DPS then thieves do, and clones and invisibility. (it just takes a little time to setup, not much though, but also, they do a lot more sustained damage then thieves do, besides just burst.)

Mesmers don’t actually burst higher than thieves, during the pre-bug fix for shatter a mesmer using the exploit would hit at about 16k on a glass cannon (or a semi GC if some vulnerability had been added) which is quite close to what a BS chain can hit for against glass cannons as well. They do have higher sustained damage though, although in WvW situations much of it is negated/unreliable simply by large amounts of AoE going on and taking out clones and phantasms before they can hit.

Culling needs to be fixed soon, while seeing two zergs run into each other before realizing they’ve encountered an enemy can be very fun (and such beautiful chaos) it gets boring and the rendering after stealth gives professions with stealth an unfair advantage. I’d love for a GW1 approach and stealth to be removed completely from the game with thieves instead being about mobility (with more skills like Death Blossom – do damage and evade while looking snazzy) but that is probably too much of a change from what is already in the game to be a viable option. Less focus on stealth and more on mobility would be nice though.

The survivability of warriors and guardians lessen at higher fractals, they’re still great but that has more to do with what else they can bring (excellent support in forms of boons, group condition removal and healing) in addition to very high damage. At ca 20-30 they have great survivability but look at some videos of 40+ and it’s about damage avoidance for everyone. I have a d/d+sb condition thief and while I can’t burst as high as a BS build I can stay alive and my damage will continue even when I help revive someone else. (I prefer to bring my AH guardian or shout warrior though)

Regarding thieves dying more often than (most) other classes; it kinda seems a karmic joke for all the times thieves have told other classes that avoiding BS is a l2dodge issue

Death Reincarnated.3570:

It’s another statistical sales gimmick. The buyer is always meant to lose while the seller is meant to make the profit. The only difference is what the margin is – and this sale just increases it.

Not taking the missuse of the word ‘gimmick’ into account, this is still wrong. The buyer isn’t meant to lose in any other way than that the buyer is meant to buy. Yes, if you now would decide to buy gems with gold and trade those gems for the items on sale then they wouldn’t be much cheaper but there are also people who either buy gems with cash as well as people who have seen the trends of gem prices and that they always go up for a bit during sales and special events. The only person who lose is the one who goes for gold→gems now if the exchange rate would put the pric higher than it normally is. People who have gems from before and people who buy gems with cash win since they can buy the items on sale cheaper or sell off some gems for a higher than normal price.

Glass cannon for higher levels since you will still die when you get hit even with defensive gear. For the lower level fractals you might want a little bit more defense so that you won’t get downed immediately when you make mistakes (making mistakes is a part of the learning process after all).

Adaneshade.2409:

leashmaygoss.2140:

Fix the flawed mechanic pre cast backstab + steal. nuff said.

Apparently, this is intentional as stated by devs in a thread here on these forums…..can’t find the thread atm to link. They want you to be able to cast any instant during the casting animation of an ability with a cast time.

Yeah, it’s intentional (the post should be in a thread in the thief forum IIRC, title something about internal CDs) but that doesn’t mean it’s good.

The game isn’t dead but spvp is. There will supposedly be a big patch next month focusing on pvp but it seems like most of it will be for WvW.

SneakyErvin.3056:

I dont see the problem fellow memsers have with the shatter GCD. It’s there to prevent an exploit and rightly so. 0.25sec is nothing. It’s less than it takes you to create a new batch of illusions for another shatter.

It was never ment to work as it did, it was a bug getting exploited so it needed a fix.

It’s a band aid patch (even the devs have said so) which is meant to only be temporary. People who use iPersona are probably the ones most affected since there a several occasions when you might want a quick daze or distort to save you from an incoming burst right after you’ve used another skill. It’s not a big issue for lot of player but there are also several situations where it can literally be a matter of life or death for your character.

Mrbig.8019:

leashmaygoss.2140:

Fix the flawed mechanic pre cast backstab + steal. nuff said.

Oh yes, and how the would the thief be supposed to burst without mug precasting ?

Again, i’m all in favor to reduce the burst, but removing pre-casting would destroy the only way to burst as a thief.

TONE DOWN its numbers, but don’t remove it.

And without burst, the thief desperately needs more options.

Shadow step? I’m all in favor of removing precast from steal, that or remove the teleport from it (which would be worse though since it would affect more builds). The burst damage isn’t a much of an annoyance as the fact that it can be done without warning (other classes can also do high bursts but you can see them coming). As has been mentioned in other topics, the reason so many people complain about thieves in pvp has probably got more to do with them being annoying/boring/not fun to fight against rather than the bursts. Bursts are a problem but that goes for all bursts build classes (mesmers got hit hard in the latest patch, hopefully more classes will follow).

I support both the suggestion and a split between pvp and pve. A mesmer’s strengths in pve (well, and in pvp as well) is the amount of utilities they have. Problem is though that utilities won’t help you tag mobs in DEs and their damage is crap for that so very few sparkling corpses = very little loot. In pvp though mesmers can do good damage so just a flat out boost do their damage might turn them OP (of course, the more powerful version of Shattered Strength + the shatterbug (you know, the one that was so bad it needed a hot fix) still only put them at the damage a thief BS chain does but that’s another discussion). PvE and PvP have so different play styles that there seems to be a struggle to make classes balanced, that’s why I support a split.

Citadel of Flame. One of the dungeons.

I agree that thieves are probably the most boring class to fight. It would be great if it was closer to how GW1 handled things, no stealth and instead relying on mobility to avoid damage. I son’t think it’s the burst numbers as much as the not seeing the burst that annoys people.

Tulisin.6945:

Rainu.6871:

BS build, is good in open world pve and while leveling but is horrible in dungeons. .

It really isn’t. Effectively used BS build works better in dungeons than it does in open world PvE or while leveling. The burst single-target damage lends itself better to dungeon combat than elsewhere. Ineffectively used BS build is terrible everywhere, you can’t get away with it in dungeons. It isn’t the mechanics in this case, it is the player.

I admit to simplifying a bit, as I stated earlier a BS build can work but it puts a very high demand on the skill of the player and quite frankly I have very seldom seen people do that. A well played BS build can speed up the run but they don’t have to get downed often for the opposite to be true. While the time lost is the same for any class, I would say that beside dps d/d eles, BS thieves are the ones most often downed. There are situations where burst damage is very good but on the whole I usually much prefer sustained damage since so many bosses have mechanics (knock downs, evades/temporary immunity, etc) that can negate a burst.

Tulisin.6945:

Rainu.6871:

I think a large part of the problem is how many bad thief players there are.

This isn’t really fair. There are an equal amount of bad thieves as any other profession, the difference is that bad thieves can’t get away with it.

Mostly true, yes. I’d say the problem is that the one of (if not the) most common builds, the afore mentioned berserker BS build, is good in open world pve and while leveling but is horrible in dungeons. For most other classes the more common leveling builds are all viable for dungeons and therefore they perform better. I wouldn’t say thieves have the highest “skill floor” (I’d give that dubious honor to mesmers since trying to keep clones up in a dungeon gets old very fast and GC d/d eles although they are very rare) but thieves certainly have a high demand on their damage avoidance skills and using stealth won’t cut it (another thing BS builds often seem to don’t want to recognize) so when to dodge, evade and simply getting out of the way are things that are vital to learn.

I think a large part of the problem is how many bad thief players there are. Going a dungeon in berserker gear and with a BS build is doing everyone a disservice unless you are really good at avoiding damage (which very few players are). So many people are used to such a build working great in normal pve where you can quickly take down the mob but when their chain takes away less than 15% of the health of a trash mob in a dungeon they’re sitting ducks and quickly get downed. Combine this with the previous mentioned lack of support in comparison to other classes and the end result is that while thieves certainly can pull their weight in a dungeon in the hands of a capable player, they’re still likely to be the least wanted class to bring along.

Giving more boons would be nice but it would have to come at the cost of damage dealt for balance’s sake. I don’t know if that’s something players would be prepared to sacrifice since they’re used to the current design where thieves do huge damage but little else, it works in pvp and open world pve but in dungeons it’s not very helpful.

Regarding asking about class/build. There might actually be a good reason for this. You don’t want more than max two condition characters in a group since the damage will be so low it will take ages (or in some cases like AC3 be way more difficult/annoying).

I run about 2 to 5 dungeon paths per day and have been doing so more or less since september, I have never kicked anyone for their class but there are definitely classes I’m way more happy to include than others. In the end though, it’s the skills of the player and not the skills of their character that matter. If you can avoid getting downed too often, avoid bad pulls and generally be a nice person then I’m happy to have tou in my group regardless of class.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Rainu.6871:

Attunement changes are weapon swaps, not skills. Mesmers are the only ones who have a gcd on skill use.

The gcd isn’t the real issue though, the might reduction which leads to no decent tagging in DEs is the main problem.

Attunement changes are skills when traited. For example, water attunement is a good aoe healing skill for a bunker (or even any) ele.

They are still weapon swaps, they just have an added effect similar to how for example rangers or warriors can trait to gain various boons on weapon swap.

HiddenNick.7206:

Trinity mechanic is only interesting from healers perspective (and tanks in far smaller degree). Others just stand in one spot and hit all their skills as fast as they can… From their perspective it is far less interesting then Gw2 system because they can’t die.

Yup, completely agree. Healers and to some degree tanks are the on,y ones that might have a more involved fight in normal MMOs compared to gw2. There are some good exceptions (e.g. several bosses in SWTOR operations) but for the most part those aren’t tied in to the trinity and could be implemented i gw2 as well. I agree that most bosses in the game atm are very boring but I din’t think lack of the traditional roles has got anything to do with it.

You can have gotten the achievement by visiting the missing PoI with another character perhaps? Hinting for missing PoIs can be incredibly annoying but at least you can check the zones on the world map by putting your cursor over each map to see your percentages.

Syeria.4812:

Gaiawolf.8261:

Galrukh.6532:

Its a fine fix and something we all knew was gonna happen, so dont feel so violated.

WHAT!?

NOBODY thought a global CD was gonna happen! They don’t exist in this game for a reason. And it’s not a direct fix, anyway. It’s a band aid fix that nerfs another, valid tactic we use that didn’t even involve the bug/exploit.

Global CDs existed in GW2 before this fix. Specifically, Elementalist attunement changes (which from a template standpoint are the direct equivalent to Mesmer’s shatters) have global cooldowns. So to say that they don’t exist in the game is demonstrably false.

Attunement changes are weapon swaps, not skills. Mesmers are the only ones who have a gcd on skill use.

The gcd isn’t the real issue though, the might reduction which leads to no decent tagging in DEs is the main problem.

It depends entirely on your playstyle. If you use a lot of shouts you might be interested in Soldier runes since it will give you plenty of condition removal. I use a hybrid warrior build for dungeons with armor geared for survivability and a bit if damage so for more healing power for healing shouts I went with Monk, the non-stat bonuses fit very nicely with +15% boon duration (for For great justice and Signet of Rage), a heal on hit that scaled with healing power and group wide aegis when activating an elite skill (which is every 48sec)

For your hybrid spec, what gear are you using? Is it still the same as in the OP (I noticed the section about traits hasn’t been changed so I’m guessing any potential changes to gear might also not be included)? I’m currently running full Berserker armor, PVT weapons and haven’t decided on the jewelry (thinking Knight but not sure).

Simonoly.4352:

I have no problem with the new update. It’s obvious that shatters were never meant to be used in the way the exploit allowed and that 3 stacks of might for shattered strength was a mistake. Only support builds that focused on buff generation and transference using signet of inspiration will be really hurt by this as the Mesmer was already pretty darn good in a fight in sPVP without the need for large stacks of might.

Most people couldn’t care less about spvp, what this patch did was remove one of the only reliable ways mesmers could tag enemies enough to get loot in DEs. A split would be optimal since at the moment any balance changes will either gimp or buff pve or pvp.

Necros aren’t bad in GW2, they’re just bugged. Well, MM is bad but you can go condition build, power/well build or a hybrid and still do well in all forms of play. Engineers are in a bad state right now since Anet implemented that they get the sigil from their weapon when using a kit (and thus nerfed the damage) but haven’t yet applied the stats from the weapon to the kits (something that shouldn’t lead to a further nerf since it has been that way in spvp since launch)

frans.8092:

Rainu.6871:

It’s the difference of using up two utility skills for it or taking a 20pt trait that boosts an already very powerful skill/mechanic.

Only 20 trait points? That ‘powerful’ mechanic requires investing 30-60 trait points to become ‘powerful’.

Only 20 points to get the boon steal&share. Steal is quite good on it’s own and with 10 points into Deadly Arts you get mug to turn it into a good damage dealer as well. Most of the rest of the traits that make it good are in the same tree as Bountiful theft, you will get Kleptomanic for the initiative restoration for free when going to 20pts and Thrill of the crime for fury, might and swiftness at 10pts.

I’d say illusion summoning skills which rely on an attack should be affected by blind but not those that are a pure summon without attack. Feels like it’s another example of the devs being lazy and implementing a broad sweep change rather than customizing the solution.

Aniltiger.9186:

Rainu.6871:

Another fine example of changes to pvp that mess up pve. I wish anet would realize they need to split the skills between pvp and pve or they will just keep running into problems like this.

If they are going to fix every single problem with a profession because it doesn’t work for PvE or PvP you’ll get 2 different professions in the future. In my opinion it’s much better to make a profession’s skills and traits equally good in both aspects of the game.

It would be better if it was possible although as I mentioned in my previous post, the types of combat are so different that I don’t think they can. For some reason they still appear to think they can turn GW2 into an esport game despite the massive failure that spvp has turned into (it might be possible but it would require a lot more than some class changes) but they still very often balance in favor of pvp to the detriment of pve (and I’d be surprised if it’s more than 5% of the population who focuses on spvp over pve).

plasmacutter.2709:

Rainu.6871:

Another fine example of changes to pvp that mess up pve. I wish anet would realize they need to split the skills between pvp and pve or they will just keep running into problems like this.

No, they need to learn PATIENCE and put up a public test realm with feedback options.

The might stacking was not the issue. The posts by experienced mesmers in the PVP forums did the math and explained the basics of the exploit which was causing 100% extra mind wrack damage.

Instead of fixing this and waiting, they nerfed the ever loving bejesus out of the one thing that was finally giving mesmers a decent time in pve.

That would hopefully keep them from making obviously stupid decisions like this one but it wouldn’t remove the underlaying problem that pvp and pve differs very greatly in the type of enemy and thus what’s needed. Pvp has got smart enemies with low health while pve has got stupid mobs with huge health pools.