Guild Wars 2

Richard Nixon.6573:

Sarcasmic.6741:

Skribbl.7684:

so I can chaperone others around and promote terrible habits? Awesome.

Don’t forget about Time Warp. You can make the rest of your party do more damage too!

That means that you’ll be useful for the group approximately 0.048% longer than if you were only using portal! Hot kitten now we’re cooking!

I heard they reduced the recharge time on Mantra’s by a full second down to 3.25 seconds! Things are looking up for mesmer.

You see they ARE thinking of our well being when they patch

Neckro.1574:

is there a way to decrease the casting time cause it takes way to long for me still even after the Dec. 14 update and i am thinking of using mantra for WvW and PVE and I’m going for a DPS build

Don’t even bother trying to do a dps build with Mantra’s.

I have seen this tried time after time and it always results in the same thing. It’s slower dps and it’s just not worth it. The only thing that is great about Mantra’s is their ability to heal your allies. It’s not even that great of a build unless you’re in a large group of people… say running around in a zerg in wvw and you have no need of any sort of reward.

Being a support class suffers from a lack of points in PvP, lack or reward in WvW since you’re not tagging any targets, and again no rewards in PvE unless you’re running in a group for a dungeon but even then if you’re not hitting targets you’re not getting drops.

To make Mantra’s effective they still need to shave off another full second on the recharge time. Double the duration of the stability. Boost the amount of healing on the self heal. Balance Mantra’s around the 2 cast use and not the 3 cast usage, since it is a grandmaster trait anyway, and this trait is counter intuitive for the only good Mantra build which you actually want fewer casts so that you can spam your Mantra of Pain faster and get to the recharge more quickly for the aoe heals.

Mantra DPS builds: Nothing effective enough that it’s worth posting – far too many alternative damage builds for mesmer that are superior in EVERY way.

yvesbeaumont.3291:

what kind of weapon would you suggest?

rapier for the mes.

I’d be happy with another melee range main hand alternative like dagger. Or heck just to mess with the current state of things allow Mesmer to have torch as a mainhand and make it a condition based 1 hand weapon.

Mammoth.1975:

Sounds like you have a lot of trouble with ‘overpowered’ stuff in every game you play.

Sounds more like he’s playing in hot join games or randoming into tourney’s without a team. There tends to be a much larger percentage of DPS builds in hot join and random games than with a balanced team.

Cheese will often win vs low skill levels. Cheese can win vs higher skill levels but they have taken the time to learn the counters to these builds.

Jumper.9482:

The damage itself is not OP.
I’m not saying Mesmer is OP.
I’m not saying Thief is weak.
Just sitting here lol’ing at all the newbs who are saying “l2p”, etc…
I’d like to mention how many times I’ve played on equal(or higher) footing with the top Mesmers in the game (Enshadowed, Xee, Sataar, Zyzzyx, JSage, etc… ). Also you’re mad to think I wouldn’t swap to shortbow unless I were using my 45sec cd burst. FYI, I killed the mesmer and took his point twice before this fight.
I’m saying every single burst in this game EXCEPT MESMER can be countered. Warrior is a joke to stunbreak out of and everyone knows they are among the worst classes in the game. Thieves give you a 1/4 to 3/4 second window.
I would like to see at least a 0.2 second cooldown proc on shatter after summoning clones. Or maybe a 0.1 second global cooldown across each shatter. This way I have time to react to what my opponent is doing and counter accordingly. This puts it in line with every.other.class. I don’t even care if you increase the damage by 50%. Make it not instantaneous.

The flip side of that, but I don’t like where this leads for thief:
That’s fine as long as when ever a thief uses stealth there is a .2 second cooldown AFTER they have rendered on the screen and before they can resume wailing away on people. Also remove the instantaneous and queued abilities of thief, but increase their damage to previous levels.

Preferred adjustment:
Point blank vs any class when taking damage you’re going to get hit for some of the damage. I understand that despite this being a highly situational occurrence that did not require the clones to run to their target it felt very unfair. Maybe it would have been possible to have one or both clones spawn slightly further away or more spread out thus allowing that moment of awareness that alert players can react to.

Lol they seem to have completely removed the thread regarding shatter mechanics being broken and scaling too far. Not even in my previous posts section. It’s just gone.

The QQing going on in there was spectacular though. Brace yourselves fellow Mesmers we’re about to get kitten on again by the dev’s

Jumper.9482:

If I had 0.25 seconds to react to him summoning extra clones and shattering like inbetween Thief hits, then fine, I’d say its relatively balanced and it was my fault for not reacting and not shadowstepping away in time like I do to 90% of the thieves that try that combo on me.
But he shattered me with clones that didn’t even appear on my screen until I was down. (for 3k+ per hit, mind you. As much as your standard 50-25% heartseeker.)

Excellent point Jumper. As much as your standard 50-25% heartseeker, which can be spammed vs a mesmer shatter which is on a CD.

Thief may as well be considered a light target with the way they are typically built. No-toughness or additional health.

I imagine that all of your survivability Jumper is tied up in your stealth and shortbow 5 and 1 utility used for condi-removal and mobility. Sorry but you can hardly complain about dying in such a fragile build vs another glass cannon.

Personally I don’t think it was a macro but then I didn’t see how that individual played for the rest of the match. You took 9k damage from Mind Wrack with no time to respond. A stun break was used and the clones were spawned as they always do – beside the mesmer, they were then shattered before fully rendering much like thieves that abuse the time to render out of stealth attack and restealth. Which is even funnier that a rank 52 thief KNOWING this about your own class would even consider complaining about another class that happened to turn the tables on you for a change.

You got beat. You got blown up. That mesmer was in a fair bit of paid tourney equipment and probably knew what sort of tactic you would attempt. You got outplayed and out lucked this time. Don’t get me wrong I watch your stream and am often impressed at your skill level with a thief, but there’s no way you’re being honest with yourself here.

Zelulose.8695:

Wow I already thought mesmers were overpowered, but this is too much… I guss I will have to play shatter now until they get nerfed…

Please do play a shatter build. As mesmer you are strongly encouraged to play nothing but shatter largely due to how mechanics like thief Steal > BS > CnD works. It’s so fast that you are often dead by the time the thief renders on your screen.

There’s no other build besides shatter spec that is reliable for a mesmer and you have to be on the ball to pop you shatter CD’s in order to prevent the cheese lock-down 1 shot combo’s.

Narcarsis.5739:

You’re saying a normal shatter instantly killed him. There is no time to even shadow-step out of that. He did 9k instantly.

Nor was there time for him to blink away from Jumper’s steal. He had obviously committed to that response should he get attacked. He did get lucky though that combo doesn’t usually kill anybody outright unless they’re a no toughness low health glass cannon like Jumper.

There was no space required for the attacks to take place and land. It was instantaneous damage.

You got blown up is what just happened.

The speed at which he did it maybe was a macro, but then again he was obviously expecting you and was hovering over the button/s anyway. He only needed to hit his Mirror Images CD and shatter it, and with you on top of him the effect was instantaneous. Although it helped he got lucky and crit all of his hits, he also got the added bonus of not only crit damage but also the effect from his Sigil.

Mantra recharge does not appear to benefit from the use of quickness.

Considering the very long recharge on Mantra’s I have a hard time believing that this is intended. If it is intentional I suggest rethinking the recharges, possibly vary their time lengths to restrict their use as is reasonable instead of a blanket 3.25s recharge on all of them.

I’m curious if you’re planning on using a Mantra build for PvP or PvE?

If you’re planning on using one for PvE I know there are weirdos out there that love Mantra builds. They’re not great for a whole lot in my opinion aside from being used to heal your team.

If you’re planning on using a Mantra build for PvP then you belong to a VERY small minority group. Mantra’s even with the reduced recharge time are still too clunky for serious PvP. Once an enemy notices you use Mantras they simply apply pressure and then stun you, daze you, knock you down while you’re trying to charge them.

0
20 – VI XII
30 – IV VII X
20 – IV X
0

Shaman Amulet
Runes of Water
Energy Sigils
Weapons – Staff and I suggest using Sceptre / Sword for the 2 blocking abilities until you get used to charging your Mantra’s up.

With this setup alone you can have 3500+ Toughness while charging a Mantra and 3200+ the rest of the time.

Summon your phantasms for Regen and Protection.
Pop your Chaos Storm and stand in it for massive boons then before it ends Phase Step out of it in order to get Chaos Armor
Pop Chaos Armor when it drops if needed

Run Mantra of Healing for an 8s CD which removes conditions from you and heals people around you.
Spam Mantra of Power for large AoE heals and bonus armor

There’s a lot more to playing this build too and many things you can do to tweak it and make it work for your play style. Like if you see you’re up against a group with heavy conditions swap a utility for your condition removal before a match starts.

Honestly though I don’t know why anybody would choose to play a Mantra build. Everything you are in this spec some other class already excels at.

There is next to no damage in this build as it is purely for support and survival. If you’re playing in a group or with others you can rely on to back you up then you will have plenty of time and can heal through nearly anything except condition spammers.

Direwulff.2396:

Hiya all,

So being newer on the mesmer and reading the forums here I notice that everyone feels the lack of speed. I have a thief and a ranger both with perm +25% speed from slot skill. So when I got to play my mesmer alt I feel SOOO slow. I find myself wanting to have focus offhand for the speedbuff but I really like combat with gs/staff combo.

I have found myself keeping a focus in my top bag just to equip and then toss back on the staff after i lay down the speed buff…. but occasionally i get caught by a mob with no mainhand on lol. Any advice from vets on how to not feel so slow without running into the above issue?

thanks in advance
oh btw i am currently level 29

The following statement from ANet is rather misleading, but none the less – accurate.
Mesmer does share SOME of the stealth and SOME of the mobility that the thief enjoys. However what we get is short and unreliable or on long CD’s or even built into our elite skill.

Class philosophies:

Mesmers rely on illusions in order to accomplish their goals. They need illusions to accomplish some of their highest damage and control, and without the illusions, they become fairly fragile. They can deal with enemy boons better than most classes, but enemy conditions can often be a problem. They share some of the stealth and mobility that the Thief enjoys, but suffer from a low health pool if you get past all their tricks.

The answer is no. There’s no easy solution while leveling up a mesmer. Just suck it up and level like the rest of us did. When you hit 80 you can invest in some gear and runes that will put you on par with the rest of the class population for mobility.

Konfuzfanten.6503:

Lordryux.9785:

i dont see how we are OP i really think thats a L2p issue right thier mesmer is easy to counter if u take the time and play it urself to an extent of knowing a bit about the class.

If you dont see how mesmer are borderline ridiculous in small scale WvW with portal, teleport, mass stealth/group quickness – “scatter cat” build – then you are playing the mesmer wrong.

Osicat is a really good mesmer and following his setup, i have little trouble taking on 2-3 players and either wining or getting away from them. Yea the thief can do the same, and that class is also pretty ridiculous because of the stealth but comparing a warrior with a mesmer in small scale is laughable.

The big difference between mesmer/theif and the other classes is the crazy “escapability” of those 2 classes making them nearly impossible to kill even against 3-4 guys at once. [EDIT: D/D ele’s can get nearly the same escapability]

Yea you can nitpick any class skill and say: look thats OP, its when you combining all the things that you see the whole picture.

WvW has so many people there to PvE or in really bad gear or low level. It’s a social environment that includes some PvP objectives and combat. Any well played class will be able to take on several targets and win. I mean seriously I have seen videos of thieves in WvW fight 10v1 and win. I have seen Warriors and Mesmers do the same, although I don’t think they were out numbered so severely. If people are being honest with themselves they know there’s NO WAY any class can take on 10v1 when the players are of equal skill. Watch Osicat’s videos he’s often out numbered in them 2-5 vs him and he wins. You think that happens EVERY time he fights? I think not.

Too many people not being honest with themselves. It’s ok to get outplayed. It’s ok to be outgeared or outmatched. Just get over it and get better. Look for solutions and THEN come whine about your class needing buffs.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Nah, he has a direct damage build with bleeds as an additional effect.
Just do the math. In exotic gear he should be above 50% crit chance.

Math is not my strength though so the numbers might be off. Critmulti is 150%, with berserker it is about 210%.

100 damage: crit w/o berserker 150 damage
100 damage: crit w berserker 210 damage

With 50% crit rate:
Average damage w/o berserker: 125 damage
Average damage w berserker: 155 damage

Damage increase: 24%

No way to get a similar result with stacking cond damage for the bleed.

He’s taking conditions on clone death and clone generation, he may not be specing into condition damage but that’s where he’ll get his best results from those traits. It’s really an excellent 1v1 build. It eats bunkers, and eats thieves even if they spend their whole lives cloaked. It doesn’t do well in large scale warfare though as it is a dueling spec. All you have to do to make this build successful is dodge roll and swap your weapons. Make 3 clones and after that they start blowing up. If your opponent starts killing them for you just make more. Personally I like to pop out iDuelist at range to whittle them down and stack tons of bleed while the other 2 clones keep dying and spreading conditions.

Wowzers. Swapped out duelists discipline and with my build the difference is immediately obvious. I do nearly double the damage without duelists discipline.

Thanks for this catch I was starting to feel as though pistol had lost it’s appeal too and thought I might have to go back to focus.

No they didn’t change it back. They only improved the attack delay slightly. iZerker’s ability to hit has remained the same. There was no change in damage output on the last patch, but people have experienced a more reliable initial attack.

It’s exactly what was predicted to happen really. Zerker got nerfed into the ground, broken not once but at least twice, then when they made the adjustments people were so kitten happy about a semi-functional illusion that the majority have just accepted this is the state of things for mesmer GS builds.

The damage sucks in comparison to what it was yes. It is approximately 50% of the pre-november patch damage. Get used to iZerker missing 75+% of it’s hits. Get used to the reduced damage when it does hit. Get used to the fact that the mesmer community accepts these nerfs and thinks of them as a ‘fix’. Get used to it.

Mesmer will be adjusted to better damage when Anet finally comes to the understanding that mesmer have no effective aoe damage outside of shatters and only if you are shatter spec’d. Therefore reinforcing the need to play a shatter based spec in order to be effective.

Shatters builds have:
Mesmer’s only effective source of AoE damage
Mesmer’s only reliable escape from 1 shot cheese builds
Mesmer’s largest burst output
Mesmer’s best sustained damage output
Mesmer’s best condition damage output
Mesmer’s best survivability
Mesmer’s only means of avoiding a knockdown without having illusions up (although I have heard some Mantra fanatics trying to claim that Mantra’s are the answer to all our woes) Unless the stability time was doubled on said Mantra I would never waste a utility slot with it.

Sorry got side tracked.

iZerker still sucks. The utility in GS is still good, but just don’t expect to do any damage. Illusions still get 1 shot most of the time before they even get an attack off. This is largely due to the health pool scaling. In full glass cannon all illusions can get 1 shot. In a more balanced spec or even a tanky spec they get 2 shot. The trade off is pathetic. iZerker’s damage needs to be reliable, ie. It shouldn’t miss on stationary targets that don’t evade, block, blind, like the golems in the mists.

Seriously… how do you miss a stationary target anyway? Out of range, was that your answer? Look again. iZerker is MISSING when he’s right on top of a target.

Trigr.6481:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5RCuXHYBKM

This is a new build I was made for guild wars 2 for the Mesmer. It focuses more on condi damage based off of your illusions, with a touch of you adding bleeds as well. let me know what you guys think. Thanks guys

Jeff

Here’s another thread you should check out. May help with your build. Personally I have enjoyed playing this guys build and found it far more balanced and stronger than the one you are currently playing.

I’d stick with conditions for your spec but get the extra condi damage out of the Illusion trait line.

I get better loot with my newly level 80 that has terrible gear than I do with my first 80 that has all MF gear. I think this has been stated several times in the forums regarding magic find and loot rates.

Checks the time
Fires up the ol’ Mesmer
Sees naked illusions standing around doing nothing
Logs back out

Hackuuna.4085:

It is per skill use. This also includes traits which activate skills automatically, such as on dodge traits or <25% traits, etc. Note that this means if you spam a skill use you will get hit with confusion at a ridiculous rate, such as your auto-attack button. Never spam a skill when you are faced with a heavy confusion user.

Watch that video closely: when he gets hit with all that confusion it’s because he is spamming 1-1-1-1 while in blurred frenzy and after.

Confusion damage is per skill use not per hit. Auto attacking counts as a skill use as well, but in cases like 100b and blurred frenzy it’s 1 hit per skill use.

You are finding that the attacks on your phantasms are not recharging 20% faster?

If you’re looking for a faster summon this is not the skill that does it. You can take 5 points in Illusion for the summoning speed or you can double up by traiting into a weapon skill for a 40% faster summon CD, but phantasmal haste is the ATTACK recharge.

40% summon CD reduction doesn’t really help you either unless you are doing PvE and then it was never really a concern for PvE

Well if our leap was similar to thief steal in that steal doesn’t need line of sight I would be much happier.

If you take a thief to mist, target a golem and hide behind a tree or something, hit steal BAM you’re on the target.

If you take a mesmer to mist, check that you’re on completely level ground with your target, close the gap a little more because 600 range is a significant distance for a clone to run if it does spawn, click swap, then there you go… you’re beside your target who hopefully didn’t see this coming a mile away. Since why else does a mesmer get in close other than to leap > blurred frenzy > shatter.

Blink is far from a spammable quickly regenerating teleport similar to infiltrators arrow.
We have no 25% movement speed signet that also doubles as an aoe “oh kitten button”

I think something may have to be done about mesmer’s core mechanic.

It seems so easy to break mesmer as a class. Every patch there’s something regarding our illusions that’s not intentional.

Mesmer

Mesmers rely on illusions in order to accomplish their goals. They need illusions to accomplish some of their highest damage and control, and without the illusions, they become fairly fragile. They can deal with enemy boons better than most classes, but enemy conditions can often be a problem. They share some of the stealth and mobility that the Thief enjoys, but suffer from a low health pool if you get past all their tricks.

Discuss….

yes.

/15charissilly

Meh… still no solution they’re all on holiday now more than likely. Suppose I should take a holiday from GW2 as well.

Shame I hadn’t planned on playing another game so soon… any recommendations? I haven’t really been looking until now, but I can’t play like this.

Nazer.7301:

Is merging threads considered a response?

No. It just means a moderator combined the threads so they can gauge the scope of the issue more easily.

<43 people on the forums (many of which are your and mine) and not a lot of rage. This issue is about to get put onto the back burner.

Good thing I decided to work on learning another class who knows when this issue will be resolved.

I look forward to seeing a resolution

Nope still not fixed.

And no they didn’t break the whole class. Apparently there are mesmers that don’t have this issue.

Would a dev please come in here and tell me what process I need to take to help you fix stuff? Please I WANT TO HELP YOU fix your game so that me and others can enjoy it. I really want this game to be enjoyable for everybody.

What do I need to do? Give me a list or direct me to where I can find out how to effectively get bugs assessed, fixed, logged etc.

Include your customers in this part of the improvement process (if they want to be) and I guarantee you’ll have all kinds of issues getting sorted out

Follidus.8027:

Braxxus.2904:

I approve of this message.

(Especially if it makes more of the “pro” players whinge)

But back on topic: I think it’s important to see who you’re up against before a match, just like real sports.

It’s like people are afraid your opponents might be smart enough to counter you, but you’re not confident enough in your own build. There are optional builds for many classes and there’s no way to know for sure a team’s strategy just by seeing their class and/or name. You can assume all you like but any good team will have many strategies and any good player will have many builds.

Seeing your opponents name and class is fine, since it’s actual teams fighting it out unlike the wild melee brawl of a hot join.

Kaii.6805:

(PVE Only)

I have been trying to find a class that i can connect with. At first (after reading the forums) I thought it might be a Guardian or even a Warrior but melee standard attacks were just not my style. So Here I am.

After watching the class videos the Mesmer looks very interesting and unique. I’m not afraid to die, I’m not easily frustrated and I’m willing to learn. So if there is any wisdom that people could part with it would be greatly appreciated.

How does the Mesmer perform in Dungeons?
What are your opinions on the class?

PvE? Play a guardian.

I have several friends that have played 3-4 classes up to 80 and guardian is the only one they refer to lovingly as “god mode”

Personally I always felt that mesmer didn’t need to be like everybody else. I want to be as mobile as other classes, but I’d have preferred they made our speed boost from our focus a 50% boost for 8 seconds instead of adding 2 seconds to it at 33%. The utility would make up for the fact that mesmer swiftness does not stack with anybody else’s swiftness and that we have no reliable source. Unless you accept that fact that if you cast focus 4 at your feet you will often run over it and not get buffed.

possante.8310:

as a mesmer i think anyone can see how this MINOR trait is insane OP right now, this even it was a elite trait would be OP but a minor trait? please just nerf this or otherwise soon everyone will play mesmer.

make it only 3 stack might full shatter, 9 stack might is just insane for a MINOR trait….

You do understand that despite the buffs to mesmer that other classes were buffed even more than us right? Nerfs and buffs are relative please use some common sense and put things into perspective before you ask them to further destroy this class.

Working as intended. Provided that naked non-functioning illusions and a broken mesmer class was the goal.

Osicat.4139:

I can understand the frustration for tPvP and phantasm players who had illusionary membrane as a core in their spec, even if it was a bit op with constant protection a 15 sec cd is alot.

Still to claim the whole class mesmer patch is a nerf when al shatter mesmers just seen the biggest buff sens relese is not 100% correct. Its more another balance patch where aNet balancing mesmers by favour shatter spec.

If this is the correct way I leav others to discuss but its a fact that at same time phantasm spec get nerf after nerf shatter spec accualy get heavy buffs.

/Osicat

ps the tPvP bugg is prob fixed tomorow.

The frustration comes in when tPvP players are further pushed into their shatter spec’s. It comes in when we can get 3 seconds of protection from our unreliable phantasms every 15 seconds when other classes (ele/guardian) can maintain 100% protection uptime. It comes in when we get “buffed” and everybody is super excited and talking about how happy they are about the patch… then they realise a week later that stronger classes were buffed x2 and despite our buffs we’re still further behind.

Buffs and nerfs are all relative.

Don’t get me wrong; I for one like the patch. It has motivated me to play another class.

Come on ANet this was supposed to be the April 1st event and now you’ve got and made it a Winter’s Day bug.

Illusions from GS and clones stand there doing nothing. They do not shatter either, thus breaking any and all shatters. Mesmer… boned again!

Lordryux.9785:

Nuka Cola.8520:

Jasher.6580:

Nuka Cola.8520:

Wow shatter strength so powerful now that running anything but a shatter build in pve is a completely stupid. 172 damage per bleed -.- hellllll yeah

Did they buff Mind Wrack damage or something?

dunno i’m on a confusion build right now and with 25 stacks of might confusion is seriously destroying lol

I heared confusion ownz bootie in WvW x.x i cant wait till im 80 lol

Shame it sucks in PvP. Cause atm mesmer only have 1 decent build in PvP and everybody and their dog has learn how to counter it. Shatter build – that is all. Anet has spoken.

I find it highly telling that nearly every class was buffed significantly except mesmer which only had some minor adjustments to fix us.

Might with shatter build is nice, but as much as I like this adjustment it doesn’t help.

Shatter build is the only thing that works in pvp. If somebody else knows something else that currently works in pvp please feel free to let me know.

Make no mistake though. Any buffs/fixes mesmer got is relative to the other classes. Therefore we have once again been left behind.

Berserker broken still. Illusions still getting 1 shotted by npc’s. Tested in HoM. Duelist doing around the same output as it used to.

Illusionary membrane can now only give mesmers 3 seconds of protection once every 15 seconds – as if it was an issue before….

I just noticed this myself. Plus when you fight anything that hits back berserker and likely other illusions are still dying before they even get a hit off.

I will say that the delay reduction is quite noticeable and will help a lot, but maybe put something into effect that lets illusions survive to at least get a single hit off. Give them 10k health and have that get cut quartered every time they use an attack. Or make them invulnerable until they have executed their initial strike.

With more testing I’m sometimes only getting a single hit on the initial attack depending on where the illusion spawns.

MightyJoeMoon.7463:

I guess it depends on what “damage now matches the tooltip” pans out to be in real numbers.

Funny that’s exactly what I thought.

The only thing I was expecting from this patch was for it to be on the 14th generally sometime in the morning while I’m away at work.

As far as changes regarding mesmer:

A reliable source of swiftness – because JP said this was coming
A reduction in the attack delay of phantasms – also because JP said it was coming.

Here’s a list of what I am not expecting:

A new useable weapon and skills
A passive speed buff
Mantra’s becoming useful
Fixes to current traits
Fixes to iZerker damage
More viable pvp builds (this in particular – mesmers only have 1 so-so counter to 100b war and BS thief cheese builds)
Stability added to allow for bunker specs
Illusions to have a health pool higher than 500

bluewanders.5297:

Wise.8025:

Raven.4690:

Hi guys,

is such a thing possible? Recently I started playing a D/D bunker ele to get a better perspective on how to counter them and was impressed with their versatility, survival and speed of play.

Is there something equivalent on the mesmer side?

Mesmer’s do not make the best bunkers in my opinion due to the fact that they do not have any form of stability. Protection up time can be decent with mesmer if your enemy is too stupid to kill your phantasms that have 500 health once taking note that they are not getting hurt because you’re a vitality/toughness build and your condition stacking is mostly confusion and bleeding and feeble due to needing the extra survivability. This reply is entirely PvP oriented.

All in all, there are many better options for bunkering before mesmer would be considered a good choice. Good bunkers have a lot of boon up-time especially on protection and regen. Mesmer is far too reliant on illusions to be expected to bunker effectively against an intelligent foe.

No form of stability? Read your mantras again… instant cast stability charges with no cast animation.

A phantasmal defender is also decent when used properly for trying to hold a point.

I do agree with you though… we don’t make good bunkers due to our need to avoid damage rather than soak it… that means we have to be mobile and mitigate any damage as much as possible.

If mantra’s were usable in a bunker build I may have mentioned them, but since they was completely useless kitten I did not. When you have to hold off 2-3 people on a point in PvP while you wait for your teammates to back you up running a kittenty mantra is not going to help you. You are better off with the illusionary defender and ANYBODY with a knockback is going to laugh at you, knock you off point and neutralize it before you even stand up.

SAtaarcoeny.8476:

but you shouldnt get a cool down if you dont use it i would think?

But you did use it. You placed the first half of it. Just because you didn’t use the second effect on it doesn’t mean it was never used.

Depends what you’re doing and what your build is like.

Staff auto attack is slower and weaker, but it bounces and has very strong conditions that make up for it and ignore armor.

GS auto attack is best at max range, it has the strongest physical auto attack of mesmer weapons.

Beyond that you’ll have to start comparing the bonus effects and phantasms associated with the weapons.

Raven.4690:

Hi guys,

is such a thing possible? Recently I started playing a D/D bunker ele to get a better perspective on how to counter them and was impressed with their versatility, survival and speed of play.

Is there something equivalent on the mesmer side?

Mesmer’s do not make the best bunkers in my opinion due to the fact that they do not have any form of stability. Protection up time can be decent with mesmer if your enemy is too stupid to kill your phantasms that have 500 health once taking note that they are not getting hurt because you’re a vitality/toughness build and your condition stacking is mostly confusion and bleeding and feeble due to needing the extra survivability. This reply is entirely PvP oriented.

All in all, there are many better options for bunkering before mesmer would be considered a good choice. Good bunkers have a lot of boon up-time especially on protection and regen. Mesmer is far too reliant on illusions to be expected to bunker effectively against an intelligent foe.

Winds.3087:

Wise.8025:

He actually does a whirling finisher now where I do not recall him ever doing that.

But Iberserker was whirl finisher since betas. I remember accidentally discovering this for myself when testing glamour confusion builds on golems during bwe3(or bwe2).

Interesting. Shame I don’t record my game play because I don’t recall it ever being there. I suppose there’s so much footage on youtube and twitch I could find something. Maybe I just didn’t notice it because there was a time I was not aware of how fields and finishers worked. Who knows… who cares… fix illusions so they don’t suck and blow up right after spawning.

Navi.7142:

How about a Elite signet? xD

Signet of illusionary haste
passive: gives you 15% movement speed
active: cripples up to five foes for 10 sec and roots you in place for 3 sec
or immobilize up to five foes for 4 sec and cripples you for 2 sec

like: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Illusion_of_Haste

May not be balanced, but it sounded fun. And yeah, I was only thinking for pve. ^^

Love your idea Navi. It would be useless if it rooted you in place for pvp though and if it immobilized up to five fore it would be on EVERY mesmer’s skill bar because that’s would be OP especially with a 4 second duration. Although it could be done like the ranger elite entangle where you can break out of it and having no damage it would just be cc.

reload.2308:

Can anyone explain why you would want to use this skill? It doesn’t seem very useful to me.

Very situational. Used to think it would be useful in PvP but I was wrong. It’s inferior to the other versions and mesmer can support their team in other ways.

Aberrant.6749:

I’m fine with the mesmer attacks being subject to blind/dodge/block rules the same as other classes are.

I am NOT fine with only mesmer having a summon not appear due to a blind/dodge/block.

But the dev’s have stated they consider them attacks (because frick logic). So from their pov… I am NOT fine with only mesmer’s multi-hitting/aoe attacks not occurring at all due do a single dodge/blind/block.

I agree with this. If mesmer illusions do not appear due to invuln/blind/block/dodge, and we lose the entire amount of potential damage then if a Warrior uses 100b blind should make every single swing miss, also confusion should affect every single hit etc. not just the first of a long series of attacks.