Ideas for next balance patch for mesmer

I would like to know some ideas or to start a discussion of how the class can be better balanced. For instance I think phantasm should not die or have their own atk strength or buff. Please don't rage for the previous patches.

there is so much shit that needs to be changed that I dont even think its worth mentioning, nothing will be done anyways. best you can hope for is to not get nerfed next patch and for other classes to be nerfed

Uhh tomorrow is patch day, can’t wait to get disappointed again.

Weird but related: Slowly I begin to understand why my last girlfriend left me ?

But for real my wishlist is in this order:

1. clone + shatter rework
2. chrono re-rework (can’t wait for a re-re-rework), in every Aspekt (wells, shatters, shield, traits...)
3. core buff
4. remove/rework dead traits
5. mirage rework
6. rearranging some traits because they are in the very wrong place to be useful
7. Staff buff

Based on the fact that I moved my WvW Ascended Gear from my former Mesmer main over to a new Ele, played for maybe 2 hours during the last week, and then was able to be more effective, get more bags, and better support when running with [HELL] with literally 1/2 the effort, they have a LONG way to go to make mesmer balanced against the rest with the gutting they gave it.

This is why ANet should not let troll posts decide their balance, but hey, I am no longer paying them anything for this game, so I got that going for me.

What, is there a patch tomorrow?

I'd better have some popcorn ready.

@Senqu.8054 said:Uhh tomorrow is patch day, can’t wait to get disappointed again.

Weird but related: Slowly I begin to understand why my last girlfriend left me ?

But for real my wishlist is in this order:

1. clone + shatter rework
2. chrono re-rework (can’t wait for a re-re-rework), in every Aspekt (wells, shatters, shield, traits...)
3. core buff
4. remove/rework dead traits
5. mirage rework
6. rearranging some traits because they are in the very wrong place to be useful
7. Staff buff

What should be change for clones and shatters? I think they are fine. First shatter is for power build, second for condi ones, third is cc and fourth is utility. The only change that I can see is that shatters need clones to activate for all mesmer specializations and core, cause mesmer should count for a clone.

@Curunen.8729 said:What, is there a patch tomorrow?

I'd better have some popcorn ready.

I have heard that there will be a balance patch, every Tuesday for nearly two month.

Please don't make suggestions, don't even mention Mesmer out loud. We don't need more nerfs.

My suggestion would be taking Chrono behind the shed and putting it out of it's year-long misery. Disable the entire traitline like how they did with CI, unslotting it from you if you join a match with it - this way, mesmer player with 2 traitlines would still be more efficient than a Chrono and won't be actively griefing matches by contributing less than necro's minions.

If for real, I have no hope by now. I've been trying to make my main work on and off, and in PvE it's stupid to play because it's only really good in raids as a DPS (raids are abandoned, and chrono DPS is only good when there's 7 of them) while demanding a condi-engi tier rotation for much lesser effect than any normal spec, in PvP it just holds no hope at competing, Yes, it can maybe kill someone by surprise once or twice, but coincidentally you just never have enough clones out, and due to not having IP you can't employ defensive shatters (and I oop, I meant ShatteR, because Distortion dead) on demand, making F3 useless for interrupts, your F1 deals laughable damage unless enemy has slow - except you don't have a reliable source of slow, and even if you put it on someone in this dull meta it'll get cleansed away in an instant.

Long story short: PvE, Danger Time = awful, Slow reliance in general = awful, Wells are bad basically everywhere, and for the love of God, why in the world they've made a greatsword trait which was supposed to make it a "better DPS weapon" compete with your core DPS trait in Domination, Empowered Illusions? For PvP, basically rework everything. This is not viable and mechanically unsound. It holds NO hope of competing seriously, because it gets killed by simply pressuring it mildly. By the way, nothing in this meta pressures "mildly". The spec offers absolutely no edge over anyone while actively hampering your profession mechanic, and they had the guts to say "little more planning to use shatters" as justification. The only thing this godawful rework, which Magically stays active for a year already, achieved - is Chrono's utter death and descent into absolute unplayability of never seen before levels of uselessness.

Mirage is somewhat workable, but one dodge thing just hurts to play and not exactly fun. Also, it might be telling that the spec is in the bad spot when it demands you run Domination - a power- centric traitline - in a condition build, giving up any pretense of sustain (uh oh, with 1 dodge too!), just to hope to dismantle boonspamming overtuned monsters like Mallyx rev, Holo, etc. Hope being a strong word too, because no amount of boonstrip can deal with the level of output it has on Resistance and boon application in general. While it does slightly better than Chrono on the virtue of not being lobotomized, i think they should really go back to the drawing board with this one, as well - most of it's traits are really bad, and so are skills - they feel borderline roleplay utilities rather than actual useful skills, because I can't think of a single situation where I'd want to run Advance over, let's say, blink - or moreso, these two together. Only Jaunt and heal (on the virtue of other heals being just bad) are decent. All of the victims of Anet blindly nerfing entire class because Infinite Horizon was really strong should also be sent love and support, ergo: entire Chaos, half of Dueling. That new CI in particular is like a very poor joke - it even would be bad as a minor, except it's grandmaster. And these are supposed to define your build - the only thing you define with this trait is that you don't make good choices neither in life, nor in traiting a mesmer.

Yes i think one dodge is lazy balance. Make mirror last 1/2 instead of 3/4. The difference to pvp from pve is like playing another class.Also another skill that is lazy balance is mimic, which can't be affected by cs. Increase the CD or something.

Does anyone use sword off-hand anymore or is it viable anymore?Hardly ever see anyone use it WvW. Don't see any builds that use it in PvP.

Mostly focusing on PvP Mirage but I included a few others in here too. I primarily want Power Mirage viable, but without letting condi mirage get to strong:

-Add back the second evade.

-New Mirage Trade off: Mirage cannot create clones via utility skills. Any skill that normally does functions like it normally would just minus the clone eg. Decoy will stealth, Mirror images will drop target, etc. However, it cannot innately create a clone. (they can however create phantasms which function like normal, and "Self Deception" still works with deception skills.) In the case of signet of illusions the passive will never proc, but the active will function as it should.

-Infinite horizion effect is now apart of "Mirage Cloak". Clone Ambushes now only occur when YOU ambush, Infinite Horizion trait reworked to something else.(Maybe: untrained "ambushes" serve a utility function and are severely limited, then slotting the new trait restores to the power we have now.)

-If needed even after forcing mesmer to actively commit to an ambush: Rework Scepter/axe/staff ambushes in sPvP to disabling condis and not damaging ones.

-Completely remove Mirage mirrors, and rework mirror summons to proc some form of flat endurance regen.

-Dune Cloak no longer gains a junky copy. It flat out STEALS the boon and all it's stacks or duration. OR is now unblockable.

-Jaunt: No longer applies confusion. Recharge reduced to 20 seconds from 30 seconds. (PvP only)

-Illusionary Wave (GS5) has is changed to either a reliable stealth tool (that you need to land as an attack) on par with "Hunters Shot".OR is a Block+Counter attack akin to "Counterattack" to specify that is NOT a simple riposte.

-Phantasmal Berserker: casting skill no longer throws the sword, now that spinning animation knocks back enemies in a 180 radius around you.

-Phase Retreat (Staff2) is now a ground targeted skill. (Not only does this serve as a buff and make it more user friendly for beginners, and reduces that gap between mesmer and thief a little, but means it still works when your "about face" system is bugged)

-Critical Infusion in PvP is back to 5 seconds like in PvE. (Nomads endurance remains nerfed)

-Signet of illusions Only Restores: Mind Wrack, Cry of Frustration, and Diversion in sPvP.

Anything I mentioned as a PvP exclusive or is obviously in relation to a PvP version can also translate over to WvW.

''rework mirror procs to be some form of flat endurance regen'' that is a great idea.

• rework staff 3. It's one of the worst skills I've ever seen. No damage, no utility, no condi, it's also slow as fuck to become a clone.
• rework chaos aura. Right now it's just a tooltip to pinpoint the real mesmer when there's too much visual spam around. You can safely ignore it.
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Empowered_Illusions and https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bountiful_Blades shouldn't be both minor, as they compete against each other
• speaking of which, the aforementioned bountiful blades is probably the only weapon trait that doesn't reduce cooldowns. GS in general became an even worse weapon than it was before, and it was meme tier already; the loss of cripple, increased cooldowns and the enormous nerf to the damage damage on gs4 (despite being one of the most telegraphed skills in the game) is quite obnoxious. If only https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Haste worked with the phantasmal berserker the skill could be a little bit better... but surprise surprise, it doesn't! Why's that? IDK.
• There's more to that big meme that is gs. It was supposed to be a ranged weapon in the dev's mind, but your bread and butter is https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mirror_Blade + https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mind_Wrack and it must be used from up close, or it won't deal damage -both because it bounces around too much, or not at all when nothing to bounce on is found, and because the projectile is as slow as a walking man. Problem from using it up close is, however, that the enemy can cancel it by walking through you while you cast it. Really, try it: you can down a power mesmer by jumping back and forth while auto attacking, and the poor thing won't be able to do a thing to stop you. GS2 is a melee skill that can be cancelled by the opponent as if it was a ranged skill (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rapid_Fire does it too, but good luck trying to do that-. Auto attack has such a low damage too, it's insane
• For some reason, if a ranger manages to hit you with either https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Entangle or https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Jacaranda%27s_Embrace you can't hit the roots with GS. Why's that? That's a mistery we are never going to solve.
• torch 5 and sword 5 are a joke within a joke. You can basically walk past right them and they won't hit you. And even if sword 5 hits you -you're probably downed and it's being used as a cleave-, it deals such a low damage it's not a real problem anyway.
• can sword 3 even hit? I don't think it can tbh.
• pathfinding for phantasms is just so bad. Just spawn them on enemy location if you can't make them act smart, like guardian's spirit weapon, because having my berserker run behind a teleporting thief for half an hour and turning into a clone once it gave up is just depressing. I shattered a clone half an hour ago and I can't stealth because it's still just running around and it will sooner or later reveal me.
• you don't get to use your class mechanic on WvW, nor in heavy zerks in pvp as both clones and phantasms die immediately.
• Talking about phantasms, this pisses me off 'cause you have DOUBLE THE TIME to react and DOUBLE TO OPTIONS TO INTERRUPT THEM compared to any other skill. Sure, you can interrupt\blind the mesmer while the phantasm is being casted, but you can also interrupt\blind the phantasm if you fucked up and the phantasm is up. Sure, you can LOS the mesmer, but you can also LOS the phantasm. This on top of phantasms skills being generally heavy telegraphed.
• mantras being limited by LOS is only fair. Mantras being limited to facing the enemy, however, is not. And about mantras, https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mantra_of_Concentration with 60s recharge time.I repeat: A stunbreak with 60s recharge time.Why should I take this thing over literally anything else?
• a lot of traits are just wasted space. An (albeit incomplete) would surely include https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Escape_Artist, https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chaotic_Interruption, https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Protected_Phantasms, https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mental_Defense. These are not just "traits that should be used in only one game mode"; these are traits that have no reason to exist at all. The entire chrono traitline is the most perfect example of this.
• speaking of which, is https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Defender ever going to be a skill or the plan is to keep it as a placeholder? Is it just fate for https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Disenchanter to have such an INSANELY LONG cast time?
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Rogue doesn't hit. Sometimes it just gives the evil eye to the enemy, hoping to scare the guy away. When it isn't randomly killed, that is. Why doesn't this phantasm start attacking immediately? This mistery is here to stay
• Find one thief and you're dead. It's not a matter of skill, it's not a matter of timing, it's not a matter of players, thieves just win. Hands down, without even trying. A thief sneezes on one side of the map, from the other side of the map you just start crying. There's no way to pressure a thief as a mesmer. That on top of https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Consume_Plasma being basically god mode every 20 seconds (twice, with https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Improvisation).

That's about core mesmer. Don't even get me started about chrono (there's not one trait worth picking with that beside alac on shatters) or mirage, because that's just even more insane. Nuking mirage from orbit just because they just couldn't conceive https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chaos_Vortex without it dealing a hundred thousand conditions at the same time is a joke. Making the entire chrono traitline rely on a 110s cooldown skill that the player can't even activate at will (and that is both extremely telegraphed and counterable by either just running for 5s or AUTOATTACKING THE CONTINUUM RIFT LMAO) is such a big brain move I'd send money to whoever came up with it. That on top of chrono shatters being generic insults. [https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Split_Second_(skill)](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Split_Second_(skill) has the same multiplier as the regular mind wrack, but with the loss of IP is just a straight downgrade. It may deal more damage if you manage to shatter with 3 clones on a slowed target... except you don't have access to slow). Also you lose distortion (so no cleanse with [https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Auspicious_Anguish (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Auspicious_Anguish)). They probably didn't like dry continuum split as it was actually toxic; they could have placed the one-clone requirement on continuum split only, and yet here we are. It's been a year, they nerfed everything to the ground and even with everything nerfed to the ground chrono is still even worse than a minion. If possible I'd give an additional chrono to enemy team every game, even if it meant being outnumbered, just because this way I know I have a rally machine always ready around.

Make alacrity and quickness boon provided only from chrono... remove it from renegade and firebrands, give something to those classes that fit more in their theme.

Mirage has 1 dodge too many in PvP. I think this joke is getting old :'(

No balance patch today ...

@otto.5684 said:

@Curunen.8729 said:What, is there a patch tomorrow?

I'd better have some popcorn ready.

The patch is in quarantine, they can't release it till 2021.

PvP/WvW

1) Mirage: +1 dodge, -1 clone slot2) Chrono: +1 Illusionary Persona, -1 second of distortion (+700,000,000 well buffs)

Guys. Just quit.

MirageRevert to double dodge.Trade off changed to phantasm no longer becoming clones after attack

ChronoRework chrono shatter into ground target skillF1/F2/F3 will do their effect in a small area after 0.5s delayF4 will create rift at target location and revert you back to that location after your CS ended.

Change well of precognition that give endurance to vigor and give gravity well the damage of calamity well.The trait for the wells should change from heal to expand range to 360 or 20% CD or both and move to bigger trait spot.

@"mortrialus.3062" said:Guys. Just quit.

I object to "best dressed Mesmer."

@ThatOtherAlt.2984 said:

@"mortrialus.3062" said:Guys. Just quit.

You can be wrong. I'm okay with that.

@Exciton.8942 said:MirageRevert to double dodge.Trade off changed to phantasm no longer becoming clones after attack

Why should they ever implement this again when they changed this specifically because that mechanic made shatters obsolete?Everyone would go back to just summon 3 phantasms and let them attack endlessly, since this provides more dps than shattering them.

Definitely not gonna happen.Or do you mean the phantasms will attack and then disappear, leaving you without an illusion?