New support builds?

Hello,I havent played game since October. I checked out metabattle.com for fractal builds and what I found: There are builds for support that are NOT only for mesmer. For example - firebrand (quickness support), revenant and typical build for chrono. What happened? Was mesmer nerfed or something? Do these builds really work in T4 fractals? I would definitely want to try out "quick" firebrand build.... Is it anyhow better than chrono build?Thanks!

Short answer: yes, chrono was nerfed.

Firebrand, Druid, Tempest and Chrono are still the goto healers - in that specific order.

The reason Chrono comes last is because they changed "Signet of Inspiration" to no longer share boons on activation, but instead lengthen current boons on allies by a set amount.

This coupled with a nerf of the trait "Bountiful Disillusionment" to no longer share it's boons either (in an attempt to emphasize mesmer as the definitive source for quickness and alacrity) led to lesser boon diversity, shorter uptimes (no longer permanent) and in general clunkier play. This is why it fell out of favour in high end PvE content.

Not to mention the Sigil of Concentration now only give 10% flat boon duration instead of the 33% during a longer period, just means any additional dps a good mesmer could is now gone since they need to invest more heavily into boon duration.