What exactly happened to mesmers?

[Dante.1508]

I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

They work diferently but that doesnt mean that they are bad.

[Solori.6025]

@Dante.1508 said:I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

Phantasm's were reworked and now work differently.But immediately afterwards many things that made mesmer viable were quickly nerfed due to the non-stop whining that plagued the forums.Raiders thought chrono was too strong, chrono was nerfed.PvP'ers thought Mesmer as a whole was too strong, The entire class including especs were nerfed.

The new game is whine until it gets nerfed. If enough people do it everyday, you'll see something change.

[Dante.1508]

@Solori.6025 said:

@Dante.1508 said:I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

Phantasm's were reworked and now work differently.But immediately afterwards many things that made mesmer viable were quickly nerfed due to the non-stop whining that plagued the forums.Raiders thought chrono was too strong, chrono was nerfed.PvP'ers thought Mesmer as a whole was too strong, The entire class including especs were nerfed.

The new game is whine until it gets nerfed. If enough people do it everyday, you'll see something change.Wow...Well i gave up playing mine now i've gone over to my Guardian instead, the game mechanics are just not fun anymore on mesmers.. Its just impossible to fight forged and mordrem now in the open world solo, even on mirage, What a wasted class imo. Anyway upwards and onwards good bye mesmers.

Take note Anet i hope.

[starlinvf.1358]

@Dante.1508 said:

@Solori.6025 said:

@Dante.1508 said:I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

Phantasm's were reworked and now work differently.But immediately afterwards many things that made mesmer viable were quickly nerfed due to the non-stop whining that plagued the forums.Raiders thought chrono was too strong, chrono was nerfed.PvP'ers thought Mesmer as a whole was too strong, The entire class including especs were nerfed.

The new game is whine until it gets nerfed. If enough people do it everyday, you'll see something change.Wow...Well i gave up playing mine now i've gone over to my Guardian instead, the game mechanics are just not fun anymore on mesmers.. Its just impossible to fight forged and mordrem now in the open world solo, even on mirage, What a wasted class imo. Anyway upwards and onwards good bye mesmers.

Take note Anet i hope.

Core and Mirage do fine in Open world. Its only Chrono that got awkward due to losing all its short fight tools. Old Mesmer was back loaded damage with sustained output, because the majority of its damage was on Phantasms. The flaw in the design is that Phantasm were periodic bursts, had long cool downs, and shattering killed off your source of damage.

New Memser works the way most other classes worked for years. A lot of front loaded burst damage on moderate cool downs, and you no longer have resource contention with shatters. This allows mesmers to be even more aggressive, and further leverage all the effects offered to shatters through much of your trait choices. Once you understand this potential, even Chrono can be used effectively in spite of its heavily nerfed state.

[Dante.1508]

@starlinvf.1358 said:

@Dante.1508 said:

@Solori.6025 said:

@Dante.1508 said:I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

Phantasm's were reworked and now work differently.But immediately afterwards many things that made mesmer viable were quickly nerfed due to the non-stop whining that plagued the forums.Raiders thought chrono was too strong, chrono was nerfed.PvP'ers thought Mesmer as a whole was too strong, The entire class including especs were nerfed.

The new game is whine until it gets nerfed. If enough people do it everyday, you'll see something change.Wow...Well i gave up playing mine now i've gone over to my Guardian instead, the game mechanics are just not fun anymore on mesmers.. Its just impossible to fight forged and mordrem now in the open world solo, even on mirage, What a wasted class imo. Anyway upwards and onwards good bye mesmers.

Take note Anet i hope.

Core and Mirage do fine in Open world. Its only Chrono that got awkward due to losing all its short fight tools. Old Mesmer was back loaded damage with sustained output, because the majority of its damage was on Phantasms. The flaw in the design is that Phantasm were periodic bursts, had long cool downs, and shattering killed off your source of damage.

New Memser works the way most other classes worked for years. A lot of front loaded burst damage on moderate cool downs, and you no longer have resource contention with shatters. This allows mesmers to be even more aggressive, and further leverage all the effects offered to shatters through much of your trait choices. Once you understand this potential, even Chrono can be used effectively in spite of its heavily nerfed state.

So they have zero uniqueness great and they are squishy as so one mistake or lag or missed hand eye coordination and your downed.. gotcha.. Try playing one with a 300 ping time then get back to me...

I'm dead faster than i can say dead again! Back to my Guardian, have fun.

[Hot Boy.7138]

I'm having a lot of fun on my mesmer still.

[starlinvf.1358]

@Dante.1508 said:

@starlinvf.1358 said:

@Dante.1508 said:

@Solori.6025 said:

@Dante.1508 said:I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

Phantasm's were reworked and now work differently.But immediately afterwards many things that made mesmer viable were quickly nerfed due to the non-stop whining that plagued the forums.Raiders thought chrono was too strong, chrono was nerfed.PvP'ers thought Mesmer as a whole was too strong, The entire class including especs were nerfed.

The new game is whine until it gets nerfed. If enough people do it everyday, you'll see something change.Wow...Well i gave up playing mine now i've gone over to my Guardian instead, the game mechanics are just not fun anymore on mesmers.. Its just impossible to fight forged and mordrem now in the open world solo, even on mirage, What a wasted class imo. Anyway upwards and onwards good bye mesmers.

Take note Anet i hope.

Core and Mirage do fine in Open world. Its only Chrono that got awkward due to losing all its short fight tools. Old Mesmer was back loaded damage with sustained output, because the majority of its damage was on Phantasms. The flaw in the design is that Phantasm were periodic bursts, had long cool downs, and shattering killed off your source of damage.

New Memser works the way most other classes worked for years. A lot of front loaded burst damage on moderate cool downs, and you no longer have resource contention with shatters. This allows mesmers to be even more aggressive, and further leverage all the effects offered to shatters through much of your trait choices. Once you understand this potential, even Chrono can be used effectively in spite of its heavily nerfed state.

So they have zero uniqueness great and they are squishy as so one mistake or lag or missed hand eye coordination and your downed.. gotcha.. Try playing one with a 300 ping time then get back to me...

I'm dead faster than i can say dead again! Back to my Guardian, have fun.

Uniqueness has never helped, because too much of the game values pure damage output. The entire group structure in Raids and Fractals revolves around the Supports generating damage bonuses, so the groups DPS is high enough to potentially blow past entire phases of a fight. Open world is a war of attrition.... so front loading lethal damage nullifies the need for defenses, since a dead enemy deal Zero damage.

Plus I forgot if its been pointed out yet or not (I have to keep bringing it up because it seems like it never gets through to people's heads). But Mesmers have all the defensive benefits of a Thief with an army of Ranger pets, provided you're smart enough to use them correctly. Its not hard given how poor the AI behavior is. Just send the illusions in first, then add your own damage once the target is distracted.

Also..... 360 Ping, get on my level.

[Dante.1508]

@starlinvf.1358 said:

@Dante.1508 said:

@starlinvf.1358 said:

@Dante.1508 said:

@Solori.6025 said:

@Dante.1508 said:I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

Phantasm's were reworked and now work differently.But immediately afterwards many things that made mesmer viable were quickly nerfed due to the non-stop whining that plagued the forums.Raiders thought chrono was too strong, chrono was nerfed.PvP'ers thought Mesmer as a whole was too strong, The entire class including especs were nerfed.

The new game is whine until it gets nerfed. If enough people do it everyday, you'll see something change.Wow...Well i gave up playing mine now i've gone over to my Guardian instead, the game mechanics are just not fun anymore on mesmers.. Its just impossible to fight forged and mordrem now in the open world solo, even on mirage, What a wasted class imo. Anyway upwards and onwards good bye mesmers.

Take note Anet i hope.

Core and Mirage do fine in Open world. Its only Chrono that got awkward due to losing all its short fight tools. Old Mesmer was back loaded damage with sustained output, because the majority of its damage was on Phantasms. The flaw in the design is that Phantasm were periodic bursts, had long cool downs, and shattering killed off your source of damage.

New Memser works the way most other classes worked for years. A lot of front loaded burst damage on moderate cool downs, and you no longer have resource contention with shatters. This allows mesmers to be even more aggressive, and further leverage all the effects offered to shatters through much of your trait choices. Once you understand this potential, even Chrono can be used effectively in spite of its heavily nerfed state.

So they have zero uniqueness great and they are squishy as so one mistake or lag or missed hand eye coordination and your downed.. gotcha.. Try playing one with a 300 ping time then get back to me...

I'm dead faster than i can say dead again! Back to my Guardian, have fun.

Uniqueness has never helped, because too much of the game values pure damage output. The entire group structure in Raids and Fractals revolves around the Supports generating damage bonuses, so the groups DPS is high enough to potentially blow past entire phases of a fight. Open world is a war of attrition.... so front loading lethal damage nullifies the need for defenses, since a dead enemy deal Zero damage.

Plus I forgot if its been pointed out yet or not (I have to keep bringing it up because it seems like it never gets through to people's heads). But Mesmers have all the defensive benefits of a Thief with an army of Ranger pets, provided you're smart enough to use them correctly. Its not hard given how poor the AI behavior is. Just send the illusions in first, then add your own damage once the target is distracted.

Also..... 360 Ping, get on my level.

Sure sure.. enjoy..

[Zawn.9647]

they’re really really REALLY far from terrible.

[Dante.1508]

@Zawn.9647 said:they’re really really REALLY far from terrible.

They are also really really bad compared to what they used to be.

[Zawn.9647]

@Dante.1508 said:

@Zawn.9647 said:they’re really really REALLY far from terrible.

They are also really really bad compared to what they used to be.

thank god :)i hope the same happens to all overtuned specs

[Axl.8924]

@Dante.1508 said:

@starlinvf.1358 said:

@Dante.1508 said:

@Solori.6025 said:

@Dante.1508 said:I've just returned after 4 years and well Mesmers are now terrible? Isn't the whole point of being a mesmer to have your illusions defend you as you are so squishy you don't die?... Well somewhere in this last 4 years Mesmers illusions have become useless.

The illusions do nothing to stop enemies attacking you, they do so little damage and the hold no agro, so what exactly is their point these days, i can be the furthest away from an enemy and it will instantly attack me totally ignore my illusions and after what seems like an age maybe one illusion might! take an enemy off me.. chances are extremely slim though..

Back 4 years ago mesmers illusions were working perfectly! What happened?

Phantasm's were reworked and now work differently.But immediately afterwards many things that made mesmer viable were quickly nerfed due to the non-stop whining that plagued the forums.Raiders thought chrono was too strong, chrono was nerfed.PvP'ers thought Mesmer as a whole was too strong, The entire class including especs were nerfed.

The new game is whine until it gets nerfed. If enough people do it everyday, you'll see something change.Wow...Well i gave up playing mine now i've gone over to my Guardian instead, the game mechanics are just not fun anymore on mesmers.. Its just impossible to fight forged and mordrem now in the open world solo, even on mirage, What a wasted class imo. Anyway upwards and onwards good bye mesmers.

Take note Anet i hope.

Core and Mirage do fine in Open world. Its only Chrono that got awkward due to losing all its short fight tools. Old Mesmer was back loaded damage with sustained output, because the majority of its damage was on Phantasms. The flaw in the design is that Phantasm were periodic bursts, had long cool downs, and shattering killed off your source of damage.

New Memser works the way most other classes worked for years. A lot of front loaded burst damage on moderate cool downs, and you no longer have resource contention with shatters. This allows mesmers to be even more aggressive, and further leverage all the effects offered to shatters through much of your trait choices. Once you understand this potential, even Chrono can be used effectively in spite of its heavily nerfed state.

So they have zero uniqueness great and they are squishy as so one mistake or lag or missed hand eye coordination and your downed.. gotcha.. Try playing one with a 300 ping time then get back to me...

I'm dead faster than i can say dead again! Back to my Guardian, have fun.

All i gotta say is look at necro and how stubborn ANET is to change stuff that is hurting necros in the long run despite needing changes. their uniqueness is keeping them limited and underpowered so yeah i gotta agree with starlinvf

[Solori.6025]

Basically. If you want to have fun in this game and not have to worry about changing your gear and spec every balance patch.Play Guardian, Warrior, or Engineer. The rate of changes that these specs have is far less than others and they are nerfed (historically) far less. Mesmer and thief are usually specs that see more changes due to QQ. Classes that see really bad changes (often) because the devs don't know what they are doing 90% of the time - Mesmer,Thief, Ranger, Necro and (IIRC) RevTLDR: You are better off on a Warrior or Guardian. Save yourself a headache down the line.

[Leonidrex.5649]

@Solori.6025 said:Basically. If you want to have fun in this game and not have to worry about changing your gear and spec every balance patch.Play Guardian, Warrior, or Engineer. The rate of changes that these specs have is far less than others and they are nerfed (historically) far less. Mesmer and thief are usually specs that see more changes due to QQ. Classes that see really bad changes (often) because the devs don't know what they are doing 90% of the time - Mesmer,Thief, Ranger, Necro and (IIRC) RevTLDR: You are better off on a Warrior or Guardian. Save yourself a headache down the line.

was there a time where guardian wasnt the best at everything ?right now its best in wvw, best pvp support, best raind and fractal support and best dps

[voltaicbore.8012]

Eh. Mirage is still too good in too many spvp situations, there's none of the mythical "tradeoffs" I keep hearing devs flapping their jaws about. I can overpower all but the most cleanse-spammy builds, has consistent cc, thief-worthy disengages complete with LoS abuse and elevation abuse, all while having respectable sustain and consistent condi output.

I guess 4 years is a long time, but to say that mesmer struggles, at all, in open world content is laughable. I've run both condi and power builds for all 3 flavors of mesmer in open world, and it's never been a problem. Can still handle the same packs of mobs, and can still solo all the combat hero challenges. If anything, you just want to stick with the way you always used to play mesmer. That's understandable and perfectly fine (I still play a number of builds that got hit hard by nerfs or trait changes, just for the fun of it), but don't place the blame on the class when it comes to your problems with open world.

[Leonidrex.5649]

@"voltaicbore.8012" said:Eh. Mirage is still too good in too many spvp situations, there's none of the mythical "tradeoffs" I keep hearing devs flapping their jaws about. I can overpower all but the most cleanse-spammy builds, has consistent cc, thief-worthy disengages complete with LoS abuse and elevation abuse, all while having respectable sustain and consistent condi output.

I guess 4 years is a long time, but to say that mesmer struggles, at all, in open world content is laughable. I've run both condi and power builds for all 3 flavors of mesmer in open world, and it's never been a problem. Can still handle the same packs of mobs, and can still solo all the combat hero challenges. If anything, you just want to stick with the way you always used to play mesmer. That's understandable and perfectly fine (I still play a number of builds that got hit hard by nerfs or trait changes, just for the fun of it), but don't place the blame on the class when it comes to your problems with open world.

tbh open world is a cake in general, you can go full condi gear with GS and still be fine. But RN mirage still has the same problems mesmer has.some games its way too strong and some its compleatly useless, ambushes from clone hit HARD but can be reflected or cleansed, clones split damage so you cant focus fire properly, switching targets is bad. damage can be bodyblocked, and list goes on and on..just today I fought scraper + holo in 2v2, I died. reflect alone got me, becouse everything is a multi hit.axe 1 is fast attack low dmg, ambush is 3 hits, axe 2 is 4 hits, axe 3 counts as 1. shatters are multihits, p4 is 3 hits. and on and on.and when you play power its even worse, with blurred at , gs 5 at 6-10, gs 2 at 3-5, have times where 1 combo in teamfight chunks me to half hp.

[Axl.8924]

@Solori.6025 said:Basically. If you want to have fun in this game and not have to worry about changing your gear and spec every balance patch.Play Guardian, Warrior, or Engineer. The rate of changes that these specs have is far less than others and they are nerfed (historically) far less. Mesmer and thief are usually specs that see more changes due to QQ. Classes that see really bad changes (often) because the devs don't know what they are doing 90% of the time - Mesmer,Thief, Ranger, Necro and (IIRC) RevTLDR: You are better off on a Warrior or Guardian. Save yourself a headache down the line.

You forgot necro who sees also a heavy amount of nerfs. They have been at the bottom for the most part in most modes since the beginning, only really thriving for a small amount of time until nerf after nerf hammers them leaving them at the bottom in pve and pvp.

[Bigpapasmurf.5623]

My Mirage, in general (WvW/PvP/PvE) runs similar builds between game modes and, while I have no idea what my ping is, i typically do fairly well for an off meta build.

[Dante.1508]

For me Forged and Mordrem just eat my mirage alive.. way to many condi to cleanse and the illusions just don't do anything other than attack random deer and things i've not even attacked... No idea what nerfs they have done but open world is not fun on mesmers anymore.

Why pve always must be ruined due to the pvp modes ruining everything is beyond me but yes i'll stick with warrior, guardian and Engi thanks for the heads up.

[Wahlao.1069]

@"Dante.1508" said:For me Forged and Mordrem just eat my mirage alive.. way to many condi to cleanse and the illusions just don't do anything other than attack random deer and things i've not even attacked... No idea what nerfs they have done but open world is not fun on mesmers anymore.

Why pve always must be ruined due to the pvp modes ruining everything is beyond me but yes i'll stick with warrior, guardian and Engi thanks for the heads up.

Check out Lord Hizen's mirage build:

His build link is listed in the video description.I use it and I can solo champs with ease

[Dante.1508]

@Wahlao.1069 said:

@"Dante.1508" said:For me Forged and Mordrem just eat my mirage alive.. way to many condi to cleanse and the illusions just don't do anything other than attack random deer and things i've not even attacked... No idea what nerfs they have done but open world is not fun on mesmers anymore.

Why pve always must be ruined due to the pvp modes ruining everything is beyond me but yes i'll stick with warrior, guardian and Engi thanks for the heads up.

Check out Lord Hizen's mirage build:

His build link is listed in the video description.I use it and I can solo champs with ease

I tried that someone linked it to me in my guild but even they said they have no idea how he pulls that off... That said hes using legendary gears and i don't even have Ascended..

Great build i'm sure but with my net and the broken illusions i just cant do what he does. Thanks either way.

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

@Dante.1508 said:

@Wahlao.1069 said:

@Dante.1508 said:For me Forged and Mordrem just eat my mirage alive.. way to many condi to cleanse and the illusions just don't do anything other than attack random deer and things i've not even attacked... No idea what nerfs they have done but open world is not fun on mesmers anymore.

Why pve always must be ruined due to the pvp modes ruining everything is beyond me but yes i'll stick with warrior, guardian and Engi thanks for the heads up.

Check out Lord Hizen's mirage build:

His build link is listed in the video description.I use it and I can solo champs with ease

I tried that someone linked it to me in my guild but even they said they have no idea how he pulls that off... That said hes using legendary gears and i don't even have Ascended..

Great build i'm sure but with my net and the broken illusions i just cant do what he does. Thanks either way.

I'm using exotics and have been playing mesmer less than a month. I find Hizen's build fairly easy to play. It has 2 condi cleanse utilities (although I often swap out Mantra of Resolve for Phantasmal Defender (aggro+phantasm) or Signet of Inspiration (swiftness for e.g., Dragon Stand blighting tower racetrack). Granted, I certainly can't play to his skill level, but I can solo champs pretty well if I'm careful, being an old guy casual. Just want to encourage, not brag.

It is an "active" playstyle, so if you have high ping it might be problematic. Not sure why your illusions are attacking random critters...maybe the Options setting for "Allow Skill Retargeting" or "Promote Skill Target"? Maybe Winds of Chaos (staff1) is bouncing to nearby neutral mobs like deer and so they end up as target?

Edit: Buried in the youtube comments, Hizen gives this advice on the mechanics:

1 tip to make sure you have vigor and to keep having 3 clonesshattering gives you vigors but it will destroy your clones so here is the trick to shatter and still have cloneswhen you use 3 on staff 2 phantasm will attack the target before the CD of skill 3 reach 11 shatter F1 and F2 the moment the CD reach 10 the clones you shatter them will be replaced with the other 2 clones and when u dodge you create 1 thats the most important thing you need to practice with :)

[Turkeyspit.3965]

@"Dante.1508" said:For me Forged and Mordrem just eat my mirage alive.. way to many condi to cleanse and the illusions just don't do anything other than attack random deer and things i've not even attacked... No idea what nerfs they have done but open world is not fun on mesmers anymore.

Why pve always must be ruined due to the pvp modes ruining everything is beyond me but yes i'll stick with warrior, guardian and Engi thanks for the heads up.

Axe + TorchStaffFull Vipers on gear/weapons/trinkethttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_Tormenting

Even PoF mobs become cake. At worst just camp staff while your clones tank and you self-sustain.

[Ansau.7326]

@Solori.6025 said:Basically. If you want to have fun in this game and not have to worry about changing your gear and spec every balance patch.Play Guardian, Warrior, or Engineer. The rate of changes that these specs have is far less than others and they are nerfed (historically) far less. Mesmer and thief are usually specs that see more changes due to QQ. Classes that see really bad changes (often) because the devs don't know what they are doing 90% of the time - Mesmer,Thief, Ranger, Necro and (IIRC) RevTLDR: You are better off on a Warrior or Guardian. Save yourself a headache down the line.

I would put Rev in first group. Changes have traditionally been more about touching numbers, but in terms of how the profession is played, it's pretty much the same now than 4 years ago when it was released. Power Herald, with swords for fractals/raids, swords and staff for pvp and roaming, hammer for zergs.