Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Sharing my thoughts : updates that affected me the most


Woltarion.6829

Recommended Posts

THIS IS A VERY LONG POST

I'm sorry in advance if there are any mistakes in my post, as I'm not an native english speaker, don't hesitate to correct me if you want.

I've played Mesmer in Gw2 since day1. Most of the time, I play PvP even if I sometime enjoy some PvE contents. I wanted to share with you what were, in my opinion, the updates on Mesmer that has affected me the most in terms of gameplay. I'll try to classify it in a chronological order, but it's possible that I make some mistakes because my memory isn't that good.I'm the kind of Mesmer that really likes to play around 3 things : confusion, stealth and healing power. My favourite weapons are staff, sceptre, torch and pistol. I find axes, shield and left-handed sword "meh", and I hate greatsword, focus and right-handed sword. I'm also that kind of Mesmer that try to not play what is "meta", I always try to find something original, make my own build, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I still find it funny to make a build based on traits that aren't popular in PvP.Now, let's the list begin !

June 23, 2015 , AKA specializations update .Of course this update affected everybody. All the mesmer were sad (me included) to see that all the glamour traits have been replaced by Temporal Enchanter, which was in my opinion a very funny trait. But still, it wasn't possible anymore to blind/confuse a pack of ennemies with glamours. Illusionary Persona on default was a very great news for all the mesmer, but this was not what affected me the most in this patch. What affected me the most was in fact a trait that I loved so much that I still remember it : Disruptor's Sustainment Gain bonus healing power (1000) when interrupting a foe. I would play with that trait, Mantra of Distraction and Ether Feast. When on low life, I would interrupt an ennemy before casting Ether Feast and I was full life again. This trait, I miss it so much... But I had to move on and made a funny glamour build with Temporal Enchanter anyway.

October 23, 2015 , Heart of Thorns and chronomancer I was really reticent to play chronomancer at the beginning of HoT. More time had passed and I was really enjoying playing with a tanky build, which revolved around shield, blind, confusion and wells.

January 26, 2016 Well of Precognition no longer grants invulnerability, and Settler Amulet is deleted from PvP Well of Precognition was my favourite well, I understood that it needed a nerf, it became totally useless the moment when it just granted aegis. However, the end of Settler Amulet is still something i'm mourning. As somebody that loved to play tanky, with healing power and condi, seeing the Settler Amulet replaced by the Sage Amulet was ... really a dissapointement.

February 06, 2018 Phantasms' change This has been one of my favourite update about mesmer. I really liked the concept, as I didn't have to hesitate between shattering the illusions or keeping them. I liked most of the change on this update, but there were 2 phantasms that I didn't appreciate as before. 1) The Phantasmal Disenchanter, I really loved how much it was usefull for condi removal, now it only removes the ennemies' boons. 2) The Phantasmal Warlock, altought I was very happy that it spawned 2 illusions, it wasn't the same. I sometime enjoyed doing some troll power build with staff, where the purpose was to stack a maximum of condi on an ennemy, and then do a maximum crit of 10K with the warlock, because the damage were increased for each condi. Sounds OP huh ? Not that much, because it was hard to reach that types of damage, but it was still funny, now when I hit my staff 3, my warlocks kinds of feel... useless. They're only usefull to spawn more clones.

August 08, 2017 Ineptitude changed and moved to Dueling I've never understood that change. Before the changed, it inflicted blind and confusion everytime you dodged or blocked an attack, for me it was legitimate that this trait was meant for Illusion, as that was the specialization that is the most usefull to stack confusion. It paired perfectly with the shield of Chronomancer. Maybe it was to OP, I don't mind nerfs, Malicious Sorcery is still welcome.

September 22, 2017 Path of Fire and mirage Mirage is funny to play, what I like the most about Mirage is the visual and the sounds effect. The gameplay around mirors is funny and I like it. In the beginning, I really enjoyed axes, until it got nerfed. I came back to my scepter.

August 28, 2018 Illusionary Counter creates 2 clones WOW ! This is a super update, perhaps the second best after the Phantasms' update. Because scepter was one of my favourite weapon, I couldn't believe that they buffed it so well.

October 02, 2018, no more glamour traits, welcome Blurred Inscription This... is sad. No more glamour traits. Blurred Inscription should be called Cursed Inscription, as it rendered the two other traits underperforming.

December 11, 2018, signet of Inspiration and portal's change I didn't do that much PvE content, but I still enjoyed playing Chrono support, this change was an hard it for me, because it was the beginning of the end of Chronomancer. The 30sec lasting Portal also destroyed the last usefull glamour skill in PvP.

July 16, 2019, end of Chronomancer I can't believe that this patch happened. Chronomancer is dead. Just dead. Don't forget that I hate to play with greatsword and that I play with condis 99% of time. I made a Rewinder build, it's useless. I made a interrupt build, it's useless. I made a tanky build, it was useless, because there are no more distorsion. No shatter possible during Continuum Split, you can't spam shatters to remove condis with Restorative Illusions. When I try the new Chronomancer, I only think about a meme : This has been the worst trade deal of the history of trade deal, maybe ever. I stopped playing fractales/raid after this patch. I feared a huge nerf for Mirage so I also came back to core Mesmer in PvP.

August 13, 2019 , Chaotic interruption has been disabled in PvP To be honest, even if I avoid taking meta traits, I tried CI and I enjoyed it. I understand that it needed nerf, but during the time when it wasn't available, it just felt unfair that we were given acces to less possibilities. Now the CI is in my opinion useless, but I still try sometime to use it in order to make some troll builds.

February 25, 2020 Illusionary Counter and Phatasmal Warlock is back to 1 clone This update was meant to nerf Mirage, ultimately it just ended the chronomancer in PvP. As if it wasn't dead enough. It was also very hard for my core mesmer to accept the change that Illusionary Counter does only 1 clone again.

March 04, 2020 Mirage with one dodge As Magolith.9412 said on another thread "It's pretty rough." Personnaly, I like the new EM, but IH is still much more valuable for damage. 1 dodge... it's too hard for me. They also nerfed my favourite healing spell (Mantra of Restauration), but I won't mind that because all the healing spells has been nerf.

What saddens me the most is that before these last updates, some original builds could do "OK" even if they weren't meta. Now, I don't even know if there are any "meta" build currently viable for Mesmer, but what is sure is that there are some meta traits and skills that just overshadow the others, and therefore non meta build are just trash.

What were for you the most notable updates that changed your playstyle as a Mesmer ?

TLDR Just read what is written in Bold, Disruptor's Sustainment : never forgive, never forget.

PS : I'm sorry for the mesmer that plays power but I don't like GS, so my personnal opinion doesn't cover all the changes that GS had.PPS: I'm not here to argue if the nerf were justify or not, but i'm here to share my thoughts on what changed my way to play as a mesmer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They introduced so many nice builds. As you mentioned the glamour confusion thing, Chrono bunker, or the early days with gs and staff, or the sword/torch Zepter/pistol Power Mesmer, or what I loved the most, staff sword/sword power Mirage. I really can’t understand how they destroyed every single one of them. And in the end we play gs sword/torch shatter mesmer again. Why is there not a way to slightly nerf builds to a point where they are not overtuned anymore.

What a joke if you think about the fact that we have now to chose between braindead Condi mirage with off cd dodge spam that no one likes (not even Mesmer player) or well... shatter mes as always. After 7 years... I can’t believe it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The GS4 overnerf is probably the thing I felt, and still feel the most, as the most extremely unfair

MY POV

GS4 used to hiy like a truck. It's fairly easy to dodge, as both the phantasms' and the mesmer's animation are quite telegraphed. On top of that, quickness doesn't really seem to work with the berserker, its animation doesn't seem to get any faster. So... hitting something with that skill isn't really trivial.If it hits, however, it's a powerhouse. It's like Eviscerate, Rapid fire, or any other hard-hitting skills that hits like a truck but aren't really easy to use.

THE SKILL: Two phantasms + cripple + vulnerability + empowered illusions + illusionary greatsword hitting on the way back could mean 7-9k each cast. It was a reliable source of damage beside the usual "shatter from stealth".

THE WAY IT IS RIGHT NOWDamage got nerfed. It's ok, everything has been nerfed, it's only fair. But the patch didn't just nerf the damage; it broke every synergy this skill can have with the rest of the build

  • GS trait reduces damage from 25% to 33%. BEFORE: 2*75% = 150% damage. NOW: 2*66%=132% damage. About a 20% damage loss. Ok...?
  • To take GS trait you now have to give up Empowered Illusions, as they are on the same tier. 15% damage loss. Ok...?
  • No more cripple. Besides how useful cripple was, no more synergy with Sigil of Opportunity. 5% damage loss and one less condition in my toolset. Ok...?
  • Gs trait doesn't reduce recharge of gs skills -I think it's the only trait in the game to do that-; cd jumped from 16s to 20s. 20% less dps. Ok...?
  • Gs doesn't hit on its way back. About 1k less damage and 3 less stacks of vulnerability (as in: 4.5% less damage using Fragility). Ok...?

IN NUMBERS: before: 7-9k with demolisher, now 4-5 with berserker, on a longer cooldown and with no cripple.

But yeah, ok, right now we remove 2 boons.Every 20 seconds.

?!?!?!?

If I wanted boon removal I'd take shattered concentration, which is reliable, removes more boons and with much less of a cooldown.What's even the point of removing 2 boons every 20 seconds? (if the GS launch hits, which... is not even that sure, considering how fast can people move and how easy is it to just dodge the thing).

Jesus, I know devs wanted to nerf the damage, but removing every synergy like that is not a "nerf", it's a joke.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Terrorhuz.4695" said:The GS4 overnerf is probably the thing I felt, and still feel the most, as the most extremely unfair

MY POV

GS4 used to hiy like a truck. It's fairly easy to dodge, as both the phantasms' and the mesmer's animation are quite telegraphed; on top of that, quickness doesn't really seem to work with the berserker, its animation doesn't seem to get any faster.If it hits, however, it's a powerhouse. It's like Eviscerate, Rapid fire, or any other hard-hitting skills that hits like a truck but aren't really easy to use.

THE SKILL: Two phantasms + cripple + empowered illusions + illusionary greatsword hitting on the way back meant 7-9k each cast. It was a reliable source of damage beside the usual "shatter from stealth".

THE WAY IT IS RIGHT NOWDamage got nerfed. It's ok, everything was, it's only fair. But the patch didn't just nerf the damage; it broke every synergy this skill can have with the rest of the build

  • GS trait reduces damage from 25% to 33%. BEFORE: 2*75% = 150% damage. NOW: 2*66%=132% damage. About a 20% damage loss. Ok...?
  • To take GS trait you now have to give up Empowered Illusions, as they are on the same tier. 15% damage loss. Ok...?
  • No more cripple. Besides how useful cripple was, no more synergy with Sigil of Opportunity. 5% damage loss and one less condition in my toolset. Ok...?
  • Gs trait doesn't reduce recharge of gs skills -I think it's the only trait in the game to do that-; cd jumped from 16s to 20s. 20% less dps. Ok...?
  • Gs doesn't hit on its way back. About 1k less damage and 3 less stacks of vulnerability (as in: 4.5% less damage using Fragility). Ok...?

But yeah, ok, right now we remove 2 boons.Every 20 seconds.

?!?!?!?

If I want boon removal I take shattered concentration, which is reliable, removes more boons and with much less countadown.What's even the point of removing 2 boons every 20 seconds? (if the GS launch hits, which... is not even that sure, considering how fast can people move and how easy is it to just dodge the thing).

Jesus, I know devs wanted to nerf the damage, but removing every synergy like that is not a "nerf", it's a joke.

What are you talking about?

Devs: "In this update, we're making some changes to the greatsword and to the Domination trait line in order to provide a more reliable baseline ranged damage build for mesmers"

(Insert trollface)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Lincolnbeard.1735" said:

What are you talking about?

Devs: "In this update, we're making some changes to the greatsword and to the Domination trait line in order to provide a more reliable baseline ranged damage build for mesmers"

(Insert trollface)

I want to be honest, from the very beginning my first thought was something like..._to provide range damage in gs you

  • increase cooldowns
  • remove cripple
  • bug mirror blade (which doesn't always bounce, and when it does it deals much less damage than intended)
  • overnerf the phantasm_

Like... what? The only ranged option right now is auto attack. My "ranged option" is auto attacking people for 10s until they heal? Because all of the other skills are a joke to dodge from a distance. IDK where were they going with this, but it sure as hell didn't went where they wanted. Also, last balance patch with nothing about mesmer in general is another nail to the coffin, for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Terrorhuz.4695 said:

@"Lincolnbeard.1735" said:

What are you talking about?

Devs: "In this update, we're making some changes to the greatsword and to the Domination trait line in order to provide a more reliable baseline ranged damage build for mesmers"

(Insert trollface)

I want to be honest, from the very beginning my first thought was something like..._to provide range damage in gs you
  • increase cooldowns
  • remove cripple
  • bug mirror blade (which doesn't always bounce, and when it does it deals much less damage than intended)
  • overnerf the phantasm_

Like... what? The only ranged option right now is auto attack. My "ranged option" is auto attacking people for 10s until they heal? Because all of the other skills are a joke to dodge from a distance. IDK where were they going with this, but it sure as hell didn't went where they wanted. Also, last balance patch with nothing about mesmer in general is another nail to the coffin, for me.

ANerf always write in such a way that if you don't read the notes and only their thought you think "yeah it's a buff" .

Remember the"we add an attack (300 damage) to summoning phantasms to help with sustained damage“? In reality it was a nerf to stealth summoning.

ANerf only fools mesmer-haters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So many unique and fun ways to play Mesmer have been annihilated. I still mourn the death of the following:

  • Glamour Mesmer: I used to throw my glamours down at choke points to punish zergs in WvW. Allowed Mesmer to contribute DPS in large fights.

  • Clone death - it was so fun to have a third way to interact with your illusions. Great melee spam punishment and also useful for large fight DPS.

  • Phantasm builds - instead of being a cast and forget source of damage as we have now, we used to be able to choose to maintain our phantasms as a constant source of pressure and shatter at key moments. I thought this was a great alternative to the burst of shatter.

  • Mistrust Mesmer: you could actually play an interrupt build in larger WvW battles and be effective. You could really punish groups of people ressing their friends: one Power Lock on a downed person and everyone had 16-20 stacks of confusion. It was niche, but dangerous.

  • Interrupt Mesmer: the nerf to Chaotic Interruption was the nail in the coffin for me. I had been using this trait in my builds since 2013 and it was the only valuable interrupt trait available. If you played intelligently, you could completely shut someone down...if they didn't have stability of a bit of cleanse. It was very rewarding and close to what GW1 Mesmer was. Shame that the PvP community went mental when more people started using it.

  • Reflect Mesmer: a combination of Master of Manipulation, Evasive Mirror, Mirror itself and Feedback to shut down projectile heavy classes was again a niche but great way to punish certainly classes

Mesmer has had so many interesting ways to play. Now it's basically...shatter. You literally just throw all your damage at someone and then press shatter. It's such a shame and it's also really boring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...