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Too many useless and missplaced traits


Lethion.8745

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Am I the only one who feels this way? I feel like Mesmer traits need a big rework. I know all classes have some questionable traits but Mesmer has way too many of those. Some of them are not even situational, but straight up garbage. Namely:

Persistence of Memory: The idea is cool., but the synergy is not enough. In the best case scenerio, in a dedicated PoM build, Boon generation will be around the same level as classes like Revenant, Reaper, Weaver (which is unlikely tbh) The only good synergy it has is with Phantasmal Fury, which is funny because Mesmer doesn't really need more Fury, thanks to Master Fence.

Phantasmal Haste: Most likely is designed to be used together with PoM. The problem is, Ranger has access to same the amount of quickness with 1 trait. Mesmer needs to take 2 traits for it. If you don't use PoM, it's just 1 second of quickness, which is laughable. The Quickness on phantasms is nothing meaningful. Also, Phantasm skills are not really spammable, unless you are in a raid.

Phantasmal Force: This trait could be fine if Might was applied BEFORE Phantams attacks. In it's current version, it makes no sense for solo content. Mesmer's Might application is non-existent. You have to jump through too many hoops to make this trait work and even when you do, it's not worth it. If you don't have a Druid girl/boyfriend, there is literally 0 reason to use this trait.

Furious Interruption: Interupt traits are obviously meant to be used in PvP. The thing is, Qucikness is not as valuable in PvP as it is in PvE, not for Mesmer's at least. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice and strong Boon when you gain it over a utility skill or a simple trait, but when it's tied to such a situational condition, with 3 seconds cooldown and 2 seconds duration, it's just another instance of jumping through too many hoops.

Chaotic Interruption: Do I even need to explain this one?

Restorative Mantras: They could just rework this trait as "reduce recharge time of Mantra charges", instead of giving 3 charges. I have no idea why they went too far from the original. And I have no idea why heal doesn't trigger in use of charges. You never want to re-cast your mantras unless you were forced to use both charges.

Protected Phantasms: Another PoM trait. No need to repeat same things over and over again. Tho, this one is espeically bad because it's a trait in a support specialization which synergizes only with a trait from a DPS specialization.

Mental Defense: There so many wrong things about this trait, I don't even know where to beigin. The activation condition is too out-of-control. Cooldown is too long. Taunt duration is too short. Radius is too small. It doesn't block anything meaningful. Damage is pitiful and so on.

Delayed Reactions: Another PvP trait since neither CC or Slow are the core parts of a PvE build. The mechanic is fine, the problem is Slow duration is only 1 second for PvP. And it has 3 seconds cooldown for some reason. You might think that Slow is a very strong Condition on players, so it's reasonable. But, what is the point of Slowing someone who is already CCed? Since it only lasts 1 seconds, most of the time, it will go off before the enemy starts attacking again.

All's Well That Ends Well: This trait rarely works because people rarely stay in your wells during it's completion (sometimes even in raids lol) If the heal was on cast or pulses, might be more useful but still doubtful.-Just revert this, please. It doesn't make sense that the class who introduced Alacrtiy to the game is outshined by another class in Alacrity application. I am fine with it not being special to Chrono but please... Anyway

Lost Time: This thing is not even a trait. This thing is just a placeholder. Chronomancer has only 2 Major Grandmasters.

Danger Time: The same issue with Phantasmal Force. I guess whoever is responsible for Mesmer in the balance team is married with a Druid or they are stritcly against Mesmers being solo players. For clarity's sake, this trait is not bad. Heck, it's even OP for organized PvE. But I don't find the design idea very healthy. When you are in your own, this trait does little to nothing. When you are in a raid, it makes you top DPS. In general, I believe such extreme edges are not healthy for the overal balance of the game.

As for the missplaced traits, what bothers me most is although everyone; Mesmer players, non-Mesmer players and balance team, are sick of Condi Mesmer, there is some condi damage squezed in nearly every spec.

Cry of Pain: To be honest, this is kind of too strong to be a Minor Adept. Also, Illusions is the specialization where Shatter traits are. When you are playing Power Shatter build (which what most Shatter builds are) this trait is just meaningless. I don't know where this should go, but I know the trait which could be moved to this speccialization.

Empowered Illusions: As every other Mesmer player said for thousand times too. this shouldn't be in the same row with Bountifull Blades. This trait shouldn't even be in Domination specialization. You have that trait which increases the damage of your illusions And there is that specialization named Illusions. Hmm...

Sharper Images: The same issue with Cry of Pain. I might accept Cry of Pain being a Minor if we disregard it's strength and the other canditate for the spec. It's mostly a condi heavy specialization. But Dueling is a specialization which is either used with Power builds or Power-Condi hybrid builds. Why there is a non-optional, Condi build only trait in this line? I can't see the point of it. When you play Mesmer with Condi build, you don't have any wasted traits since non-hybrid Condi items have Precision too and it allows you to work with Dueling traits. You don't have any wasted trait in Illusions either. But if you decide to go full on Power, there is only Domination which you can get full benefit from. For other speccializations, you can't avoid having useless traits.

Lastly, Honorable MentionDune Cloak: Most people see this as a useless trait, but I think it's missplaced. It just can't compete with the other two. If it was Adept or Master with a little tune down, I belive it could be very useful.

Before the ending, I want to remind that the problem that I see is not any one particular trait among the ones that I listed. I know some of you will say "actually, x trait is useful when" Yes, I know. You can make everything work if you believe hard enough. The problem is not that X trait is weak. In my opinions, the Mesmer's biggest problem is there are too many of those X traits. Thanks for reading :)

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actually, pretty sillyme and my friends were literally discussing this exact topic just last night, after not playing for a couple of years

mesmer as a whole is just a mess, it's not even just the traits, but, you are correct, yes, the traits are equally just... an absolute mess

they're seemingly afraid of what the class can mean, and pumping them with "decent" traits?

it just seems like it's intentional at this point to keep their traits below average, not gonna lie...

! for pve, you had infinite pets to make it an unengaging and a passive "set it and forget it" gameplay style! this got nerfed, justifiably, though it could have stayed in some capacity with some traits/e-specs somehow...! however, at least now mesmers seem to be in an acceptable spot for simple dps/control specs in pve, according to meta builds and benchmarks, but, even still!! for pvp, you had core mesmer and both of the only e-specs available basically only revolving around how much dueling potential you can pump into a single class! this is consistently getting nerfed!! in both, you had completely asinine boonshare! this got nerfed, hard, again, justifiably, but too much to the point that it isn't even worth running support mesmers at all, at least i don't believe so, compared to other classes!! in wvw, you had glamours/focus, which offer arguably some of the best utility you can find for mass groups and the open field in those maps, wall pulls, veils, portal, etc! but.... that's all you become! a glamour bot! this got nerfed, no more glamour traits at all, yet this is a class that basically can't offer anything else in fights of 10+ people due to how their entire class mechanic works, which also in turn makes half of their weapon skills almost worthless because it's still tied to this small scale dueling/pve mechanic!! the entire class needs an overhaul, to be quite honest! their first mistake was trying too hard to make an entire class, including e-specs supposedly changing how a class plays, based off of AI that can be CC'd or killed!! i mean, even rangers don't rely on their pets as much....and they still got soulbeast to remove them as an option....!! none of it is cohesive enough, if they're afraid of its power levels spiking due to the way some of the mechanics function, such as phantasms being too strong for both small scale pvp and pve, boonsharing being too strong for groups, glamours being too strong for massive numbers, "good traits" just won't fit anywhere at this point if they refuse to acknowledge the core problem

TL:DR my rantas long as other classes exist in their current states, i can't really see fixing traits helping any of the fundamental issues and changing where current mesmer fits in this game without absolutely breaking the mesmer into being overpowered at what they already are capable of and becoming a required class where they're already decent at, or simply remaining exactly where they are; a class that will still shine in pve raids, and can still pick off stragglers in pvp

honestly, at this point, i doubt we'll be able to see any sweeping trait changes until the class itself gets some sort of big changes, however, i also just unfortunately doubt that's an option, either

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Focus trait giving reflect, in the support line and anyone who takes that line takes restoritive illusions instead. Should have been put into the domination or dueling line.

I actually use,Delayed reactionsDanger timeFurious interruption

In an interrupt / phantasm build. Is quite fun.

Agreed on the phantasm damage trait competing with the gs trait though. Wish it was maybe put in t2 traits idk.

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I think the logic behind the PoM traits, and some of the 'misplaced' traits, is to try to set up a situation like guardian has where there are so many synergies between traitlines that you always have one more traitline that you'd really like to set up just one more synergy, to the point where it's possible for the elite specialisation to be the traitline that gets left out to make room for a third core traitline. Problem is, they largely just haven't made the traits good enough to achieve that.

The big difference, I think, is that guardian doesn't really have any 'dud' slots in its core traitlines - cases where you have three major traits where it's often a case of picking the best of a bad lot. Closest is probably Virtues adept tier, where in a typical solo PvE environment, none of the choices are all that good unless you're using Consecrations. (Honor Adept isn't that great either, but hey, a symbol is a symbol, especially when combined with symbol traits.) Mesmer, however, has a few of these. Duelling Master, if you're not using a sword and not expecting to face a lot of projectiles. Chaos Master if you're not using staff. Inspiration Adept. Often these slots have traits which can be very useful for specific circumstances, but mesmer probably could do with a pass to make sure that there are some more traits that are useful in more general conditions rather than requiring specific circumstances or build options to shine.

And, yeah, as much as it may seem to be contradicting the above observation, let's have a glamour trait back. Maybe they could even classify Ether Feast as a glamour skill, albeit one that only affects the caster.

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@"Lethion.8745" said:Am I the only one who feels this way? I feel like Mesmer traits need a big rework. I know all classes have some questionable traits but Mesmer has way too many of those. Some of them are not even situational, but straight up garbage. Namely:

Persistence of Memory: The idea is cool., but the synergy is not enough. In the best case scenerio, in a dedicated PoM build, Boon generation will be around the same level as classes like Revenant, Reaper, Weaver (which is unlikely tbh) The only good synergy it has is with Phantasmal Fury, which is funny because Mesmer doesn't really need more Fury, thanks to Master Fence.I completely disagree, I think you forgot master fencer is conditional, 75%health threshold* Idk how you could also say the synergy is not enough, you're undermining it because that trait literally enables perma might fury and quickness in non-group content (assuming you're obviously taking phantasmal haste and force ofc)Phantasmal Haste:** Most likely is designed to be used together with PoM. The problem is, Ranger has access to same the amount of quickness with 1 trait. Mesmer needs to take 2 traits for it. If you don't use PoM, it's just 1 second of quickness, which is laughable. The Quickness on phantasms is nothing meaningful. Also, Phantasm skills are not really spammable, unless you are in a raid.They actually are spammable outside of raids tho, and whats the point of running illusion anyways if you're not taking PoM, haste and force, and I think you forgot about STM in chrono anyways.

Phantasmal Force: This trait could be fine if Might was applied BEFORE Phantams attacks. In it's current version, it makes no sense for solo content. Mesmer's Might application is non-existent. You have to jump through too many hoops to make this trait work and even when you do, it's not worth it. If you don't have a Druid girl/boyfriend, there is literally 0 reason to use this trait.I'm confused, you talk about solo content then mention druid, and also the might IS applied before the phantasms attack too, "jump through too many hoops"? when all you have to do is spam your phantasm skills with chrono or ether heal and get easy 25 might?

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PoM traits are not supposed to 'PoM traits'. They're supposed to be 100% functional and have their own distinct function without PoM, except anet took some lazy route and solely relied on boons instead of directly modifying the phantasms instead.

Phantasmal Haste: this is supposed to make the longer cast time phantasms (i.e. swordsman, duelist, WARDEN) attack faster, except a portion of it is wasted when the phantasms idle after spawning (and again after attacking if attempting to use PoM) and the duration isn't even long enough to cover all of warden's cast time. The personal quickness duration is stunted to near uselessness because PvE staff #3, traited GS #4 and chronophantasma can double (or even quadruple) it.

This trait should make all phantasms faster by whatever % quickness is supposed to grant (including berserker and defender, because they are not affected by quickness) and apply only one definite and meaningful instance of quickness at the end of casting a phantasm skill so you're not relying on phantasms actually spawning for the personal quickness, and there is no fear of extended durations due to very specific interactions. The quickness applied to phantasm can stay purely to interact with PoM.

Protected Phantasms: one instance of aegis is pretty garbage no matter how you look at it, it's similar to Blood Bank in that it's a wasted trait if phantasms are not being attacked, and has little/situational effect even if they are.

This trait should make phantasms inherently and significantly tankier so that it doesnt just die to AoE/cleave, whether that be a massive HP boost, straight up dmg% reduction, whatever... it should technically allow a phantasm to run into a blob, do its thing and turn into that clone. Again, you can slap boons on to the phantasm just to interact with PoM.

PoM is another issue in itself since mesmer's options for boon output was completely axed due to boon chrono....

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@Noodle Ant.1605 said:Protected Phantasms: one instance of aegis is pretty garbage no matter how you look at it, it's similar to Blood Bank in that it's a wasted trait if phantasms are not being attacked, and has little/situational effect even if they are.

This trait should make phantasms inherently and significantly tankier so that it doesnt just die to AoE/cleave, whether that be a massive HP boost, straight up dmg% reduction, whatever... it should technically allow a phantasm to run into a blob, do its thing and turn into that clone. Again, you can slap boons on to the phantasm just to interact with PoM.

Protection would probably make more sense, although, to be fair, aegis does ensure that the phantasm will always survive at least one hit no matter how powerful that hit is.

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@draxynnic.3719 said:

Protected Phantasms:
one instance of aegis is pretty garbage no matter how you look at it, it's similar to Blood Bank in that it's a wasted trait if phantasms are not being attacked, and has little/situational effect even if they are.

This trait should make phantasms inherently and significantly tankier so that it doesnt just die to AoE/cleave, whether that be a massive HP boost, straight up dmg% reduction, whatever... it should technically allow a phantasm to run into a blob, do its thing and turn into that clone. Again, you can slap boons on to the phantasm just to interact with PoM.

Protection would probably make more sense, although, to be fair, aegis does ensure that the phantasm will always survive at least
one
hit no matter how powerful that hit is.

it should honestly give both -.-or even make them just take 50% less damage or something of the sort, and to begin with phantasms should not need traits to protect them.

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Protected phantasms is still a useless trait and I still believe phantasms should not be targetable or killable since they execute one attack (when not traited) and then immediately transform into a clone. So it makes no sense to have them be targetable.

Additionally, there should be atleast 1 trait in the DOM or ILLU line that gives phantasms fury/might or whatever boon so then other wasteful traits such as protected phantasmas etc.... can be freed up for something new.

Repeating myself but below are my thoughts taken from my previous thread on traits that need to be changed/removed/fixed:

! Domination! “Ideally should be personal damage focused aka the Power trait line, might, interrupts etc.”!
! None (that I can think of)

! Dueling! “Ideally should be focused on mobility, reflects, vigor, swiftness, endurance etc.”!! Change/Remove: I feel that Blinding Dissipation should be moved into the Master of Fragmentation in the Illusion tree, so instead of shatter two crippling, it will blind.!! Change/Remove: Duelists Discipline should come free with the pistol and changed into something else.

! Chaos! “Ideally should be focused on condition damage, duration, confusion, retaliation etc.”!! Change: Chaotic Transference, the gain expertise based on your concentration should be removed since the top condition gears are Trailblazers and Vipers, which means we’re losing concentration and making this trait useless. Have it so that we gain expertise based on condition damage or even vitality. Again, if I’m wearing full trailblazers and have 0% concentration, I’m only getting half the benefit from this trait.!
! Change/Remove: Chaotic Persistence, as a tier 3 trait, 2% doesn’t scream that viable to me.!
! Change: Chaotic Interruption, move to the Dueling tree.!! Change: Bountiful Disillusionment, have it affect nearby allies as well?

! Illusions! “Ideally should be focused on shatters, illusions and phantasms. Pretty self-explanatory.”!
! Change/Remove: Escape Artist, I love the name, but we already have Desperate Decoy and don’t have access to many stealth skills like the Thief.!
! Change: Malicious Sorcery, remove the attack speed and have it come with the scepter weapon already as a base. Then add something along the lines of increased damage towards foes with confusion or torment by X%.

! Inspiration! “Lastly, I think this trait line should be our support tree, heals, boons and buffs to supportive utilities like glamours etc.”!
! Change/Remove: Restorative Mantras, have tested it on a full Minstrel and healing to other allies build and the healing is barely noticeable. The healing should be at least a burst heal comparable to the well of eternity or have it’s healing increased.!! Change/Remove: Wardens Feedback, have it already be a part of the Focus weapon and replace the trait with something else towards our glamours, heal or boons.!
! Change/Remove: Protected Phantasms don’t need protection if they turn to clones right after they’ve attacked, so this is essentially a waste slot and needs to be replaced with something else.!! Change: Mental Defense, remove the phantasm and perhaps have it so that Glamours reduce damage to allies standing in them or a trait that reduces condition damage/duration (maybe against torment and confusion).

! Chronomancer!
! Change/Tweak: Lost Time and Remove/Change Seize the Moment as so far these two don’t match up to Chronophantasma. The last time I picked Lost Time was for my boon build when supporting.

! Mirage!! Change/Remove: Mirage Mantle, change it to something else.! Change/Remove: Dune Cloak, I’d have this trait take the spot of Mirage Mantle and have.

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I think the idea with Chaotic Transference might be that it's intended to be used with boon tank mesmers?

I am inclined to agree - linking it to a different attribute probably would make it more useful overall. Would probably need to cut the conversion rate if it's linked to an attribute that has a base value above zero, though.

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@Leonidrex.5649 said:

Protected Phantasms:
one instance of aegis is pretty garbage no matter how you look at it, it's similar to Blood Bank in that it's a wasted trait if phantasms are not being attacked, and has little/situational effect even if they are.

This trait should make phantasms inherently and significantly tankier so that it doesnt just die to AoE/cleave, whether that be a massive HP boost, straight up dmg% reduction, whatever... it should technically allow a phantasm to run into a blob, do its thing and turn into that clone. Again, you can slap boons on to the phantasm just to interact with PoM.

Protection would probably make more sense, although, to be fair, aegis does ensure that the phantasm will always survive at least
one
hit no matter how powerful that hit is.

it should honestly give both -.-or even make them just take 50% less damage or something of the sort, and to begin with phantasms should not need traits to protect them.

couldnt we trait to give them 50% more health back in the day? like when we had a glamor line that could be traited?

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@Moradorin.6217 said:

Protected Phantasms:
one instance of aegis is pretty garbage no matter how you look at it, it's similar to Blood Bank in that it's a wasted trait if phantasms are not being attacked, and has little/situational effect even if they are.

This trait should make phantasms inherently and significantly tankier so that it doesnt just die to AoE/cleave, whether that be a massive HP boost, straight up dmg% reduction, whatever... it should technically allow a phantasm to run into a blob, do its thing and turn into that clone. Again, you can slap boons on to the phantasm just to interact with PoM.

Protection would probably make more sense, although, to be fair, aegis does ensure that the phantasm will always survive at least
one
hit no matter how powerful that hit is.

it should honestly give both -.-or even make them just take 50% less damage or something of the sort, and to begin with phantasms should not need traits to protect them.

couldnt we trait to give them 50% more health back in the day? like when we had a glamor line that could be traited?

didnt play back then so I wouldnt know

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@Leonidrex.5649 said:

@"Noodle Ant.1605" said:
Protected Phantasms:
one instance of aegis is pretty garbage no matter how you look at it, it's similar to Blood Bank in that it's a wasted trait if phantasms are not being attacked, and has little/situational effect even if they are.

This trait should make phantasms inherently and significantly tankier so that it doesnt just die to AoE/cleave, whether that be a massive HP boost, straight up dmg% reduction, whatever... it should technically allow a phantasm to run into a blob, do its thing and turn into that clone. Again, you can slap boons on to the phantasm just to interact with PoM.

Protection would probably make more sense, although, to be fair, aegis does ensure that the phantasm will always survive at least
one
hit no matter how powerful that hit is.

it should honestly give both -.-or even make them just take 50% less damage or something of the sort, and to begin with phantasms should not need traits to protect them.

couldnt we trait to give them 50% more health back in the day? like when we had a glamor line that could be traited?

didnt play back then so I wouldnt know

Found it I think.

Persisting Images: Phantasms you summon spawn with retaliation for 6 seconds and have 20% more health. from

butPersisting Images Persisting Images: This trait has been renamed Sympathetic Visage Sympathetic Visage and causes newly summoned phantasms to draw 1 condition from the caster to themselves.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2015-06-23#Inspiration

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sympathetic_Visage

So we used to get a phant buff for sure, now we get the cleanse on phant generation.

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Deceptive Evasion should be the grandmaster minor in duelist trait line and add a new grandmaster.

Mental Defense should have a lower cooldown and also work with Signet of the Ether.

We also lacks a lot of synergy between traits. And the pvp did too much damage, some reworked traits are useless outside pvp. They should review all traits and add something useful for each game mode in each trait, at least, in the Grandmaster traits that should be the best ones. That will add more diversity of builds for all game modes.

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@Noodle Ant.1605 said:

Deceptive Evasion should be the grandmaster minor in duelist trait line and add a new grandmaster.deceptive evasion is still very useful vs many other traits, and i prefer it stays an option so i dont involuntarily spawn brainless ai each time i get snagged in combat
in pve
anywhere really

Well it only works in combat not make you enter in combat but i understand what you prefer. Then add it something more to Deceptive Evasion aside the clone on dodge.

I don't like the actual Warden. After the rework is only useful for pvp/WvW when traited. It should spread several axes at the same time instead one with each attack. The Phantasmal Mage is too slow, need to run, has a long cast time and its cooldown too high. Very easy to avoid and prone to fail. Torch need shorter cooldowns without trait it.

Too many things to change, zero hope in future unprobable reworks, maybe few tweaks, nothing more. I'm ready to be disappointed with the next specialization too. Having seen what I have seen so far, I am rather pessimistic, there is no hope. And if by accident they do something good that works, they'll ruin it after the first whines.

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At some point I'm going to do my own writeup of how to improve the mess that is the mesmer trait lines. It's a shame that there's people who think this class is overpowered in all the game modes they're actually garbage in, usually by someone who's playing an actually good class at what it's intended to do, in a squad where there's like 1 mesmer out of 50 people. They're so good nobody plays them.

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@Heika.5403 said:

Deceptive Evasion should be the grandmaster minor in duelist trait line and add a new grandmaster.deceptive evasion is still very useful vs many other traits, and i prefer it stays an option so i dont involuntarily spawn brainless ai each time i get snagged in combat
in pve
anywhere really

Well it only works in combat not make you enter in combat but i understand what you prefer. Then add it something more to Deceptive Evasion aside the clone on dodge.

Yeah, I think the point isn't that it gets you INTO combat, but that it KEEPS you in combat for longer than you might otherwise be after being tagged by something you don't actually want to fight. Similar to rangers having to recall their pets.

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