Provocative.3561

Coming from a mesmer main. Sword and focus do need some love. A valid change to sword 4 would be make the block, blocking for x time rather than just block an attack or add some extra reward like blind, for example, when you successfully block an enemies attack. Focus 4 pull range could be increased. And possibly you can cast focus 5”s location. Also, it’s good to note I appreciate the off hand weapons that are used more often are buffed rather than buffing something people don’t use to begin with. It’s cool to give a wider variety of options. But what works works. And pistol has single target CC and torch opens up more stealth and additional condi clear and can combo into phants daze with either diversion stacking or whatever you choose. Let’s be fr

Idk I just solo’d fire heart rise mission, since I’m not in any real pve guild. For the chest of infusions.Twice as mes and twice as a core ele. Since you gotta beat ryland 4 times while Braham shows up to the fight as well. One of the most frustrating bosses I’ve ever fought in pve. besides that. My core DD ele, is alot of fun. And core is underrated since other specs allow for more damage. But the way core just rips through mobs and allows a sustained fight. I think it’s more of a you problem than a core issue. Being that you gave no context as what weapons you chose besides arcane utility. And arcane wave is a little lackluster compared to the damage of glyphs or elemental weapons or fluidity of cantrips it’s more of an extra blast combo. Which since I’m DD has many ways to blast fields. I suggest maybe crafting a new build that does more damage or allows for some fluid gameplay with sustain. You’ll probably notice a major difference

Atleast with necro or ele their aoe is instant as far as the effects go. Staff water 5. Necro staff. Wells. Etc mesmer wells take time for boons and it’s not always optimal to stand in one spot. Especially in a WvW setting. So you’re forcing bunker gameplay. But it ultimately pushes condi.

No I feel that frustration too. Instead of keeping the flow of gameplay moving they’ve slowed it down. Yay

They are just pushing toward bunker gameplay with aoe support. And pushing aside skillful outplay gameplay with high rush adrenaline playmaking for slower dense thinking gaming. Time to leave the game. Again. Cause no one likes to play vs bunkers and tanks. Games in pvp don’t end. Fights never end. And pushes towards a condi meta since this does well vs bunker. Of all the things to push, they’re pushing a dull meta.

Late response. But as someone who enjoyed original scepter gameplay even before there was fresh air(although that trait opened up zerker scepter to new heights using blink and arcana) the earth 4, blink in for cc into earth 2 air 2 combo would basically one shot. Had thieves killed, mesmers crying, power guardians in a rage. Yes with original zerker stats too being OP. The old dragons tooth and a triple hit Phoenix was not only deadly but was winning WvW Zerg fights for the pure power it held in cleaving. AoE field blasts while critting disgustingly too like backstab? One ability. Scepter held a lot of strength in PvP as well. But as mentioned in a comment above. Combos doing this much damage doesn’t exist. Staff was obliterating whole zergs with one cast of meteor and elite to tornado…. Ele has had its moments and to me is complicated because you have to ask yourself should ele be doing this again? Or do we deal with a slower painful, all in your face fight with Melee Condi or cele ele? and that’s where Ele’s kinda always been at. That crossroads and I don’t think scepter will ever be to where it was. It has potential, but it should be a threat… through usage of other abilities and opening traits and abilities we could see a comeback scepter ele, redefined? that would require buffs to the damage of blink.. and ratios being upped on things like lightening 2, fire 3. or things like bolt to the heart being added to to a minor trait or a moving it to master trait section.. or moving fresh air to the master section. Also giving ele more ways to obtain fury again? That’s a huge one. and even if these were done, fire sigil would be the goto in WvW. And not even available in pvp? There’s a lot wrong here but the trick with ele is kinda the same story with mesmer and necro. You give one thing to the class and every subclass within is now improved if opted into. Like cele ele for example which in itself when played right is fun but downright toxic. But again… I’m late

I’ve been grinding for one of the rewards everyday since it’s rerelease. Maxing out heirlooms and so close to the goal and bam bugged 🤡

No really 😂

Being a power mesmer main since shatters original inception, with easily 10k mesmer games. It’s truly safe to assume the classes you mentioned are garbage in comparison unless the player is actually good. Assuming you(whoever) has the quick reactions to mesmer and can find the mesmer in all the chaos before you die. Then you may fine.. Mesmers whole theme is to confuse you whilst stopping you from using abilities and punishing you for doing so when I specifically told you not to. Innately, if the Mesmer is good, the mesmer should have shut down any of those classes from sustaining. Thus ending the fight there. But There are things that prevent a good mesmer from doing so, so yes, some of which are basically little to no counterplay things.. which just make a prolonged fight until they have no choice but to succumb.Mesmers to the feeble minded, create confusing clones, their mobility paired with huge rotational bursts make up for lack of sustain. That can be interrupted more often than not.Mesmers do need some love, in the right areas. But when played correctly and actually shattering. Mesmer is quite strong at toying with their enemies before just brutally ending the fight.

The changes to condi mirage seem a bit odd. I remember taking a break for a couple years came back and every Mesmer was mirage and used axe torch staff. I was probably the only one using scepter pistol staff and was point blank winning match ups. Now condi mirage is scepter x staff and is basically meta for condi mirage. Mirage clones activating attacks vortex on evades is similar to when clones destroyed were destroyed either by having over the threshold of illusions or when enemies killed a Mesmers clones they generated aoe conditions. A different take on it. I believe the clones creating vortex condis being reduced is a change. But the actual Mesmer casting vortex’s should not be changed.Currently Mesmer is in a state of being weak. With no real direction. As playing power there are no real definitive direction one can go to succeed without being a gimmick spec. The same goes for the awful chrono changes that only a couple tank chronos play.. As it only serves a good purpose in some wvw scenarios and or in pve. Mesmer has no clear options to be played let alone unique playstyles that Mesmer mains or lovers can have fun on doing different things. They cannot support with heals/phantasms Or shatter condis no longer healing/removing conditions from allies, shattering for boons no longer gives boons to allies along with inspiration signit. Mesmer’s access to unique skillful interruptions traits have been either removed or made bad in terms of doing damage. Both in chaos and domination. Then shatter mesmer has been nerfed to oblivion, with sword 3 not doing enough damage and not giving extra time on evade and portal duration being nerfed amongst might being removed from Mesmer because condi Mesmer was becoming too strong empowering their condis beyond shatters intentions... if nerfing condi mirage is the next option, then empower power Mesmer to shine. Give a change to domination line or illusions where might no longer gives increased power to conditions but only empowers actual damage similar to a trait necros have access to. Like removing domination minor where phants do more damage in place of that trait or the trait where shattering illusions gives invuln stacks. And replace it with that might trait, where the trait gives more might per shatter on any shatter ability used. But in doing so stripping the 12 stacks given on pain mantra charge so that doesn’t become a problem either, especially with conjunction to the latter. Mesmers shatters is what gives them strength(might), bring Mesmer back to a wind up growing power through fighting, showcasing interesting yet stronger shatter plays. Another neat change would be allowing mesmers better access at useful skillful and interactive interruptions, that can either support allies Through giving boons and or cause debilitating attacks vs foes. Or giving Mesmers A different power stroke through shattering boons, shattering boons can either remove two boons per shatter on illusion or outright always remove stability first. Allowing Mesmer better access to daze or stun foes. With so many classes having an abundance of boons power Mesmer sometimes lacks the necessary component to literally stop enemies dead in their tracks when they need to. Which is essentially Mesmer.Adding more interaction weapons could be looked at as well, for instance, GS 5, not just being a knock back but maybe it could give a slow too. Or strip a boon. Or cause blind. Or if it interrupts a foe it gives might or reduces the cool down of great sword skills by x amount. Another thing is focus 4. It currently gives an aoe cc and either give swiftness to allies or causes cripple to foes who walk through it. Giving that ability to interrupt or cause might/blind/ or quickness on interrupt would be an interesting spin on a skill that could be stronger. Food for thought.

Alot of outclassing... sadly, But I think an organized guild could use a zerker DD to just dive in dps and get out. Or supporty tank auramancer. Both still very viable. Just gotta recruit a good ele main.Tbh I play DD zerker with some concentration for boon durations( fire air arcane) in WvW at times and I just blow things up. Quite fun, but yes very very squishy no sustain(but that’s what supports are for helps heal you and get you through the fight with stab) But it’s about when to go in and focusing/micromanaging your abilities. Playing with infusions and legendaries while being that squishy but having that burst? Can change fights. Bursting through with fire at the right time is deadly. I think any guild would like one. Just the ele has to be good, helps to be ascended etc for extra stats.

Tbh, staff ele is quite strong in the right hands. If you’re full zerker with a bit of health(retal is disgusting), You can simply throw down a meteor shower and obliterate everything standing in the aoe. Not to mention fire traits making fire 2 skill last longer with crit in blast, with the cool down coming back up you get another lava font. Then if traited for fresh air you can get higher crit damage on swap. The only thing is air 5 skill aoe radius was nerfed so trapping a large amount of enemies doesn’t happen as often. But with good positioning and a good fire retreat you can cast good meteors and control Zerg fights. and it’s decent in pvp if enemies let you free cast and While in pve it isn’t as bad as you think. You can drop a water 2 for huge aoe vulnerability, combo earth 2 and fire 2 where you stand and cast meteor. Also can grab glyph for more aoe or arcane utility for more damage. While cantrips like the stability and protection so you can cast meteor freely. The cooldowns on tempest for air. Is like casting that, then earth fire combo meteor. Like that should obliterate everything. And with fresh air you can swap back to air for crit damage and auto in air abit til fire comes back up. You destroyed all mobs easily. Also there is fiery gs, so while all the aoe is happening you can use that. I mean I don’t get where you’re going with staff. You set up combos and use them. As far as a dueling spec, S/D or DD works. If you don’t like melee there’s is S/F concentrating on single target with good protection for yourself when used correctly. And you can also go healer ele too which is extremely annoying in PvP WVW setting as you heal allies, and specced right you get condition damage with say sage or mixed damage with celestial. I think you just gotta know how to combo and have a good set of utility and build for staff ele if your attempting to dish out damage. Staff ele isn’t really a 1v1.. but a XvX. As in you and allies vs enemies. If you get off your combos you should be fine. There are some great zerker else on YouTube you can always check out. As well as other king of specced ele builds. I prefer Scepter Focus or DD. Depending on the situation or mood. Staff is good too, but use that for huge Zerg fights... casting a well timed meteor shower can turn a fight around. Or kill me due to retaliation. Lol

Hi, i am a Mesmer main sitting in platinum, with being in the top 25 back when leaderboards were around... with roughly 9k mesmer games and ~6k wins. i am clearly saying that with the current changes to chronomancer, i believe a hotfix is needed immediately. Illusionary persona should be brought back to chronomancer and separate continuum shift from distortion bringing back 5 shatter abilities. Originally when the game came out, illusionary persona was essential for any shatter mesmer. It allows a mesmer to shatter on contact, like blink diversion and to distortion on call when needed while setting up either mind wrack bursts and or condi bursts with cry of frustration. This essential trait was added by popular demand of the mesmer community and has hence forth been a key to their overall success. The problem with mesmer was they were not able to really shatter, with all the aoe our clones would instantly be destroyed and in a pinch we were not able to use skills that are core to every mesmer just because we didn't have clones? With the added illusionary persona being baseline, mesmer have been able to create plays or turn around a fight with and more importantly, without clones. Now chronomancer was stripped of distortion and illusionary persona? How does even make sense when mesmer didn't need clones to shatter. We can't use our core skills because we dont have clones? That is a problem revisiting prior to the 2015 patch where illusionary persona became baseline for all mesmers. Chronomancer does not feel like a mesmer, it feels outdated and backwards. Instead of creating sick plays and turning around fights with shatters, im simply not able to shatter. There is too much going on in the game currently, for chronomancer to be forced to shatter without illusionary persona. Here's why, with every class basically aoe cleaving, clones become destroyed instantaneously, thus not allowing chronomancer to use its core skills? That would be like thief not being to steal or a gaurdian being locked out of virtues. That is beyond frustrating and doesn't seem right. right? The other issues is that i cant instantly shatter phantasms anymore(i spoke about this before), thus once casted i can no longer shatter them for shatter affects, i am forced to wait for them to finish and then wait for them to generate a clone then shatter, that is problematic when building up illusions for powerful shatters(that change ultimately paved the way for phantasm mesmers to rise in power, while it hurt shatter mesmers who just shattered the phantasm for a more powerful affect).When trying to shatter on chronomancer, it felt fluid... now it feels outdated and clunky. Chronomancer cannot distortion which is a major issue and cannot shatter without clones... I recommend seriously hotfixing chronomancer, either reverting the current changes. Or simply giving back illusionary persona and separating distortion from continuum shift and allowing chronomancer 5 shatter skills.

There are definitely some powerful specs within the game, but the fact that each class is able to obtain a jack of trades mode, does not make that necessarily power creep. A jack of all trades build isn't so bad. Because it lost certain things to obtain that status. Whilst a class who specializes in something, is going to outdo the other in that particular manner if they did it right. Also, giving classes mobility where once it was lacking or the options to help support, evens the playground vs other matchups who were outclassing the other for little reasons like mobility etc, why do people have to pick a thief for mobility when you could get a more team fight orientated class just with some added mobility? Sounds intriguing right? Thus making more room for viable match ups and comps. Albeit this isn't always the case as sometimes a new form of outclassing happens and no matter what you do this always happens, a tier list if you will with any pvp game anywhere...But this also opens up ways for unique specializations to shine, not necessarily in high tier gameplay, more so in casual or in ranked in general, all it takes is understanding of your build and the enemies playstyle/build and generally be a good player to understand what they're capable of. Literally, with any "pro" team, a player can come in with X, do well and wow, its viable just like that. There was a point where ele was not seen at all, support staff ele came into the competitive scene and switched it up eons ago....With the new specializations and the old, it opens up doors to see different specs do different things.New things, i think people kind of get freaked out about it.. oddly enough whilst enjoying it at the same time. Everygame has changes, people come and go based on those changes and the amount of fun they are having while adjusting to those changes definitely varies. I know i have left repeatedly based solely on balance and came back when things settle down. Hell i have even left when my classes are buffed!Another thing is, match manipulation is in every pvp related game... Everyone knows this. Doesn't make it right, but thats video games with equal skill level friends right? Things can seem a little op compared to a lower ranking where two friends are doing the same thing but may not be achieving the same results. So do you nerf a good player for being good?lastly, that sounds really harsh to push aside new players or free to play players from ranked. They dont want to pve, they want to compete, they want to play the same game as you and i, let them indulge in the bloodrushing heart pounding amazingness that Guild Wars 2 has to offer. Denying new players and free to play players from ranked would also make players leave as well, it is an incentive to purchase new expansions, but at what cost? That would create an even more stale player base than it currently is. And as new expansions come, do new players have to buy a bundle pack of expansions just to play pvp? what... get real we want to bring players into pvp not remove them.