Question about gear and stats, and - should I even bother?

[Athena.2096]

Hi there, just returning to the game after...oh, 6 years? Seven? 
So what did I miss....?
 Chronomancer has already been nerfed, along with the whole class? Oh noooes! 
Guess I'll work on the other one - I hear staff Mirage is still a great Cond.Dam build, and I love that. 
But then I read that cond dam mirage is no good anymore either?

I feel like I'm scrambling to keep up - every time I think I have a specialty or a set of stats I think I want, I hear that it's no good now. 

Frankly to read these forums is really depressing - everything sounds like people just hate the class now. is it just no fun to play? Has it changed entirely? 

Also I finally focused up and took my tailoring/artificing to 500, so I can work on Ascended gear! So what stats should I get for PvE and WvW?
It looks like the one thing that hasn't changed has been "Oh, just get Berserker's stats.' I mean come on, isn't Rampager even worth considering? 

Comeon, there's got to be some ways of playing this class now that aren't completely awful.  Anyone? Buehler?

[Tseison.4659]

So in regards to PvE & WvW since those are the two modes I'm usually in, I run Core/Chrono in full Berserker. I also have condi gear (Vipers) with Axe/Pistol & Staff but only sometimes. In WvW you CAN run trailblazers but in all honesty, I just feel that with the confusion nerf, running conditions isn't worth it FOR ME. I would say it depends on your playstyle but since you're crafting Ascended which can be expensive for some, at the end of the day, the MAIN stats Mesmers tend to pick up are: Berserker (and perhaps a sprinkle of Assassins) , Vipers, Trailblazers and for those running a boon support build, Diviner's.

[Veprovina.4876]

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

Hi there, just returning to the game after...oh, 6 years? Seven? 
So what did I miss....?

Oh boy... A LOT... None of it good unfortunately...

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

 Chronomancer has already been nerfed, along with the whole class? Oh noooes! 

Yes, it's been doing ok in Raids so they had to nerf it in all game modes. Because Raids... I wish i was kidding.

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

Guess I'll work on the other one - I hear staff Mirage is still a great Cond.Dam build, and I love that. 
But then I read that cond dam mirage is no good anymore either?

Mirage didn't escape the nerfhammer either but depending on what you want, it's sligtly better than chrono. 

The damage on mirage is ok, not great but it's passable. 

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

I feel like I'm scrambling to keep up - every time I think I have a specialty or a set of stats I think I want, I hear that it's no good now. 

Well, what do you want? Not all sets are for everything. First decide what you want to do, what build (open world, WvW support, Raids) then get those stats. If you just want to raid, then visit Snowcrows and copy their build. You have to do that because if you don't, you won't be welcomed into that community. It's Snowcrows or gtfo. Nothing else exists or is viable. Other modes are much more forgiving.

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

Frankly to read these forums is really depressing - everything sounds like people just hate the class now. is it just no fun to play? Has it changed entirely? 

It's changed quite considerably in 6 years, but since you missed those 6 years i wonder how much of the change you'll see and feel... People don't hate the class, they hate what's been done to it. And those that do hate the class are the whiners that don't play the mesmer at all and just want to see it fail. Unfortunatley, Anet also hates Mesmer so they of course listen to people who cry nerfs over everything (even though, Mesmer without nerfs was already struggling to be relevant) and well, you get a lot of people really cross about what's been done to them. 

It's borderline abusive honestly...

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

Also I finally focused up and took my tailoring/artificing to 500, so I can work on Ascended gear! So what stats should I get for PvE and WvW?

For Raids - Snowcrows, nothing else matters, copy the exact build or don't bother raiding (i don't raid, but that's how it is, not the most forgiving or experimental community there)

Fractals - probably just copy Snowcrows build, but not a lot of people want mesmers in fractals because Anet destroyed any skill that was remotely usefuls to the party and left us with nothing to compensate

Open World - anything really, probably Berserker's for power builds and Viper's for condi because that's the fastest way you'll kill mobs. If you want more survivabilty without sacrificing too much damage, Marauder's for power and Trailblazer's for condi.

WvW roaming - with the recent changes to confusion and just general nerfs to everything, i just run Viper's... It's glass cannon but it's the only way i can compete. If i dont' kill them in 10-15 seconds i die and that's it... 

WvW groups - mesmers don't do any damage in groups so don't bother. your best bet is to run a boonstrip chrono build and just try to keep up. Minstrel's is ok for that.

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

It looks like the one thing that hasn't changed has been "Oh, just get Berserker's stats.' I mean come on, isn't Rampager even worth considering? 

No... But that's not the players fault, it's how Anet designed the game. There's nothing you can really do when Berserker's and Viper's are the most effective stat choices. Celestial started being good when they added boon and condi duration to its stats. I run Celestial when i'm doing open world PvE mirage, it has "ok" damage and allows me to maintain Alacrity on people. But don't try that in WvW because mirage has only one dodge in WvW and PvP. 

And this is why people are so cross about how Anet is treating mesmers. Because, no other class lost a core mechanic available to everyone because of "balance". This was the last straw for a lot of people and the proof that Anet doesn't want mesmers to be viable anywhere and has no idea how to balance them, nor are they trying. Removing a dodge was basically just "i don't care and don't want to balance, just remove a thing and call it a day".

On 9/10/2021 at 9:00 PM, Athena.2096 said:

Comeon, there's got to be some ways of playing this class now that aren't completely awful.  Anyone? Buehler?

Well, they're still fun in open world and since that's most of what you'll be doing, take comfort in that i guess... 

But i already switched to Warrior in Fractals because of how braindead it is, and made a few other alts.

Virtuoso, the new elite is basicaly suicide by reflects, and i don't see anything changing anytime soon so it is what it is.

I still main my Mesmer, and it can be a lot of fun, but when you compare how much effort you have to do for the most basic things other classes do with a single button it feels like a slap in the face.

[Athena.2096]

OK, This is really depressing, but thanks. Guess I'll check out a different profession for a few expansions....

[Veprovina.4876]

1 hour ago, Athena.2096 said:

OK, This is really depressing, but thanks. Guess I'll check out a different profession for a few expansions....

It is, but it doesn't mean you can't have fun with a mesmer. Open world content is always fine, and since you'll be doing that most of the time, and it's the majority of the content of the game anyway, you can still have lots of fun on a mesmer. 

It's just that, in the "other" content, the one that "matters" (quotes for a reason), mesmer is very gutted and there's no light at the end of the tunnel, just more darkness...