Not seeing any mesmers out in OW and it's not surprising

[SparklingMalibu.6328]

Most unique class in any MMO and Anet doesn't care about it at all lmao.
 

Edited September 24, 2023 by SparklingMalibu.6328

[Alpha.1308]

i've mained mesmer since beta and it's the most depressing thing i've ever experienced in an MMO tbh 

i try to play every class in every game, i make sure i know what i'm up against as a primarily pvper, what to expect, or why something might seem "unfair" in comparison or "why can't i do that", and making sure i look at the downsides other classes come with, but i do still do all of the pve content as it releases in this game, just because i've always loved this game since GW1 days

and i'm absolutely blown away by how unfortunately sad mesmer iteration has gone over the years 

i've settled on Mirage being my go-to open world since PoF release, because Sigil of Stamina makes the class itself feel the most fluid it's ever felt 

even then, it simply feels underwhelming due to so many lack of surrounding options, and even then, it's severely limited to weapons, scepter is worthless (seriously, does this have any viable use in any of the 3 game modes?) and sword is now even "meh" to me due to dagger taking the place of an interrupt ambush and power cleave....... 

    

[Junkpile.7439]

One shot core build works new maps and wvw

[ShadowKatt.6740]

7 hours ago, Alpha.1308 said:

scepter is worthless (seriously, does this have any viable use in any of the 3 game modes?)

    

In my experience the scepter does have one use and it's a very good use: Clone spam. With the autoattack generating a clone on every third hit, when combined with things like the Signet of Illusions, Mirror Images, and as many phantasms as you like, when paired with Shatter Storm, Desperate Decoy, and Deceptive Evasion you can literally just spawn an unending number of clones to breaks upon your enemies like waves. It's a build I rather enjoy playing.

NOW, that begs the question, is it good? I dunno. Are any mesmer builds good? I play a base mesmer and still use a condi-staff build, I am the LAST person to ask if a build is good or not. But I can say that the scepter DOES have a use, if you want to use it. And it's fun.

Edit: I forgot to add Malicious Sorcery for 20% more speed and 20% less recharge, for even MORE clone spam.

Edited September 24, 2023 by ShadowKatt.6740

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

The irony is if I did bother with the living world or got the new expansion, the first toon I would've brought there would've been my mesmer.  My chrono build is kitted out with Aurene weapons and has a white + gold color scheme now.  I usually stick on power chrono for the run speed bonus, but I've learned to do the Continuum Split rotation with one hand.  I unleash that combo and rip everything nearby to shreds.  Of course, I'd swap to conti virt for a fight where I'm forced into a more defensive playstyle, but otherwise I'd rock pure power chrono.  The toolbox is also wide enough to handle any new threats I hadn't fought before.  

[eutha six.5647]

Go to youtube and look up Lord Hizen's latest  --Guild Wars 2: Best Open World Builds Update Part 2 (Light Armor Specs)-Mirage is doing well in open world- I dont have the expansion and also do well- for condi-staff and axe/torch- its fast but can solo champs--for trash- I use a zerker build -GS/GS- old build- still works fine- 

[hmmz.4186]

Yeah its great for Champs and harder content but imo it sucks a bit at cleaving easier mobs

[stormemperor.3745]

Looks at 10+ mesmer portals in drakkar...(also some white mantle)

yeah

[Stx.4857]

Mirage is an incredible open world spec for challenging content, and for easy content any power build will work fine.  I don’t understand the concerns…. 

[draxynnic.3719]

10 hours ago, eutha six.5647 said:

Go to youtube and look up Lord Hizen's latest  --Guild Wars 2: Best Open World Builds Update Part 2 (Light Armor Specs)-Mirage is doing well in open world- I dont have the expansion and also do well- for condi-staff and axe/torch- its fast but can solo champs--for trash- I use a zerker build -GS/GS- old build- still works fine- 

I tend to use GS/dagger+sword in SotO open world. Partly this is due to lazily wanting minimal changes from the power virtuoso setup, but one greatsword with Sigil of Stamina is often good enough for clearing trash, while it's good to have something to swap to when there's only one target and you want CC.

If I'm planning to push my luck on something, condi mirage comes out to play.

[anbujackson.9564]

Pretty sure there are plenty of virts running around.

[taara.3217]

2 hours ago, hmmz.4186 said:

1. great for Champs

2. sucks a bit at cleaving easier mobs

how can it be?

Edited September 25, 2023 by taara.3217

[taara.3217]

Quote

Not seeing any mesmers out in OW and it's not surprising

I see mesmers in OW and it's not surprising too

[Teknomancer.4895]

1 hour ago, anbujackson.9564 said:

Pretty sure there are plenty of virts running around.

Yes, but anecdotally I have noticed a lot fewer people standing around in the social zones with pink dagger halos since the expac dropped. I just assume people are experimenting with the weapon mastery for use with other specs.

[Scolix.4879]

1 hour ago, Teknomancer.4895 said:

Yes, but anecdotally I have noticed a lot fewer people standing around in the social zones with pink dagger halos since the expac dropped. I just assume people are experimenting with the weapon mastery for use with other specs.

Personally i find mirage with dagger far more fun to play than virtuoso and with added bonus no ugly howering daggers over my head.

[Gibson.4036]

I've been playing Virt for the past several weeks. Long range is nice for not having to chase after all the mobs in the first stage of rifts.

I might have to give st/axe Mirage a try again, based on reports above. It's one of my favorites, but at some point in the past I realized it just felt like a wet noodle, so I've been playing other things. Both Herald and Renegade felt so much stronger.

[Doam.8305]

Guardians, rangers, necros, and the occasional Mechanist or Herald as far as the eye can see. If you spot the rare Ele its a cata and if its a Mes its camped at the end of a JP. The Warrior class fantasy belongs to guardians who already do everything better than them. While the thief can be seen at the fringes.

Out of them all Mesmer has been handily thrashed about over the years going through heavy changes while being propped up by different but single sticks. It's no wonder the core doesn't stick around while other merely use it as a portal and for a time alac slave.

[SparklingMalibu.6328]

On 9/25/2023 at 6:27 AM, eutha six.5647 said:

Go to youtube and look up Lord Hizen's latest  --Guild Wars 2: Best Open World Builds Update Part 2 (Light Armor Specs)-Mirage is doing well in open world- I dont have the expansion and also do well- for condi-staff and axe/torch- its fast but can solo champs--for trash- I use a zerker build -GS/GS- old build- still works fine- 

You dig yourself into your own answer.


If you goto the SAME video youre talking about youll notice how hizen completely skips chrono and virtuoso and explains why. Mirage is only good for bosing but then WHAT? Lit any other cspec would be better at doing events or metas.

[SparklingMalibu.6328]

3 hours ago, Doam.8305 said:

Guardians, rangers, necros, and the occasional Mechanist or Herald as far as the eye can see. If you spot the rare Ele its a cata and if its a Mes its camped at the end of a JP. The Warrior class fantasy belongs to guardians who already do everything better than them. While the thief can be seen at the fringes.

Out of them all Mesmer has been handily thrashed about over the years going through heavy changes while being propped up by different but single sticks. It's no wonder the core doesn't stick around while other merely use it as a portal and for a time alac slave.

The only GOOD thing to play mesmer in OW is to be someones SLAVE for a portal in case they can't reach a point in map.

[SparklingMalibu.6328]

On 9/25/2023 at 4:55 PM, Stx.4857 said:

Mirage is an incredible open world spec for challenging content, and for easy content any power build will work fine.  I don’t understand the concerns…. 

Let me tell you what the concern is.


CORE mesmer is better than mirage at doing the open world things. Mirage is only good when youre fighting a single target for 'extended periods of time' which is 10% of OW.
Lets not even talk abt virtuoso and chrono becuase hizen also 'skipped' them in his builds....

Edited September 26, 2023 by SparklingMalibu.6328

[ShadowKatt.6740]

4 hours ago, Doam.8305 said:

Guardians, rangers, necros, and the occasional Mechanist or Herald as far as the eye can see. If you spot the rare Ele its a cata and if its a Mes its camped at the end of a JP. The Warrior class fantasy belongs to guardians who already do everything better than them. While the thief can be seen at the fringes.

Out of them all Mesmer has been handily thrashed about over the years going through heavy changes while being propped up by different but single sticks. It's no wonder the core doesn't stick around while other merely use it as a portal and for a time alac slave.

I'm a core mesmer.....

[ShadowKatt.6740]

33 minutes ago, SparklingMalibu.6328 said:

Mesmer is only good when youre fighting a single target for 'extended periods of time' which is 10% of OW.

To be fair that's kinda always been the mesmers schtick. We want to fight the biggest and baddest thing because clones are tied to your target. That was WHY the virtuoso was created. Is it because we needed more DPS in the game? kitten no. But the virtuoso gets to stock its blades so it can unleash whenever it wants while every other mesmer has to build up to it.

I even started a thread talking about how nice it would be if mesmers could get a relic that let us stock clones, preferably if they were out and visible like pets or minis but they could be hidden if the map pop was too high. But yeah, mesmers don't like to fight trash, that's not new. And it's kinda fitting. We are better than everyone else.

[SparklingMalibu.6328]

7 minutes ago, ShadowKatt.6740 said:

To be fair that's kinda always been the mesmers schtick. We want to fight the biggest and baddest thing because clones are tied to your target. That was WHY the virtuoso was created. Is it because we needed more DPS in the game? kitten no. But the virtuoso gets to stock its blades so it can unleash whenever it wants while every other mesmer has to build up to it.

I even started a thread talking about how nice it would be if mesmers could get a relic that let us stock clones, preferably if they were out and visible like pets or minis but they could be hidden if the map pop was too high. But yeah, mesmers don't like to fight trash, that's not new. And it's kinda fitting. We are better than everyone else.

I meant to say mirage is only good when solo bossing in reply to them saying to pLAy MiRage and mirage is fine for them so the whole mesmer class is fine when 2 of our specs arent even featured in OW builds anymore.

[SparklingMalibu.6328]

8 minutes ago, ShadowKatt.6740 said:

To be fair that's kinda always been the mesmers schtick. We want to fight the biggest and baddest thing because clones are tied to your target. That was WHY the virtuoso was created. Is it because we needed more DPS in the game? kitten no. But the virtuoso gets to stock its blades so it can unleash whenever it wants while every other mesmer has to build up to it.

I even started a thread talking about how nice it would be if mesmers could get a relic that let us stock clones, preferably if they were out and visible like pets or minis but they could be hidden if the map pop was too high. But yeah, mesmers don't like to fight trash, that's not new. And it's kinda fitting. We are better than everyone else.

It would be nice if we had a relic and sigils that enhanced our unique identity as mesmers instead of nerfing everything give us other buildstyles to play. Yeh, good thread.

[draxynnic.3719]

2 hours ago, SparklingMalibu.6328 said:

I meant to say mirage is only good when solo bossing in reply to them saying to pLAy MiRage and mirage is fine for them so the whole mesmer class is fine when 2 of our specs arent even featured in OW builds anymore.

I think there is some important context here in that "OW build" usually means "boss solo build". The usual wisdom is that for most of OW, a raid build with a few modifications (a little less glassy, a few utility skill, weapon, and/or trait changes to account for specific circumstances) will work, with boondps builds generally being best. Condi virt has been known as a strong open world build for a while due to strong self-sustain, and quickchrono would probably also qualify, although I haven't tested it lately myself.

Farming builds - which are usually designed for being able to at least hit multiple targets, and which are thus generally better at fighting trash than raid OR boss solo builds - are also generally not presented by the likes of Hizen and Nike, but can also be good for general open world play. This is where things like greatsword mirage come into play.