It is really hard to get excited about Virtuoso when 2 other elite specs are in an incredibly unhealty situation

[AXLIB.8425]

1 hour ago, Vicq.4095 said:

One question. I'm new player (40 lvl mesmer atm) and i just heared in game that mesmer is totally useless. Is that true ? I picked him cause support/dps possibilites in small pve and pvp. I liked clone/mirage playstyle. I'm bit confused now, i hope i wont have problem with finding a party in future.

 In this game, almost every single class is useful, you will be able to get into group on every single class, it just depends on whether you are playing your class right.

 

The thing mesmer does at the moment is power dps as chrono (currently the damage is mid range due to may nerf, used to be the highest dps when the target has perma slow, the rotation is one of the hardest rotation in the game), condi dps as mirage (confusion is the best condi mirage applies, but it is not that great in pve, it is a pvp condi to punish skill use, it is getting changed on tuesday, which will result in a slight nerf, but it will function more consistently in pve).

 

All the support option is tied to mesmer dps, power chrono can traited to give a boon called quickness to 10 target during their dps rotation and mirage can give a boon called alacrity to 10 target will doing 26k-ish dps. if by support you meant heal or want a actual support rotation, then mesmer is not the best class for you, it is the one of the worst class to heal on along side with warrior and thief (they don't have a heal build).

 

Mesmer is not useless, it is just that it is often bad in slots or worst in slots when it comes to support options with quickness and alac(there is only three build that give alac, alac rev, alac mirage, and alac chrono, in the order of usefulness and simplicity), but not many class give quickness or alac so you will still be able to find group, and even if you can't find group as support, you will still be good as power dps(36k with IA, or 39K with DT, 39K is on par with some of the highest dps in the game, but that build requires perma slow, and you only need 20K+ to clear raids), condi mirage is in a weird place at the moment.

 

there is one other role mesmer can fulfil, which is tank, and mesmer is actually the best tank in the game. But tank role is only used in few encounter in raid, so it isn't that useful as a whole.

 

in pvp it is... a weird conversation(assuming you are talking about spvp, which is 5v5, not wvw). mesmer is really strong in low ranks where people don't know how to fight against clones and mesmer in general, but in hight level of play mesmer is not the greatest choice. chrono is kind of dead there due to chrono have no mobility and no access to distortion, it is only used sometime as a one shot build, but it can only one shot every 1 or 2 minutes. mirage is typically the specialisation you will see people run as a mesmer, where it only has one dodge, mirage has access to more dodge with mirage mirror, but only a few skill give you mirage mirror and it doesn't work well in spvp. mirage will be typically used as a plus one or decap of the game, but thief exist and it does every thing mesmer does but better and is a hard counter due to mesmer stolen skill that give them every single boon of the game. in the end is just mesmer in general is hard to play as in spvp due to mesmer have low sustain and is hard countered by other in the similar role, it is a easy kill for people who know how to fight mesmer if you don't run away. it is a very good class to play in lower rank, that said, if you play mesmer well, you can still win against anyone as long as you are better than them at the game.

 

in wvw zerg you are just a illusion of life bot, condi mirage is a good roamer tho (just excuse the fact that easiest way to fight a mirage is to run away, since that won't proc torment and confusion, which are the two main damages source of condi mirage, but people are dump so they don't do that often)

[AXLIB.8425]

3 hours ago, Vicq.4095 said:

One question. I'm new player (40 lvl mesmer atm) and i just heared in game that mesmer is totally useless. Is that true ? I picked him cause support/dps possibilites in small pve and pvp. I liked clone/mirage playstyle. I'm bit confused now, i hope i wont have problem with finding a party in future.

forgot to mention, you are probably see more then usual amount of people being upset due to the new elite we are getting is... rather lazy and uninspired to say the best, even worse when comparing to what necro and guardian are getting.

[draxynnic.3719]

3 hours ago, AXLIB.8425 said:

 in pvp it is... a weird conversation(assuming you are talking about spvp, which is 5v5, not wvw). mesmer is really strong in low ranks where people don't know how to fight against clones and mesmer in general, but in hight level of play mesmer is not the greatest choice. chrono is kind of dead there due to chrono have no mobility and no access to distortion, it is only used sometime as a one shot build, but it can only one shot every 1 or 2 minutes. mirage is typically the specialisation you will see people run as a mesmer, where it only has one dodge, mirage has access to more dodge with mirage mirror, but only a few skill give you mirage mirror and it doesn't work well in spvp. mirage will be typically used as a plus one or decap of the game, but thief exist and it does every thing mesmer does but better and is a hard counter due to mesmer stolen skill that give them every single boon of the game.

Not to mention that mesmer can barely do squat against a stealthed target even if you know exactly where they are apart from trying to out-stealth them. Virtuoso at least offers some opportunity to stock blades without a target and spread some AoEs around.

 

Now, I'm not convinced that it's going to have the defences to really survive in sPvP. It might if ArenaNet can resist the urge to nerf the blocking traits too harshly, but that'll have to be tested. But it should at least be a little less hard-countered by thieves.

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

3 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Not to mention that mesmer can barely do squat against a stealthed target even if you know exactly where they are apart from trying to out-stealth them. Virtuoso at least offers some opportunity to stock blades without a target and spread some AoEs around.

 

Now, I'm not convinced that it's going to have the defences to really survive in sPvP. It might if ArenaNet can resist the urge to nerf the blocking traits too harshly, but that'll have to be tested. But it should at least be a little less hard-countered by thieves.

It will happen. Remember blinding dissipation nerf. 

Also quickness and fury on evade or block will get nerfed either on duration or ICD. 

And thus virtuoso will die. 

[Salt Mode.3780]

2 minutes ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

It will happen. Remember blinding dissipation nerf. 

Also quickness and fury on evade or block will get nerfed either on duration or ICD. 

And thus virtuoso will die. 

I mean the dude that was showcasing and explaining the specs did laugh at mirage nerf and did say the traits were too strong and needed nerf, so I'm not surprised that this will happen prob even before release knowing that they did tweak the numbers around already. 

 

Its funny how he encouraged people who calculate the dmg mods because Virtuoso overall dmg is actual garbage.