You would think if you read the official Guild Wars 2 forums, that the Mesmer was unplayable in its current form. The last profession to be revealed and confirmed by Jon Peters as the roughest around the edges, there has to be a certain level of acceptance from the community that changes will be made and tweaks implemented in order for ArenaNet to get it to where they want it to be.
If you’ve read my article on the Engineer, you’ll know I’m not one to shy away from confronting a profession’s problems, nor am I one to shy away from suggesting changes (whether right or wrong). I intend to play both the Mesmer and Engineer on Guild Wars 2’s release, in the interests of the GW2Hub community, so it’s only fair that I share my thoughts on the three areas of concern I currently have with the profession.
Shattering
As a concept, I love Shattering. Each of the individual effects offers a great deal of flexibility to the Mesmer in how they choose to dispose of their illusions or phantasms. What I find surprising however is how frequently I’ve read complaints about all four and yet I’ve found all have a distinct role if used correctly. That isn’t to say Shattering as a concept is perfect, but with only minor tweaks I consider it one of the most fun mechanics in the game.
The first suggestion I would make is having Diversion by default (and in line with Mind Wrack and Cry of Frustration) daze all nearby foes. As powerful as Daze is, sacrificing what could potentially be 3 illusions/phantasms for a single target effect often feels wasteful and it can be far more productive to simply use another of the Shatter skills. By combining Imbued Diversion so that Diversion affects everyone nearby and adds 1 second of Daze per Illusion/Phantasms Shattered, would make it much more worthwhile.
Where Mind Wrack is concerned, it’s difficult to know how intentional the changes to its damage were during the last Beta phase. With Traits that improve Mind Wrack having been chopped down horrifically, the Shatters base damage is now awful. Even with critical hits, I don’t recall ever seeing Mind Wrack deal any more than 650 damage. This may sound respectable, but when you consider it has a 15 second cooldown, comes at the cost of all your Illusions/Phantasms and is less damage than a single Blurred Frenzy, something is evidently wrong. With Illusions now dealing 0 damage (although mine dealt 9 damage!) Mind Wrack should be realigned to reflect this damage loss and should provide our strongest spike skill.
Cry of Frustration (CoF) tends to receive the most complaints and I often think it’s because Confusion as a condition is misunderstood but also underused. The prospect of a condition dealing damage to those who attack adds a wonderful layer of possibilities to the caster, requiring the victim to remain fully aware of what they’re doing in order to overcome it. What Cry of Frustration fails to do is offer enough stacks to make the Shatter worth while. Tied to condition damage, CoF can often be difficult to get the most out of, which often leaves its damage tragically low (I'll talk about Confusion a little more later).
Distortion is probably my favourite skill out of all the Shatters. A 3 second immunity is incredibly powerful and when used right, before or after Blurred Frenzy, can see you take no damage for a significant period of time. The 60 second recharge is a long time, but is reflective of the Shatters potency.
Were I to suggest changes to any of the Shatters it would be to provide more utility in their outcome effect, instead of the one effect they currently have (damage, confusion, daze or distortion) I will however go into greater depth of this in the following section.
Clones/Illusions/Phantasms
There are two primary problems with the Clone/Illusion and Phantasm system. The first and one accentuated by the removal of Clones/Illusions dealing damage (if they are in fact no longer supposed to deal damage) is that they override Phantasms. This in many respects can be overcome with careful use of your skills but where some skills or traits automatically create a clon (such as Ether Clone, Illusionary Riposte or Deceptive Evasion) you have little chance of maintaining your Phantasms for long periods of time.
With lengthy cooldowns and now providing a bulk of damage for the Mesmer, its more important than ever that Phantasms remain on field or as long as you choose. To have an Illusionary Swordsman who was dealing 3,000 damage per swing (I’ve had mine dealing more) replaced by an clone dealing 0 damage, because you dodged or didn’t cancel your Scepter auto attack quick enough, is at times infuriating.
I don’t believe there is an easy solution to this issue, though there are certainly plenty of suggestions:
1. Have Clones/Illusions never override Phantasms. This is likely the easiest solution but one which would cause significant problems for the Mesmer in attempting to confuse their opponents, through the use of Illusions acting as distractions. As Phantasms have a transparent appearance, it would technically leave only 1 Illusion if you had two active Phantasms (a regular occurrence when weapon swapping). This would not only affect the Mesmers ability to hide but also hamper many existing traits.
2. Have 5 available Clones/Illusion/Phantasm slots, instead of 3. I have read this suggestion several times and although simple, it would have to be on the basis 2 of the 5 slots are reserved for Phantasms. I don’t particularly feel this is an elegant solution as it would only serve to add further potency to the Mesmer, creating an imbalance as they amassed too many illusions/phantasms that could all be shattered. Reducing Shattering damage to compensate could potentially alleviate this, but still leaves the issue of sheer numbers.
3. Have Phantasms as timed spells. It’s a solution I actually prefer, instead having them as independent spells you summon and which disappear after a certain amount of time. This would alleviate Clones/Illusions overriding Phantasms instantly and still allow you to shatter 3 Illusions. What I would like to see, if this was implemented, was to see Phantasms “charge” nearby Illusions when you use a Shatter skill, that could result in an additional effect.
For example, if I had 3 Illusions (demonstrated by 3 pink icons above my skill bar) and I summoned a Phantasm, my Shatter skills would gain an additional benefit. The 3 pink icons would also change to purple, to indicate a summoned Phantasm.
- Mind Wrack – Destroy all your clones, damaging nearby foes and knocking them down.
- Cry of Frustration - Destroy all your clones, confusing and causing weakness to nearby foes
- Diversion - Destroy all your clones, dazing and causing vulnerability to nearby foes
- Distortion - Destroy all your clones, gaining distortion and causing vulnerability to nearby foes
Based on the Mesmers lack of access to Boons, isn't there also the potential to see Phantasms provide you with a Boon when you Shatter your illusions?
- Mind Wrack – Destroy all your clones, damaging nearby foes and gaining Swiftness.
- Cry of Frustration - Destroys all your clones, confusing nearby foes and gaining Fury.
- Diversion - Destroy all your clones, dazing nearby foes and gaining Vigor.
- Distortion - Destroy all your clones, gaining Distortion and Retaliation for each one shattered.
The second primary complaint with Illusions and Phantasms is the fact they are so subject to AI path finding. When you trigger a Shatter, it is highly likely your Illusions will be killed on the way to their target from stray area of effect spells. Should your opponent jump from a ledge or gantry your Illusions and Phantasms cannot or often won’t follow them.
The main suggestion to rectify this is to have all llusions and Phantasms Blink to their target when you Shatter them. This would, in many respects, remove the navigational problems but poses a set of new ones based on range and balance.
- Would my Illusions only Blink to the target when in a certain range?
- Would my Illusions Blink to the target from any range?
- Would the damage of Shattering have to be adjusted based on such a guaranteed spike?
- Why shouldn’t players be able to avoid Shattering?
The fact that Illusions are so vulnerable and now deal zero damage makes me gravitate towards the Blink solution if for nothing more than to see 3 Illusions/Phantasms instantly vanish and appear next to my target in a cloud of broken butterflies. The only alternative would be to fix the AI path finding so that Illusions and Phantasms actually follow opponents over ledges, but it would still leave the prospect of them dying before they even reach their target. Perhaps granting Illusions and Phantasms protection and swiftness when you choose to Shatter them might overcome this obstacle.
Confusion
Through stealth, illusions and the physical condition the Mesmer, at its heart, is designed to confuse. Yet why is it that the condition specifically implemented for the profession is so tragically underused? With only 4 skills and 1 shatter that induce it, it seems laborious to have to Trait what could become the backbone of the profession.
There is a part of me dislikes the fact that Confusion is considered a condition as it is easily stripped and is so reliant on you specializing in Condition Damage which for many Mesmers, simply isn't an option. Having Confusion become an other, in line with Stability, Stealth and Frenzy would instantly raise its potential.
What I would also like to see as a result of the change is the damage dealt to the victim increased, but also have at least 1 skill on every weapon set provide Confusion. The exception to this would be the Scepter which would have Confusion, in some form, on every skill. Unfortunately the Scepter now retains an odd set of skills due to its Confusion stacking being neutered a change I still cannot understand (but which I've asked Jon Peters about).
I think this minor change alone would compliment the existing Traits, but show a clear definition of what the skill is; an effect that makes you, as the victim, stop and think. If I was being really adventurous, I'd pray that it moves away entirely from being the Back Fire of Guild Wars 2 and instead become more like Clumsiness.
Final Thoughts
Despite some issues surrounding the profession, I think it would be sensationalist at this point to suggest (as many have and do) that the Mesmer is unplayable or that it cannot compete against other professions. Some of the changes that have crept in, specific to Illusion damage and the rebalancing of certain skills is hard to swallow. I think part of the problem lies in the fact that the Mesmer has a high skill ceiling and a steep learning curve. As a profession I played almost exclusively in Guild Wars 1 and the first profession I ever played in Guild Wars 2 (though they bear no correlation), I've sunk many hours into it and still feel I'm on scraping the surface of what the profession is capable of. To create a Mesmer and join a sPvP match will likely see many fail as they struggle to get to grips with the professions complexities.
There are some concerns regarding certain weapon sets specific to the scepter, torch and sword off-hand, as they all desperately need improvements so that people use something other than Staff + Sword/Pistol. But for the most part, the tweaks would only need to be minor.
Fundamentally and in line with Jon Peters comments made on the official forums, the Mesmer was the last profession to be revealed and is likely still in a state of significant change at all levels. With the third Beta weekend likely round the corner, I'm excited to see what changes are brought to the profession.
Comments
Re. illusions: I believe that the illusions (Clones and Phantasms) are meant to be disposable resources, hence having four different ways to shatter them. And if you get to a situation where you "overwrite" an already summoned illusion you are doing something wrong.
Clones can be created cheaply (in terms of time) and most Phantasms have a 15-20 second cooldown. I understand your thinking that because Phantasms do a massive amount of damage they should be next to you constantly and exempt from the shattering mechanics; basically wanting to have a "pet" like a ranger or a necromancer do. Except Phantasms do more damage than necromancers minions and can be replenished quicker than rangers pets.
I only had a very limited time with the game (two BWEs and a stress test) so I will not say that I understand the profession completely. I as well just barely scratched the surface what the profession can do. But with my limited exposure to the game I grew to love the profession since it seems like the most difficult class to play, and I am in love with difficult games. I can see why some people say that mesmers are underpowered, need fixes, need a complete rehaul their mechanics. Yes the shatter mechanics is not a one button kill, yes phantasms can be overwritten, yes illusions disappear when the target dies, but if these are the reasons why you would think illusions are not good ehough I encourage you to think of them as a part of the profession, not as sole thing mesmers do. And be more careful of that resource and not to waste it (ie. pay attention to the game).
Even just looking at illusions try to play the profession like this during the next BWE: combat starts and the very first thing you do is pop a phantasm. The sooner you bring it up the more damage it will do. Then through fighting two clones will pop up. Keep them up until you used up all your weapons abilities and they are on cooldowns (which should coincide with you filling up your 3 illusion quota). Then switch your weapons and at the same time shatter your illusions. Then again, phantasm, fight, clone, fight, clone, switch weapons and shatter. If your phantasm skill was still on a cooldown after the weapon swap, create more clones and shatter them as soon as your phantasm is available again to start fresh on your phantasm-clone-clone-shatter cycle.
Granted this is probably not the best use of the mechanics by any means, but it's a nice starting point in understanding how illusions work. They are designed to be a very temporary asset which can be "erased" with a small bang and replenished with ease only to be erased again quickly. And don't be afraid to shatter your phantasms; be afraid to needlessly overwrite them.
All of that while applying buffs and debuffs and doing not so terrific amount of damage (you'll have a hard time spiking as a mesmer). But that's ok, since Mesmers are not one dimensional class which can be used to its full potential just by doing one single thing.
I personally found that mesmers simply kill everything which comes across them, in PvE and sPvP. In sPvP I noticed that people greatly under-estimate mesmers capabilities, until after 4-5 shatters, with 3 illusions each. One shatter does minor damage, so that's why you shatter again and again. They never see it coming :)
And my apologies for the long post! I Just don't want to see this profession buffed and simplified as a result.
More than anything what confuses (no pun) me is that the change to illusion damage makes it amazingly easy to tell which mesmer is real. "Oh, that one hit me for nothing, that's a clone."
I don't understand how they are now supposed to be "just for deception" yet lost one of their main deception assets (i.e. they hit like a real mesmer).
They'll have to have some way to combat this.
I'm glad to see someone talking about this issue, but I can't say I fully agree with your assessment Lewis.
I think the main problem with Illusions/Phantasms is everyone has their own idea of their purpose, including Anet. In order for Shatter to function properly, a clear cut distinction in mechanics needs to be made between illusions/phantasms. Phantasms have limited sources and are not intended to cause confusion, therefore should be independent from the Shatter mechanic and illusion cap.
Confusion - A stackable condition with few sources that causes damage every time a skill is used.
This concept is flawed by definition alone. A [mostly] mesmer-only condition, with few sources should not have a damage-function but rather a utility one. Ex: Non-stackable condition that caused the next skill to fail, or better yet increased the cooldown of the used skill would fulfill a better purpose.
Part of the problem in general is that Mesmers don't seem to have a clear direction as most other classes do. I would personally like to see them take a damage and disruption-oriented role, with a greater emphasis on situational damage abilities and disruption effects. I felt they were much better off when Greatsword mind stab was a daze instead of a vulnerability, and that is the direction most of the weapons should have taken - with 2 disrupt/disorient type abiltites per weapon set [5 skills] and 2 damage abilities, leaving escape and defense mechanics to their utilities [that already perform this wonderfully] and re-adjusted shatter mechanics that have defense/utility/escape mechanics instead of damage, such as changing mind-wrack to a utility that switches places with an illusion or removed conditions for each illusion destroyed and an adjustment to the confuse condition [CoF].
Re-adjusting the goals of the different skill sections would go a long way to smoothing out the class. These are, of course, only my opinions on the matter.
o-o just throwing this out there why not a trait system that changes how we use our clones? for example: In either dueling, or domination, grand-master trait that adds the previous dmg to clones?
Then it forces you to trade something off? or be 30 in a certain line?
It's supposed to be, play how you want and no useless builds right? So with the way they are working the trait system now why not take advantage and have it give us an option to change the play style of our clones every few trees?
"2. Have 5 available Clones/Illusion/Phantasm slots, instead of 3." <- This and all other variations seem to be not so bad to me. Numbers are a pain in the ass I guess, but clones do little to no dmg so whats the problem? Clones are just kind of there to either take a hit or be shattered, So why is numbers such a big deal then?
Now I don't know about the rest of you but when I was head to head against other Mesmers, or maybe as a mes I knew because I understood better than the guardian trying to tank the world as if it's warcraft. I could always tell the real one apart, sure it's possible I only played against shit mesmers, but I find that hard to fathom after 2 BWE and a stress test with a decent pvp record.
If someone hits a clone instead of the mes... it's their own fault. If someone is mobed by clones and don't AoE of some kind, or get distance out of that situation. It's their own fault. I don't think numbers have anything to do with it other than shatter.-> I'd like to remind everyone MW's dmg is the same as first chain hit with sword, which is nice and all, not mocking the dmg, but that's 5 hits with your first attack basic weapon (assuming the phantasms from this concept even shatter.) this really isn't that bad? it's a decent spike and be fairly reasonable in damage. In turn 3/2 clone/phant without a phant shatter is still pretty good imo.
I gave Mesmer a second try during BWE2 and it just didn't make my 5-slot list for launch. I particularly did not like the AI pathing problems. It is very possible that this class is over my head, but it just didn't gel for me at lower levels..perhaps I should have took it into sPVP and tried out the full range of abilities, but I've found over the years that, if a certain class doesn't work for me at low levels not much changes at higher levels.
This is a great article. However I wonder if instead of giving you a buff you could give your phantasm a buff everytime you use a shatter skill. Fury, Might, next attack adds a condition or something like that. I agree that timed phantasm spells that are not overriden by clones is probably the best solution. Hopefully this kind of thing will soon be implemented. :)
The base damage of mind rack is pathetic and it needs a boost, instead of the reduction they did to it. The fact the rack hardly ever hits the intended target is also a big problem and need fixing. I've seen ZERO damage from it and that basically means it is essentially worthless. Also, have the illusions draw aggro. The NPCs totally ignore illusions even when they attack first. I suspect this is because their damage output is so pathetic that aggro mechanic doesn't work with illusions.
Here's a few things you seem to be missing. Diversion shatter offers 1 second daze per clone shattered, but what you seem to be missing is that daze doesn't stack. Thus shattering 3 clones doesn't daze for 3 seconds, unless you happen to have 3 clones each being 1 second further from the target than the last one. Most of the time my Diversions with 3 clones were not any better than 1 clone diversions. This is really bad.
Another thing you didn't comment on is traits. There's just loads and loads of useless traits. Mesmer doesn't actually have that many interrupts and it has a lot of traits that do a small effect on interrupts. Traits that apply conditions on clone death don't work if clones were shattered, only if they are killed by the enemy etc... a lot of traits are bad.
You didn't get into problematic of Mantras, Mimic, Illusion of Life, Signets that are not domination one, being horrible.
Flannum said clones do no damage because they are decoys. Buy none of the clone skills break target lock in PvP or PvE so the enemy never actually has to target clones if they manage to target lock mesmer (for instance early in the fight where there's no clones). Stealth skills break lock though. In PvE it's possible to get the mobs to target clones if clone is in melee range and mesmer is at 1200 range. Then mobs actually try to attack the clone.
For confusion, the problem is not in how hard it is to stack but in the fact that its duration is way too short and damage is too little. Where typical bleed on non-autoattacks on warrior, ele, ranger etc lasts 6, 8 ,9 or 12 seconds, confusion typically lasts 3,4, 5 seconds. Where bleed on condition damage spec does about 100 damage per second per stack, confusion does about 140 damage per attack per stack. Thus even if the enemy attacks 1 per second on average, typical bleed stack will apply more damage through its lifetime than the same confusion stack due to these damage-duration numbers. Bleed is also far easier to apply, and in pve where kiting enemies so you don't get attacked is normal the difference is even larger.
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