Alpha.1308

actually, pretty silly me and my friends were literally discussing this exact topic just last night, after not playing for a couple of years mesmer as a whole is just a mess, it's not even just the traits, but, you are correct, yes, the traits are equally just... an absolute mess they're seemingly afraid of what the class can mean, and pumping them with "decent" traits? it just seems like it's intentional at this point to keep their traits below average, not gonna lie... >! for pve, you had infinite pets to make it an unengaging and a passive "set it and forget it" gameplay style >! this got nerfed, justifiably, though it could have stayed in some capacity with some traits/e-specs somehow... >! however, at least now mesmers seem to be in an acceptable spot for simple dps/control specs in pve, according to meta builds and benchmarks, but, even still >! >! for pvp, you had core mesmer and both of the only e-specs available basically only revolving around how much dueling potential you can pump into a single class >! this is consistently getting nerfed >! >! in both, you had completely asinine boonshare >! this got nerfed, hard, again, justifiably, but too much to the point that it isn't even worth running support mesmers at all, at least i don't believe so, compared to other classes >! >! in wvw, you had glamours/focus, which offer arguably some of the best utility you can find for mass groups and the open field in those maps, wall pulls, veils, portal, etc >! but.... that's all you become >! a glamour bot >! this got nerfed, no more glamour traits at all, yet this is a class that basically can't offer anything else in fights of 10+ people due to how their entire class mechanic works, which also in turn makes half of their weapon skills almost worthless because it's still tied to this small scale dueling/pve mechanic >! >! the entire class needs an overhaul, to be quite honest >! their first mistake was trying too hard to make an entire class, including e-specs supposedly changing how a class plays, based off of AI that can be CC'd or killed >! >! i mean, even rangers don't rely on their pets as much....and they _still_ got soulbeast to remove them as an option.... >! >! none of it is cohesive enough, if they're afraid of its power levels spiking due to the way some of the mechanics function, such as phantasms being too strong for both small scale pvp and pve, boonsharing being too strong for groups, glamours being too strong for massive numbers, "good traits" just won't fit anywhere at this point if they refuse to acknowledge the core problem TL:DR my rant as long as other classes exist in their current states, i can't really see fixing traits helping any of the fundamental issues and changing where current mesmer fits in this game without absolutely breaking the mesmer into being overpowered at what they already are capable of and becoming a required class where they're already decent at, or simply remaining exactly where they are; a class that will _still_ shine in pve raids, and can _still_ pick off stragglers in pvp honestly, at this point, i doubt we'll be able to see any sweeping trait changes until the class itself gets some sort of big changes, however, i also just unfortunately doubt that's an option, either

i'm fine with shatters, i just don't think we need another couple of years (especially if it's the last, who knows where this game is going), of having all 3 e-specs and base mesmer all doing the same exact thing, chrono and mirage were already perfect candidates to change shatters/clones/phantasms into literally anything else... and they just..... didn't..... having an entire class with no way out of revolving around pets that can just get CC'd or killed before they can even utilize their mechanic is an absolute nightmare to have no alternative on, especially given the fact that the theme of mesmers can be literally anything.... they're illusionists... not beastmasters, and i absolutely adore summoner classes, they're always my first choice in every game... but this... this needs to come to an end, even if just for a single e-spec i don't even care if we don't get a new weapon at all, and instead just change how the clones/phantasms work on the current weapons, traits, and utilities for the e-spec just please unbind us from this mechanic designed nothing more than to gloat in a 1v1 i get that they're "duelists", but seriously, e-specs were supposed to actually change the feel of a class, and only chrono barely did it with support, but even then it's questionable compared to other supports at this point due to how much they've been nerfed them and put their utility on others because of how oppressive or simply required it is to have i don't know how exactly the meta is, i stopped playing this game at this point a long time ago, but in any game, a literal "chronomancer" sounds like it would never be replaced, and if that's still the case, it's still a poor design choice for pigeonholing someone into being the only one who can offer control over literal time