With all of the offensive boosts to Mesmers in the last major update, players have been experimenting with ways to take advantage of these changes in GvG. A few guilds have been running a 6 Mesmer spike team that's proven to be out of line. We like spike teams to have some level of viability in GvG, but they should be vulnerable to being countered through skillful play. While the very top teams have had success countering it, this build has been more effective than the spike builds we currently see as balanced (such as those that feature Elementalist/Paragons).

With a 1/4 second cast time, Wastrel's Demise is a key follow-up spike skill. We've increased its recharge to bring it in line with other key spike skills. We're looking to control the frequency of spikes in order to give the opposing team a window of opportunity to counter these tactics.

Mesmer spike teams have only been popularized in recent weeks. Typically, this means that further improvements will be discovered over time. We will keep an eye on them and make further adjustments if necessary.