So from what you've written this is what I surmise of your teambuild:
Player Mesmer with something that's all-out offense
ESurge Dom x2
Panic Dom
N/Rt BiP
ST Rit with Illusion skills
BSurge
SF or Water Ele or RoJ
The only builds among those 7 hero builds listed that I would call all out offense or even offensive builds are the SF Ele and the ESurge Dom Mesmers. Panic is a defensive elite first and foremost; it does have some offensive utility but if it's being used it's for the defensive prowess it provides. The rest of the Dom bar is good damage however, so it's arguable that it's an offensive template with a defensive elite. ST Rit with Illusion skills is ever more a defensive template, because Illusion is so barren that you're pretty much forced into Clumsiness and Wandering Eye, and these are defensive skills. You could run Fragility of course, but that is a key skill to build around and you'd want 16 Illusion, not something you can have on a ST. Water Eles are defensive characters; their damage output is very low. RoJ Monks are also defensive characters, because the reason to use them is to provide some bar push while also having some damage. Their distinguishing feature is the bar push, not the damage. And finally the old Invoke template without Invoke does a lot less damage, because so much of the damage came from Invoke. Especially since you're choosing BSurge as the elite, which is a flat out defensive skill. I would not call this team "overwhelming offense".
Otherwise I don't know about you but you're running with a fantastic amount of antimelee (Displacement + BSurge + Illusion skills on ST) and, if you're not using the RoJ, you also have only one source of bar push, which makes you vulnerable to spikes on the BiP, stuff like Shame and KDs, etc. I would identify both of these as areas you can improve your teambuild with.
But anyway you're right that it's up to interpretation, and if you like your teambuild then it's not mine to reason why
Oh no, I love the critiques, makes me think of how I can improve.
First off, the three Mesmer Heroes are usually all E-Surge, with one being a Panic in high end areas where an area interrupt works wonders. Right now my Mesmers basically run skills like Mistrust and Cry of Frustration, along with the good Illusion skills (Wandering Eye, etc.). I will say that I find Panic to be an excellent offensive Elite, especially if it gets cast on a nicely balled up group (if using EVAS on my Mesmer or using shadowsteps on my Dervish) because it seems that the AI doesn't immediately spread out and charge and gets confused for longer, allowing AoE to hit hard.
I'm not sure I would classify a skill like Clumsiness or WE a defensive skill, as these only interrupt a single attack and have decent recharges. What it does do is quite a bit of area damage no matter who its cast on, since AI casters wand quite a bit too. Having these kind of skills on three separate Hero Mesmers does a considerable amount of damage, oftentimes my Dervish shadowstepping into a mob gets off maybe one attack before the entire group is dead, and this is in HM. I figured having even more copies of these Illusion skills on the ST Rit gives him something to do, since all the ST really has to do is maintain ST and Boon, and two spirits. In high end elite areas I switch out the Illusion skills for Ranger spirits like EoE and FS.
I like BSurge for a few reasons. First in HM, any enemy that its cast on is likely attacking, so it will usually meet the requirement for adjacent hit and increased damage. Second its not limited to only three targets, so a nice ball at 16 Air Magic could hit quite a few foes for 80 damage or so before armor penetration, and inflict Blind on all of them for 8 seconds. You get a 3/4 cast spell, no exhaustion (overcast), Blind, and all in a tight AoE that isn't limited to three targets. And the Blind lasts longer than the recharge. And all for a tradeoff of about 10 to 15 damage at 16 Air Magic. IMHO today's BSurge is way better than Invoke.
The Water Ele I sometimes run just because I can lol. The snares from skills like Deep Freeze keep AoE more reliable, but in general its not as useful as a Fire or Air Ele. It is nice to have one just in case I'm up against enemies who have extra armor against Fire or immunity to Burning (like Destroyers) or if I'm doing areas where a Hero split with snares can help slow down or incapacitate if needed. RoJ I usually only run if I'm playing melee (like a Derv or Sin), and have them cart along Judge's Insight and/or Strength of Honor, since I'm not toting an SoS hero with Splinter. My RoJ monk usually then has RoJ, the two aforementioned enchantments, Smite Condition and Smite Hex, a hard rez and a couple of Paragon Shouts. Not a lot of redbar push, more of a utility hero with melee buffs.
Lastly, I like this build because it seems to really be effective against a wide range of foes. Melee gets stonewalled, so even IF they get to the casters before being burned down, they can't hit anything. Enemy casters usually get Mistrusted and CoFed to death, and a well placed Panic (from myself or a Hero) makes double sure that they can't do anything.
However, you're absolutely right about the lack of bar push, with the self-saccing BiPer being the only reliable source, and I have frequently noticed her being priority targeted by the AI. If I'm not vanquishing and don't need three copies of Fall Back for permanent IMS, I usually make one or both of the Eles secondary Rits and replace the 10 command with 10 Restoration magic and bring along MBAS and Spirit Light. I realize I probably also incorporate more anti-melee than is necessary, but I tend to over-aggro on purpose to kill as quickly as possible, so extra anti-melee for an all caster team seems pretty prudent to me. Plus, between the inherent amount of anti-melee and interrupt caster hate on the Mesmers, its relatively easy to tailor the Hero builds to the areas I'm playing, without too much switching around. It also makes it easy if I have to bring along a required mission Hero, such as Koss or Dunkoro, because the core part of the team is quite solid.
I am still even now experimenting with ways to get rid of BiP in favor of other party wide e-management, but when every character has to pack two skills just for energy I seem to lose a lot of damage and fights take longer and are more prone to wipes. I will say that putting Undertaker's insignias on the N/Rt helps quite a bit, since the only time she needs extra protection is when saccing for energy. But I'm going to continue tweaking the build, hopefully I can make it even more efficient than it is now!
