Mesmer ?'s - Guild Wars Forums

Aaaaagh · Jun 10, 2005, 08:41 AM // 08:41

I researched GW heavily before I bought it. Mesmer seemed to fit my play style well, a natural pick for my first character. I quickly ditched my mesmer as I was having trouble dealing damage (at lvl 10) compared to other classes. Now, after playing for a good deal of time I still want to get a mesmer big.

Currently I have 4 characters that I do not want to delete. None are mesmers, however, one is a e/me (1 mish to ascend). Would it be a good idea to make my e/me a mesmer with high energy storage, or am I gimping myself by not taking fastcasting?

If you could drop a blurb about fastcasting I would be greatful. Most mesmer spells seem fast anyhow, well the interupts at least. I have looked through the forums and all I ever read is "Im not really sure how fastcasting works.."

Thanks for your help.

Nocros · Jun 10, 2005, 09:55 AM // 09:55

for an elementalist/mesmer...

pro: quite a few mesmer spells cost plenty of energy, so energy storage comes in handy here.
one setup that is pretty much straight forward and useful for an elem is the inspiration line. mostly defensive spells like ether feast(self heal) and energy taps can be found in there. elem spells cost quite a lot of energy, therefor gaining back some energy for the next wave of your "ground zero" elem spells can come in handy.
one further advantage of this class combination you may want to look at are the spells "arcane echo" and "echo"(elite).
example: you cast echo and right afterwards meteor shower. when casting meteor shower, arcane echo will be replaced with meteor shower for the next 20 seconds. that essentially means having 2 (!) meteor shower spells on your skill bar with 2 seperate recast timers (!) for 20 seconds, with this combination you could cast meteor shower twice in a row (as "ground zero" as it can get, pve-wise at least

)

con: a BIG con...as you already know mesmers are not really damage dealers, but disrupting casters, capable of making monks cry. but the ele/mesmer got a major disadvantage compared to a mesmer/anything:

most of the interrupting spells a memser has have a casting time of 3/4 or less of a second. IF you want to disrupt enemy spells with a casting time of 1sec (like the "heal other" skill of an enemy monk) you simply can't do this as an ele/mes. unless you got some mad reflexes.

fast casting was intended to work well together with interrupting spells, add to the fact that primary mesmers with a high enough fast casting skill are the best rezzers in game. nothing like taking 5sec to ressurect someone instead of 8. true, that still can be interrupted quite easily, but a mesmer primary got a way better chance to pull it off unnoticed.

if you want to play a disrupter/interrupter, mesmer primary is the only way to go imo. with high enough fast casting you can do your job/desired role way better and be more of a benefit to your group.

edit: as far as i know, each point of fast casting gives you a 3% decrease in casting time. 10 points in fast casting would lower the casting time of ALL your spells (secondary class included) by 30%.

hopefully all this can give you an idea how it could work out for you

.

Digital Limit · Jun 10, 2005, 10:46 AM // 10:46

Love my Mesmer.

-fin-

azunder · Jun 10, 2005, 12:27 PM // 12:27

There's a guide on how fast casting affects spells in the guides section of the site. And, mesmers aren't damage dealers.

TheBuster · Jun 10, 2005, 12:32 PM // 12:32

Max fast casting gives you 50% faster castspeed, period

ethornber · Jun 10, 2005, 01:11 PM // 13:11

The pre-emptive interrupts Guilt and Shame are better than trying to time a live interrupt for <1s casting time spells. You force that monk to:

a) Wait 8s or so to cast the spell, thus allowing your team 8s more to beat down the target, or

b) lose the spell and take damage anyway.

Trying to spike or leak a 1s spell is a recipe for a wasted interrupt, and the recharge times make a wasted interrupt painful.

Darkest Dawn · Jun 10, 2005, 04:26 PM // 16:26

I love my mesmer/monk. At lvl 10 she can disrupt, heal, res, and smite. I am enjoying this build tremendously! And I use fast casting. I love stoping grawl shamans, and charr overseers in their tracks. Actually I can kill an overseer as easy as one two three! Backfire causes 50+ points every time they try to cast for 10 seconds.... gotta love it. She can kill these guys faster than my lv 16 warrior, I think.

jasonrunion · Jun 15, 2005, 06:32 PM // 18:32

Well i am a big fan of my ele/mes the mesmer skills disrupt the enemy while i deal MAJOR damage using the elementalists awsome fire techniques.

Acan Vishnu · Jun 15, 2005, 06:56 PM // 18:56

If your playing a mix than really its a question of opinion and what you prefer, but I think that using an ele primary to play completely as a mesmer isn't the best idea.. There are several mesmer skills designed to recharge the caster at the detriment of his/her target, so energy doesn't have to be a huge thing, which is all that being an elementalist primary will get you...

But the other thing is that you loose out on any runes that you would have used. Its just pointless to use anything more than a minor rune of energy storage, the -health is just not worth a couple extra points of energy, and if you really are playing pure mesmer than earth/fire/cold/air runes just aren't going to help in any way.

Tyrent Frath · Jun 15, 2005, 07:16 PM // 19:16

I have an Ele/Mes, i use fire/domination, and im pretty happy. I'm 11 in energy and domination, and 12 in fire. Works out great.

btw, im lvl 20, finished story line, blah blah, used to be an elem/necro but i didnt like it, so i switched secondary.

Kuku Monk · Jun 15, 2005, 08:15 PM // 20:15

I'm Me/E... I'd go with energy storage over fast casting. To me, the time spent waiting for energy levels to rise back up to usable levels isn't worth the time saved from fast casting.

Epinephrine · Jun 15, 2005, 09:07 PM // 21:07

There's more to it than just whether fast casting is as good as energy storage - it's also about runes and mask. You can get a free +2 to an attribute and +1 to the others by using minor runes and a mask, and you can get +4 to an attribute with a superior rune/mask combo for -75 health. A few extra levels boost your damage, your self heal, your energy gain etc...

Is it worth dropping all your attributes at least one and your favorite one 2 to gain energy? Maybe, but I like my mesmer.

silvertemplar · Jun 15, 2005, 09:30 PM // 21:30

I am a Mes/Necro , and for PvE i've found amazing ways to deal loads of damage via my necro secondary. For example, Fast Casting + Death Magic + Inspiration. [Rotten Flesh + Deathly Swarm + Steal back all the energy + raise all the corpses :P].

I'm sure one can do similar things like with other classes. But yea, it boils down to fast casting and depending entirely on your secondary class for the damage. In PvP the whole interupt range is probably better, but i've found in PvE mesmer spells are highly inappropriate and only useful on bosses [and the odd healing signet ettin if you're lucky not to have 5 of them on you].

Jun 10, 2005, 08:41 AM // 08:41	#1
Aaaaagh Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: May 2005	Mesmer ?'s I researched GW heavily before I bought it. Mesmer seemed to fit my play style well, a natural pick for my first character. I quickly ditched my mesmer as I was having trouble dealing damage (at lvl 10) compared to other classes. Now, after playing for a good deal of time I still want to get a mesmer big. Currently I have 4 characters that I do not want to delete. None are mesmers, however, one is a e/me (1 mish to ascend). Would it be a good idea to make my e/me a mesmer with high energy storage, or am I gimping myself by not taking fastcasting? If you could drop a blurb about fastcasting I would be greatful. Most mesmer spells seem fast anyhow, well the interupts at least. I have looked through the forums and all I ever read is "Im not really sure how fastcasting works.." Thanks for your help.

Jun 10, 2005, 09:55 AM // 09:55	#2
Nocros Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Jun 2005	for an elementalist/mesmer... pro: quite a few mesmer spells cost plenty of energy, so energy storage comes in handy here. one setup that is pretty much straight forward and useful for an elem is the inspiration line. mostly defensive spells like ether feast(self heal) and energy taps can be found in there. elem spells cost quite a lot of energy, therefor gaining back some energy for the next wave of your "ground zero" elem spells can come in handy. one further advantage of this class combination you may want to look at are the spells "arcane echo" and "echo"(elite). example: you cast echo and right afterwards meteor shower. when casting meteor shower, arcane echo will be replaced with meteor shower for the next 20 seconds. that essentially means having 2 (!) meteor shower spells on your skill bar with 2 seperate recast timers (!) for 20 seconds, with this combination you could cast meteor shower twice in a row (as "ground zero" as it can get, pve-wise at least ) con: a BIG con...as you already know mesmers are not really damage dealers, but disrupting casters, capable of making monks cry. but the ele/mesmer got a major disadvantage compared to a mesmer/anything: most of the interrupting spells a memser has have a casting time of 3/4 or less of a second. IF you want to disrupt enemy spells with a casting time of 1sec (like the "heal other" skill of an enemy monk) you simply can't do this as an ele/mes. unless you got some mad reflexes. fast casting was intended to work well together with interrupting spells, add to the fact that primary mesmers with a high enough fast casting skill are the best rezzers in game. nothing like taking 5sec to ressurect someone instead of 8. true, that still can be interrupted quite easily, but a mesmer primary got a way better chance to pull it off unnoticed. if you want to play a disrupter/interrupter, mesmer primary is the only way to go imo. with high enough fast casting you can do your job/desired role way better and be more of a benefit to your group. edit: as far as i know, each point of fast casting gives you a 3% decrease in casting time. 10 points in fast casting would lower the casting time of ALL your spells (secondary class included) by 30%. hopefully all this can give you an idea how it could work out for you . Last edited by Nocros; Jun 10, 2005 at 09:59 AM // 09:59..

Jun 10, 2005, 10:46 AM // 10:46	#3
Digital Limit Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005	Love my Mesmer. -fin-

Jun 10, 2005, 12:27 PM // 12:27	#4
azunder Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Apr 2005	There's a guide on how fast casting affects spells in the guides section of the site. And, mesmers aren't damage dealers.

Jun 10, 2005, 12:32 PM // 12:32	#5
TheBuster Academy Page Join Date: May 2005	Max fast casting gives you 50% faster castspeed, period

Jun 10, 2005, 01:11 PM // 13:11	#6
ethornber Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2005	The pre-emptive interrupts Guilt and Shame are better than trying to time a live interrupt for <1s casting time spells. You force that monk to: a) Wait 8s or so to cast the spell, thus allowing your team 8s more to beat down the target, or b) lose the spell and take damage anyway. Trying to spike or leak a 1s spell is a recipe for a wasted interrupt, and the recharge times make a wasted interrupt painful.

Jun 10, 2005, 04:26 PM // 16:26	#7
Darkest Dawn Krytan Explorer Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ohio, USA Profession: W/Mo	I love my mesmer/monk. At lvl 10 she can disrupt, heal, res, and smite. I am enjoying this build tremendously! And I use fast casting. I love stoping grawl shamans, and charr overseers in their tracks. Actually I can kill an overseer as easy as one two three! Backfire causes 50+ points every time they try to cast for 10 seconds.... gotta love it. She can kill these guys faster than my lv 16 warrior, I think.

Jun 15, 2005, 06:32 PM // 18:32	#8
jasonrunion Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005 Guild: The Knights Of Chaos Profession: W/Mo	Well i am a big fan of my ele/mes the mesmer skills disrupt the enemy while i deal MAJOR damage using the elementalists awsome fire techniques.

Jun 15, 2005, 06:56 PM // 18:56	#9
Acan Vishnu Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Apr 2005 Profession: Mo/N	If your playing a mix than really its a question of opinion and what you prefer, but I think that using an ele primary to play completely as a mesmer isn't the best idea.. There are several mesmer skills designed to recharge the caster at the detriment of his/her target, so energy doesn't have to be a huge thing, which is all that being an elementalist primary will get you... But the other thing is that you loose out on any runes that you would have used. Its just pointless to use anything more than a minor rune of energy storage, the -health is just not worth a couple extra points of energy, and if you really are playing pure mesmer than earth/fire/cold/air runes just aren't going to help in any way.

Jun 15, 2005, 07:16 PM // 19:16	#10
Tyrent Frath Krytan Explorer Join Date: May 2005 Guild: [ECTO] Profession: Mo/W	I have an Ele/Mes, i use fire/domination, and im pretty happy. I'm 11 in energy and domination, and 12 in fire. Works out great. btw, im lvl 20, finished story line, blah blah, used to be an elem/necro but i didnt like it, so i switched secondary.

Jun 15, 2005, 08:15 PM // 20:15	#11
Kuku Monk Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jun 2005 Profession: Me/E	I'm Me/E... I'd go with energy storage over fast casting. To me, the time spent waiting for energy levels to rise back up to usable levels isn't worth the time saved from fast casting.

Jun 15, 2005, 09:07 PM // 21:07	#12
Epinephrine Master of Beasts Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ottawa, Canada Guild: Servants of Fortuna [SoF]	There's more to it than just whether fast casting is as good as energy storage - it's also about runes and mask. You can get a free +2 to an attribute and +1 to the others by using minor runes and a mask, and you can get +4 to an attribute with a superior rune/mask combo for -75 health. A few extra levels boost your damage, your self heal, your energy gain etc... Is it worth dropping all your attributes at least one and your favorite one 2 to gain energy? Maybe, but I like my mesmer.

Jun 15, 2005, 09:30 PM // 21:30	#13
silvertemplar Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: May 2005 Profession: Me/N	I am a Mes/Necro , and for PvE i've found amazing ways to deal loads of damage via my necro secondary. For example, Fast Casting + Death Magic + Inspiration. [Rotten Flesh + Deathly Swarm + Steal back all the energy + raise all the corpses :P]. I'm sure one can do similar things like with other classes. But yea, it boils down to fast casting and depending entirely on your secondary class for the damage. In PvP the whole interupt range is probably better, but i've found in PvE mesmer spells are highly inappropriate and only useful on bosses [and the odd healing signet ettin if you're lucky not to have 5 of them on you].