Curse

Winnies Bro · Jul 29, 2009, 07:18 PM // 19:18

Every time i've made a mesmer i've deleted him because they just seem so... bad!

Every time i come across a mesmer in battle, they are more annoying than an actual problem.

They only have a few advantages as a secondary profession for an elementalist(I had an ele/mes, deleted him by mistake!), but i ended up just taking mesmer skills off my skill bar because they aren't good enough.

When I read the text for mesmer skills I just feel as if they are really repelling and they just make me want to play them less!

The official Wiki says;

Mesmers are usually considered the most difficult class to play in Guild Wars.

No one wants to play a profession like that!

But if played well, they can cause a lot of trouble for the enemy.

Suuuuuuuuuure they do...

Mesmers can neither heal nor cause flashy damage; their influence on the battle is subtle, which is one of the reasons why they are often underestimated. However, the Mesmer is capable of turning the entire battle with a well-placed spell. A Mesmer can shut down enemies by interrupting their actions and removing their adrenaline and energy. They can also cause health degeneration. A Mesmer can even use someone's own energy against them (with skills like Energy Burn).

They are just annoying!

I'm thinking of making a mesmer. What is a good campaign to start one on?
How should I play them?

If you have a mesmer, have you done much with it? Is it any good? Is it easy to play at all? Is it difficult to level up earlier on?(I think it is!)

I would have posted this on the mesmer section of 'The Campfire', but there's only 2 threads on there!

Also, what's a good secondary profession for a mesmer?

That's all I can think of now.

Discuss!

MagmaRed · Jul 29, 2009, 07:48 PM // 19:48

Mesmer is awesome in PvP, as they can take down any other class by themselves if set up properly. In PvE they are average unless played by someone who knows how to use them well, which is not common. Playing a Mesmer well requires you to not only know how MESMER skills work, but how ALL other classes work. Using a skill like Power Drain on Troll Unguent will do nothing, but using Power Drain on Aegis is highly effective. Casting Backfire on a Warrior will be a waste of energy, but casting Backfire on a Monk can kill it fast.

I wouldn't bother playing a Mesmer until you know how to play every other class. If you know how to play all the other classes, then you SHOULD know why a Mesmer is powerful.

zelgadissan · Jul 29, 2009, 07:52 PM // 19:52

Alright, here comes a wall of text. Fair warning.

Quote:

Mesmers are usually considered the most difficult class to play in Guild Wars.

No one wants to play a profession like that!

Wrong, that's the exact reason I made a mesmer, and the exact reason he's my main character. Where's the fun in easy?

Quote:

But if played well, they can cause a lot of trouble for the enemy.

Suuuuuuuuuure they do...

I can tell from this and your other Q&A thread that you're PvE only. You're playing against AI, trying to play a profession that requires thought. Of course the AI will suck.

Quote:

Mesmers can neither heal nor cause flashy damage; their influence on the battle is subtle, which is one of the reasons why they are often underestimated. However, the Mesmer is capable of turning the entire battle with a well-placed spell. A Mesmer can shut down enemies by interrupting their actions and removing their adrenaline and energy. They can also cause health degeneration. A Mesmer can even use someone's own energy against them (with skills like Energy Burn).

They are just annoying!

There, you've finally hit one right. Mesmers are supposed to be annoying if played properly. Depending on your level of PvP competition, mesmers can easily be the top priority for your team to kill.

Mesmers are a PvP-designed class. A lot of people don't really see the value of one in a PvE world, and in some cases they're right since damage > PvE. The big drawing point of a PvE mesmer was nerfed recently, and we've become a dying breed again.

To answer your other questions:
Have you done much with it? - 26 titles, quickly approaching enough to be GWAMM.
Is it any good?/Is it easy to play at all?/How should I play them? - those are all pretty much unanswerable. It all has to do with your playstyle. If you're a straight nuking ele, then you probably won't like it.
Is it difficult to level up earlier on? - Uh, no. Nothing is.
What's a good secondary profession for a mesmer? - Monk, Elementalist, Ritualist...honestly pretty much any caster class.

Honestly though, you should really take a look at amazing mesmer guide. It'll be quite helpful.

Hollygen · Jul 29, 2009, 08:06 PM // 20:06

Mesmers are subtle. They're primarily there to annoy your foes, either through inturrupting, affecting a foe's energy, or penalising them for their actions. They're not there for the big yellow numbers, although they can do that as well. They're there to put pressure on a mob or party's support resorces, by reducing their effectiveness.

I have a mesmer and taken her a fair way through all campaigns, including finishing EoTN
There are easier professions to play. It helps if you've a bit of knowledge and experience with the game, as you'll be there to counter certain behaviours, which need you to be selective in your actions. Don't put Empathy on a caster, inturrupt the big hitting spells rather than the cheap low damage spamable stuff...things like that.

Leveling is pretty much on a par with other professions, since the majority of your XP will be from quest and mission rewards.

Good secondary? Necro sits well, since their's similarities between the Curses line when it comes to applyig pressure. Elementalist is useful for skills like Glyph of Lesser Energy.
Monk is ok for the hard res skills

Smarty · Jul 29, 2009, 08:14 PM // 20:14

Why are you making one if you dislike them so much? It seems a strange thing to do to me.

I've had my mesmer three years and have got GWAMM on him. I've also earned several million faction on him in ABs. I guess you can say I've done a fair bit with him (outside of "proper" PvP, that is).

PvE:

Success with a mesmer relies on knowing your skills, knowing your enemies' skills, building an appropriate bar for an area and using the right skills at the right time with good aggro control. If you don't know what you're doing in all of those areas you can expect to find playing mesmer boring and/or difficult, as they really aren't the sort of class you can button mash with.

Satisfaction from playing a mesmer comes from interrupting a skill that would otherwise have caused a party wipe, or watching something blow itself up thanks to your hexes (if you get a kick from the effect of Pain Inverter on Giant Stomp then you'll know what I mean here even if you've never used a mesmer skill before), or knowing the enemy monks/rits aren't able to heal themselves because you're all over them.

Frustration with playing a mesmer comes into it when you realise that what you're doing is tiny compared with simply killing shit so quickly that it can't kill you or heal itself. (I'm currently doing PvE with my paragon, which I've discovered is easy mode in comparison to getting it on mesmer.)

Out of all the secondaries I've played, I've enjoyed monk for fc RoJ and res, and necro for fc curses and necrosis spam, the most. I've never successfully used ranger or paragon secondary, and rarely warrior or dervish outside of fun IW builds.

I made my mesmer in Prophecies. The gradual increase in enemy difficulty and slow introduction of new skills to their bars made working out what I should be doing to mess with them a little easier than I can imagine it would be for a Factions one, with all those huge mobs being thrown at you even early on. I've tried making a female mesmer in Nightfall several times and can never stick with it - I don't like the skills that are available at the start, they feel really underpowered compared with a standard pre-elite Prophecies bar.

ABs:

Mesmer's my favourite class. Knowing that I'm stopping people on the opposing team from doing what they want to do is great fun. Playing fc water or fire is good for a change of pace.

Bob Slydell · Jul 29, 2009, 08:19 PM // 20:19

Mesmers are fun in PvE but the real bread and butter is PvP.

As for them being considered the most "difficult" class is really a damn shame because that's in the eye's of the GW community and that tells you something. Mesmers are pretty easy when you get the hang of them, as long as you know your opponent as first melee or caster, than spells from non spells etc, you can become very very brutal in battle. Most of the hexes you cast cause the target to kill themselves (ex. Backfire, Empathy)

Mesmer's have gotten a bad name because most of the population of GW lacks the IQ or open mind to try a mesmer and appreciate it (everyone wants to hack n' slash and nuke big numbers)... and like I said that's a real shame, the mesmer instead lets you achieve those big numbers from the hexes they cast, you just need to cast it on the right person to see your results which IMO are far more rewarding then slashing or nuking someone to death.

But they ARE good and I recommend you try one in PvP, if not PvE is still alright. I have a PvP Mesmer but I also rolled a PvE one pretty recently.

Bytor · Jul 29, 2009, 09:40 PM // 21:40

Mesmer's are the most versatile and fun class in the game, thanks in part to Signet of Illusion.

Gift3d · Jul 29, 2009, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Mesmers are the most difficult class to play well no matter how you look at it. If you think they're just annoying, don't bother cause you'll probably continue to just suck with them if that's how you look at it. But then again the most you've probably seen is garbage mesmers with full bars of degen/interrupts/hex spam so you most likely don't have any idea what a good mesmer does.

Since i'm not about to explain it to you i'll sum it up quickly, a mesmer can determine a match, and can break a team's offense as well as make their defense crumble.

IronSheik · Jul 29, 2009, 09:49 PM // 21:49

Mesmers are Imo the best support/damage/versatile player in the team depending on the build.

Echo'd Clumsiness and wandering eye gives HUGE armor ignoring damage,as well as insane anti melee, this is priceless in HM where you can prevent a whole group from getting off hard hitting attacks.

CoP is 50 AoE damage and 100 degen over time

Signet of Illusions is the most Lol skill, Pvp and PvE

Energy surge, another huge armor ignoring skill

Fevered Dreams/Extend Conditions: Have a ranger in your team? Say hello to perma PvE daze

Fast casting ele, need I say more?

Deleting a mesmer=bad

byteme! · Jul 29, 2009, 09:53 PM // 21:53

Mesmer = PvP

I wouldn't make a Mesmer for PvE. Already been there done that. Was in fact my first character. Who needs to interupt, shutdown, edenial etc... when you can grab a different profession and kill the damn thing. The amount of effort and time to make things difficult for the enemy AI is better off spent just killing him rather delaying the inevitable. Mesmers are awesome don't get me wrong but IMO they make better secondaries.

riktw · Jul 29, 2009, 10:16 PM // 22:16

mesmer is for PvP but fun in PvE to.
if you ever try and kill an ele boss in HM with heroes as mesmer.
bring interrupts, 1 SF or SH from a boss less is really nice.
and for PvE, take assasins promise, some damage skills like CoP and Clumsiness
add finish him, assa support and ow DAMN damage and a lot of assa support walking around

nkuvu · Jul 29, 2009, 10:31 PM // 22:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister Smartypants

Why are you making one if you dislike them so much? It seems a strange thing to do to me.

I obviously can't speak for Winnies Bro, but more than once I've made a character in a profession I didn't like -- just to see if my initial impression was accurate.

The first time I tried a ranger, I played to about level 6 or 7, then restarted. But later, I tried again with the intention to get to level 20. In that time frame I found that I didn't dislike rangers as much as I had originally. I'll admit that ranger still isn't one of my preferred professions, though.

Of course not every profession turns out that way. I still don't like playing monk (unless it's a signet smiting build, which isn't very effective throughout most of the game) and never really got the hang of mesmers.

waeland · Jul 29, 2009, 10:34 PM // 22:34

If you want to make first character for PvE and want to play offensive caster, elementalist or necromancer would be a bit easier to start with. Unless you can get access to Signet Of Illusions early (it is near end of the Nightfall so to get early you need have this skill unlocked on account by other character or PvP and buy mesmer elite tome).

**cosyfiep** · Jul 29, 2009, 10:39 PM // 22:39

I have three mesmers, yes 3...one for each attribute. (and one from each chapter). I have a domination mesmer (2ndary ranger) she interupts and disrupts just about anyone on the enemy side...currently she is level 1 koabd working on level 2.
I have an illusionist/ritualist from cantha as well as an inspirationist (she had 2ndary deverish to unlock the skills but I never have the need to use those anymore with her), both of whom have a few titles already and are working on others.

As has been said, to play a mesmer well you need to know who you are up agaisnt as well as what skills those enemies are using (I have played all but assassin---and have characters of all classes).
I never pvp but am told mesmers rule over there. They are not easy to play, but once you get the hang of it---you will either love 'em or hate 'em.

glacialphoenix · Jul 29, 2009, 10:41 PM // 22:41

I don't play a mesmer, but I generally find space for one in my party. Will never say no to a good bit of shutdown. Gwen's interrupted skills that could have ripped party members apart more than once. (I trust her with interrupts. Anything else, I prefer human players.)

Seriously, though - it seems you got a bad impression right off the bat; I suggest you not go into making a mesmer with that kind of impression. If you go in there with a pre-conceived idea of what a mesmer is like, what a mesmer should do and what a mesmer shouldn't do, you're going to find it exactly as annoying as you predict it will be.

I made a mesmer and deleted her because I didn't really enjoy the style; but I have seen them played well and it's a pity people flip out and go 'oh it's too hard' or 'oh I don't get pretty numbers' before even trying. They're good. It's a matter of how you play them.

krazyyaj · Jul 29, 2009, 10:42 PM // 22:42

like the others have stated. why play something easy?

if you want something easy. do what most people do and play the wamo.
still not too easy if in pvp but since your pve. why not?

mesmers aren't too bad if you know how to interrupt or simply shut them down with some minor hexes (empathy, backfire) and some interrupts.

Swamp Fox · Jul 29, 2009, 10:42 PM // 22:42

Use a Sin's Promise mes using illusion spells and abusing pve skills like they are supposed to be. You don't have to be smart to use it and if skilled right its one of the best spiker builds i have ever ran as all the damage is armor ignoring. Mesmers aren't hard to run in pve, this is just a myth created so they don't become too popular

king_trouble · Jul 29, 2009, 11:08 PM // 23:08

For my I love play mesmers, the simplest thing like PDing a key skill makes me chuckle whether it's a creature or a person, if it's a person and it's skill I laugh even harder. Of course when I took my mesmer though the game, I found it a lot easier to leave my heroes to do damage rather then me pumping it out like I would on a warrior, derv, ele, etc... and focus on utility and flexibility. When it comes to flexibility mesmers are at the top, they are able to fill in many roles with ease. Need a nuker? Reroll as a FC nuker. Need a melee shutdown? Look at illusion skill an domination skills. Need a anti caster? Pretty much a punch in the face if you don't see it. Also when it comes to HM, I will gladly take a mesmer in my group (as long as he knows what to do) because having something that can hinder the enimies is extremely useful.

Dakka Dakka · Jul 29, 2009, 11:25 PM // 23:25

When played properly Mesmers can be a real threat in PvP. In PvE they aren't needed as much for anything except to counter spells and abilities, they generally should stay in the backline of the group

refer · Jul 30, 2009, 12:09 AM // 00:09

I find Mesmer boring in PvE. Hear they are good for hard mode though.

I am not a high end PvP player, but if you do it correctly, you will create hell. There is a reason why they are usually high priority targets. Their goal isn't to kill, it's to prevent people from doing things or make it harder. A lot of people aren't familiar with Mesmer hexes either. The fun I had with Power Leech yesterday... sure, I don't mind 36 energy steal, you gave it to me after all.