Curse

Icepic · Sep 19, 2006, 02:26 AM // 02:26

I have been primarily playing a mesmer over the last month. So far I am glad I finally gave it a try as I find it a nice challenge, and have to attempt to use my head more.

I find myself constantly changing my skills and att points. I can't seem to stop trying to find another (hopefully better) combo. I don't even really have a core set of skills that I keep, even though I mainly play PvE. I'm not looking for builds as there are many, many ideas already posted. Just mainly wondering if this is normal, or should I just try to work through the game before worrying about how to put together a stronger skill bar.

Is what I'm experiencing only due to my newness/noobness to the class or is this somewhat normal?

Hella Good · Sep 19, 2006, 02:44 AM // 02:44

There is 2 schools of thought. One side says you shouldn't play a Me before you've played most other professions, because playing a Me requires thorough knowledge of other prof weaknesses. (your job is to basically exploit those weaknesses) The other says you should play a Me regardless of your xp just so you can bump you head in the wall and kind of either give up or persevere and learn. I think it's easier to play Me when you know more about other prof. It's up to you to choose.

Me was my 3rd char, but technically i played him 2nd (the monk felt boring and uneventful :-)). I had a lot of difficulty trying to find what to play (and I still often do) in PvE. But when I started PvP-ing primarily as Me it all started making more sense. After I played Ele, Ranger, Rit, and Monk, and had gotten myself acquainted with most War skills (I still struggle with the Sin ones I admit but least I got Shackwrack for that xD), I felt much more comfortable with the profession. I hope this helps you decide what to do.

Terra Xin · Sep 19, 2006, 02:52 AM // 02:52

The mesmer is more affected by build changes than pretty much most other classes. A warrior can get away with taking one build for the entire campaign and the real reason one would change their builds completely is just to try something new (of course, farming builds and solo builds and running builds are another matter). Not only can you do the above with a mesmer, but in some cases you will pretty much 'need' to change your build to counter the area that you travel in.

I started off as a Mesmer, and I pretty much followed the number two of what hella said. Yes, I do have a sore head, but it was worth it, I love Mesmering now^^.

I also play a rit, their ability to spam skills makes up for their inhability to fastcast, which I like most about the mesmer.

Turbo Wombat · Sep 19, 2006, 02:58 AM // 02:58

For me it's pretty normal to change my skills based on the area and the group I'm playing with, and on occation depending on the path we take through a specific area. Mesmers pretty much are ment to piss off everyone and everything that oppose them, so playing around with different skills and finding out what does what is probably one of the best things a new player can be doing. Anyways, just have fun experimenting around and see what works out best. Mesmers are probably one of the most fun, and to some extent underestimated, class in the game.

Icepic · Sep 19, 2006, 05:20 AM // 05:20

I have played all the other classes to lvl 20 with the exception being the Ritualist. Of coarse that certainly doesn't mean I know all those other classes well

Good point though. I will think more about how to counter the other classes as I play my alt chars.

I will definitely try to persevere as this class has a lot of fun mixed in with the frustration.

Thank you all for your replies and information. I will start to focus my build adjustments to the zone or mission, more so than trying to find 1 all encompassing build.

lightblade · Sep 19, 2006, 09:17 AM // 09:17

That's what you do as a Mesmer, and you'll do more of it. Mesmer will have a hard time choosing skills. You see my other post about Overload? This is the kind of dilemma that mesmers will always face. Mesmer's skills is like...if you take it, it feels useless to you; but if you leave it out, you feel like you're missing something.

Icepic · Sep 19, 2006, 10:55 AM // 10:55

Glad to see that I'm more normal than abnormal

I'll look at my Mesmer as a work in progress, and hope the constant changes and adjustments make me a better over all player.

This is the first class I have printed out the full skill list so I can review and make notes. Guess its the first class I've started to put a real effort into.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightblade

Mesmer's skills is like...if you take it, it feels useless to you; but if you leave it out, you feel like you're missing something.

Nicely stated lightblade

Cebe · Sep 19, 2006, 11:07 AM // 11:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightblade

That's what you do as a Mesmer, and you'll do more of it. Mesmer will have a hard time choosing skills. You see my other post about Overload? This is the kind of dilemma that mesmers will always face. Mesmer's skills is like...if you take it, it feels useless to you; but if you leave it out, you feel like you're missing something.

Oh I hear that - I get it all the time! I love playing as Mesmer but, yea, there are so many skills I would like to bring but then, at the end of a quest/mission, I find myself thinking "did I use that skill enough to warrant bringing it again?"

Hmm, a dilemma.

There are one or two skills I have pretty much 100% of the time. One is Chaos Storm. Mesmer AoE FTW!

It's even better when echoed and you slap two down in the same place! Also, Cry of Frustration I like as my interrupt. I usually go mostly Domination but usually take one or two illusion skills as well just to do some degen (conjure phantasm, conjure nightmare, crippling anguish {E}) - depending on my mood.

I do sometimes find it hard to know what to take as well but often I take my favourite skills and run with that! Might as well use the ones you get the greatest kick out of.

Avarre · Sep 19, 2006, 11:48 AM // 11:48

Aside from the area, there are a few skills I near to always run, depending on build;

Cry
Empathy
Shatter Hex
Backfire

Remorse
Ineptitude
Conjure Phantasm
Distortion

Energy Drain
Power Drain
Drain Enchantment
Spirit of Failure

Most builds are a mix and match of two of the three major attributes, picking from among those skills. Alternatively, each area has something I might prefer to run, or I might just choose to swap to something else to keep PvE new for me.

It is a possibility to end up using one primary, all-round build (I used one for over 4 months, without changing). This is no more 'skilled' than changing class constantly, as it depends on your style of playing. With so many exceptional skills, you can play in a variety of ways while still remaining effective.

Effigy · Sep 19, 2006, 05:33 PM // 17:33

I come from the first school of thought that Hella mentioned. My very first character in GW was a Me/N, which was deleted before long due to a number of reasons (trouble making money, difficulty getting in groups, lack of knowledge about game mechanics, etc). My second mesmer was my third or fourth character, but got deleted shortly after Factions came out because I wanted to try the new classes and I had let a friend use one of my slots to try the game out. Finally, I made my most recent mesmer after already having played every class through to Ascension/We-no-Su and beyond, and I think that experience has helped me be more effective as a mesmer, not to mention having gold and items with which to outfit it.

As Terra said, you have to expect to change your build a lot as you move through the game because different areas have different threats that need to be countered. Sometimes you may even need to play a "non-mesmer" role like healing or nuking to get a spot in groups, unless you want to do everything with henchies (which can be sometimes nearly impossible in Factions). The good thing about trying lots of builds is that you can start to get a feel for which you like/play best and of the various strengths/weaknesses of each.

Generally I run a Dom/FC interrupt build with some emanagement from Inspiration, but this isn't always effective in areas with few casters. I don't really like degen much for high end PvE because things die so fast, so in melee-heavy areas I usually run Inep/Clumsy, FC heal, or FC nuke.

Hella Good · Sep 19, 2006, 11:54 PM // 23:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Cry
Empathy
Shatter Hex
Backfire

These are pretty much the 4 staple PvE skills. You can almost never go wrong with them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Remorse
Ineptitude
Conjure Phantasm
Distortion

I'm personally not crazy about using Illusion in PvE. Yes, in some areas (Fissure, Underworld, low level areas) Illusion is exceptional but I've always thought Illusion builds are a bit of advanced stuff in PvE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avarre

Energy Drain
Power Drain
Drain Enchantment
Spirit of Failure

I agree about E-drain and Power Drain, not too crazy about Drain Chant and SoF. E-Tap is good in PvE tho.

Epidemic is excellent in PvE, too.

Avarre · Sep 20, 2006, 02:57 AM // 02:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hella Good

I'm personally not crazy about using Illusion in PvE. Yes, in some areas (Fissure, Underworld, low level areas) Illusion is exceptional but I've always thought Illusion builds are a bit of advanced stuff in PvE.

Illusion works better in some areas than others. Places with large numbers of mobs are more effective for illusion as spreaded degen deals a greater amount of damage to the entire enemy group, before the rest of the team begins to target them.

Granted, remember that dom also has great anti-group capabilities, and thus it comes down to your own judgment.

Quote:

I agree about E-drain and Power Drain, not too crazy about Drain Chant and SoF. E-Tap is good in PvE tho.

Epidemic is excellent in PvE, too.

Drain enchant is useful in areas where mobs have specifically annoying enchantments. The primary usage is e-management, where energy tap is simply too slow for my liking. SoF is good in any area with large numbers of physical attackers.

Epidemic I never quite liked, for some reason.

lightblade · Sep 20, 2006, 03:54 AM // 03:54

Illusion became stronger now with Signet of Illusion.

Drain enchantment is just for e-management. Shatter Storm is what really about getting rid of enchantments.

Epidemic is one of my favorite skills. Signet of Midnight -> Epidemics!

Avarre · Sep 20, 2006, 03:59 AM // 03:59

Signet of Midnight is terrible, terrible positioning in high level areas. For a blinding elite, Ineptitude far outstrips it.

LightningHell · Sep 20, 2006, 04:50 AM // 04:50

Epidemic I never liked because of the tiny AoE, and I never play Factions. People say it's useful in Factions, but IMO it's far too conditional to be a net gain in energy usage.

LouAl · Sep 20, 2006, 06:55 PM // 18:55

I always change my build. Sometimes it feels like I spend more time changing the build than using it, oh well.

IMO, Illusion is more fun for the most part than Domination, but I also like Dom quite a bit.

If you look at epidemic and Sig of midnight mathematically it makes sense why I never use them:

Epidemic = lame, lame, lame = Sig of Midnight

yup that is why they stay in the outpost.

I really like running Mof Recovery if you can afford the energy cost of mad casting (too bad you can't have e-storage, fast casting, M of Recovery, and that ele elite that gives +6 e-regen)

Hella Good · Sep 20, 2006, 07:06 PM // 19:06

Hmf? Have you even tried using Epidemic in high level areas? It is probably one of the best skills for Firssure and Underworld. Blind + Deep Wound (I used to Phantom Pain/Shatter/Inepti + Epidemic = GG all bunched up things, now toss in a Shatter Hex and a Cry. I've said this before, add in Barrage/inter rangers with Concussion Shot and watch what AoE daze does to the Shadow Monks and Mesmer groups. Sorrow's Furnice... Epidemic is wonderful. In fact, the only time I would use Illusion in PvE is in combination with Epidemic for condition spam or in low level areas for quick kills.

lightblade · Sep 20, 2006, 08:39 PM // 20:39

Another use of Epidemic is to use it with Fevered Dream.

Consider this diagram:
E = Enemy
P = Player or the tank/warrior

E
EE
PE E

You cast Fevered Dream on one of the enemy by the tank. But he doesn't know that, so he Severed Artery on another enemy. This time you use Epidemic to spread the bleeding to the one with Fevered Dream, and FD will spread the condition to all enemies in the area.

NinjaKai · Sep 20, 2006, 09:56 PM // 21:56

You'll continue searching for new combos. Thats part of the fun of being a mesmer. Heck I started out as a mesmer so i'm never satisifed with the same build for ny of my characters. Always frinding new ways to improve them. But mesmer in general is a brilliant class. I look forward to using Signet of Illusions.