New to GW; and one concern regarding a class

Hello,

I just started a day or two ago after purchasing GW:Trilogy at Steam for half the price.

I was busy trying out various classes, and chapters; also, spending much time reading up on how the class plays like. Thanks to that, I have some sense of how each class would be like, but I do not have a complete picture.

Mesmer class intrigues me the most out of all the classes; it seems like very complex class. The skills look like they would do fantastical job in PvP, but how do they perform in PvE? Are they as viable as other classes? For example, would this class not be able to solo certain areas whereas others can?

Or if I really wanted to play with Mesmer, should I just take it up as secondary class? Should that be the case, then which primary class would work well with Mesmer as second?

Much appreciated if anyone can help this helpless newbie. Thank you.

Mesmers are OK for PvE play, but it takes a lot of knowledge of the game to play one effectively. They're not as powerful in PvE as several other professions, but a well played Mesmer can be a great asset to any team. They're not much sought after in PvE, though. The upcoming Buff to Mesmer skills should change that. As it stands right now, Mesmers are very limited in where they can solo. (But with Heroes/Henchmen, they do almost everything)

Mesmer does make a very good secondary, especially for ther other caster classes.

From all I've heard, Mesmers rock in PvP.

First of all, welcome to GWGuru^^

About your questions, Mesmers are definitively a good class in PvP, which has always been the place where they could truly shine in battle. In PvE mesmers have always been a little weaker then the other classes, due to their single-target focus and their support role, rather than pure damage or pure healing, which are what's most requested in PvE.

However, it seems that mesmers are going to receive some love from ANet, which is planning to do an update that will change in functionality some mesmers skills, giving them some more damage AoE power, so it's possible that they will be more useful in PvE. We've got to see how these changes will be implemented though.

You're right when you say that Mesmers are a very complex class: they are probably the most complex class in the game, which is usually the reason for which it's not suggested to newbies to play mesmer first. But if you've found that you like them, don't worry and play one! It's not difficult to learn how to play, after all.

For builds and secondary classes choice, there's a lot of skills and class combinations that you can try (well, this is the very thing you are supposed to do in this game ), so the first times you can try something to become confident with your character. When you reach level 20 and you want to do something more challenging, you can check this forum, or the GWWiki, for suggestions regarding the builds.

Hope i've helped. Have fun!

While folks can and do solo farm some areas later on, the PvE storyline and areas really aren't designed for solo play. They're meant to be played as a team (albeit often a team of you and AI heroes and henchmen in most cases these days.)

If you're just starting out, don't worry about soloing yet. Play through the game as it was meant to be played. If Mesmer intrigues you most, roll one and head out into the wild! It is most certainly possible to play through all the campaigns with a Mesmer primary. With the Trilogy, there should be at least eight character slots to mess around with. You can always try making other characters or delete your Mesmer if you find you don't like it and really want the slot for something else.

If it's more the skill descriptions than the fast casting abilities that appeal to you about Mesmers, you might consider playing with Me secondary. N/Me or E/Me could be good choices, but I find my primary Mes does just fine in PvE these days. Necromancers have a lot of spells that work by "messing with" opponents, too, so that might be a good choice as primary or secondary for you if that's what you're going for.

I wouldn't worry about soloing and farming until you've played through at least once. If/when you want to start solo farming, there's no telling what the current popular farming classes will be due to skill changes.

Cheers, Good luck & Welcome to GW & Guru,
Luny

EDIT - kinda spooky how we all reply at once, no?

Ah, thanks for the replies, and warm welcomes.

As I have suspected, Mesmer itself does not make a great class for PvE. I have already rolled, and enjoying W/A - cannot go wrong with class like warrior to get your feet dirty in any MMO -. After I get used to this game more, then I will try out Mesmer for sure.

Roll an ele with searing flames and glowing gaze in pve...you will rape everything.

HF&GL

I don't see how people manage to do that... I can't stand SF builds in pve.

but anyways, Mesmers are due for a BIG buff within the next few months, they're being projected to be pretty powerful.