Coming back: Assassin or Mesmer?

So, I'm just now coming back to GW1 to play with some friends and we're currently looking to work on missions/main story line. I'm stuck right now between playing an assassin or mesmer. Both characters are about the same level and have just gotten to Lion's Arch. I looked at team builds and such on the PvXwiki, but most of those seem to be geared towards really far endgame speed runs and such. Assassins look to be good tanks in some of that, but since I'm so far from any of that, as are my friends, that's not really much of a factor for me.

So, out of the two professions, which do would you recommend leveling/using? Also, are there any builds or type of builds that are good to be using for this basic missions and such?

Thanks

Hi,
Both of them are really great or fun, so it depends of your way to play, this two characters are really different anyway.
Just pick the one you really want to play

I would say stick with mesmer, its arguebly one of the best professions for destroying general pve: armor ignoring dmg/shut down, several builds possible
I usually run something like this:

I know you early in game but focus on getting pve only skills asap to be as effective possible

As for sin you will probably end up with some dagger spam build , which is great but i find boring to do all campaigns with.

Assassin and Mesmer are each extremely good in their respective areas of the game; that is the Assassin is a superb melee class (a bit less so since the Dervish update made one of the scythe elites stop working with critscythe builds, but still really good with daggers or any weapon really), and the Mesmer is a superb caster class.

Do you prefer melee or casting? If the former, Assassin. If the latter, Mesmer. Yes, technically Assassins do have the energy to run caster builds (and indeed they used to have a really nice one using Signet of Judgement and Assassin spells), and yes, Mesmers can use Illusionary Weaponry, but by and large the Assassin is melee and the Mesmer is a caster, so whichever type of gameplay you prefer - there you go.

Some people will remark that the Assassin is the better class for speed clears and farming. That may be, but speed clears and farming don't have to be done on your "main". Most people do have an Assassin just for farming stuff or doing speed clears, but that Assassin's generally not their main character.

That's not to say you shouldn't main Assassin, not at all, but, it is to say that speed clears and farming are not an argument for maining an Assassin, they're just an argument for having one.

I think I would prefer Assassin.
It's a little rough early, but so is playing a Mesmer.

But once you can start just cycling your chains with basically no downtime, the game crumbles before you.

A Mesmer requires a bit more effort to get anywhere near that - meaning Assassin's Promise and PvE skills.

That said, you might find the lack of durability a little frustrating as an Assassin, especially if you don't have much support in your team. Mesmers, sitting in the back, is less painful.

Any/Me

Asura Summon > Arcane Echo > Echo > Ebon Sin > Echo > Ebon Sin > Ebon Sin.

Hf with that

Side note I find hero mesmers way more potent than human mesmers because hero mesmers can actually interrupt and do so in a godly manner. Human mesmers can throw up panic sometimes (but so can hero mesmers) but otherwise seem to usually fail miserably at actually shutting down enemies. Whereas mesmer heroes do an excellent job of it.

The same cannot be said of assassins, or really, any melee profession. Hero AI fails hard at running melee builds.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zahr Dalsk

Side note I find hero mesmers way more potent than human mesmers because hero mesmers can actually interrupt and do so in a godly manner. You're just not good yet playing as mesmer.

In terms of hero parties, Assassin completes his party; Mesmer merely replaces a hero in an already-complete party.

Heroes can't run AP-EVAS.