Guild Wars 2

So while I was considering how to try and encourage some of my guildies into taking up mesmer in pvp, it struck me that it is seemingly rare for an important part of gameplay to be expressly discussed, the psychology of your build.

Take for example myself, I typically play 4/4/6 or perhaps, 4/4/0/0/6 and in both builds I rely on an extremely aggressive assaulting style of gameplay. I did find that PU for me was a style I could not embrace, it required to much of a passivity, in that I had to wait in stealth for the boon procs before throwing myself back into the fight. Likewise, I found that condition builds outside of confusion where similarly problematic. Confusion as a condition is an excellent aggressive supporting condition for a power build, the more aggressive you are the less likely the other player will think in their reactions. That all said, how would you characterize how you play your mesmer?

Are you the double sword wielding type who uses the sword swap and blink to move from target to target, without giving a kitten about survival.

Or are you the illusory type, carefully blending illusions and stealth to avoid being hit at all? So i invite you to share with each other how you feel most comfortable as the master of illusions

Since making a solid transition from shatter to playing lockdown (which I find has far superior benefits in team fights, and less of a liability against thieves [less, still a liability and they are still a hard counter to the core]), it’s actually hard to say.

I would say aggressive, in such a way that it baits an enemy into a response giving the opportunity to lock them down, immobilize and wail on them, then it’s purely a defensive game? Honestly I don’t think, playing lockdown, you can solely just act as one or the other, it’s all entering combat and retreating in succession to get the job done.

That being said I don’t use a single stealth skill, I might add that in there somewhere, it’s just so hard when Arcane Thievery is my primary condition removal, and it’s Mantra of Distraction and Blink in the other two spots, consistently taking Moa from to turn the tide of scrimmages.

Depends on the enemy and also my mood.

Sometimes it’s more fun to toy with your opponents, other times it’s more fun to unload your entire skill bar in their face. I would be surprised if any player is strictly one or the other, all the time.

mmm I have always found that if you turn your back as a mesmer you tend to die pretty kitten ed fast…

Zarathustra.1458:

mmm I have always found that if you turn your back as a mesmer you tend to die pretty kitten ed fast…

You mean if you turn your camera away.

It’s quite useful to have your back turned, especially for the opening move in an engagement because even though it is obvious you would have your camera facing the enemy in the opposite direction, it can provide that moment’s hesitation in the enemy which is fun to exploit.

It depends one which of my mesmers I’m playing. My main is made for pve and though she lacks a build focus, she is designed to have an answer for everything. My pvp condi is passively aggressive. Most people focus on her when it’s really her clones that are killing them. My pvp bunker is passive by design. She’s meant to frustrate anyone that dares to take her capture point. I’m still working on my wvw mesmer but she’ll be passively aggressive as well. Her focus will be to confuse enemies to the point they literally kill themselves.

I don’t like being in the downstate, so I tend to strike a careful balance between risk and reward, hence why I lean more towards condition builds. I don’t mind a longer battle that guarantees that I get the win. I’m this way with money irl as well, so it’s no surprise I’m like that in Heart of the Mists! If I am using a dps build with higher risk, I tend to incorporate Staff (CI Lockdown forever) which is a great hybrid weapon in its own right.

I’d say I’m more aggressive. Generally charging straight at them unloading followed by a giant shatter, decoy, dodge shatter again and let the confusion finish the job :p

However, in larger brawls I tend to stay out of the thick of things and get to higher ground if possible.

If its a thief tho… I try to run XD

Both I guess. Depends on the momentum.
If I feel weakness from my opponent I will try to exploit the shift in momentum. If I’m losing control I will try to retreat and play more passive a bit to get my kitten together.

Depends a lot on the class too. Against good warriors I feel like I’m always on the defensive and just try to “bleed” them while they’re trying to eat my face. Like a matador.
I’m talking about WvW.

Noss.4105:

Both I guess. Depends on the momentum.
If I feel weakness from my opponent I will try to exploit the shift in momentum. If I’m losing control I will try to retreat and play more passive a bit to get my kitten together.

Depends a lot on the class too. Against good warriors I feel like I’m always on the defensive and just try to “bleed” them while they’re trying to eat my face. Like a matador.
I’m talking about WvW.

Haha, nice analogy for warriors!

Makes even more sense if using temporal curtain – ie the “red rag”.

Depends on the situation. If I am getting focused and I know it. Cautious, then kite kite kite!

Always cautious. I’m trying to outsmart my enemies, part of that is waiting for them to screw up. Then punish them relentlessly.

It’s why I love WvW. Faking and maneuvering carries more weight because it’s difficult to make split-second changes with a 50+ people mob of 75% puggers.

Generally if in a fight you’re always aggressive you’re doing it wrong. You have to change your tactics according to what the enemy does.
I do however like being aggressive a bit more than kiting around constantly, even though that does also make me happy if I manage to say kite two guys by parkouring over terrain and survive for like 1 minute until someone gets to me to help me out.

It’s an interesting question and I’ve ran various builds. I think i lean more on the aggressive side. Even when I run PU which is my lazy fallback build, I use stealth just for boons, untargeting and getting even closer and more attacks in, typically don’t sit around for the full stealth length. When using longer range weapons, the kiting still feels aggressive. Rather than kiting away, I kite into them and past them and around them? I want them to come after me with just as much aggression, bc that’s when I can most easily take them down. If they are cautious on the other hand then they may have more up their sleeve and it would be wise to. In most cases, people seem to try to “eat your face” and I’m like right back at you because I can do it better on a Mesmer xD I don’t feel I’m really at a lack of mobility or low on CDs, I guess if your management of usage is on the spot, you don’t have to actively hold back that much

Its kind of difficult to say what playstyle I am, but I think I can say I am both aggressive and cautious, although I learn towards being more aggressive. The cautious part comes from just knowing the game and knowing what I can and cant do. I can kite pretty well, as I had to kite 3 thieves to get into my guild, and anything after that is pretty easy

Aggression all the way, but I do have 6 in chaos for toughness so I don’t insta melt. Mesmer is a low hp class with many ways to avoid damage , imo we are meant to be played as aggressive as possible.

aggressive all the way even with condition build

I’m disappointed that shiny isn’t an option

Cautiously Smexxy?

Fay.2735:

I’m disappointed that shiny isn’t an option

Need playable skritt, now.

Curunen.8729:

Fay.2735:

I’m disappointed that shiny isn’t an option

Need playable skritt, now.

I’d love it. However, how do we implement the quasi-hivemind that Skritt possess?

If +1-ing a fight … aggressive.

Otherwise, cautious. Mesmers are back-loaded so we often have an advantage as the fight goes on.

If someone wants to dance with me for a bit while my illusions light them up … I’m not going to stop them ;-)