What uses do I have in PvE? Not just in dungeons, but in general PvE areas like Silverwastes.
Mesmer provides utility and moderate damage.
Is there a particular reason to use a Mesmer, over something like a Guardian?
In dungeons? Yeah, mesmers have a ton of boon stripping that guardians don’t have. In silverwastes? Not a chance, guardian will be easier to play and generally more effective.
I noticed our 1h-Sword damage is pretty weak… Or is it just me? How does our overall damage rank against other classes?
Mesmer personal damage is awful. We make this up for the damage produced by phantasms. This means that with 3 phantasms pumping out damage, mesmers can do extremely strong damage. Unfortunately, this also means that in content where phantasms are squished rapidly (99% of all ingame encounters) mesmers have poor damage.
Overall, mesmers are fine in dungeons. You combine a ton of utility all into one class. Mesmer can do mob control, condition removal, healing, boon stripping, and reflects all at the same time in the same build, while dealing okish damage (sorta).
Overall, mesmers are pretty awful in the open world. We’re slow without one of 2 particular rune sets, we do low long range damage, we don’t have good aoe options, and the utility that mesmers have is generally less useful in open world stuff.
