Guild Wars 2

I played a mesmer in GW1 and I loved it. I really enjoyed being able to do builds that could disrupt and shut my opponent down or punish them if they tried anything (though not in the same build). Right now though, I’m struggling to find that kind of playstyle in GW2. Anyone have a suggestion for capturing the mesmer feel of yore? I play PvE primarily.

Condition focused Mesmers in PvE are a little iffy tbh (it’s not only Mesmers, ask any condition focused Necro and they’ll say the same; conditions just don’t work all that well in some PvE scenarios). In PvP it’s perfectly viable; you want to be looking for condition damage gear, and use weapons and abilities that apply confusion (Scepter, Cry of Frustration shatter, etc etc).

But, this is a very different class to the GW1 implementation. You might not like the changes… personally It’s a huge improvement.

If your goal is to control fights, limit ability use of your opponents, and generally dictate then a condition Mesmer with a fairly tanky stat-set will work well (Toughness, Condition damage, a little extra Vitality, and traits geared to improve confusion and condition damage).

Read some guides, see some movies of other players and see some beginner guides. Start with a basic gamestyle, staff + greatsword or staff + sword/pistol. Start with trait survival and a little dmg + 5 points in illusion.

When you start feeling warmer and more secure with the class try a shatter build, these are more demanding, especialy the burst ones but harder to counter and in general more reliable.

link to my shatter build (OBS, NOT A BEGINNER friendly build)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/first#post728210

hope it help, its a lovely profession and I must say it also have a extrelmy nice and helpfull community. So many pro mesmers that help ppl out that you can ask etc, when I been unsure about things I so far always got a nice pile of helpfull answers.

/Osicat

For the old Mesmer feel stack up dazes and control effects and trait for confusion. Alternate daze and confusion to really annoy your opponent. After a few dazes you can be sure they are ready to spam skills so stack up confusion and let them. Then daze when they try to heal and finish it. Fun in pvp, less useful in pve.

Some traits to look for are Confounding Suggestions (chance to stun on daze), Imbued Diversion (daze shatter is AoE), and the various effects on interrupt traits (boon, condition, damage).

You can also double down on the punishment idea by confusing them and getting retaliation. Attacking you gets even more painful.

There are other builds I enjoy better but that’s because I drink, and can’t interrupt worth a kitten

Apperently, it changes alot with your level. For all those DPS-guides out there, you need to be a high level to get all the important traits, else your DPS is much, much, much lower than in the guides.

So, the answer to your question depends on what level you are now.