Guild Wars 2

Id like to be able to farm a Legendary, My highest toon is 50 ( Engi ) and I liked range so I thought I would try Mesmer. These forums would have you think its terrible ( Esp pre 40 and I Know its ironic I go to these forums to ask the question ) But im hoping I could also look someone in game to talk in more detail…..

Thanks

I use a Staff/Clone Bleed/Confusion Shatter Condition damage build, and I don’t have any problems soloing at 80 at all. Infact I solo champs without going under half health constantly.

Depends how you see it. If anything, you can’t speed farm like everyone else, but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the game while farming for one.

edit I updated the video with a little more pew pew to show Lemme know if anyone likes, i’ve considered making some actual full length video for fun, but not sure if its what any one else wants to see.

Here is a half done video of how easy it is to solo as a Mesmer (and quite fun). This video is just against a Champion, but mobility is similiar in pvp if done right.

I’m only rank 10 sPvP but generally consider myself a decent pvp player and the Mes is far the most enjoyable profession i’ve played

You can do a lot of amazing things with a mesmer, the bigger the difficulties the more tricks you will shake out of your sleeve.
In the beginning you might not kill things as fast as some other (simple) classes that just autoattack trough the lower levels, but you will have a lot of fun while playing and learning all your skills.
I actually liked my low lvls very much, i miss them
But offcourse i like my current level 80 aswell. Being able to solo trolling and kill champions and coming out of the fight without a scratch is quite satisfying.
Usually in meta events you are gonna be one of the people that remains alive and haven’t been downed 5 times in 5 minutes because as a mesmer you learn to avoid damage altogether instead of relying on mitigation, that really helps when facing big baddies that throw out a lot of damage.

But not everyone likes a mesmer, so the only way you will know is to just make one and play like you’ve never played before

One thing that has kept me from fully lvling my mesmer is the lack of swiftness. i started lvling again but still i need more swiftness lol i feel like ima die without it

Lordryux.9785:

One thing that has kept me from fully lvling my mesmer is the lack of swiftness. i started lvling again but still i need more swiftness lol i feel like ima die without it

focus 4 + blink not enough?
Runes of centaur help with the above for perma swiftness if you are lvl 60 + and have an efficient means of keeping them while upgrading your equip.

i have 3 80s and my mes was probably the slowest to level at first once you start to get some good traits it starts to go alot smoother

Josh.6213:

i have 3 80s and my mes was probably the slowest to level at first once you start to get some good traits it starts to go alot smoother

Mesmer is my second 80, and it has been far slower than leveling ranger. Lack of swiftness sucks. Inability to perform well in dynamic events with a zerg. There’s a huge list of gripes and complaints I have regarding mesmers, but they are easily one of the more flexible classes for being able to adapt to circumstances with all of their utilities.

So where mesmer doesn’t keep up on the DE’s they’re amazing solo farmers if you have the right build. Personally I don’t play an MMO to be alone though and even if I’m not in a group I prefer the crowd or a zerg and mesmer wasn’t the best choice for that. I won’t make that mistake again though I’m just going to roll a guardian next they’re ridiculous in pve solo or in a group or zerg, and even in pvp and wvw where they are OP. Can’t kill a good one in wvw and it’s hard in pvp without double teaming them.

Sypsy.7318:

Lordryux.9785:

One thing that has kept me from fully lvling my mesmer is the lack of swiftness. i started lvling again but still i need more swiftness lol i feel like ima die without it

focus 4 + blink not enough?
Runes of centaur help with the above for perma swiftness if you are lvl 60 + and have an efficient means of keeping them while upgrading your equip.

Be real right now im bieng serious everyone in this forum can agree thats no where near enough lmao compared to other classes mes is the only one with the limited swiftness i dnt see how focus 4 would get perma with only like 10 to 14s if u trait it x.x

Lordryux.9785:

Be real right now im bieng serious everyone in this forum can agree thats no where near enough lmao compared to other classes mes is the only one with the limited swiftness i dnt see how focus 4 would get perma with only like 10 to 14s if u trait it x.x

Rune of centaur gives 10 seconds of swiftness on heal.
Use mirror. 10 seconds of swiftness every 15 seconds.

Just make sure you use it after the focus swift since it doesn’t seem to stack the other way.

my dear OP, i started this game the 1st day of pre-launch playing a mesmer, i had never played GW before, so i was a total noob, the thing is, I never, NEVER felt weak, everything was better than expected and i had really high expectations for this game to begin with… so do not listen all the people saying mesmer is weak, cause it isn’t, if you really want to play as a mesmer and if the class actually fits your taste, dude, you are gonna have sooooo much fun…

so go ahead, play a mesmer and fall in love with it.

WARNING: playing a mesmer might cause extreme boredom when playing another class.

korelg.7862:

WARNING: playing a mesmer might cause extreme boredom when playing another class.

It’s very true and unfortunate at thesame time.
Tried making 2 other chars to get skins from the 2 other orders, but after a month i haven’t gotten past lvl 6 with them yet.
With the guardian i keep running around and dodging and trying to find the blink button out of habit, people must think i’m crazy when they see me play :p

Sypsy.7318:

Lordryux.9785:

Be real right now im bieng serious everyone in this forum can agree thats no where near enough lmao compared to other classes mes is the only one with the limited swiftness i dnt see how focus 4 would get perma with only like 10 to 14s if u trait it x.x

Rune of centaur gives 10 seconds of swiftness on heal.
Use mirror. 10 seconds of swiftness every 15 seconds.

Just make sure you use it after the focus swift since it doesn’t seem to stack the other way.

so basically i have to change my runes with my current build that takes other runes just to get more swiftness and make me weaker.. yea.. no. anet needs to make another skill that gives swiftness instead of 1. for god sakes ranger is getting buffed on thier signet its getting raised to 25% instead of 10% seriously? lol. sure

Limited swiftness is one of the more minor problems with Mesmer atm…

As far as rolling ANY new class… don’t do it until everyone sees/tests the upcoming changes on the 14th. No one knows what balance changes/bugs may occur.

IMO your 1st priority should be getting your Eng to 80 anyways…

Eng 1st to 80 why? Superior Solo-er?

phobia.3958:

Eng 1st to 80 why? Superior Solo-er?

It’s a great class all around and will be getting a buff in the next update (sigils will proc while using kits).

All classes can solo… eng does a MUCH better job than mesmer as far as farming those cursed shore events (great for gold and karma to help you get your first exotic set).

In a party Eng can be amazing support or top DPS (they are currently the top dps in the game).

Just having a single geared 80 of any class will allow you to fund your other alts.

solo is extremely easy and i dunno how could any1 say otherwise (unless maybe if you’re dumb and run glass cannon everywhere) but orr events suck on mes big time. ANET, WE NEED AOE!!!!! Do you compute this? NEED AOE, yes aoe… will it take 2 years+ to get some aoe on a mesmer? i don’t want to wait the first expansion before getting an aoe skill.

Mesmers are fantastic for killing and surviving the hardest of mobs without a scratch.

However, they are also the absolute slowest profession out of combat. That means that as a mesmer doing anything out of combat (like jumping puzzles, map completion, running from point A to B for whatever reason) will take you much longer than all other professions. Especially jumping puzzles for other professions that have perma-swiftness or passive 25% increased movement speed, are a very different experience.

Also, mesmers lack any sort of reliable low cooldown AoE. That means that they have a very difficult time tagging the same amount of mobs in events as all other professions. Our only real AoE is the 1h sword auto attack cleave and shatters, both of which require a lot more effort, planning and gearing to pull off what other professions get for free.

If your plan is to solo and explore pve content and not feel gimped whenever an elementalist or thief zooms right past you, mesmer might not be a good choice.

The hardest legendary elements are best farmed at the trading post. Class doesn’t matter.

The way that I farm DEs with a lot of aoe is that I play melee in DEs and have traited myself to act like a clone as well, so even without clones up, I can use sword 1 and 2 and shatters 1 and 2, and that usually results in the ground being covered in sparkles.

Yes, this is in Orr.

Nuka Cola.8520:

solo is extremely easy and i dunno how could any1 say otherwise (unless maybe if you’re dumb and run glass cannon everywhere) but orr events suck on mes big time. ANET, WE NEED AOE!!!!! Do you compute this? NEED AOE, yes aoe… will it take 2 years+ to get some aoe on a mesmer? i don’t want to wait the first expansion before getting an aoe skill.

Aoe ? Take the 30 illusion self shatter trait

GS phantasm, focus phantasm,

Go melee, sword skill 2

F1 —> BOOM !!

Mumu.6203:

Aoe ? Take the 30 illusion self shatter trait

GS phantasm, focus phantasm,

Go melee, sword skill 2

F1 —> BOOM !!

Then wack your relatively weak sword auto attack at a small pack waiting on cooldowns, while everybody else continues aoe tagging mobs.

Alex.9268:

Mumu.6203:

Aoe ? Take the 30 illusion self shatter trait

GS phantasm, focus phantasm,

Go melee, sword skill 2

F1 —> BOOM !!

Then wack your relatively weak sword auto attack at a small pack waiting on cooldowns, while everybody else continues aoe tagging mobs.

Every class can not be Warrior when it comes to Aoe but we definetely have some nice skills, plus the cooldowns aren’t that bad.

Mesmer is just fine soloing….this profession has the highest learning curve in the game so if you do not consider yourself an advanced player (i.e. knowing how to read NPC animations to evade, positioning tactics, using peripheral vision to not pull aggro etc etc.) you are going to have a much harder time with a mesmer soloing than you will with a more direct class.

Long story short; if you have great hand eye/twitch reflexes, a good latency, and situational awareness then Mesmer solos great. If not you see yourself downed more than you care to.

Aberrant.6749:

Just having a single geared 80 of any class will allow you to fund your other alts.

this

to the OP, it depends on what you mean by “farming” for a lgendary. DEs? Dungeons? WvW? Open world single mobs? All classes have strengths and weaknesses in various aspects of the game.

Mesmer is a great solo class, especially levelling to 80, simply because there are few if any situations he can’t escape. Especially when you get to Orr and/or going for map completions on the orr lands. Mesmers can cruise around any map without getting cornered, and get every skill point easily.

Do you mean farming DEs in Orr, ie playing whack-a-mole against groups of mobs, trying to get some damage in before 900 other people do, and fighting against Diminishing Returns? Well, if that’s your idea of fun “farming”, then just get your engi to 80 and use grenades.

If you are going to do dungeons, then any class you like playing will do just fine. To “farm” a legendary requires so much ridiculous miscellaneous stuff that you will need to do all sorts of stuff to get them – dungeon tokens, wvw badges, etc. Having multiple alts will help both keep things fun and allow you to make the most of various arenas depending on class.

Ok, So someone give me some insight….

Just hit 42 ( 40 being the turning point ) I’m absolutely blowing up mobs……does it just get worse later on?

phobia.3958:

Ok, So someone give me some insight….

Just hit 42 ( 40 being the turning point ) I’m absolutely blowing up mobs……does it just get worse later on?

thats pretty much the turning point for mesmer is when it gets easier to take out monsters the only reason why people say its not really a good pve class is because the lack of swiftness resources to explore etc etc. and Farming events for karma in orr. im not saying its hard to its just thier are classes that pretty much are better for that if ur a farmer. But it can definitly be done on a mesmer if u set up ur clone spawning right.

Mesmer probably isn’t the best class for killing several things at once, but it’s hard to beat for surviving them.

Mesmer can solo almost all the PvE content. (obviously dungeons and large group events excluded) Mesmer was my first of four 80s. Mesmer did take the longest of all though. Mostly because the game was new.

EDIT: 40 is the turning point for the mesmer because you unlock your Master traits most of which are very useful.

If you’re a good kiter and understand your ranges at a glance, you can solo dungeons. It’s not easy but it’s doable and will probably give you carpal tunnel afterwards.

Khyron.8735:

If you’re a good kiter and understand your ranges at a glance, you can solo dungeons. It’s not easy but it’s doable and will probably give you carpal tunnel afterwards.

What one would you suggest to start attempting this with? Also, should I hold off until I’m fully geared to try it out?

Our weakness is vs. ranged mobs, but we have our tricks. Against melee, we are gods.

Hearte.6852:

Our weakness is vs. ranged mobs, but we have our tricks. Against melee, we are gods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnDstUkVW-E

Ranged mobs? they die in a few hits from feedback! O.O

PearlGore.7419:

Ranged mobs? they die in a few hits from feedback! O.O

Our weakness is vs. ranged mobs, but we have our tricks.

I went from despising my first toon (a mesmer) and deleting him, to making a second Mesmer and falling in love, being surprised by the survivability and awesome damage.

I currently have my new Mesmer at 35, proudly wearing Cultural armor. So far at this level, I’ve pretty frequently solo’d champions, making thorough use of Sword/Sword and Scepter/sword and the various blocks, along with distortion.

I know for a fact I disliked my first Mesmer because I had poor understanding of game mechanics. I have one of every class, except Gaurdian, over 35 at the moment, and I have to say that Engineer was definitely the class I found hardest to level.

That being said, I probably dislike Mesmer healing skills the most. It almost seems like points in Inspiration for Phantasmal Healing is a must for long term longevity…

Also, if you wanna see having issues with ranged mobs? Try rolling a Necro. Zero reflects, zero blocks, zero invulnerability. Best a Necro can do is hope to fear them at the appropriate time every once in a while.