Guild Wars 2

I keep reading how they have the worst AoE of all professions so how well will I be able to farm events for Karma and drops if I level a Mesmer to 80? I really want to try out a caster and didnt like my necro or ele after getting both to 30 I just deleted them because they werent fun at all. I dont know anything about any of the dungeons or FotM so I will probably be soloing for a while. Im sure no one wants someone in their group who doesnt know the dungeons and will just slow them down as it seems everyone wants speed runs these days. So are Mesmers a good solo class at least until I can get geared up enough and can start grouping?

Sub optimally.

They are one of the weakest tagging professions of the game, if not the weakest. They are also the slowest out of combat profession without centaur runes (assuming you want to get MF gear) and the time you spend moving between events quickly adds up.

Mesmers are not useless and can still tag decently, it’s just other professions can tag mobs much much much more reliably and just plain better than mesmer.

If all you want to do is farm gold and karma efficiently you definitely picked the wrong profession.

Would something like a Guardian or Ranger work better?

Probably ranger. For DE tagging you really want a combination of movement speed and AoE’s; idk abt ranger but guard staff #3 gives semi-perm speed buff and they have a few leaps to get to the mobs quickly. I think only guardians’ sword main hand lacks any aoe skills but it does have a leap.

I was doing some events in straits of devastation earlier and loot was noticeable because it wasn’t carpeting the ground ^^

About not knowing how to dungeon/fractal of the mists I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You’re never going to learn if you shy away from trying it. Join a guild with a good deal of players and use gw2lfg to get groups and learn it away.

Playing a mesmer might seem complicated, especially in the start when our dmg seems to be so awful, but it’s also extremely rewarding.

I don’t farm orr so often nowadays, but mesmer can be murder on dungeons run, especially for some specific dungeon paths(Cidatel of Flames path 1, I’m looking at you) where blink+portal and timewarp can help a lot, with the added bonus points for null field you can toss around. There’s plenty of videos and tutorial around that teach you how to drag everybit of dps you can out of a mesmer to help on those types of farming.

None of this matter if you don’t like the class however. What I recommend is that you make one and play around on spvp a bit to see how you enjoy the class. The amount of smugness you’ll start feeling when you see people wasting their cooldowns on your illussion should last until you’re 80 and start worrying about the rest =]

Never had a problem with farming at 80, to farm I usually run some dungeon or WvW(playing good and not die to often), event’s, FotM, etc.

Can happen that I run back to starter place just for fun

I farm just fine as a shatter mesmer. It is tricky though, but careful Zerkers/mind stabs or blink+mind wracks and chaos storm get me enough. As far as single farming/groups, I can chain farm extremely efficiently. With proper utility skills, not many enemies can slow me down.

If you don’t mind the cooldowns, running as an Asuran lets you get Field-tags. Staff 5 + Radiation Field = <3 (Even for leveling).

LOL I can’t laugh more that someone says they are the weakeast!!!
I have played Greatsword/Sword & Focus for ages, I have moderate AoE, massive damage, good conditions (Cripple, Immobilize, Vulnerabillty and Knockback), and I can’t be beaten in duels. I buzz around the vista island annoying FA because can’t kill me. #4 on the Greatsword is the best ability, for its 4k damage and 4 second cripple every 5 seconds, PLUS its AoE. #2 on the sword is great melee instant 2-3k and you can’t be hit during them, perfect to use if someone is casting something big. Spam auto-attack on sword to rip boons off foes and stack vulnerability.
I can’t be beaten, I am a fully bunker build mesmer with huge amount of power (2.5k power, 26328 health, 1717 toughness. Also #1 #2 on the sword are AoE, and can hit up to 3 nearby targets, #2 on greatsword is AoE (bounces to others and stacks vulnerability) and #3 on greatsword is AoE deals about 1k damage instantly and removes a boon.

Put simply, if you use rare or exotic invader gear on every piece of armor weapon and trinket with soldier crests, your power is massive with high toughness and vitally, making you hard to kill. Use greatsword and Sword with focus, pistol or sword, for intense damage. Trait 1200 range manipulations, and 30% phantasm damage (10 Domin, 25 inspir), to enforce your damage. Use Blink, Veil and Arcane Thievery as your utilities, and use Moa Morph for instant win (broken) or Mass Invisibility for a good escape.

Henrik, OP didn’t say anything abt w3…seems mostly abt dungeons/pve.

For dynamic events, mesmers are one of the worst classes for tagging due to our lack of high-dmg aoe and move speed; my necro and guard can both tag much easier than my mesmer cos by the time izerker gets to swing, his target is dead and so he ‘poofs’ away= no dmg. Believe me i have tried selecting mobs at the back of waves but still very few hits. The other main options are sword #3 then 2 if there are any mobs left once ur in range of sword 3 or chaos storm/staff#2 then shatter. I don’t run a shatter build atm but if u need to tag in a DE, get up close to the wave, dodge (traited) mirror images and wrack.