Guild Wars 2

I just hit level 21 so I am barely traited and I am not really sure if I am into shattering, I kind of like my illusions to hang around, I loved my illusionist in everquest 2 and they are similar to mesmer in many ways, but the key differences in how their illusions work, and the fact they are not mana batteries in this game, also shatter lacks umph in my opinion, I am also kind of disappointed in the weapons, like the greatsword its kind of cool and all but I was hoping to do some real melee with it like the 1hsword, and the scepter and staff are just uninteresting to me. I do enjoy the different phantasms, I also feel like this is a slower paced kind of caster if that makes any sense .What do you guys think? Should I keep playing? Am I just not seeing the fun in the class yet?

Any info would greatly be appreciated.

I presume you’re in PvE.

The good news for you is that in pve you’ll want your phgantasms to hang around, unless you’re bursting down trash mobs. The thing with mesmer is the class isn’t whole until you reach 80 and are fully traits + gear.

Other than that once HoT is out and Chronomancer you can get the best of both worlds by maintaining plants while shattering to a degree. Mes is the best class in this game by far and the only reason some people continue to play it.

No Ross, we are not maintaining the plants, they belong to modremoth!!

Mesmer really shines in PvP/WvW but in PvE it’s kinda lacking because phantasms die very easily to random boss attacks. Some fights like archdiviner in fractals have pets being immune to almost unavoidable AoE it’s just a shame this wasn’t rolled out to all bosses then Mesmer would be a lot more enjoyable in PvE.

Do some PvP or better still see if you can pop into OMFG guild and ask to see some fights and for them to show you some tricks. It’s the tricks that keep you interested in mesmer imo.

I agree that Mesmer is the best class in the game. It’s also not terribly easy to “pick up.”
The answer to the OP, imo, is “it depends.”

As to shatter lacking in power. I will tell the OP a secret that no one was willing to tell me; A shatter alone sux. The key is to combine 2 or more shatters. The first builds vulnerability, allowing the second to do much more damage. In the case of condi Mesmers, the combined shatters stack more conditions than one alone would.

If you like the class well enough to be willing to stick it out, stay. You will eventually be rewarded.

If not, take up another class. Guardian is probably among the easiest to play. That or d/d ele.

Some of you misunderstood me I was talking more about the playstyle and the feel of the class please do not assume I cannot play a mesmer and suggest a simple class like the guardian that is very rude and insults the individuals intelligence I been playing rpgs and mmorpgs for years come on. It is like you did not read my post at all.

I had no intention of insulting you. You are being way oversensitive. In addition to that I handed you a valuable piece of advice that is seldom available anywhere. If you can play the class, then why are you posting such a question?

I will say that if you are that thin skinned, you won’t make it as a Mesmer.

Ryou, here’s my take as someone who was in a very similar place as you are:

The feel of mesmer will change drastically when you get to a higher level. Shatters overall feel much different when you can get the clone on dodge, which allows you to shatter more often with a full 3 clones and until you get to max level, you won’t really feel the full impact of how much damage a shatter can be.

However, you really don’t have to play a shatter-focused mesmer, particularly in PvE. The current ‘meta’ PvE build is actually more focused on keeping up phantasm type illusions, which deal heavy damage, so that you only really shatter when your enemy is about to die or if your clones are about to die from something else anyways.

Here’s the big question I would pose to you that I think will help you determine if mesmer fits your playstyle:
Are you ok with losing dps on fights as a result of your AI-based clones dying for reasons often beyond your control?

This can be one of the more frustrating aspects of mesmer since so much of your damage is tied to having clones alive when you need them to be and sometimes a simple boss cleave can set you back a lot. However, if you can live with this, there is some really great utility that puts mesmers in a unique place in groups, which can be very rewarding. Being the person that pulls your group through a difficult part of a dungeon because of your projectile reflects, stealth, or even just helping to skip past frustrating stuff with a portal can be something that offsets this frustration for many players.

1h sword solo is doable and Sandy’s video is always impressive.

Sanderinoa.8065:

Hey there,

Ive been postponing this video for quite a while, but it was surely enjoyable to do. Some parts have been sped up a bit much, but Im sure its better than releasing an hour long video.
The final bosses were mostly a pain, but as a mesmer the evasive mirror trait really comes in handy.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/Pf_iOpw1jS8

Hope you enjoy!

Get to level 80 and gear up in at least full rares or play some hotjoin pvp before making this decision.

Mesmer traits change entirely how you play and what you can play. Even more when we get chronomancer.

Shatters do serious damage in pvp because even the tankiest enemies still have “small health pools”, but sustained damage vs pve bullet sponge bosses is worse than letting phantasms do their stuff.

Ithilwen.1529:

I had no intention of insulting you. You are being way oversensitive. In addition to that I handed you a valuable piece of advice that is seldom available anywhere. If you can play the class, then why are you posting such a question?

I will say that if you are that thin skinned, you won’t make it as a Mesmer.

Yes you were and you know it, I am not being over sensitive it is insulting to say that to someone period, that is like going up to someone who is not enjoying algebra and saying you should stick to something more simple like adding pats on head.
Lol there is nothing thin skinned about playing a class in a video game rolls eyes.

Thanks everyone else I will think on this longer, I am just not sure if I am into them dying constantly it is just odd to get use to.

I’ll be controversial and say unlike other classes, mesmer requires more cerebral input to their play. For example, you are much better off relying more on your phantasms for dps if you are solo’ing Vet Karka since they evade so much. Adapt your style to the situation in hand. Mesmer’s have broad capabilities that mimic (sic) the other classes making them more of the jack-of-all trades in the game so you have to adapt more to the combat situation.

The mesmer is a great profession both mechanically and conceptually. That being said they are better, too good in some instance, outside of pve. I say give it time and you might like it.

If you want a play style with pets/allies/summons whatever you want to call it then necro has a minion master build.

There’s also engineer with turrets and ranger with the pet, I’d say ranger is probably the better of them all though in terms of having a companion to deal damage.

Ross nailed it right off the bat. There is more to Mesmer than simply shattering, and Mesmer is a profession that doesn’t truly shine before you got access to all its Traits. Also, it is the most glorious profession ever to embrace Lyssa’s bosom, so there’s also that. We are fabulous.

You can center yourself around shattering, sure, but you can also focus on Phantasm damage, and maintaining Phantasms. Or, you could step into the world of the lockdown-, the interrupt-Mesmers. Then again, perhaps you want to be more of a hybrid between these styles, a Mesmer that focuses on interrupts and also allows the Phantasms and clones to do their work before they get shattered.

Also, keep in mind what it is that a Mesmer does. They control the minds of the weaker professions (—"Mesmerica! Meow yeah!") and enemies. Through illusions, they make them think there is a enemy presence there. Once the enemy is defeated, the illusion breaks, as a blank mind can’t be controlled. But what about damage that hits multiple targets? Well, your mind control over one individual spreads the same fear into their nearby allies. Anyways, I highly recommend you to stick it out. It does get better.

Mesmer is a slow paced class, you got that past right. When you are good at ranger/warrior/engi you will combo your abilities together and chain ccs and whatnot, on mesmer you will mostly stay back and then go in to shatter and go out again. It is fun, but quite different and for many people, too slow.

play another class

if you don’t like playing Mesmer, maybe try playing Guardian instead. It’s a lot easier to play in my opinion, but also very enjoyable and rewarding.

Man I do not understand why you guys misunderstand my post, it is not that I found it hard, which I do not at all I have been playing mmorpgs for ages and I usually play the top complex classes so that is not an issue plus I just play allot of rpgs as a whole. The issue was the feel and playstyle of the class itself. That is why I titled it I do not think mesmer is for me:)

I will admit I think part of the issue is I can never get into female characters and I thought it the powers looked odd on males for me, so I rolled a female. And no this is not an insecurity I just do not prefer purple in general, but it helped looking at a hot lady while doing it:)

Ryou.2398:

Man I do not understand why you guys misunderstand my post, it is not that I found it hard, which I do not at all I have been playing mmorpgs for ages and I usually play the top complex classes so that is not an issue plus I just play allot of rpgs as a whole. The issue was the feel and playstyle of the class itself. That is why I titled it I do not think mesmer is for me:)

I will admit I think part of the issue is I can never get into female characters and I thought it the powers looked odd on males for me, so I rolled a female. And no this is not an insecurity I just do not prefer purple in general, but it helped looking at a hot lady while doing it:)

1. No one can change how you FEEL about the playstyle, as such, this thread has little value for discussion.

2. Several players here have given you actual advice for improving your mesmer experience that you have ignored.

3. you are behaving very negatively so don’t imagine more people will continue to give you advice out of the goodness of their hearts

Oberon Vex.1389:

Ryou.2398:

Man I do not understand why you guys misunderstand my post, it is not that I found it hard, which I do not at all I have been playing mmorpgs for ages and I usually play the top complex classes so that is not an issue plus I just play allot of rpgs as a whole. The issue was the feel and playstyle of the class itself. That is why I titled it I do not think mesmer is for me:)

I will admit I think part of the issue is I can never get into female characters and I thought it the powers looked odd on males for me, so I rolled a female. And no this is not an insecurity I just do not prefer purple in general, but it helped looking at a hot lady while doing it:)

1. No one can change how you FEEL about the playstyle, as such, this thread has little value for discussion.

2. Several players here have given you actual advice for improving your mesmer experience that you have ignored.

3. you are behaving very negatively so don’t imagine more people will continue to give you advice out of the goodness of their hearts

Also note that Velimere’s advice boils down to “it’s easier BUT it’s fun and worth it.” In which case, he’s not telling you to it because it’s easy, he’s telling you to do it in spite of that fact.

Isn’t it in PvP all skills and traits are unlock w/ most of the sigils and runes available regardless of PC level? Try out the builds with practice npc over there to see wether feel right for you.

Oberon Vex.1389:

Ryou.2398:

Man I do not understand why you guys misunderstand my post, it is not that I found it hard, which I do not at all I have been playing mmorpgs for ages and I usually play the top complex classes so that is not an issue plus I just play allot of rpgs as a whole. The issue was the feel and playstyle of the class itself. That is why I titled it I do not think mesmer is for me:)

I will admit I think part of the issue is I can never get into female characters and I thought it the powers looked odd on males for me, so I rolled a female. And no this is not an insecurity I just do not prefer purple in general, but it helped looking at a hot lady while doing it:)

1. No one can change how you FEEL about the playstyle, as such, this thread has little value for discussion.

2. Several players here have given you actual advice for improving your mesmer experience that you have ignored.

3. you are behaving very negatively so don’t imagine more people will continue to give you advice out of the goodness of their hearts

Forums are here to express opinions and it is really my choice your more then welcome to skip over what you consider pointless threads:)

What makes you think I ignored it? I already clearly posted a thank you about the advice, and said maybe I will continue leveling the mesmer.

I was very polite perhaps you should reread as you clearly missed a few things with what I said above, it was not insulting or negative in any way, your reading way to much into what I typed.

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Oberon Vex.1389:

Ryou.2398:

Man I do not understand why you guys misunderstand my post, it is not that I found it hard, which I do not at all I have been playing mmorpgs for ages and I usually play the top complex classes so that is not an issue plus I just play allot of rpgs as a whole. The issue was the feel and playstyle of the class itself. That is why I titled it I do not think mesmer is for me:)

I will admit I think part of the issue is I can never get into female characters and I thought it the powers looked odd on males for me, so I rolled a female. And no this is not an insecurity I just do not prefer purple in general, but it helped looking at a hot lady while doing it:)

1. No one can change how you FEEL about the playstyle, as such, this thread has little value for discussion.

2. Several players here have given you actual advice for improving your mesmer experience that you have ignored.

3. you are behaving very negatively so don’t imagine more people will continue to give you advice out of the goodness of their hearts

Also note that Velimere’s advice boils down to “it’s easier BUT it’s fun and worth it.” In which case, he’s not telling you to it because it’s easy, he’s telling you to do it in spite of that fact.

Actually he did clearly state the guardian was easier therefor is implying I found it easy, however I did not take offense many consider mesmer to be the advanced class and no one knows my mmorpg experience nor did or should I expect him to.

Ryou.2398:

Actually he did clearly state the guardian was easier therefor is implying I found it easy, however I did not take offense many consider mesmer to be the advanced class and no one knows my mmorpg experience nor did or should I expect him to.

What? No, that makes absolutely no sense.
He said:
“It’s a lot easier to play in my opinion”, which implies absolutely nothing about how easy or not you find the guardian, since it’s his opinion.
“but also very enjoyable and rewarding”, which means that it’s enjoyable and rewarding even though it’s easy, so easy would not be a reason to not take guardian, which implies absolutely nothing about how easy or not you find the mesmer, because it is simply saying that he finds guardian fun and worthwhile even though it’s easier.

There is no assumption in the statement at all about your feelings on the mesmer, except that I think it’s likely he included the “good even though easy” part because you got all fired up about someone suggesting an easier class (guardian) earlier.

You’re getting after Oberon Vex for reading things into your posts that you say aren’t there, but your blatant misreadings are themselves so inappropriate that you have no room to talk!

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Ryou.2398:

Actually he did clearly state the guardian was easier therefor is implying I found it easy, however I did not take offense many consider mesmer to be the advanced class and no one knows my mmorpg experience nor did or should I expect him to.

What? No, that makes absolutely no sense.
He said:
“It’s a lot easier to play in my opinion”, which implies absolutely nothing about how easy or not you find the guardian, since it’s his opinion.
“but also very enjoyable and rewarding”, which means that it’s enjoyable and rewarding even though it’s easy, so easy would not be a reason to not take guardian, which implies absolutely nothing about how easy or not you find the mesmer, because it is simply saying that he finds guardian fun and worthwhile even though it’s easier.

There is no assumption in the statement at all about your feelings on the mesmer, except that I think it’s likely he included the “good even though easy” part because you got all fired up about someone suggesting an easier class (guardian) earlier.

You’re getting after Oberon Vex for reading things into your posts that you say aren’t there, but your blatant misreadings are themselves so inappropriate that you have no room to talk!

You are getting way way to over defensive sir, I have plenty of room to talk he stated this , maybe try playing Guardian instead. It’s a lot easier to play in my opinion, but also very enjoyable and rewarding. How does that not imply that I might have an easier time with guardian? Do you not know the true meaning behind imply? It is very clear in the structure of the entire sentence.

And why does it matter so much? I did not insult him in any way, nor was I offended but clearly you are.

Whatever the case is the answers have already been given in the thread from many people.

“I just hit level 21 so I am barely traited…”

Get to 80 and play with a full set of traits, or jump into pvp and test the class out there. You can’t see how it will play when not having access to all the traits.

And in a couple of weeks be sure to test out Chrono on the next BWE (assuming it is first weekend in october) – especially traits like chronophantasma.

Curunen.8729:

Whatever the case is the answers have already been given in the thread from many people.

“I just hit level 21 so I am barely traited…”

Get to 80 and play with a full set of traits, or jump into pvp and test the class out there. You can’t see how it will play when not having access to all the traits.

Yes and again id like to thank everyone again since it seems I am ungrateful, I very well might do this.

Ryou.2398:

You are getting way way to over defensive sir, I have plenty of room to talk he stated this , maybe try playing Guardian instead. It’s a lot easier to play in my opinion, but also very enjoyable and rewarding. How does that not imply that I might have an easier time with guardian? Do you not know the true meaning behind imply? It is very clear in the structure of the entire sentence.

The “but” means that “easier” is a negative, which implies that he is advising guardian because it’s fun and rewarding, not because it’s easier. You have taken that as some kind of implication that your skills are not up to the task of a “harder” class like mesmer, when it in no way implies that. That’s the principal point, that you’re taking words of people about advising an “easier” class to be a statement about your abilities, when that isn’t true!

Ryou.2398:

And why does it matter so much? I did not insult him in any way, nor was I offended but clearly you are.

Given that you have multiple times misinterpreted and even taken things said by my fellow forum-goers as a personal insult, I am responding as a member of a community to inform you that your reaction to that community is inappropriate, insofar as you are incorrectly interpreting their words.

In more general terms, I regard it as the responsibility of any member of a community to help facilitate communication within that community, to defend fellow community members against unwarranted attacks, and to provide assistance to fellow community members as time allows and need warrants.
In short, I’m responding to you because I feel your behavior warrants it, and I have so far had the time to do so (whereas those you are responding to don’t necessarily).

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Ryou.2398:

You are getting way way to over defensive sir, I have plenty of room to talk he stated this , maybe try playing Guardian instead. It’s a lot easier to play in my opinion, but also very enjoyable and rewarding. How does that not imply that I might have an easier time with guardian? Do you not know the true meaning behind imply? It is very clear in the structure of the entire sentence.

The “but” means that “easier” is a negative, which implies that he is advising guardian because it’s fun and rewarding, not because it’s easier. You have taken that as some kind of implication that your skills are not up to the task of a “harder” class like mesmer, when it in no way implies that. That’s the principal point, that you’re taking words of people about advising an “easier” class to be a statement about your abilities, when that isn’t true!

Ryou.2398:

And why does it matter so much? I did not insult him in any way, nor was I offended but clearly you are.

Given that you have multiple times misinterpreted and even taken things said by my fellow forum-goers as a personal insult, I am responding as a member of a community to inform you that your reaction to that community is inappropriate, insofar as you are incorrectly interpreting their words.

In more general terms, I regard it as the responsibility of any member of a community to help facilitate communication within that community, to defend fellow community members against unwarranted attacks, and to provide assistance to fellow community members as time allows and need warrants.
In short, I’m responding to you because I feel your behavior warrants it, and I have so far had the time to do so (whereas those you are responding to don’t necessarily).

What? Many times? You have no clue what your talking about and lets be honest here your looking for an internet fight, that is literally all you are doing, your picking a fight with something you are clearly wrong about and with someone you hardly know. It does not matter how you feel about me when you are wrong. You are truly reaching, and your insecurities to feed your ego are extreme. And if you really cared about your forum members as you said your post history would be far nicer then it appears, and you would not be doing this in public, this is really about you being called out.

I love how you state these things with no explanation, I had very few issues in these forums, maybe some of you are just over senstitive online and are misreading me. And that is very ironic.

I agree to disagree on what you think imply means.