Guild Wars 2

Ashern.5328:

Ignore what everyone else says about Mesmers being bad or not good for beginners. When I first started truly pvping, Mesmer was the first one I chose and was also the first Champion title I achieved. To this day, my Mesmer still has more wins than all other other 7 classes’ wins combined. I played Engi for a while and still do and it’s the only one that came close to the amount of wins as my mes.

If you learn what to and not to do; where and where not to place your phantasms; who you can and cannot fight; it will allow you to be a great Mesmer. Thieves are no longer a “hard counter” for me, they are actually quite easy because now when I see a thief on other team, I mentally prepare myself. Expect at any moment to be hit by about half your health snatched, stunned, and possibly immobilized as well.

Most thieves see you’re a squishy class and think it’s a free win. If you’re quick on the draw, it doesn’t take long to use a stun break right after they first hit you, stealth and then set up your phantasms. Most thieves can’t actually sustain in a head to head fight and will die soon after.

Most of them have the same pattern and once you learn it, it’s easy to avoid it. Half the time you get caught off guard, it’s still possible to recover and win (just depends how far your brain was wandering at the point of getting ganked).

One word of advice, don’t be the person that “plays easy classes to get a hang of the game.” If you like a class, I suggest you play it and learn it. “Easy” classes are cheap and they may be effective in most cases, but they still are, in my eyes, lame when everyone and their mamas are using it just because it’s easy. (No offense to mamas)

I was a bad Mesmer at first until I fought a guild member that was playing very well and I learned how to use the environment to my advantage. Mesmers can’t always fight well on a point (unless they’re condi perhaps but all the going invis may eventually lose them the point they’re on) but they sure can make someone else run off of it.

NecroN.8306:

denis.9487:

Mesmer rocks. Just start small. Ignore the people that say shatter or die. Ease into the class with forgiving specs such as condition pu move to power pu. Then gradually change over pieces to become a bursty spec in pvp/wvw. Mesmer is a boss class. Become feared on your wvw home world!!

Now I know you’re tolling.. No one and I mean NO ONE fears a Mesmer..

Seriously other classes can accomplish what a Mesmer can do in half the time with minimal deaths, but if you like pain with little reward then the Mesmer class is for you. I would not start any crafting or sink gold into soulbounds until you truly think this trash class is for you.. Oh and get used to being kicked from groups just because of your class.. (got a portal?). I would try other classes just to compare and you will see for yourself.

Oh LOOK OUT!!! Here comes NecroN’s Mesmer.. Haahaa OMG thats a good one… Thanks I needed that laugh.

That made me laugh pretty hard (not really). I’m assuming everything you’re talking about is in PvE because in PvP, a good mesmer can do what other classes can do “in half the time.” All classes serve purposes and just because another class —- no, build — can do something quicker doesn’t mean it’s better.

In PvE, mesmers may not deal a lot of damage compared to wars/thieves/eles, but they also have much more utility. A heck of a lot of condi cleanse for the whole party, boon removal for many mobs or bosses that may have some annoying boon on, and not to mention quickly rotated reflects. Defiance removal, CCing and hello! Time warp?

Any party that kicks you because you’re a Mesmer are either mentally kittened or only sees ZERKER ZERKER MAX DAMAGE as the only way to play through a fricken dungeon. While they’re at it, I’ll bet they wiped 3 times in the process.

Don’t let anyone tell you that a Mesmer isn’t good unless it’s a specific situation where you can judge for yourself whether or not they are not exactly beneficial to certain places. Don’t let anyone tell you anything bad about a class until you experience it yourself and find out for yourself. Most people that claim things are bad are people that look at “all the pros” and think that only meta builds or classes work. Those are people you should feel sorry for.

Please share some of your ranked PvP videos, especially against good thieves.

Jackums.3496:

They’re currently weak in the PvP meta and you’ll probably find it frustrating getting killed by Thieves seemingly no matter how well you play.

But don’t discourage anyone. I’ve learned how to kill thieves on mes more often than not, it’s quite easy when you learn their attack patterns. Of course thieves that know how to plan their moves ahead of time instead of just spamming 1 hoping to kill a squishy will be more trouble, but it’s still always an even battle.

rchu.8945:

Please share some of your ranked PvP videos, especially against good thieves.

I haven’t ever recorded my fights. I will say though that thieves with Withdraw + Roll For Initiative + S/D can give me a hard time since they’ll be evading 80% of the battle. D/P is another annoyance with the blind, but I’ve slightly learned how to handle most of those situations…

I played GW1 and came to GW2, also with mmo experience. I only played mesmer in GW1 and I only played mesmer in GW2. Unless you are a serious noob to gaming in general or are mentally impaired, mesmer is a great class to play and learn the game on (in pvp, which I assume you are talking about).

Edit: Re. thieves, yes in the ecosystem of PvP you are the food for thieves. On the flip side there are many classes that you will eat just as easily as thieves eat you. Every class/build has some counter in this game, some have harder counters than others. Mesmer happen to have an extremely hard counter in thieves. But it’s ok, just live with it and don’t expect to have some god mode build that can beat everything you encounter and you will still have a great time.

Ashern.5328:

rchu.8945:

Please share some of your ranked PvP videos, especially against good thieves.

I haven’t ever recorded my fights. I will say though that thieves with Withdraw + Roll For Initiative + S/D can give me a hard time since they’ll be evading 80% of the battle. D/P is another annoyance with the blind, but I’ve slightly learned how to handle most of those situations…

what you mean by “slightly learned” when it comes to thieves? Are you saying that it’s still work in progress in getting better against them, or it took you a short time to learn how to deal with.

I dont mean to badger you, but the general sentiment shared by many (including top Mesmer players in high level PvP tournaments) is that an equally skilled thief against Mesmer on the same skill level the advantage is heavily in favor of the thief. I just dont want the new players get the wrong info on the reality of Mesmer in the current state of the game, because it’s not that great, to say the least.

rchu.8945:

Ashern.5328:

rchu.8945:

Please share some of your ranked PvP videos, especially against good thieves.

I haven’t ever recorded my fights. I will say though that thieves with Withdraw + Roll For Initiative + S/D can give me a hard time since they’ll be evading 80% of the battle. D/P is another annoyance with the blind, but I’ve slightly learned how to handle most of those situations…

what you mean by “slightly learned” when it comes to thieves? Are you saying that it’s still work in progress in getting better against them, or it took you a short time to learn how to deal with.

I dont mean to badger you, but the general sentiment shared by many (including top Mesmer players in high level PvP tournaments) is that an equally skilled thief against Mesmer on the same skill level the advantage is heavily in favor of the thief. I just dont want the new players get the wrong info on the reality of Mesmer in the current state of the game, because it’s not that great, to say the least.

It’s not badgering. However, first and foremost, I’ve killed both lesser-skilled theives as well as very good thieves. Half the time it depends if I’m getting ganked while I’m fighting someone else or if I’m aware that a thief is coming after me. I’ve learned to always have my stun break and invis ready in case I get skelked and ganked. Simple things that let you survive better instead of blindly running and being free food. The same goes with any class playing zerker, especially bad rangers that don’t know how to dodge or do anything but spam longbow without any actual goal in mind.

Perhaps I haven’t fought thieves “above my skill level” but the ones I fight commonly in PvP I would consider myself on par. Depending on the place, yes, a thief may have the upper hand. Depending on whether or not my skills are on cd from a previous fight, yes, the thief may have an upper hand. The opposite is also true, there are times when I’m able to time my skills after seeing that they’re about to go into defensive mode instead of attacking me.

I don’t really have to give proof, as if I was telling a story, I simply wouldn’t tell it (why would I come into a Mesmer forum and tell a blatant lie, as to boast? Uh, no.). What I mean by “slightly learned how to handle the situation” is that against D/P blind spammers, yes, I’m continuously getting better; as when I first realized why I was dying to them, I looked for and found a solution for most times.

Nowhere have I stated that no thief can kill me, and it’s not really my concern what the “general sentiment shared by many top players” is, because what they may consider bad, someone else may just be able to play it better than them (and no, I’m not saying I’m better than top Mesmer players either.) I don’t claim to be a top player by any means, but I do claim that the more aware you are of your possibilities and surroundings, the better you will play against any class.

I also don’t want people to get the wrong idea with people everywhere believing that Mesmers will always die to a thief, when it’s simply not true. Yes, some Mesmer players may not know the tricks to battle against thieves; yes, a Thief can be their biggest concern to watch out for, but what isn’t?

The more you get better at a class and the more you learn your enemies (especially since you’ll usually see the same people most of the time in matches), you start to learn why you’re dying and how to improve. It’s not full-proof and you still will die sometimes but no one can stay alive forever.

My statements are simply for people to actually learn their class, learn their enemy’s class, and then understand how their enemy operates.