I just crafted a set of explorer armor after reading all the negativity about Mesmer not doing enough damage, not being able to tag mobs in DE’s etc.
I really don’t understand it all as I have absolutely no problem getting credit for DE’s and tagging mobs. Sword and Izerker never fail me. I usually get my fair share of loot. I don’t know why others can’t. Can anyone explain in detail?
Because phantasm’s attack too slow in order to tag the mob. For tagging mobs in Orr I prefer Sword/Off hand with the trait Illusionary Persona. A mesmer with berserker’s can just mind wrack + coj every cooldown (without clones) and crit hard enough to tag.
Farming? Not a problem – Much like you, Izerker is a great farming tool, and Blurred Frenzy/MindWrack/ChaosStorm are all great tools.
The issue is Dynamic Events with lots of people – It’s not the amount of damage done in Izerkers case, it’s the time it takes to do it. Mobs can and will die extremely fast from a plethora of other players nuking faster than our phantasms will hit, or our Chaos Field to tick off enough condition damage.
For farming on it’s own however, it’s fine. A bit slower than other classes, but entirely doable.
It can depend on how many people are out there when you are.
I have certainly had times where people aoe mobs so quickly I barely get one down before it’s over and there is a around a 30s cooldown on that staff aoe.
Depending on the event, some people know where spawns come from and chase them earlier than they get to the area trying to get the most damage and chance at loot. I don’t think of any of your pets can keep up with something like hundred blades or the spinning aoe that is done by some characters that leap out in front. They sort of go in and out of the mobs getting them when they come and as they move. They also don’t have their attacks stop on other mobs because the one the pet was summoned on died. That’s the tricky part about pets doing aoe, if you summon it on the one that people focus fire, you get the least results from it because other people will more or less kill your pet (since the pet blows up if the mob dies). The time it takes to tab around then recast two pets in two different places (and be in range), yeah, not as easy as a one button approach that just says “do aoe near me and don’t stop just because one mob died in the group”.
Sometimes a mob is less than 50% health by the time I hit it, guess you don’t have as many people as I’ve seen. Maybe it’s server related depending on how much of your population is matured to 80 or want to be in 80 zones. That’s where I see the most people farming and have witnessed mobs going down sometimes before I even hit them.
We can farm pretty good. I would almost say solo we can farm better then most classes becaus they lack the sustain dmg we got. But in BIG zergs like in WvW( 50+) we have a hard time. Not becaus does not enough dmg it is more that it does not instant dmg. Unless you go iPersona and Midewrack in there faces you have a little delay between the cast and the dmg most other class don’t have.
We aren’t the best farmer especially when there is a huge group like DE most of the time, we just attack to slowly to hit multiple mobs compared to other classes aoe nukes but in solo / small group farming were fine.
hmm ive never had a problem in the events tagging mobs at all and i run with GS/Staff get full credit and lots of loot. even with like 20 ppl thier still i get my share. when tht mob spawns freakin switch to staff and cast chaos field x.x then spawn a few clones mind wrack and switch to GS and spam ur skills on the mobs works for me everytime x.x
The questiong I would make is if any other class is doing any better in those huge zerg situations with 50 people? It’s nice to say that mesmers aren’t doing well, but is anyone doing well with that man people spamming AOE?
They are Eliteseraph. They have less need of preparation, to the point they can just spam their AoE attack before the mob arrives. Mesmers needs a target at the very least to generate the illusions, if not already be in combat or the target not being invulnerable.
So take the preparation time needed, tack on the travel time for clones to reach the target they were spawned on, and throw in the fact the AoE won’t go off if the target dies before the Phantasm is summoned or the Mind Wrack Illusion reaches OR if the illusion itself gets killed by enemy AoE/attacks first, and you get a very unfavorable circumstance for the Mesmer trying to tag in that situation. Then throw in the CDs on the few AoE skills we have, that isn’t the Sword’s first two auto-attacks (3 targets withing 130 range).
If there is time? Yeah, we can tag. If there isn’t time, nope we can’t. And there never is time in the huge zerg situations.
If only Mirror Images WASN’T on a 45 second CD (36 sec with Illusionist’s Celerity), as thats the best utility to hit before a Wrack to tag a group you are in the middle of.
YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN’T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?
- (Death, Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)
For non Zerg farming I think Mesmer is a great class. Because of the inherent defense of our clones and abilities we have, we can focus far more on DPS stats and still be very effective in chain pulling. A lot of other classes have a harder time doing this as effectively. A solid Sword/XX + XXX shatter build will give you all the tools to be a fast and effective farmer as you get used to it.
For Zergs… yea we are terrible. Honestly though, zergs are just not fun for me anyway, so I don’t miss it. The only problem I had before was that zergs are the best way to make Karma, but now with the new Liquid Karma and Dungeon Karma, I have other activities I can do and still get it.
If you have tried farming at an Orr DE with a zerg of other level 80’s, you know that mobs die within a fraction of a second of spawning. That doesn’t leave you much time to tag as many mobs as possible. I’m not saying it can’t be done with my mesmer, but it’s so much easier on my warrior.
Mesmer’s really shine in pvp. They have a lot of dps, utility, and misdirection that, with skill, can be used to win 3 vs 1 or more. It requires a combination of technique, strategy, and quick reflexes but fights take a while. In the context of farming with a lot of others where the window to burst your aoe dmg is small, mesmers are way out of their element.
I honestly don’t understand any of the grousing people have about mesmers and farming DEs. I can deal nearly 10k damage in 3s to all mobs in a tight area if I use my abilities right. Takes more skill than other classes, sure, but Mirror Blade → iZerker → roll for clone → Mind Wrack, maybe follow up with a Mind Stab if necessary and now I’ve more than tagged everything that I just hit. If you can’t tag mobs with that, or even a fraction of it, then the fault is yours, not your class’s. You can’t just wait for the mobs to come to you, you need to know where they spawn and be on them the moment they do.
So in other words, you must be 30/30 ( crit/power) full power/crit gear.. and ONE specific spec for pve or you lose…
At least thats what Im seeing by the responses here.
I know as for my spec, I don’t have clone on dodge or high power/crit and Im toughness/condition spec. So my Mind Wrack doesnt do 10k damage in the blink of an eye.
Now, I must respec to do DE’s and not really play the class the way I wanted to. I just have to be a cookie cutter spec like everyone else../sigh
Seasha, I have no pity for that kind of attitude. This entire conversation is about farming two specific events in one zone. You don’t want to change your playstyle to perform well in those two specific events? Then go earn money some other way. Go gather, go play the market, go farm earth elementals for lodestones, maybe do something creative like use your portal to sell runs through the Obsidian Sanctum jumping puzzle, I don’t know, anything. But don’t go cry that you won’t swap weapons for two specific events and expect the game to cater itself towards you.
And no, you don’t need to respec. Just slap a greatsword on and a set of rare explorer’s gear and you’re set. What, you don’t want to spend like three gold on a suit of farming gear? If that’s the case, then honestly you don’t really deserve to farm efficiently in the first place. You’re going to want magic find gear for it anyways, it makes absolutely no sense not to farm without it, so you might as well get the power and precision magic find.
My build is a shatter- and condition-heavy staff build, and I have zero trouble tagging mobs in group events. Spawn three clones, send them in with CoF. Six stacks of confusion on every mob in range, plus whatever other conditions you’ve got in your traits. Combine this with a chaos storm and your staff auto attack and you’ll be raking in the sparkles. Trust me, there is always a way.
Staff + Bounce Trait + Skills 1 and 5 = Tag ALL the things!
Nope! Projectile is slow and it’s conditions after all.
Focus + Phantasmal Fury Trait + Skill 5 = Tag ALL the things!
Nope! It has cast time, remember?
Both work not so good in zerg events.
Ya, those will only tag if someone else in your group is doing real damage. Staff auto-attack will not tag mobs solo if there are more than a few people around.
The shatter builds certainly do the damage…but you really need to instantly have those clones out, send to the right place, and shattered. e.g. if a champ summoned adds around him, you could have the clones just sitting there on the champ and mindwrack to AoE tag the adds. Usually you have a situation where a clump spawns in a new location with a vet and normal trash…tagging the vet is easy…tagging the normal mobs before they melt is extremely difficult on mesmer. Many classes are spamming AoEs waiting for the mobs to even render on the screen.
Trust me, there is always a way.