Guild Wars 2

I’ve played a Mesmer for a few days now and I have to say that it is a fantastic class to play in PVP but in PVE it has some useless talents. The mobs, creatures (whatever you call them) do not attack the clones. The do on rare occasion but for the most part, they don’t. Is it a big deal? I would say so considering the profession is built around clones and misdirection. What good is misdirection to a computer generated mob who knows which one is “the real Mesmer”?
In PVP this profession has all the skills to misdirect anybody but in PVE it is thumbs down for me. Maybe if the clones did damage it would it be better. Not sure how the hate (agro) meter works here in GW2 but without clones doing damage, there is no reason for a mob to run towards it.

Mobs attack my clones fairly often, especially the melee ones. Oh and phantasms, mobs looooove hitting phantasms.

I’ve had the same experience as splepage.

I mostly use the GS and the phantasm usually holds the mob(s) attention.

It really helps to opening with a clone/phantasm and then getting a second one out quickly, you’ll have trouble losing aggro once you grab it. With the gs in particular it helps to open with the berserker rather than mirror blade as you’ll pick up aggro in the time between the blade hitting and the clone spawning.

I can fairly regularly not get hit in PvE just by having mobs attack my phantasms and clones. It’s a different play style and takes a while to get the hang of. Just keep in mind the NPCs don’t know which is the real mesmer. If it’s a melee mob they pretty much just smack what’s nearby and if you keep clones on them they don’t really move. Range is a bit more difficult but you can still trick them. Dodge clone spawn helps with this as does decoy.

Some things that may help in addition to what others have said is to use some utilities that may help you get out of dodge momentarily — decoy and blink would be some suggestions. Mirror image can help to pump out more illusions quickly for various uses.

Using the sword’s #2 can give you evasion, which can make you immune to hits as well as dish out some damage. Using the focus’s #4 ability twice can suck enemies through the line you put down like a knockback, which can help keep them at bay for a moment as well.

For me it’s a bit different as I’m full heal specced, different playing style.

I prefer that the mobs hit me and leave my phantasms/clone alone. As everyone knows Mesmer’s aren’t that good in farming multi-mobs but a heal specced Mesmer excells against Veterans and Champions if there aren’t too many adds spawning.

Incidentally the common sentiment is that Mesmer Clones are insanely powerful in PvE because single Champion mobs basically cannot ever kill you, due to constantly switching to the clones instead.

This is especially true if you have the Clone-on-Dodge talent.

Once higher level enemies have targeted you, the only way to reliably train them on your illusions is by staying far enough away while positioning your illusions as close as possible to them and have them crippled or stunned. Champions usually have a higher run/swim speed, so you can’t kite them without dodging or other kinds of teleports. That’s not a problem per se, but you’d be lucky to have your illusions survive a swing of champ if it attacks in an arc.

That’s only my experience, though.

My Mesmer PVE leveling got a whole lot easier once I reached L.40 and picked up the additional staff bounce. I put down my GS and started using the staff to tear apart mobs and my clones apply cripple upon death. Now I find my Mesmer in the 50s, I love the extra bonus XP from tearing apart mobs that are +5 in levels to me which is something which was very difficult with a GS. Last night I was getting around 100xp plus around 400xp bonus for 500xp total. I went and checked out killing mobs my level and I was only getting around 100XP total with bonus.

There were times that I was pulling unwanted aggro from 1-2 adds that were +5 in level to me. Handling a pull of two wasn’t all that bad with the staff with extra bounce, two adds was difficult in that I had to do a lot of dancing, dodges, and swapping of weapon sets to get enough clones out.

I’ve been playin with clones to see what I can do to maximize their use. A few things I noticed:
-Mobs will aggro on whatever it sees first.
-Given the choice of hittin something close and chasing after you, it will normally go after what is closest.
-A mob can aggro your clone and not aggro you – it seems unaware there is a connection. If a mob kills your clone and you are not on mobs hate list, it won’t come after you.
-Dodge clones can sometimes target the closest mob instead of your target. I don’t know how many adds I’ve killed because of that.

Often it’s best of you lead with a clone skill, and make sure it’s closer than you are. Some weapons guarantee that, sword clone leaps forward, great sword clones spawn in melee, staff spawns at your location and teleports you back. Other skills you have to be more aware of position – mirror image and dodge clones will spawn at your location, so move away when you make them.

You still can’t expect clones to take every hit, but if you think of clones as mobile aegis, they are awesome for soaking up damage for you. Not to mention all their other uses.