Guild Wars 2

I’ve been playing since a month in to launch and of all the classes I have at 80 (engineer, warrior, guardian, mesmer) the mesmer is by far my favorite. I played a mesmer in GW1 and although fundamentally different they’re still my favorite class. However, when I look online there seems to be a hate towards mesmers or the idea that mesmer’s aren’t particularly useful in PvE encounters. Am I just unfortunately finding the vocal minority of posts on these forums and reddit that seem to dislike mesmers or are they in fact a sub-par class for PvE encounters?

Does anyone have any motivational words or advice to keep playing my mesmer?

Mesmer is great in PvE. We have a lot of utility which makes us valuable in many encounters. Our weak spot had been tagging mobs in bigger events but as of the last patch, we have much better means to do that with the buffed Mantra of Pain and GS Mind Stab radius expansion. For dungeons, we are more than capable with some good builds. These are a just couple minor examples.

Keep playing mesmer. Join the OMFG guild if you’d like to get around more like minded people who play the best class in the game.

I’ll look in to OMFG. I’m currently in a guild that requires 100% rep, but I’d rather be in a guild that appreciates mesmers. It’s frustrating because right when I start thinking about how much I love my mesmer someone has to go and tear it down.

We are great at PvE, the only complaint I have is that we are slow as molasses and tend to lag behind the group when moving. This can, of course, be negated but only if you want to use up your rune slot for movement speed.

For dungeons we supply an almost endless supply of other beings for the monsters to cleave into. I think this fact is almost always forgotten about with most groups. We also have some nice reflects and we do hold our own with DPS.

It’s just hard when you have everyone comparing all professions to either a warrior or a guardian. Not every profession can match up to the ease of play those two professions bring to anyone who plays them. Mesmers take a bit of skill to use properly and you have to pay attention to the battle instead of mindless spamming 1-5 while eating dinner.

I love my mesmer and it’s my main. OMFG is a good place to start, the leaders/members are super helpful with builds and general mesmer questions.

I’ve never had a problem with Mesmer in dungeons. Illusions deal awesome damage. So does my sword. And If an illusion dies, they’re easy to quickly replace.

Damage aside, mesmers also have group support by way of tons of reflects and stealth skipping. There are other ways mesmers help groups but you’re always going to get someone saying “class x does it better so why bother?” Ignore them and play the class you find to be the most fun.

You’re hearing the majority, but the majority in this case is pretty badly misinformed. =/ Some other classes do have it easier than us, but that doesn’t make us bad.

FGS made mesmer dumpster tier but now that it’s a non-issue, mesmers are in a nice place.

maha.7902:

FGS made mesmer dumpster tier but now that it’s a non-issue, mesmers are in a nice place.

Also the fact that iWarden is reasonably reliable now helps a lot.

Mesmer fits perfectly into the Meta, and is generally a very good, versatile class in PvE. With the nerf of Ele’s Fiery Greatsword, Time Warp became one of the strongest skills a speed-run could get.

Mes is in meta only thanks to the people who are able to pull off mesmer strengths to the max – reflects and portal. Mesmer direct DPS is quite amazing but only in theory. Too many variables to keep in check to pull that off. Realistically, average mes will do about the same dps as a dagger necro. In fact, under full buffs I’d even go as far as assuming that necro will actually out-dps the mesmer right up to about 10s into the fight.

If only our phantasms had the same HP as their owner, but that would completely ruin PvP balance so we PvE’rs are stuck with paper summons…

frifox.5283:

If only our phantasms had the same HP as their owner, but that would completely ruin PvP balance so we PvE’rs are stuck with paper summons…

Phantasms have drastically higher HP in PvE compared to PvP. This is something that has already been split, and could be further modified.

Since last patch and the death of FGS, aswell the mantra buffs, Mesmer have recived a huge buff. They have been buffed the most last patch. Great class and fun to play.

Fay.2357:

Phantasms have drastically higher HP in PvE compared to PvP. This is something that has already been split, and could be further modified.

What would you consider a balanced HP for phantasms in PvE? Currently they’re at 5.8k. Personally, I feel like 8,930 is more fair. This way when you equip both signet and the trait your phantasms will match your HP but never surpass it. With phantasms always facetanking boss attacks at 0 toughness 8.9k will let it tank at least one or two hits before dying. Of course, in case of lupi’s kick they’ll still insta-die…

frifox.5283:

Fay.2357:

Phantasms have drastically higher HP in PvE compared to PvP. This is something that has already been split, and could be further modified.

What would you consider a balanced HP for phantasms in PvE? Currently they’re at 5.8k. Personally, I feel like 8,930 is more fair. This way when you equip both signet and the trait your phantasms will match your HP but never surpass it. With phantasms always facetanking boss attacks at 0 toughness 8.9k will let it tank at least one or two hits before dying. Of course, in case of lupi’s kick they’ll still insta-die…

The issue is that in GW2, attacks aren’t meant to be facetanked. You’re meant to dodge them instead, and phantasms don’t dodge. If you gave them enough health to survive attacks that should be dodged, the defender would basically never ever die to anything ever, and provide parties with a permanent 50% damage reduction. Other illusions would be able to ignore all but the biggest attacks as well.

I think they have hp that’s too low currently, but you do have to be a little careful with increasing it significantly. Consider that the defender has 12.5k right now, if you brought that up to 18kish, it could have ~30k hp fully buffed, which is rather massive.

We can compare the defender to the Ele earth elementals as both more or less do the same job as the defender but on a higher cooldown & aren’t dependent on your enemy being alive. The lesser earth elemental is 24,656 hp and elite is 33,271 hp. Not sure about their toughness so can’t compare that to the defender.

My proposed base illusion hp for phantasms – 8,932 and defender – 13,399. This would mean fully buffed hp for phantasms – 15,185 (same as zerk mes) and defender – 22,778 (+50% as zerk mes). I haven’t tested if it’s the case but I would hope defender to have more toughness than other phantasms as well.

I do believe such hp increase is justified because currently, phantasms die too quick and defender while being in a better position than other phantasms still dies quicker than I would personally hope my “defender” to live, which is the reason for a lesser proposed hp boost compared to other phantasms.