Guild Wars 2

I’m growing tired of Spvp and WvW so i decided to get back into PvE. I have 2 level 80s. A Staff ele for both PvE and PvP, and a Power Ranger for WvW and PvP. I wanted to give a new class a go so i decided on Mesmer. If you guys don’t mind, can you answer a few beginner questions? Thank you!

1. I have a DPS Ele for PvE and a Bunker Ele for PvP. How is Ele compared to Mesmer? Is it harder? Easier?

2. I plan to use this Mesmer primarily for PvE. Can anyone direct me to an easy build so i can get use to the class?

3. How is the class overall? Good? Bad?

Again, thank you for your help!

1. Staff ele is easier to play than most mesmer builds. D/D ele is harder to play than most mesmer builds.

2. For the best output I would follow this:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_S/S_/F_/P

For just general running around or having fun it doesn’t really matter what you go with, but I like to run something like this for convenience:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8cnsIClohNqBmpBUrhlUDC96Zf7kDoEBo8DnoAA-TBBXgAAK/C190r+zjSQA-e

3. Mesmers are really useful right now, both in PvE, WvW, and sPvP. In PvE everyone wants at least one mesmer for the awesome reflects, Time Warp, and general group support. Mesmers can also output respectable DPS (though not nearly as strong as some other classes like ele).

Prism.5649:

1. Staff ele is easier to play than most mesmer builds. D/D ele is harder to play than most mesmer builds.

2. For the best output I would follow this:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_S/S_/F_/P

For just general running around or having fun it doesn’t really matter what you go with, but I like to run something like this for convenience:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8cnsIClohNqBmpBUrhlUDC96Zf7kDoEBo8DnoAA-TBBXgAAK/C190r+zjSQA-e

3. Mesmers are really useful right now, both in PvE, WvW, and sPvP. In PvE everyone wants at least one mesmer for the awesome reflects, Time Warp, and general group support. Mesmers can also output respectable DPS (though not nearly as strong as some other classes like ele).

I beg to differ on 1. I played a lot of DD ele and a little bit of staff ele. I staff ele more difficult to play. DD ele is super easy mode compared to mesmer play.

Edit: Oh just realize it is PvE centric discussion. I am sorry I am more talking about PvP.

Ele in PvE doesn’t just blow Mesmer out of the water, it blows it 3,000 miles in land and buries it 6ft under its meteor shower.

As a Mesmer in most speed clears you’re there for portal and time warp (maybe reflects). For casual runs, whatever you like but your job would be done just as well by a guardian with less effort and more tagging power. No I’m not meaning staff, I mean just doing upfront AoE damage that isn’t reliant on a brain dead AI that at best can be described as suicidal.

Mesmer is nice for a change of pace especially if you have no guards and really excels when guards aren’t around. However it rapidly becomes less important when guards appear and considering how many players love guardians it’s pretty common.

Staff ele is as far as I know the highest or second highest dps in the game second to only thief and can provide a lot for the party even if things start falling apart. If you already have a zerk staff ele I see no reason to get a mesmer unless you wanna ditch guards in your usual party.

Open world it’s up to you, few people care but Mesmer has problems keeping up without investment in swiftness uptime and trouble tagging stuff due to lack of AoE and phantasms having poor scaling.