Guild Wars 2

I realize there are many threads on this, but, thanks to forum search being broken, it’s difficult to really track down threads specific to what I’m trying to describe here.

My mesmer is currently level 32, and Im’ really only targeting level 40 at this point, so she can do jump puzzles and get the Empyreal shards (if it is indeed true that level 40 is the goal for this. I know she doesn’t get them currently from JP chests and such).
I’d love to go to 80, but that is a daunting task currently because my Mesmer simply doesn’t do any damage.

When I go against a mob that is even a level below me, it is a long battle, and I feel like I’m trying to kill it with a Nerf bat, all the while praying I don’t draw aggro on anything else, because she’s already at half health and using #6 every time it’s ready.

Part of GW2 is about balancing your choices. You can’t have high DPS and high defense (though many seem to argue that Warriors and Guardians are exempt from that). The problem I’m having is I appear to have found the polar opposite. Low DPS, and low defense.

What I’d like to know are some of the following:

What are my play-style options for Mesmer in PvE?

What attributes fit best with a given play style?

Are Mesmers stuck with a small set of builds that work, while all the rest are trash, or is there room for customization based on personal preference? (For instance, I am quite happy with my Ranger which is a hybrid of two builds I ran across).

Thanks.

The best advice is just to keep at it and try not to get discouraged. Levels 20-39 are a slog no matter how you’re set up, but at 40, the mesmer becomes a totally different class. Deceptive Evasion changes everything. Do some crafting, your personal story, or follow a champion train around Queensdale, anything to get you to level 40 and the next tier of traits.

Some things I tried at your level:

-Five points in Dueling is the most important thing to keep you alive. Critical Infusion will keep you in vigor pretty much constantly. Five more points will decrease the recharge on Blurred Frenzy (with Blade Training), which is key to both doing damage and avoiding it. As an added bonus, Blade Training will give you precision, which means more vigor triggers.

-The Dissipations: Domination V and Chaos V will go a long way to keeping you alive if you like weapons that keep the clones coming (scepter and staff)

-Oof, I definitely benefitted from having Illusionists Celerity as the adept minor trait for Illusions. That definitely hurt low level mesmers. My advice is to just not worry about shattering until you get to 40. Others might disagree, but I just don’t think you can do enough damage without a constant supply of clones. So if you want to use illusions, I’d stick with phantasms, especially Duelist (pistol) and Berserker (greatsword). Ten points in Inspiration for Persisting Images will help them get off a couple attacks and do a bit more damage with the retaliation from Vengeful Images. Empowered Illusions (Domination III) will also help them (and so will the extra 100 power).

Good luck, and again, just stick it out.

Try the leveling guide in my signature. It will probably work.

Mesmer is actually the one class that gets both high DPS and high defense in the same build. Their armor is light, so it’s not ideal for facetanking things, but they have so many active defense options that it doesn’t really matter. This isn’t as apparent in open-world PvE where you’re usually not incentivized to try to actually avoid attacks, but the difference is super obvious in dungeons where you can just AFK through OHKO attacks that other classes have to manage their endurance/heals/whatever to avoid.

For low levels, scepter and sword are probably your best bets. Scepter because it’s one of the few weapons that can generate clones quickly for shattering without being traited, and sword because it’s basically the mesmer’s only direct DPS weapon.

Anndd there’s always This handy little Mesmer guide.

Simply put, go with GS + Sword/Focus and dump trait points into dueling.

Thank you all for the info.

Btw, scepter is the worst of all clone generators for leveling. In the time it takes to get out your first scepter clone, you can cast Mirror Blade and Berserker on your GS and use Mind Wrack.
So, till you get your first clone out with scepter, the mob would probably be dead already.

Try it yourself, buy a scepter and a salvage kit. Equip scepter and test it. Use salvage kit on scepter.

Are you totally new to the game? Is this your first char? If so, struggling with PVE for lvl is very normal for mesmer. It doesn’t have many potent aoe skills to kill multiple so most of the time it wil be slaying mobs one by one. If you have friends, try swapping char when doing dungeon, that will give you about 70-80% exp per run.

Or join the zerg train, but I recommend that you don’t though… you’re gonna lose interest in the game real quick.

Also, the halloween event just arrived. Join the upleveled areas. Doing events in upleveled areas will always give you higher exp.

DavyMcB.1603:

Are you totally new to the game? Is this your first char? If so, struggling with PVE for lvl is very normal for mesmer. It doesn’t have many potent aoe skills to kill multiple so most of the time it wil be slaying mobs one by one. If you have friends, try swapping char when doing dungeon, that will give you about 70-80% exp per run.

Or join the zerg train, but I recommend that you don’t though… you’re gonna lose interest in the game real quick.

Also, the halloween event just arrived. Join the upleveled areas. Doing events in upleveled areas will always give you higher exp.

I appreciate the thoughts, but no, I’m not new. I have four 80’s (Ranger/Warrior/Thief/Necro) and two with world completion.

This does not, of course, mean I’m any good at the game.

That being said, it is difficult to level in the area I’m in, but I’ve never been in a position where I felt so completely powerless. I feel at times like she could beat them to death with her bare hands faster than with her GS.

I’m going to work on the character tonight with what has been suggested above and try some different things. Fortunately, being level 32, stuff is still relatively cheap and/or easy to make. Not like I’m needing to replace exotics.

Neural.1824:

I realize there are many threads on this, but, thanks to forum search being broken, it’s difficult to really track down threads specific to what I’m trying to describe here.

.

Neural.1824:

I realize there are many threads on this, ).

Thanks.

Hi,
There are so many ways to play. Its not like WoW – no cookie cutter must haves.

My current favourite – is this

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83936-the-new-mesmer-meta/
This is at level cap.

Hints:
Use crafting to level as much as you can afford.
Priority #1 is to get the Way Points for each of the world bosses.

Grab www.gw2stuff.com Overlay and use it all the time to port to the active Events, helps with gear, xp, karma and fun factor. Dont bother with tequatl unless u join TTS Guild (see guilds in forums) waste of time otherwise.
(hint- Fire Ele and Golem2 – stay at the rear and just res ppl till max lvl)

Levelling:
Suggest run Illusion Army – great fun and takes away any frustration, makes you pretty unkillable when done right

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1cjmri/new_player_guide_to_leveling_a_mesmer_the/