Guild Wars 2

Ignore the naysayers. You won’t be good right away. It takes time. Go into hotjoin pvp and work on your fighting skills.

Hey everyone!
GW2 is my first MMO and I chose to be a mesmer because they seemed really cool and I liked the idea of having duplicates of me running around.
Some people I talk to are saying “re-roll mesmers are really hard to play for your first MMO” Is this true? because I love the play style I’m just not that good at it. For example I have real trouble with shattering. I have no idea when to do it and which one to use in each situation. Does anyone have any tips for a complete beginner or any beginner friendly builds. Or should I just be a profession that is easier to play?

Mesmer is a slow start class. Whereas the warrior can jump in and have an easy time the Mesmer is more like the Elementalist with a slower hard start. The mesmer is really based around trait and utility rotations which you won’t get around until level 40. Up until level 40 you may feel squishy, but at 40 you can explore builds etc. If your finding a hard time I recommend Pyroatheists Imortal build as it has good survivability.

As for shattering, think of it in steps. Clones do no real damage (except staff clones) and Illusions do damage but it varies, iDefender does a lot less than iSwordsman. As far as timing, they hug the opponent anyway, try and build up 3 clones or illusions and shatter. With illusions such as the greatsword one, wait until the attack has taken place and then you want to generally shatter. Clones are made for shattering and confusion. F1 is your friend, F2 is useful in PvP more often, especially on classes that will slowly kill themselves, such as a Thief.

It is a great class, and once you reach 35-40 you will start having a blast as it is easily one of the most versatile classes in the game.