Advice on choice of Me/E

Bought Guild Wars the first week it came out....but, sadly, I just could not get into the game at the time. I think I didn't get much further than the Searing, and some premade PvP characters. Unfortunately, I was playing that 'other game', which in retrospect was a HUGE waste of time, and essentially a second job.


Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Read a little about the expansions, and how 'disposable' PvP characters were. I REALLY like the fact, that for PvP characters, once you unlock something, you have it PERMANENTLY. I can reroll in PvP until my fingers bleed if I want, and never lose a thing. Again, unlike that other game, where you need to invest months(years) of your life to simply play on an even level....god forbid you try and get ahead...in which case you might as well call your friends and family and tell them to 'get lost'.


Anyways, I ramble....



The point of this email: When I bought these expacs and started playing again, I continued on my original character, a Memer/Elementalist. When looking at the original descriptions, and considering that I like to play ranged casters in games, I figured "Hey, a ranged caster who can cast faster than anyone else in the game. My durability sucks, but I should be able to nuke someone down before they can respond, right???"


Unfortunately, it hasn't played out that way. Did I make a bad choice??



The reason I ask is that I am fairly well along in the prophecies campaign, maybe a little over half, in the desert. I have collected a pretty good spread of elemental and mesmer skills through all the questing, but I know there are more to be had, especially elites.

Is it worth it to continue on with my MeE?? Starting over will invalidate a considerable amount of time (over 100 hours at this point). Am I simply missing something that levels the playing field for Mesmers??



In PvP, I find my durability is HORRIBLE, and my teammates (in the random arenas) are NOT to be relied on. I need to be self sufficient. I know it's not simply a matter of me missing some basic game concept. I have played around with other classes, and frankly, they are far more durable, and seem to be able to put out more damage, yet still self heal. I especially like the Dervish, who is rapidly becoming my favorite class. Unfortunately, you don't receive any free skills outside of Prophecies. And, I feel like I need to stay in the random arenas until I have enough experience to actually start looking for a team/guild.


Advice?? Should I slog it out, and play my MeE though all three campaigns and collect all the skills??? Or, am I going to find the MeE to be sub-par even when I have a competitive skill set??


Thanks for any advice you can give. Yeah, it's a long post, and may have cost you a few kminutes to read, but I am considering shelving over 100 hours of work on a character, and kind of feel ambiguous about what to do.

You have not got to the big elite skill area yet (after the desert). Your build can use 1 elite skill a example [skill]energy surge[/skill]. Although some builds out there are very good without an elite. I think you will find one to suit your fancy. I found going with air and inspiration (energy return and healing) and fast casting that you can really “machine gun” style take down a foe. The real AOE nuking comes form fire example [skill]searing flames[/skill] but you need nightfall campaign to use this skill. You are close to the fun areas so tough it out and I am sure you will do fine.

If you are still in the desert area, take a look at [skill]Mantra of Recovery[/skill]. It's a pretty good all around skill for a mesmer.

If you are trying to hold up better in RA, your best bet is probably illusion. I have had pretty decent success with the following builds:

[skill]Migraine[/skill][skill]Power Drain[/skill][skill]Web of Disruption[/skill][skill]Drain Delusions[/skill][skill]Distortion[/skill][skill]Conjure Phantasm[/skill][skill]Drain Enchantment[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

[skill]Images of Remorse[/skill][skill]Clumsiness[/skill][skill]Ineptitude[/skill][skill]Conjure Phantasm[/skill][skill]Distortion[/skill][skill]Energy Tap[/skill][skill]Drain Enchantment[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Mesmers are pretty vulnerable characters no matter what and you will likely need a monk or restoration rit in your group if you want any hope at getting a glad point, but I've found that Distortion at least keeps you from getting spiked by warriors or SP 'sins. Replacing that skill with Illusion of Weakness or Ether Feast would be fine as well. If you are unable to run those builds due to lack of skills, you can likely run the Clumsiness build with Mantra of Recovery or if you can get farther in the game. Capping [skill]Energy Drain[/skill] could also allow for a workable build as well (especially when Clumsiness gets buffed to only a 4 second recharge this weekend).

I've actually tried the builds you've listed above, minus the elites, obviously. (Note that I actually have a few incidental elites from Factions and Nightfall - I did the quests to get the extra heroes like the assassin, and picked up some elem elites like Double Dragon, but no mesmer elites)


Unfortunately, what I find is that putting a DOT like Conjure Phantasm/Nightmare on someone, it either gets removed immediately, or is ineffective. I even ran a build after buying the 3 biggest DOTs in the illusion line, and found that even loading all 3 up on a player in PvP barely took off a third of his health, all while he was hitting me for 100+ a hit.

I like the ideas, and understand what you are showing me, especially in the interest of playing to your strengths, but they don't seem to provide any consistent means of damaging someone. Both of the builds you detail, other than DOTs, require someone else to do the killing. Unfortunately, in the Random Arenas, I find, even on my own team, it's every man for himself. I have experimented with pure mesmer build which strip enchantmeants, add hexes, and generally remove or add conditions in order to help my team. But when that assasin gets pissed that I put empathy on him, he somehow purges it, and then proceeds to kick my ass...and, of course, I get no support or healing from my team. I can't escape, I have only a single small self heal, and I certainly don't do enough damage to kill him first.


Lately, I have started running every RA build I use with ether feast, energy tap, and the inspiration stance that increases armor. This slightly improves my durability. Then I dump the rest in fire or some other ele line for damage.



I know that realistically, for a mesmer to be effective, he acts to support other teammates....He is NOT the damage dealer...


Is there any way to make my self independent and effective in PvP with a Me/E build?? I have no problems buying any skill I can get to, and I have all 3 expacs.

RA:

Hex Eater
[skill]Hex Eater Vortex[/skill][skill]Unnatural Signet[/skill][skill]Diversion[/skill][skill]Shatter Enchantment[/skill][skill]Backfire[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Ether Feast[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Anti-Melee
[skill]Ineptitude[/skill][skill]Clumsiness[/skill][skill]Images of Remorse[/skill][skill]Inspired Hex[/skill][skill]Spirit of Failure[/skill][skill]Conjure Phantasm[/skill][skill]Ether Feast[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Those are some fun builds to try out in RA. For Me/E the only E you should be using is glyph of lesser energy. In RA always bring a self heal no matter what, as well as a res signet (unless your a monk) in order to survive better. Btw pvp targets go like this: Monk - Resto Rit, Mesmer - Paragon - Ele, Necro - Ranger, Sin - Warrior, Dervish. Of course there are exceptions like if your a smiting monk, your obviously not going to be targeted over the healing monk (most of the time anyways) and people have different priorities that go with their builds like anti-melee builds etc. Domination still remains my choice, but a few illusion builds work EXTREMELY well, although they are total gimmicks.

PvE:

Echo
[skill]Echo[/skill][skill]Overload[/skill][skill]Empathy[/skill][skill]Cry of Frustration[/skill][skill]Power Drain[/skill][skill]Inspired Hex[/skill][skill]Unnatural Signet[/skill] [skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill] or [skill]Web of Disruption[/skill]

Esurge
[skill]Energy Surge[/skill][skill]Energy Burn[/skill][skill]Empathy[/skill][skill]Mistrust[/skill][skill]Power Drain[/skill][skill]Power Spike[/skill][skill]Ether Phantom[/skill] [skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill] or random skill

Shatter Spike (aka omgwtfbbq)
[skill]Mantra of Recovery[/skill] or [skill]Assassin's Promise[/skill] [skill]Phantom Pain[/skill][skill]Shatter Delusions[/skill]

These are just some fun builds I randomly use on my mes. If you want to see big numbers, roll an elementalist and just use Searing Flames + Glowing Gaze spam. A mesmer is a more subtle damage dealer, and albeit not as capable at doing AoE damage, can seriously hurt bosses and higher level enemies b/c of thier armor-ignoring damage.

I like to play an offensive mesmer, instead of those "supportive" ones. If you ask me to take Expel Hexes over hex eater, I most likely won't. The mesmer is a very versatile class, so don't pigeonhole it into being only supportive.

The thing about mesmers again is that you CANNOT stick with one build throughout hte entire game (aka SF ele), and you must adapt your build specifically towards the environment. Lots of hexes? Bring hex eater + shatter hex. Lots of enchants? Bring shatter enchant + mirror of disenchantment. Heavy melee? Empathy + spirit of failure. You really have to familiarize yourself with what you are working with.

Mesmer is a best used for shutdown, but it sounds like you are an Elementalist at heart and want to be some kind of fast casting damage dealer.

Me/Any Lesser Nuker

Me/E with elementalist skills:
FC Air Spiker
FC Nuker
FC Water Elementalist

Illusionary Weaponry
Me/A
Me/D
Me/W

Me/N gimmicks (this is something I would not recommend running regularly, but they are worth trying to get to know your opponents better):
Virulence Spiker
SB/RI
Discord

Assassin's Promise + Spiritual Pain used to be fun too, expecially with another mesmer on your team.

Keep in mind that you can change your secondary profession after ascension - you don't have to stay Me/E forever.

It looks like you are having difficulties staying alive. While the success of the battle depends on the entire team, you can do some things to improve your durability. The best damage mitigation is kiting: run away before they can reach you. Use health armor, don't use sup runes, get defense weaponset with various shields (you can unlock equipment with balthazar faction and use it on your pvp character as an alternative).

To really appreciate mesmer's primary abiities you should try GvG

Here is some additional reading:
A Beginner's Guide to the Profession of Mesmers
Lyssa's Citadel: Mesmer FAQs
Mesmer Mana Management Statistics
Mesmer Guide