Mesmers New and Old

Submitted this to a PvE thread in Riverside and thought others might get a headnod out of it. This is more for the newb mesmer out there, both warning and suggestions. Take it with a grain of salt:

Mesmer=Brains

That’s not a flame on other classes, and I'll explain why. Mesmers are the anti-class, designed to shutdown, turn away or outright squash the opposition with selective spells. the problem with such a class is that, in order for a mesmer to be effective, they have to first be aware of the monsters they are going to be fighting.

Most (good) mesmers are on their 3rd to 6th character. They have played the game through and know how to use it. But that’s not how most original mesmers got their start.

Mesmers are the outcast class because so many people started picking up their skills thinking "this will work great in X situation". And they were right.

The problem was, and people discovered this when they brought that skill along, that it is often very difficult to get specific monsters to place themselves into that compromising position. Trying to Power Spike a caster resulted in the mob not casting any other spells for a while, so your waiting Power Drain kept waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

"Screw this, I could be killing stuff" says the new Mesmer and swaps back to his Ele, using Meteor instead to hopefully shut down a lucky cast instead of Mesmer Interrupts giving him a sure thing. Target Lock, a term I used to use when referring to FPS Snipers who stayed zoomed into their scope and oblivious to their surroundings, is more effective with nukers, as they can just say "die" to whatever they choose and start casting spells. They don't have to look beyond the character they are nuking, beyond the occasional 'if I wait a second, i can get that mob into my AoE too".

Mesmers are like monks in reverse. We're watching the oposition instead of our team, waiting for the right time to interupt, slow, disable one opponent instead of when to prot, remove a condition, or heal someone.

This poor impression remains in many castors minds, making it hard for them to accept that you know something they don't. For many in this forum, I say you've probably learned it by now. If you are one of the people I described above, pick up that mesmer and give it another try; you may have the experience to make a good character now.

5 things every potential mesmer (or group leader presented with one) needs to realize:

Your surroundings are your target, not just whatever the group is focusing on. This includes hench groups. Leaders; if a mesmer in your group is casting spells on a different target from the one your group is spiking, it is likely because that target is in a more compromising situation. In short, the mesmer, by ignoring target calls, is often doing his job. Prioritize his targets as your next in the spike order, so you can let him move on to softening up your next mob.

Your skills are powerful, but situational. Look for the situation, then cast your spell. Example: don't fucus on shutting down one Hydra's meteor/Fireball/Inferno combo. Instead, kill his meteor; then use rule 1. look around for the other Hydra that is just starting to get off his Meteor. Thats your next target, not the Inferno that will only hurt your tank.

You are not an ele. Your DoT rivals a Warrior’s, and you should be taking the “second” tanks slot, not the spikers. That means that you are a "wear-down" castor, bent on total destruction (Mana, skill and Health destruction) instead of just a quick spike that either works or fails. The groups you choose should reflect this, designed to stay alive more than just do damage, allowing the enemy to destroy themselves (and against PvE AI, this is not very hard to do.). A good tank can hold agro alone; its not your job and leaders should realize this as they build groups.

Speed is important. Just like slow connection/slow zoning monks are a potential sign of poor play over the horizon, so too is a slow mesmer (either due to internet connection or PC speed). Guild Wars is a server oriented game, meaning that the speed at which you cast your interrupt needs to be on par with your connection speed. Just because you cast Power Drain with time to spare, it does not follow that the spell will be interrupted if it takes 1.5 seconds for your interrupt to get back to the server.

Last, you don't need no stinking group! In fact, it is sometimes an advantage for you to solo. The last thing you want is for your interrupt spell to wait in a que behind the warriors axe rake and the Eles Fireball. Most missions are quite easy to solo as a mesmer; the trick is knowing which mobs you will be facing, so you can build around their strengths, turning them into their weakness.

A good read, thanks for writing it

Coulden't agree more. I first tried a mesmer back during the Beta Weekend Event and thought they were ok but not really all too great.

Then after having played 4 characters through the game and then some, trying a mesmer now is much more enjoyable. Unfortunatley people don't pick up on what a mesmer is actually doing and disreguards them in most cases.

Mesmers are quite frail but can be a massive asset to a group. After having played a warrior and seeing the damage I can do as a mesmer is even impressive. I find myself switching targets very often to make the best use of my skills. If the team has a melee mob targeted I target it, spacebar to wand and tab over to a caster and wait for somethign to cast. Interrupt with Power Drain, now I have more energy to clumsy/dmg the melee, etc.

The other great thing is a mesmer in most cases only needs 2 or 3 spells effective for damage across most scenarios. The rest you can leave for energy management, enchant strips or whatever you want.

A skilled mesmer in a group can be considered to disrupt enemy skills, hasten kills, remove enchants and interrupt. Weakening the monsters rather than just trying to compete with their power.

Good post. Though I do disagree about the part about most mesmers being on their whichever number character. I started with a mesmer first. And i'm a pretty good one at that. You don't always need experience to be a mesmer.

I'm not one of those you mentioned either, who started on other characters.

And though my first character was my mesmer, I would like to think that I took a great deal of time studying the other classes, to know what they are all capable of. Enough that I can sometimes predict who is doing what to who.

The best example of a PVE mesmer to me is one who uses Shatter Hex on the Tanks in his team. They're the ones closest to the most enemies, and therefor SH does the most damage to as many foes as possible.