Newbie E/Me PvE build

I am pretty much a complete newbie and I have an E/Me as my first character. Currently I am in the Kryta/Maguuma region. As expected, I have been nuking it out with the Fire line of spells, but of late I had become a tad bored and decided to try something new. I've of course read about the spiking potential of the Air spells, so having recently acquired some of the popular Air spells, I decided to try them. Of course, I am completely aware that Air comes nowhere close to Fire in terms of effectiveness for PvE, but I figured as long as there is another primary Fire nuker in my team, I should be able to have a little fun on the side.

There's absolutely nothing unique about this build -- probably a very standard Air build, but I'd be grateful if you could give me any suggestions. Keep in mind that this is for PvE, and *yes*, I *know* that Air is not good for PvE

Lvl: 17

Air: 12
Storage: 8
Inspiration: 6

Lightning Orb
Arcane Echo
Lightning Strike
Enervating Charge
Energy Tap
Ether Feast
Aura of Restoration
Air Attunement

The casting order is also probably obvious to you seasoned folks: Aura > Attunement > AEcho > Orb > SPAM! ... with Energy Tap and Ether Feast used as and when required.

Unfortunately, I'm not finding Energy Tap very useful. It takes away 5 Energy and returns 10 to me, which means a net gain of 5. Plus it takes a while to cast. Ether Feast does come in handy at times, though. I was contemplating putting those 6 points into something else (Water? Earth? Domination?) but I couldn't come up with anything interesting.

Once again, I'd be grateful if you could give my any suggestions with the Air build.

Edit: typo

Get to lvl 20 and unlock all your attribute points, THAT's when the real fun begins. Your build doesn't even really matter until you're lvl twenty, that's when all the options are open to you.

Fair enough, but I also want to make the most of what I have currently... I don't feel like rushing through just for the sake of it.

I think I would go with AEcho together with fire storm or meteor shower if u get more energy management skills. You could try out channeling to.. should be better in pve than it is for my monk in pvp anyway

I wonder if Echo Nuking + Interrupting can be combined.

Two types of spells tick people off in PvE: High-damage Elementalism later in the game, and Interrupts.

Getting whacked with Meteors is one thing, but if I had a nickel every time a floating jellyfish used Cry of Frustration or Clumsiness....

Basically you'd have your big guns, using Archane Echo for your biggest gun, and while the big spells were recharging interrupt monsters (either slow casters or melee monsters beating up the warriors). I almost never have a talented Mesmer on my teams (because nearly all the teams I join are simpleminded folks stuck in Tankerhealernukerland, but the few times I do, it isn't uncommon for me to appreciate the Mesmer more than the Monk.

Just a random idea. I'll let the more experienced PvE Mesmer players work out the fine details.