The Mesmer

[Ben K.6238]

Probably the most unusual class in GW1 from my perspective was the mesmer, which I'd never tried to play until quite a while after release. It wasn't something I'd encountered in an RPG before, and I didn't really appreciate its role until I met a boss that could out-heal the damage of my entire party: [Willa the Unpleasant](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Willa_the_Unpleasant "Willa the Unpleasant").

 

What inspired the GW1 mesmer, and the changes to this class during the Winds of Change release leading up to GW2? Are there any elements of the GW1 mesmer that you miss in the GW2 version?

[MatthewMedina.5419]

Oh man, I will say I wish I still had "Backfire" on my skill bar in Guild Wars 2 - I used/abused that to no end in the original game. :-) Outside of that though, I have to admit I much prefer Mesmer today...in fact it was GW2 that turned my mesmer from a novelty character into my main.

[Joe Kimmes.1357]

This is just an aside, but I have met many Mesmers who discovered their true strength fighting Willa the Unpleasant. It's a shared moment for Prophecies mesmers, I like to think.

[Ithilwen.1529]

Unfortunately, I feel that the Ritualist/Mesmer of GW2 is a pale shadow of the GW1 Mesmer. In GW1 Mesmer is a fierce fighter with unusual modes and punishment. In GW2.. I feel like another sword swinger.

 

I'd much prefer my dom or illusion Mesmer over a Mirage.

[Boro.7359]

Exactly. Gw2 mesmers lack the different way of engagement from GW1 ones. Staff or sword, doesn't matter. They're like any other gw2 damage dealing class now.

[crepuscular.9047]

Mesmer in GW was a skill mind wrecker, pressurer, punisher

GW2's Mesmer turned into Uzumaki Naruto, only knows how to use 影分身の術 (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu)

[Redfeather.6401]

I used to main mesmer!

<3 the class.

Very high skill ceiling to play well and I never really got great at it, but I still loved the depth and complexity of it all.

 

When I first started playing Guild Wars, I tried out the random arena in post searing ascalon. So there we were all low level players trying out little random pvp matches. And I remember seeing these mesmer players and claiming they had to be cheating somehow because they were killing me and I couldn't kill them. That's when I looked into all the mesmer skills and got hooked on the class. :smile:

[DiogoSilva.7089]

I somewhat miss GW1's clean Mesmer design. I think Mesmer's kits are more interesting in GW2, like being able to deal damage directly, instead of mostly relying on your opponent to damage it. I loved stuff like Empathy and Backfire, but not as a class-defining mechanic. I also disliked timing-based lock builds, which GW2 lacks.

 

On the other side, GW2 Mesmer being pidgeonholed into clone management killed it for me (it should have been an optional mechanic) and the nature of the game's design made Empathy/ Backfire/ Blackout replacements really underwhelming as punishing mechanics (the only time Confusion has been useful in PvE is when it worked like a generic DoT mechanic... and has Retaliation ever been worth a damn?) Projectile reflections are properly satisfying, though. <3

[Kranodor.8915]

The Mesmer was my favorite class in GW1 and quickly became my main. I remember seeing a note to the effect of "for advanced players" when I tried GW1 during the Prophecies World Preview Event weekend. But I found the class fascinating (basically everything about it - from the mind magic to the color scheme) and did create one on the first day after release. At first, I played a different character more, but as luck would have it, a group of friends that had started playing just caught up with my Mesmer when they asked me and so I joined them with her, and played through Prophecies with them, playing her, and really loving it. So she became my main and she was the character I played through Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North with, first. A Mesmer that looks suspiciously like her was also the first character I created for GW2 and is still my main and the character going first through an expansion or a living world storyline, and most of the times when we do something challenging.

 

I really mostly liked the reactive or predictive interrupt / induce failure playstyle (interrupt for domination against casters, induce failure - stuff like Ineptitude, one-off hexes for illusion against more attack-y foes) and using those geared-for-PvP control skills in PvE, when appropriate (Blackout, anyone?). It was especially fun with really strong foes (like in Hard Mode, Level 28+ foes), the group fighting one target together, while I was in a deadlock with another, just taking him out of the equation.

 

One of the reasons I really transitioned well to GW2 was the fact that, at a point, exactly that style felt very static in GW1. Very much playing the interface, and I liked the more dynamic, movement- and positioning-based approach GW2 took. I do miss some of that interrupt gameplay, though - I know some interruption stuff is possible, but not nearly as impactful or effective and enemies don't work in coherent groups like in GW1, so there's usually no sense in split targetting like mentioned above, and they also rarely use the same mechanisms as player characters. I do miss the kind of shutdown a Power Block could do.

 

On the other hand, I really like the positioning and geometry of GW2 combat - from piercing and beam attacks that can be lined up to the projectile reflection. And I still play on interrupt some times, because I like it (and it's a good way to be mean against some of those... defiant... bosses). And while it's good fun to deplete the bar on a basic champion with one Signet of Humility, my Warrior is now a more consistent interrupt character than my Mesmer. Well, currently, at least.

[Crey.5263]

> @"DiogoSilva.7089" said:

> I somewhat miss GW1's clean Mesmer design. I think Mesmer's kits are more interesting in GW2, like being able to deal damage directly, instead of mostly relying on your opponent to damage it. I loved stuff like Empathy and Backfire, but not as a class-defining mechanic. I also disliked timing-based lock builds, which GW2 lacks.

>

> On the other side, GW2 Mesmer being pidgeonholed into clone management killed it for me (it should have been an optional mechanic) and the nature of the game's design made Empathy/ Backfire/ Blackout replacements really underwhelming as punishing mechanics (the only time Confusion has been useful in PvE is when it worked like a generic DoT mechanic... and has Retaliation ever been worth a kitten?) Projectile reflections are properly satisfying, though. <3

 

DiogoSilva have you not tried the Dom/Dueling/Mirage Mesmer with Sword/Pistol? it's a lock down spec.

[Agrios.1957]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> Mesmer in GW was a skill mind wrecker, pressurer, punisher

> GW2's Mesmer turned into Uzumaki Naruto, only knows how to use 影分身の術 (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu)

 

Yea.. but they had it properly foreshadowed in Winds of Change.

[Red Haired Savage.5430]

Panic was the best mesmer skill to me in GW1, shut down entire mobs.

[messiah.1908]

gw1 mesmer is by far better than gw2 design