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Archive for the Mesmer Category

Musings of an Arm-Chair Mesmer: Changes Between Betas

Mesmer Title Banner

In the previous weekend, I finally also got to peek inside the matrix that is GW2. Many of my colleagues have published or will publish various aspects of the beta. But as a mesmer fan, I thought I would focus on one particular aspect by asking: What has changed for the mesmer between the two CBTs?

The most obvious changes probably are the skill changes. So let’s review them!

In the last Press CBT, the one-handed main-hand sword had three skills: Mind Slash, Leap and Illusionary Leap. In this CBT, Illusionary Leap got replaced with Blurred Frenzy which is a skill that strikes foes several times dealing out more damage than the standard 1-slot skill would while distorting the space around the mesmer and allowing him/her to evade attacks. Leap also got reworked. The skill now optionally allows the caster to switch his location with that of his or her clone a short while after Leap was cast. In essence, Leap and Illusionary Leap got merged into one skill.

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The Mesmer Experience ™

Posted 27/03/12 by Alaris

Mesmer stacking hexes

I admit it, the Mesmer was not my favorite profession in Guild Wars. I had a love-hate relationship. I did love what the profession stood for, what it did, and how it did it. I just never really got into it, mainly because it had ways of making me feel useless. I had fun with it in both PvE and plenty of PvP, but it had enough frustrating times that I never actually got to the point of loving it.

Having experienced the Mesmer in Guild Wars 2, here’s a dispassionate and totally objective assessment of the profession: I loved it. Much more than I thought I would, honestly. It was going to be low on my priority list, but now that I got to play it, it likely has been bumped a few notches. I think they really fixed everything that was wrong with the Mesmer from Guild Wars, and yet stayed really close to what the Mesmer stands for. They managed to stay true to the Mesmer gameplay.

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Musings of an Arm-Chair Mesmer – Part I: Weapon Themes

Posted 02/03/12 by Thalanor Thornhale

Mesmer Concept Art

Previously, I wrote up an initial synthesis of what was known about the mesmer profession then. With the closed beta weekend, a lot of new information has emerged giving the community a much deeper inside look into the workings of the illusionist. Another round of synthesis is necessary.

Now before we start, I just wanted to say that this article is not meant to be an all authoritative source of truth. It is merely an article written out of passion for the profession, meant to start a discussion among the many arm-chair mesmers (for this is all we can be at this time) out there in the community. With that in mind, let us dig deep into the details and just focus on the different land-based weapon sets!

As with other professions, each weapon wielded by the mesmer contains a certain theme. Recognizing these themes can help putting together a build that will ultimately match a player’s preferred play-style.

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Synthesis: What’s known about the Mesmer?

Posted 19/12/11 by Thalanor Thornhale

Mesmer Concept Art

The release of the 8th and final profession – the Mesmer – was accompanied by a deluge of interviews. Through these interviews and the profession page, we have learned that the Mesmer is a magical-duelist who uses his or her illusions, and mental trickery to confuse a foe and setup situations beneficial only to the Mesmer.

Although each interview in itself has given us only a brief glimpse into the Mesmer profession, the combination of different interviews gives us a more complete picture than meets the eye at first. So what have we learned about this profession? This article attempts to make sense of all the information.

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Your mesmer has evolved !!!

Posted 16/12/11 by Alaris

250 seems to have changed the mesmer a lot. He has a lot more visual effects for one, so that foes and allies alike can see he’s doing *something*. He’s also decided to move the names of spells to new unrelated spells, just to confuse us… ah yes, mesmers like to do that.

But has the mesmer gameplay really changed? I will argue that it hasn’t, really, and will provide examples of parallels.

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Head to Head: Mesmer vs Thief

Posted 14/12/11 by Alaris

With the mesmer right off from the press, I thought I’d do a head to head with it. And who best to compare with than the … thief? What was I thinking?

Well, in a recent interview, a dev described the mesmer as “a fencing, dueling, finesse, mind game profession”. Does it sound like a thief?

Also, there are many commonalities. High mobility, lots of disables, sneak-based skills like stealth, can use a sword and pistol, do I really need more? Players who like to annoy other players (or foes) will be interested in those two professions.

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Eric Flannum Talks Mesmer

Posted 14/12/11 by Rushster

Eric Flannum managed to talk to NowGamer about the eight and final class which we all know now is the Mesmer. In the interview Eric discusses the design of the class as well as some of the skills.

To what extent have you expanded the Mesmer lore in Guild Wars 2 to flesh out the profession further? Well-known Mesmers in the first game included Countess Anise and Queen Jennah; can you give us any examples of prominent Memser NPCs in Guild Wars 2?

Queen Jennah and Countess Anise are actually the most well known and prominent mesmer NPCs in Guild Wars 2. Back in the original game I think the most well known Mesmer would have to be Gwen.

As with all of our professions, the Mesmer’s combat style has evolved through the years focusing more on illusions and deception than outright mental domination. This change in focus comes from the non-human races bringing their influence into Mesmer magic.

Check out the full interview

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Official Mesmer reveal!

Posted 14/12/11 by Lensor

We all knew it was coming, but that does not make it any less exciting to see it finally here. Today ArenaNet finally, officially, unequivocally revealed the Guild Wars 2 mesmer to the world! The iconic Guild Wars class is back, and it is looking better and badder than ever. Taking the loss of the, for the Guild Wars 1 mesmer so central, mechanics of energy and interrupt in stride, the Guild Wars 2 mesmer is focusing on nasty mind tricks and laying down the hurt. Wielding greatswords, pistols and staffs with equal grace. We here at GWOnline sure like what we see! Join the discussion on our community forums. Follow after the jump for more details on the reveal!

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