The Mesmer: old speculation & new reveal talk

[Manwithtwohands]

Swordplay would be cool for a mesmer-type profession if it were magic enhanced.

Like a feign death sword skill where you faint and lie there, but if the opponent attacks your body, it phases out revealing it was an illusion, and you soar up from the ground behind them, launching them into the air.

I am also really hoping that skill mimicry and stealing is present somehow in GW2. It was such a cool thing because its use dynamically changed depending on factors outside your control. It was a very involved form of redirecting skills that required a player to be very conscientious of others abilities.

[bearsfwd]

mind control of low level monsters

Why not mind control of any enemies except bosses. The higher the level the higher the chance of failure. Then there would have to be something that would enable you to get better at mind controlling higher levels, whether is your level, or if it was the talent level.

[Meliai]

Yeah giving Mesmers some guns, rapiers, daggers or fans would be neat. :D

For some reason I keep imagining a Mesmer casting a spell that would cause one mob to attack one of their allies (would be unfair in a PvP setting though).

Mesmers will probably be a solid profession against both melee and caster types. Not overtly poweful like the Elementalists, but definitely be able to hold their own while soloing. As far as flashy animations go, illusions should get fancy cg models. Like have a phantasm appear before the victim and scare some of their HP away. Or maybe something very silly like cast an enchantment that will make them fall in love. :p They'll have little pink hearts floating above their heads and everything. I think Lo Sha would approve. They'll probably have more health stealing abilities too.

I really hope they keep fast casting in some form. Mesmers need it to truly shine in a group, especially if they're up against Ele's.

[Смерть]

For some reason I keep imagining a Mesmer casting a spell that would cause one mob to attack one of their allies (would be unfair in a PvP setting though)

I could see something like that working ion PvP. If there was a skill that put a significant life degeneration on someone which was also protected from allay healing, then put a mechanic on the spell where the only way that person will live (because they will die from degen otherwise) is by attacking one of their own teammates to gain life via stealing health (so many seconds attacking an ally the spell stops). In the end, the damage is distributed among two opposing players, and one player (maybe the second also) are distracted from the actual fighting for a little bit (though I could see something like this from the necromancer as well).

[Thalanor Thornhale]

For me, the GW2 Mesmer looks like a renaissance type person, a trickster with a charm no one can resist. Well-versed in the use of swords, guns, daggers, and wands, the mesmer is the master of manipulation.

He can evasively work in close range, jumping back and forth just out of the foe's range, teasing and taunting him/her. As a trickster, always has a bag of tricks he can use. Blinding powder, chocking powder to temporarily distract the enemy, vials of valium to put them to sleep or just make them slower. His skill with the rapier is exceptional and he can use it to disarm other foes for short time in battle. Poor foes who will have to pick up their weapons first, and fast if they want to live. The mesmer also likes throwing daggers which he can equip with all sorts of interesting things. Daggers with mana sapping electricity shock, smoke bombs, or real explosives, or maybe just things that look like bombs. The foe will surely want to get that off him quickly before it goes off. Too bad it was just a distriction - just enough for the mesmer to aim using his pistol.

Weapons apart, the mesmer is also a magician. Although not master of the elements, the mesmer is the master of illusion and trickery. Smart magic you may say. He can pull out a force mirror to deflect incoming attacks. He can create sparks that distract the casters of long incantations and cause them to backfire. Master of manipulation: He can pull and push objects and people into harmsway or out of harmsway. He can seal a magical attack into his handy pouch only to release it in a different place. Master of illusions: you never know if you hit him or just an immaterial illusion of him.

But really, down at heart, the mesmer really despises brute violence and prefers to spend much of his time admiring art in all its splendor.

[sorudo]

In PvE sure, but there is nothing that frustrates me more than invisible opponents. I could deal with the occasional "Oh no! Am Fah dropped from the ceiling!" and "More Life Pods and Devourers surfacing from the ground!" But cloaking as a skill to possibly use in PvP would frustrate me to no end.

it's technically the exact same thing, it just has an animation before it uncloaks it self but that's all there is.
if in PvP there is an animation before you uncloak your self then there is no problem at all, just player originated instead of a random mob.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Why not mind control of any enemies except bosses. The higher the level the higher the chance of failure. Then there would have to be something that would enable you to get better at mind controlling higher levels, whether is your level, or if it was the talent level.

"These aren't the dwarves you were looking for, he can go about his business, move along."

[Minionman]

Why not mind control of any enemies except bosses. The higher the level the higher the chance of failure. Then there would have to be something that would enable you to get better at mind controlling higher levels, whether is your level, or if it was the talent level.

Or even mind control Bosses, provided the control system does not allow the bosses to take damage, or be dropped off cliffs (or some equivalent) for damage. If the bosses were really resistant, it might provide some time to heal, let cooldowns wear out, etc., but not actually help hurt the boss. (Plus mind control would likely be costly anyway.)

He can evasively work in close range, jumping back and forth just out of the foe's range, teasing and taunting him/her.

Those ideas do sound quite cool, and overall I like reading the ideas in this thread (although, as with just about any speculation, it's almost certain that Anet has come up with something completely different. :) )

The only worry I'd have with such skills is if too many classes start to get than. Ranger skills are somewhat similar in being movement based, the dagger character may also have similar skills (If it is in fact an assassinish class), warriors also seem to have a few movement based skills, and who knows what other classes have.

As always, it will be quite interesting to see what happens when all this is actually revealed.

[Egal]

I find the idea of playing some sort of swashbuckling online Errol Flynn really appealing but that would better suited to a different or new profession. A "mesmer-like class" sure, but not a mesmer.

The mesmer's weapon is between his ears. If, in the course of 250 years, mesmers have come to rely on pistols and blades to do what they used to do with their minds the profession has certainly gone backwards.

I'd be wary of giving any profession the ability to control monsters and make them attack eachother. It's great fun, and satisfying from a role-playing perspective in singleplayer games, but I'm not sure it's suited to multiplayer. Effective when soloing but there's a danger of making other party members redundant when grouped, and useless in PvP.

What's more, casting a spell that exploits the stupidity of the AI and standing back watching them kill eachother is a long way from what we might expect from a game that should require a bit more skill to play.

I'm mostly happy with the mesmer as it is. I'd like to see it made more viable for solo play, as that will be needed for GW2, but that doesn't need a big overhaul of the profession.

Can't wait to see what Anet are going to give us.

[Thalanor Thornhale]

It is easy to imagine a swashbuckling mesmer and all, but after having thought about it a bit, a converting the GW1 mesmer into a GW2 mesmer is actually not easy and may actually be one of the hardest conversions.

The reason for that is that in GW1 most skills were reactive and invisible - one of the reasons Mesmers were underappreciated. The developers stated that for GW2 they wanted skills to be much more self-explanatory and visual.

How then, would one compose a set of weapon-based skills that deal damage in a unique way, have a visual effect and do not entirely rely on the opponents actions to deal damage? Remember: Each class should be able to be self-sustainable as well and that includes doing damage.

I will be very interested to see how this conversion will be for GW2, whether the Mesmer has really made the jump to the next century or how mesmerish-concepts may have been merged with another profession.