The Mesmer: old speculation & new reveal talk

[sorudo]

you can't balance the GW1 skills for GW2 without a complete overhaul, the skills in GW1 are made to use in a dual profession system so they will simply not work in GW2.

[Shanaeri Rynale]

No swashbuckling, No fancy zoom whoosh kapow. Just a class that can unleash, quietly and without fuss and bother an invisible hell on their opponent.

Although part of me is pleased there will most likely be the mesmer class in GW2, another part of me is concerned that it wont 'feel' like a mesmer to play. What I loved about the mes in GW1 was the interupts.. The HA! gotcha feeling when you hit a WoH cast or being able to shutdown 3 or more foes within a few moments.

When played right, the GW1 Mes felt like you were almost 'dancing' Cast, move, shutdown, move, interupt, move... It was a unique playing experience, that I hope wont be dumbed down

I will be disapointed if they turn the mes into a necro with a few proactive shutdowns.

[Thalanor Thornhale]

I still have a hard time imagining mesmer magic with a wand in GW2, but from what I have observed, there is a consensus here that it would be cool to see a Mesmer with guns 'n daggers. I like the idea as well, and here it is very easy for me to imagine a GW2 mesmer. The great thing about the weapon-skill system is that each profession may have different skills despite holding the same weapon.

So to make Mesmers unique when it comes to guns 'n daggers is to make the bullets and daggers magical!

Imagine magically charged bullets that tear through spirits or bounce or neutralize an incoming magical projectile attack. The quick shot of a mesmer gun can be used to interrupt the caster. Magically charged daggers can burn the energy of a target. I somehow see guns as domination counter type devices. That leaves wands and foci with more illusionary thinking.

[Manwithtwohands]

Maybe there will be 1 adventurer, 1 scholar and 1 soldier profession having a skill set utilizing both magical and physical skills.

I think the 2nd soldier class will have some form of magic. If assassin, or something like it is in the game, it might have some type of magic as well.
So who knows, maybe a scholar profession will get some type of physical skills in the end.

I am just hoping a GW2 mesmerish profession will have the same depth the already 3 revealed professions appear to have. Without secondary professions, a mesmerish profession might need some radical additions/changes to its playstyle to have a lot of variety to it.

[Egal]

I cannot, for the life of me, work out why mesmers, who have the power to deny and punish others with their minds, would decide to start channeling these powers through mechanical devices. GW2's pistols may be interesting new inventions for Tyrians but who'd bother to try to invent a backfire or diversion bullet? Mesmers? Huh?

A man who doesn't have a strong magical talent but is good with a pistol (or blade, or bow) would look to expand his skills to include interrupting casters, killing magical enemies and so on. A mesmer can already do this by thinking about it. Why on earth would he give this up in favour of having to carry a gun around?

As long as the profession works well I'll be happy, but gun-toting mesmers don't make sense to me and I'd much prefer it if Anet didn't go that direction.

(As for wands, being one of about 11 people who play a male mesmer, I like the idea of a gentleman's walking stick type cane. Elegant, appropriate to the mesmer's style but also an effective melee weapon. I always thought illusionary weaponry would have worked better with a cane as cane fencing has historical precedent, the cane is already a mesmer's weapon and the illusion of making a cane work as effectively as a sword is a bit cleverer than making a sword work like a sword.)

[powercozmic]

Looks wise this is my imagining of the mesmer/necro hexer for GW 2

Spoiler

[Akirai Annuvil]

Looks damned nice.

[Zayren]

I'd imagine a mesmer class to be totally obsessed over by everyone for their "unique and cool armor and playstyle" despite being pretty boring in PvE (in which people are talking about their mesmers). Yup.

[powercozmic]

As long as the mesmer skills are cool and true to GW 1, guns are just a replacement for wands and staves.

We forgot whips. Mesmers need whips

[Thalanor Thornhale]

As long as the mesmer skills are cool and true to GW 1, guns are just a replacement for wands and staves.

We forgot whips. Mesmers need whips

And that exactly may be the problem: A 100% conversion of Mesmer skills from GW1 to GW2 will not work because:

a.) Mesmer skills from GW1 were not very visually explicit.
b.) Mesmer skills at this point do not rely on location awareness, and may often be single person focussed and based on reacting to one person.

On the other hand, it was the interrupt abilities of the mesmer that made him/her such a valuable player when it came to influencing this abstract notion of game control.

As to whether a mesmer should wield daggers or not, or guns or not, I suppose that is a matter of taste. I appears to me that the majority likes mesmers with guns and daggers, and even swords. However, there is at the same time reservations about reasons why mesmers should wield guns and daggers when they did everything with their minds (and canes) before, or reservations about "swashbuckling" mesmers. This is a matter of taste. I have a hard time deciding one way or another.

But the big question for me still remains how a mesmer will be like in GW2. I have yet to see any constructive game mechanics for a proposed GW2 mesmer. This is not criticism, but I think goes to show HOW hard it actually is converting the GW1 mesmer o a GW2 mesmer.

It is for this reason that I hope to soon learn something...anything about how a Mesmer 2.0 will work with the next profession releases. wink wink.