By Jim Rossignol on December 14th, 2011 at 6:39 pm.
What that headline means, of course, is that the anticipated Mesmer is the latest (and I believe final) class reveal for Guild Wars 2. The character’s skills focus on the making and breaking of illusions, making them a tricksy and cerebral class with some of the more esoteric magical effects at their disposal. ArenaNet have released five (count ‘em!) videos of the Mesmer in action, and you can watch them all below. Try watching all give simultaneously and see if your brain is different afterwards. (And gosh, isn’t GW2 just the prettiest thing?!)
14/12/2011 at 18:46 Lacobus says:
Never played the original one but looking forward to this…
14/12/2011 at 19:03 WPUN says:
I, too, missed GW1 and am intensely curious about GW2. I’ve been jonesing for a new MMO with good PvP. One day I find myself thinking about the Secret World and the next it’s GW2. I’d go back to DAoC but EA can’t decide if they want to kill it, set it free, or rescue it.
14/12/2011 at 19:47 Aquamarine Jesus says:
Yes, what exactly is going on with DAoC. The PvP has yet to be matched in an MMO. Playing the original and classic servers was about the most fun I’ve ever had in a MMORPG. I do miss that game. F2P might bring back some players for a time but I think it was destined to failure once Mythic sold out.
14/12/2011 at 19:50 Fiatil says:
I’m probably going to cry the day DAoC finally goes under. I saw that they finally stopped maintaining the camelot herald and now just post weekly realm point stats or something. Who would have thought that selling the company to EA and making a WoW clone Warhammer MMO instead of DAoC 2 would be such a bad decision?
15/12/2011 at 20:11 zontax says:
“The other thing that I think is important and this is not a direct answer, but we have World vs. World PvP in Guild Wars 2. I think that will impact PvE as well. Which is your server shard matched up against two other servers in open world PvP. If you like Dark Age of Camelot, this is, in our minds the next evolution of that. It is something that really drove community and you care about what you are doing on a PVE and PvP side. You care about the people on the server.” – Colin Johansen, Lead Content Designer
this makes me happy
22/01/2012 at 21:48 Dizzard says:
I missed out on Guild Wars too. I had heard of it but never really thought much about it.
From what I’ve seen this looks really good, I struggle getting into mmos though….but this one looks very interesting.
14/12/2011 at 18:48 Faceless says:
The most potentially wonderful thing about the profession’s design is that it can confuse your opponents – you can either leap from your position and leave an illusory clone behind, or stay where you are and have your illusion leap forward.
If the concept works out in the game, that should make for some exciting (and infuriating) PvP matches that involve mesmers.
14/12/2011 at 21:19 Choca says:
That’s why I loved the Mesmer and hoped it’d be back in the sequel, it’s the “piss people off” class.
14/12/2011 at 18:49 Valvarexart says:
Did you really need to embed ALL of the skill videos?
14/12/2011 at 19:06 Nova says:
Er…?
(I hope that’s sarcasm)
14/12/2011 at 19:44 Jables says:
Indeed! You would’ve saved approx. 0.13842 extremely valuable seconds of your busy day, had they only not forced you to drag your finger against the scrollwheel in such a villainous fashion.
Damn you RPS for forcing us to scroll those extra cm! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
14/12/2011 at 18:50 Blackseraph says:
Wohoo!
14/12/2011 at 18:52 db1331 says:
This is going to be the game that gets me back into MMOs. Not only does it look beautiful, but the no monthly fee really speaks to me. Not because I’m cheap. I paid for a WoW sub for years. I just go through phases where I get burned out on a game. Sometimes I get burned out a week after paying for 3 more months. Having no monthly sub and being able to hop on every couple days and not have to worry about playing enough to justify the expense is a big plus.
Plus the combat looks interesting. I love the little touches, like shooting your weapons through an ally’s fire wall spell and having your projectiles do additional fire damage.
Basically what I’m saying is this is going to be a pre-order for me.
14/12/2011 at 19:48 Gnoupi says:
My feelings exactly. I can’t see myself paying a monthly subscription anymore. I want to feel free to put the game on side for 3 weeks without feeling that I wasted money.
15/12/2011 at 09:37 SanguineAngel says:
You have reached into my squishy brain parts, extracted the raw thought worms that hybernite in there and transmogrified them into words caught in a web that spans the world, appearing for all the world to see. True sorcery!
14/12/2011 at 18:52 Metonymy says:
You had me at Asura.
14/12/2011 at 18:54 mandrill says:
It is incredibly pretty. And yet it is still Guild Wars. I really appreciate the fact that they’ve kept the visual style, the game wouldn’t be the same without it.
14/12/2011 at 18:55 Dominic White says:
What they’ve done with the Mesmer seems pretty interesting. In the original game, they were basically a passive-agressive class. They did stuff ‘under the hood’ to other players, like interrupted your skills mid-cast, or put curses on you can made you trip over when you attacked.
As the design philosophy of GW2′s combat is ‘everything is visible’, they can’t do that anymore, so they’ve made them a teleporting, deceptive class instead that relies on illusion-forms to absorb damage, as they’re a cloth-wearing but heavily armed class – they can use greatswords as spell focii.
They are also incredibly fancy and flamboyant – they were THE ‘oooh, pretty!’ class of the first game. Having them create magical doubles that shatter into a cloud of crystal shards and butterflies is pretty neat.
14/12/2011 at 19:16 Brun says:
In the original they really felt like more of an “anti-spellcaster” class than a debuffer.
14/12/2011 at 19:19 Chris D says:
@Brun
Depends, they had their fair share of anti-melee abilities as well. At least they did based on my experience with Nightfall.
14/12/2011 at 19:22 loshon says:
To be fair, all anyone ever uses Mesmers for these days is to deal massive amounts of damage in 2-3 casts with their spike skills. It turns out smashing your enemy with brute power is much easier than playing illusion games.
14/12/2011 at 19:28 Brun says:
Started and stopped playing during Factions. I played as an Elementalist so my perception may be skewed toward a pure caster’s perspective.
I enjoyed the game overall but I was playing WoW at the same time and ultimately, WoW won out. I didn’t like that your ability to participate in endgame content was tied to completing story missions which were quite difficult with the bots and with which no one really seemed to be willing to help you with. Not being able to PvE basically meant Faction grinding endlessly. WoW didn’t really have that kind of road block.
14/12/2011 at 19:43 Gnoupi says:
@Brun – in the first GW, you actually had a story to play with others. It wasn’t built like a regular MMO, with the “high instances”. It was mostly a multiplayer storyline (which is mostly why I liked it better than WoW), in which you were advancing.
Bots were silly, true. It got better with Nightfall, however, with the “heroes”. They were you own personal bots. You chose their equipment, their spells. And you could also tell them what to cast and when. So it became easier to play alone.
14/12/2011 at 19:43 Wulf says:
That’s why they added heroes. The content became a lot easier with them around.
Plus, it meant that they could later get very interesting with them. You should have heard the furor over Pyre Fierceshot being a hero, it was glorious.
“But he’s a CHARR (XENOPHOBIC RAGE!), you cannot have a CHARR as a hero! And Eye of the North is ALL LIIIIIES!”
There’s been a lot of that with GW2 as well. GW1 fans are funny.
14/12/2011 at 19:46 Gnoupi says:
About mesmer, in the first they were indeed the dedicated anti-spellcaster. They had surge spells, which is how most people played the main mesmers, like noted.
But in general, I remember mesmers in the first game to be quite rare, compared to others. Mesmer was most of the time a “secondary profession”, from which you were picking one spell to give your build a “twist”.
15/12/2011 at 07:54 Squirrelfanatic says:
They were quite rare in PvE for a long time because of their focus on single-target spells. They always were present in PvP though and excelled there at shutting down half of the enemy team with ease.
“Dear Warrior, would you like to a) take large amounts of damage for every swing you take at us or b) stop attacking, saving your healer some energy but taking you out of the fight?”
For me, Mesmers were so cool because you could play mindgames with them, forcing your enemies to make choices.
14/12/2011 at 19:01 Dys Does Dakka says:
Yeah, it’s all pretty and sparkly. ANet fans squee with delight.
-Too bad Gilworz The Second is going to be a PvE-based soloist fuckfest that has nothing but most of the name in common with what made the old one the amazing (PvP- and TEAM-BASED) game it once was.
And whatever this… mutant is, it’s not the Mesmer class from Ye Olde Guild Wars that by the mere fact of its existence made organised PvP a delicate and cerebral affair beneath all the sparkly effects.
-It’s a self-contained damage dealer with a bit of support thrown in to call it a team game, just like all the others.
14/12/2011 at 19:31 sharkh20 says:
I am so sorry that they didn’t make the exact same game for you.
14/12/2011 at 19:32 clownst0pper says:
Having played GW2 at Eurogamer’s Expo, it’s PvP is incredible and the game plays better than GW1 in almost every way. I’m a mesmer player and a GW1 fan. So you couldn’t be further off the mark.
14/12/2011 at 19:38 Wulf says:
The ignorance is strong with this one.
Okay. Soloist? Where the heck did you get that from? Is the sky green in your world?
The whole idea behind ‘dynamic events’ is to bring lots of people together. The entire game is made up of dynamic events. In a game like WoW, which is soloist except for those crappy bits of soul-sucking raid content, you only have quests. ArenaNet eradicated quests. There are no quests in Guild Wars 2. The entire game is made up of huge, public dynamic events which do everything they can to encourage player cooperation and collaboration.
I’m not sure what game you’re thinking of, but it sure as hell isn’t Guild Wars 2.
14/12/2011 at 20:23 GrandmaFunk says:
for PVP I think the GW2 mesmer will actually require a lot MORE thinking/strategy than the gw1 iteration, which often boiled down to watching skillbars for interrupt timing.
the team support role of the GW2 mesmer will involve setting up fast travel for the team, setting up decoys, spreading conditions…it’ll probably be the class that team leaders gravitate towards
14/12/2011 at 19:15 McDan says:
Yay, very pretty indeed, and my brain is different now. I want the game more.
Also I’m seeing flying purple squid, but that’s normal right?
14/12/2011 at 21:12 Enikuo says:
Oh yeah, that’s just Karl, the squid. Don’t mind him.
14/12/2011 at 19:16 Chris D says:
Very much looking forward to this one. On the down side it’s now going to be even harder to decide which character class I’ll be playing to start with but this one now looks like a lot of fun. Also hoping that now all the classes have been announced it’s a sign that we’re getting that bit closer to release, or at least open beta.
14/12/2011 at 19:29 Heliocentric says:
Mesmer was always the most interesting class to play. mesmer anything is an interesting choice but monk worked out as an incredible support class, pumping energy into other players while syphoning it off enemies. An overclocker of sorts.
14/12/2011 at 19:40 Wulf says:
I always felt that the Mesmer was just a bit of a debuff/interrupt melting pot, personally. It was the Ritualist for me that was really interesting to play. That had a very unusual play style indeed. And it’s coming back in GW2 as the Engineer, which makes me even happier.
14/12/2011 at 19:45 Heliocentric says:
Don’t get me wrong, mesmer had god skills in those areas but it had more strings to its bow.
14/12/2011 at 19:45 Lobotomist says:
I am tad bit disapointed with new Mesmer compared to GW1 mesmer.
But I guess its the price you got to pay for new gameplay system.
Anyways. Wow , cant wait. Mesmer was my class of choice day one !
14/12/2011 at 19:50 deadly.by.design says:
Seems less subtle now?
14/12/2011 at 19:56 Chris D says:
Not sure if you’ve checked out the website but it’s worth a look if you haven’t. I don’t think subtlety and sneakiness will be in short supply. I was particiularly intrigued by the possibilities of this ability:
“Clones—Clones are illusions that look just like the caster, have the caster’s name, and have basic behaviors. Clones have low health and tend to do little damage. For example, a mesmer equipped with a sword has two clone-summoning skills: Leap, which launches him forward, leaving a clone at his location, and Illusionary Leap, which summons a clone at his location that then jumps forward.”
14/12/2011 at 19:58 KauhuK says:
Now to choose between Engineer and Mesmer. I liked both Ritualist and Mesmer in GW1 but I admit that Warrior is my most played class. I hope to correct that in GW2 and I love playing Engineer in TF2. GW2 cant come fast enough.
14/12/2011 at 21:05 kalidanthepalidan says:
Me too! Both of those classes look to be a lot of fun. Plus I love the art direction for each.
14/12/2011 at 20:03 Xaromir says:
Guild what? Sorry i didn’t catch that, been playing Blizzard products.
14/12/2011 at 20:32 GrandmaFunk says:
Those Blizzard products must not be very fun if you’re taking time away from playing them to post about a game you don’t care about.
14/12/2011 at 21:51 Xaromir says:
More plane: It’s a bad bad timing to release a RPG unless you are Blizzard.
14/12/2011 at 21:56 zeroskill says:
Ironically the founders of ArenaNet, used to work for Blizzard and were responsible for such insignificant things like the original BattleNet. Derp.
14/12/2011 at 23:10 Nick says:
and diablo
15/12/2011 at 08:00 Squirrelfanatic says:
Why would it be a bad time to release this MMO? At the moment there is nothing that seems quite like it. I’d even go so far and say there is nothing at the moment that could threaten GW2′s success on release.
15/12/2011 at 09:46 jezcentral says:
I’m at work, which is why I’ve taken time away from TOR to post this.
GW2 does look pretty, though.
14/12/2011 at 20:15 GrandmaFunk says:
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/guild_wars_2/b/pc/archive/2011/12/14/lifting-the-veil-on-guild-wars-2-39-s-mysterious-mesmer-profession.aspx?PostPageIndex=1 good little interview that provides context to those sexy videos.
Very happy that i’ll be able to reincarnate my main GW character and I’m really loving the focus on survivability through mobility and misdirection.
14/12/2011 at 20:47 MythArcana says:
Guild Wars still looks great after all these years (4 for me to be exact) and the sequel should be just as amazing. My only concern is the time-sink/grind issues which was the primary focus in the first game. I’m not sure what they are doing to rectify the stiff boredom you get during mid-career, but overall, this is the best online package out there.
14/12/2011 at 20:56 FunkyBadger3 says:
Looks like WoW.
15/12/2011 at 07:57 Squirrelfanatic says:
*snicker* Sure.
That was a joke, right?
14/12/2011 at 21:04 SpaceAkers says:
Figured they’d announce this after all the hype around the major releases had died down.
it’s gonna be a very different class than it was in GW1, but I’m still interested in it.
14/12/2011 at 21:08 Hoaxfish says:
Interview from today on Reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/nclu0/im_a_guild_wars_2_developer_ama_about_professions/
http://pastebin.com/Wc5qsGK9
14/12/2011 at 21:09 archimandrite says:
Psionics = the best.
14/12/2011 at 22:39 Pointless Puppies says:
I’m definitely interested in the game despite me HATING every other MMO with a fiery passion.
But a lot of my interest hinges on the fact that the combat is supposed to be completely action oriented full of blocks, dodges, timed swings, etc., and I’m not sure if I’m getting excited over nothing really. I haven’t really been able to notice from some of the videos if the combat is actually what I think it is (more like Demon’s Souls or just kind of slightly less boring than WoW?). :/
15/12/2011 at 00:35 Dominic White says:
Here’s some PvP gameplay footage from G*Star in Korea recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4-lyj9p92I
It’s definitely not standard MMO combat. It’s not Demon’s Souls either – it reminds me of DOTA in a few ways, although much more 3D and arcadey. Check out all the exhibition matches – the ones with Thief players are great, as teleport abilities work vertically. You can shoot a teleport arrow at the bottom of a platform above you and it’ll land you on top of it, and Thieves have the gimmick of their abilities all sharing a global cooldown, so they can fire, teleport and fire again very fast.
15/12/2011 at 13:46 Malk_Content says:
As well as all that they’ve removed the Holy Trinity so that any class can fill any role (just in different ways) so you wont ever feel like your not wanted on a pvp team because they needed a support and your not it. Everyone has their own self healing skill, which is more powerful than any heal any other class can give.
It’s a shame the pvp videos linked didn’t show all that much dodging (the dodge energy bar stayed full for most of the video) but there were some good moments that showed the intergral difference between this and wow/most other mmo’s attacks had to hit their target to deal damage. Really noticeable in the second vid from an Elementalist point of view, where he has targeted an enemy, throws a fireball and it doesn’t hit because there is a wall in the way. Most frustrating thing in any MMO I’ve tried (lastly I noted in Champions) is that if a ranged character locked onto you they could shoot you through walls, hills, houses ect.
GW2 (Not played GW1) fan boy over and out.
14/12/2011 at 23:20 Eynonz says:
Reminds me of Le Blanc from LoL……
15/12/2011 at 00:15 fdhdfhf says:
Happy 2012 new year,Merry Christmas ,Christmas top gift
http://is.gd/yj9vRG
15/12/2011 at 01:04 Julio Biason says:
Also, confirmed by ArenaNet on the Reddit AMA: Beta starts this Friday, 16th. Still is closed beta, but it’s not just Family & Friends.
15/12/2011 at 09:14 Saiko Kila says:
As for prettiness, it looks way too 2009 to be 2012 game. Still not bad.
15/12/2011 at 09:19 Zarunil says:
Is there a healer class in this game?
Edit: Nevermind, seems the closest one gets to healer is Elementalist.
15/12/2011 at 10:31 SanguineAngel says:
More specifically, they have intentionally done away with the healer class and allowed all classes to perform healing to some degree.
15/12/2011 at 11:28 Dominic White says:
And even more specifically, one of your ten basic skills *has* to be some kind of healing ability. Some classes have the ability to boost or additionally heal teammates, though. Elementalist and Guardian mostly, it looks like.
15/12/2011 at 18:11 Dhatz says:
Illusion alchemist? hells yes, but the question is when it goes F2P?
16/12/2011 at 03:13 Wraggles says:
I like the way they’ve gone with this, but I just hope it captures the diversity of the old Mesmer. The hardest part about facing one in PvP was not knowing exactly what they were bringing to the table
E-denial
Degen / Fragility Spike
Anti Spellcaster (Interupts/slow cast times)
Anti Melee
Skill Shutdown (Blackout Spammer)
Anti Enchant (The old Enchanters Conundrum Spike before the nerf)
Illusionary Weapon Tank
So I’m hoping the Mesmer is still the class that makes everyone pause before rushing in to face them.