A great deal has been said about the final Guild Wars 2 class reveal. Undoubtedly the Mesmer, it is a class synonymous with Guild Wars and one of the most original within an MMOG…
For those who aren’t aware, the Mesmer is an anti-class. Its sole purpose is to prevent other classes doing their job. To shut players down, to prevent them attacking or casting spells; to debilitate and pressure others. To subvert energy from enemies for their own use. It’s an incredibly niche class and one requiring exquisite timing and high levels of concentration in order to interrupt, spread hexes and disrupt effectively. It was my ‘main’ within Guild Wars.
The removal of hexes from Guild Wars 2 raised eyebrows at how such a move would affect the fundamental role of a class entirely reliant on such skills. Hexes functioned similarly to all spells, but differed in that many weren’t immediate direct damage but were rather conditional, often triggered by others or gradual in their effects.
What questions now arise is how ArenaNet will evolve the class, based on 250 years having passed, alongside the removal of hexes. But first and foremost, and to truly assess the class and its evolution, it must be broken down, arguably, into its simplest of forms: a spell caster and illusionist.
The removal of hexes by ArenaNet is a distraction more than anything else. All of the Mesmer’s skills within Guild Wars could be attributed to any spell type; direct damage, conditional or area of effect. Removal of a skill set (hexes) by name alone does not change the principals of the skills themselves. Which leaves us to analyse the illusionist.
A master of illusion, misdirection, and control, the Mesmer subverts the damage-dealing capabilities of others, manipulating their perceptions to achieve personal goals.
– In-game description
Key elements which will affect how the Mesmer plays can be drawn from ArenaNet’s approach to the holy trinity and skill use. With no ally-targetable skills (only ground targeted), no dedicated healer, and a lack of crowd-control that physically affects a player’s control over their avatar (with the exception of the Necromancer’s Fear) narrows the focus of what the Mesmer will do, as opposed to won’t.
Picking out key points from the Guild Wars’ in-game description, there are three elements pivotal to the Mesmer: illusion, misdirection and control.
Control comes in many forms, from roots to snares and knock-backs to knock-downs. It would be simple of ArenaNet to approach these elements for the Mesmer and insert any Guild Wars skill into one of them. The community has gone to great lengths to transfer existing Guild Wars skills into applicable Guild Wars 2 variants: Spirit shackles could become a snare, Ethereal Burden a root, Panic a knock-back and Clumsiness a knock-down. But this remains an easy task, and one that does not address the root play style of the class.
ArenaNet have been subtly increasing the skill ceiling of classes they reveal (though this doesn’t mean the earliest of classes revealed will be ‘easy’). And we can draw from this, after the Engineer reveal, that the Mesmer is likely to be complex. I suspect based on 250 years having passed that Mesmers have changed a great deal, based on the difficulties the world has now come to know.
I’ve always envisaged Mesmers as individuals who were looked upon by others with suspicion. Mind games, trickery and confusion could in 250 years lead to segregation and a decline in the ‘profession.’ That they have become outcasts amongst their own kind but that many Mesmers, as a result of their gifts, have profited extensively at the expense of others; a case of when Mesmers visit towns or cities people are instantly wary for fear of being manipulated.
Whilst the riches they own through misdeeds, past and present, may allow them to retain a lavish lifestyle (and thus retaining the much loved Mesmer aesthetic) there is the possibility that they have evolved past the requirement to always use physical weapons.
I may be going out on a limb here, and it would be difficult to ever predict what the mechanics of the class will be, but I suspect that the Mesmer may not have physical weapons in a typical sense. That their weapon sets will be determined by Illusionary Weaponry that players can choose to wield at any time. Like other classes their first five weapon-skills will still be determined by the weapons they wield, but with Illusionary Weapons activated, they will have a choice to instantly turn these items from the physical to phantom, allowing them to take on entirely different properties based on the original items you were wielding; the player physically choosing whether the main, offhand or both item turns phantom (and thus resulting in multiple combinational skills).
Where this may get more complex is that Fast Casting (whether or not it’s renamed) may play a part, but will be activated based on you wielding phantom weapons and will as a result directly affect your remaining chosen skills. What this will also mean is that undoubtedly Mesmers will, unlike the other spell casters, wield projectile based weapons such as Pistols (though not rifles) as the potential for them to take on properties of the unknown in phantom form are infinite.
Between all the class mechanics though, I believe that ArenaNet have left little room for manoeuvre in surprising us with something truly original, but I have no doubt that Nightmares and Phantasms as temporary physical manifestations may make an appearance (don’t mention the word pets!).
Inevitably this all remains speculative and ArenaNet may yet surprise us with a mid-line, mind-blasting, phantom summoning, spirit weapon wielding illusionist. But if one thing is for certain, the Mesmer won’t be your standard ‘caster.’
What does everyone else think? (feel free to drop me a line now or in a couple of months time when I’m so completely wrong!)
Email the author of this post at lewisb@tap-repeatedly.com
I just LOVE the idea of mesmers as outcasts. It would be so great if we had a “society” of our own. Oh, and “lavish lifestyle” ftw!
You actually make a lot of good predictions. The Mesmer to me always seemed nontraditional. I mean, there’s been illusionists before in MMOs, but not in the type of interpretation ArenaNet created. Mesmers seemed to fit the bill of being less popular within the lore and people. Almost to the point of being looked down upon. If ArenaNet took this kind of route with the Mesmer, it would be a smart decision.
I think overall, there’s been a lot of misjudgment within the MMO community on Guild Wars 2. Especially when it came to the Engineer. For some reason, I’ve been reading posts and comments on the internet on how the Sylvari wouldn’t be an Engineer because they’re more nature oriented. To be honest, ArenaNet is approaching the world they created with a much more realistic approach. It’s kind of like how in Europe, there are tons of Soccer(or Football) fans. But somewhere, there are baseball fans as well. Just not a lot. In any type of civilization or race, there’s always someone who doesn’t follow the majority. There’s always someone that’s willing to try different things. The fact that all races are able to play all classes reflect this. And it’s that kind of reaction to the Engineer that makes me almost fear the Mesmer.
I don’t see any other way to create the Mesmer than the ways you mentioned. They’ll be so complex and off kilter that the community will give ArenaNet even more backlash. Mesmer will probably be the hardest profession to understand and learn. And that also reflects a living breathing world. Some careers/professions in the real world are harder and easier than others. ArenaNet are trying to give their world the kind of feel where people actually believe they’re in a different world. I think that is something that has been missing from MMOs.
The other problem is the whole complaining about how it’s not realistic to have swords and guns being used at around the same rate. I don’t think they realize that the Guild Wars world is going through an industrial revolution of sorts. Some people are afraid to let go of the past while others approach the new technology with curiosity.
It’s probably the most impressive fully realized world that I’ve seen in an MMO ever. And I haven’t even played the game yet. You can see it from just how ArenaNet is releasing information.
Considering the Mesmer has a good chance of being that last class(pretty much all but confirmed), I shouldn’t be all that excited for it since I already know it, but I still find myself excited to read up on it. Especially since I’ve also seen the pattern that you mentioned. It’s gone from the most simple classes(not that any of the classes are simple in the first place) to the most complex. I find myself ready to learn everything about the Guild Wars world.
I don’t think this type of feeling has ever happened to me before. In any game genre. ArenaNet is really out doing themselves right now. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even have any doubts about their promises. That’s gone down to the bottom of worry list. Now I have barely any worries. Bring on the Mesmer(and the race weeks).
I’ve always loved mesmers. A started my GW life as a necro but ended up enjoying mesmer more. There’s something about using a person’s abilities against them…finess instead of brute strength, that appeals to me. I loved stealing skills from other players and using them as my own. I loved Signet of Illusions, Illusory Weapon… interrupts.. all of it.
I still feel there’s a surprise coming from GW 2 mesmers. Something we haven’t seen yet or thought of. I do believe illusions will be part of the class, since Queen Jennah was a mesmer and used an illusion of sorts.
I also like the idea of mesmers being mistrusted, not necessarily outcasts, per se, but certainly regarded with suspicion. I mean, I’d probably be just as suspicious of someone that could summon bone minions, as someone that could play mind games.
I’d like to see illusions that attack for periods of time (agreed not pets). It would be cool if you could create an illusion of a doppleganger, so a person would have to fight themselves or other party members. Think of the confusion!
It would be cool (but won’t happen), if you could take over a monster and have it fight for you (a la charm monster from the original D&D).
Oh, and I can definitely see a mesmer being able to use pistols. Just sort of a style thing.
Imagine how disappointed we’d be if the last class reveal turned out NOT to be mesmer.
This Mesmer is an intriguing class. Your superb coverage of GW2 continues, Lewis!
I’m leaning quite favorably toward trying my hand at Guild Wars 2 when it comes out and perhaps finally putting Azeroth behind me.
What xtal said. Everything Lewis writes about this game leaves me more intrigued, despite my die-hard MMO-free lifestyle. Dociu’s beautiful art, Stein’s intriguing narrative ideas, hints of real innovation within the class structure – not to mention that I can either play by myself on account of hating all life or only with Tappers on account of you guys are okay – why, I may just have to break down and invest in this game.
Ahh, who am I kidding? I’m so weak David Arquette could beat me up. I’ll probably buy the fucking thing before Lewis does.
Lewis – the header graphic. Another of Mr Dociu’s visions?
The “purple fan lady” is an image that was used in a slideshow at the 2010 Game Developers Conference. There were five other similar pictures which all turned out to be actual professions (elementalist, guardian, ranger, thief, warrior) so it’s an excellent bet that this one will be as well.
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V excited to see what ANet bring to the table when it comes to the mesmer. With the new mechanics they’ve introduced into the game the door has been flung wide open and (ignoring player outcry) they’ve been given pretty much free reign to reinvent the Mesmer as they wish.
Obviously, they will stay true to the illusion-style play that was so fun in GW1, but I can see a number of other characteristics making their way into the game. I’ve discussed a couple here:http://verydistilled.blogspot.com/2011/03/mesmers-hook.html
Just so everyone is aware, there are at least a few mesmers who are well known in the lore in Guild Wars 2. I’m fairly certain I’m not spoiling any plot points from the second Guild Wars novel, but Queen Jennah, along with her Shining Blade bodyguards, are all mesmers. Considering that other than a brief mention in the first novel, there are no other mentions of mesmers, and the fact that the Queen is not only a mesmer, but an exceptionally powerful one at that, you may be right, that they are few and far between, specifically because of their ability to confuse, control, and misdirect.
I like a lot of your ideas as they would certainly make the class the most complex by far, and I can’t wait to play a mesmer in the game!
I would just like to confirm your suspicions that the Mesmer will be complex. When the Engineer was revealed I got to write an article for GameReactor. What they did say, but I didn’t include in the article, was that the order of which the professions have been released coincides with their complexity. They said that the fans would notice how the Engineer and the 8th profession would be more complex than the previous professions.
Hrrrmn…
It’s an interesting variant on the “illusionary weapon” concept, and does distinguish itself from the elementalist and engineer mechanics since they go “all or nothing” rather than swapping out individual parts of the weapon part of the bar.
I do worry about how it would interact with weaponswapping, though. If you don’t get a regular weaponswap, it’s going to have the PvP disadvantage of the elementalist (namely, having all your easily available skills identified as soon as they see your weapon) while not actually having more weapon skills available than everyone else. Meanwhile, if you DO get a weaponswap, you end up with the same number of skills as an elementalist without having that downside.
Well, we already have a standard spellcaster, which is the Elementalist. And a “hexer”, which is the Necromancer, but I dunno if the Mesmer will survive all the same. The game seems more fast-paced, and the Mesmer might get a hybrid class in order to fit in.
I do hope that Queen Jennah means the inclusion, but… we will just have to wait until Gamestop to see if they are releasing the last class =).
Mesmer will be the first “expansion” class, this is official however wont leave internal AreaNet Press until February 1st of 2012, and don’t worry Mesmer is not the only class available in in “expansions” you will see other familiar professions and the lore accompanying them. Hope I don’t lose my job over this post.
Conditional effects defined the mesmer. Necromancers specialised in punishment, while the mesmer’s conditions and effects were far more varied. Disabling, interrupting, stealing energy. Hexes allowed this; conditions and area of effects do not.
I hope that what we lose in conditionals, is made up for in visuals.
Anon 6/6/11, you’re an idiot.
I think it’s worth noting, someone said about how the image of the “purple fan lady” was used in 2010 at a game show, along with 5 other ones that were already revealed. But this looks more to me like a necromancer. Mesmers always for one, have masks on. Also their are what appears to be locusts or some sort of “plague bug” floating around her. So far, it’s not really fitting the Mesmer criteria. However with that being said, I most certainly would like the last class to either be a Mesmer or a Ritualist. Or maybe even a combined hybrid class of the two, called an Illusionist?
The “Plague bugs” are butterflies :L which are always associated with mesmers 😛 and it’s pink/purple whereas necros are green. Also there’s no profession specific clothing items now- hence no masks. The fan is interesting though… Always seen as hiding your face or as exotic dance prop etc. Je sais pas mais I want it to be announced soon 🙁 hopefully at or before G-Star in Korea, hopefully they’ll announce closed beta there as well, anyone now when alpha started?
Oh and I miss my ritualist </3 expansion class? J'espere que oui