Old Adventurer, New Level 80 Mesmer need a point in the right direction

I am a returning player, played for a awhile but made a new Mesmer leveled him to 80. Now I am at the crossroads of what to do next, first question isShould I be going for Chronomancer or Mirage as my first spec?Which specialization can I solo/survive story content(HoT,PoF) the most effectively? (I can probably use base Mesmer easy enough but Id like to know of the two so I can work toward one)?What armor stats should I be going for in the beginning and later down the line(I've found some info on this but haven't been able to find a full answer on it)?Any guides that would be good to looks at?Thank you for your direction-Wandererfree

Chrono and Mirage are very different, but generally speaking mesmer is fairly effective at solo survival. The question is: Would you rather be a low-damage support-based class (Chrono) or a high-damage/low-utility class (Mirage)? You're still a mesmer either way, so you get to keep all the cool tricks from the core class!

I am new to mesmer myself and just never enjoyed Chrono or core, but Mirage is my bag, baby! Love it! Here's a video to give you a taste of what it feels like to play Mirage!

@Wandererfreedom.2863 said:I am a returning player, played for a awhile but made a new Mesmer leveled him to 80. Now I am at the crossroads of what to do next, first question isShould I be going for Chronomancer or Mirage as my first spec?

@Wandererfreedom.2863 said:Which specialization can I solo/survive story content(HoT,PoF) the most effectively? (I can probably use base Mesmer easy enough but Id like to know of the two so I can work toward one)?

Both specializations and core mesmer can solo story and most open world content effectively, albeit with different builds. Which is "most effective" is really a question of preference and familiarity.

@Wandererfreedom.2863 said:What armor stats should I be going for in the beginning and later down the line(I've found some info on this but haven't been able to find a full answer on it)?

Exotic Berserker (Power, Precision, Ferocity) is the easiest to obtain and will do well for a Power-based Mesmer build. You can then transition into a Power Chronomancer for a more supportive role, or use the Power set to help you farm towards a Viper set for a more DPS role either a Phantasm Mirage or Clone Mirage.

Chronomancer is the most well-rounded spec in the game, useful (or even essential) in all game modes and can stand it's ground with relative ease. It's a very safe bet. Personally I prefer Mirage it's more fun to play but it's not for everyone and it definetely is less desired in Parties.

@"AliamRationem.5172" said:Chrono and Mirage are very different, but generally speaking mesmer is fairly effective at solo survival. The question is: Would you rather be a low-damage support-based class (Chrono) or a high-damage/low-utility class (Mirage)? You're still a mesmer either way, so you get to keep all the cool tricks from the core class!

I am new to mesmer myself and just never enjoyed Chrono or core, but Mirage is my bag, baby! Love it! Here's a video to give you a taste of what it feels like to play Mirage!

This looks pretty fun, What is the build that your using in the video?

You can pretty much walk through pve on condi build chrono or mirage. Chrono is pretty brain dead because you are just so tanky with all the heal and condi cleanse . Just remember to shatter all the time :). Mirage is a bit harder to master but once you get used to the mirror mech. pve is a cake walk, nothing will ever even hit you :)

@Wandererfreedom.2863 said:

@"AliamRationem.5172" said:Chrono and Mirage are very different, but generally speaking mesmer is fairly effective at solo survival. The question is: Would you rather be a low-damage support-based class (Chrono) or a high-damage/low-utility class (Mirage)? You're still a mesmer either way, so you get to keep all the cool tricks from the core class!

I am new to mesmer myself and just never enjoyed Chrono or core, but Mirage is my bag, baby! Love it! Here's a video to give you a taste of what it feels like to play Mirage!

I use a few different variants, depending upon what I'm doing, but the core of it is essentially the raid meta build.

For groups of small enemies (i.e. not bosses) I use illusions/dueling/mirage:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnELDVohFMDOoBMMjlXDrMB0bCOoBgcyzxf/VAPgA-jxxHQBZUJ440HQrnAw8U/ZgK/AwpAAI7PQIgFrBA-e

For bosses I use chaos/dueling/mirage:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnELDVohFMDOoBMMjlVDrMCccCA+DwG4D0MGsc6JA-jxxHQBA4UAMP1fGn+gBq8LjKBp1TAAI7PQIgFrBA-e

For bosses that do a lot of range spam like Ezal the Quick, I swap my heal over to Mirror and take Master of Manipulation. Combined with reflect on evade, it's pretty effective at reflecting much of the damage. I also tend to drop signet of midnight in favor of the Asuran racial "Technobabble!" for an extra CC when soloing bosses. Humility is great, but it's hard to give up jaunt for a mirage build!

Awesome That helps alot, although I do not have access to viper atm, what is alternative I could use for Mirage? Would power work? Or something else?And I think I'll probably be going after mirage first as I tried both specs out in the eotm to see how they played and I like both of them but Mirage is calling to me more

@Wandererfreedom.2863 said:Awesome That helps alot, although I do not have access to viper atm, what is alternative I could use for Mirage? Would power work? Or something else?And I think I'll probably be going after mirage first as I tried both specs out in the eotm to see how they played and I like both of them but Mirage is calling to me more

You can use power, but it isn't ideal for mirage. On the other hand, neither are condi builds that use something other than viper! But why worry about what's ideal? I've tried power berserker setups using greatsword and sword and hybrid rampager setups using greatsword/staff or staff/staff. It all works perfectly well. It just won't touch the damage of full viper with axe. No big deal. You can figure out if this class is really for you without spending a ton of gold!

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@Wandererfreedom.2863 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:Chrono and Mirage are very different, but generally speaking mesmer is fairly effective at solo survival. The question is: Would you rather be a low-damage support-based class (Chrono) or a high-damage/low-utility class (Mirage)? You're still a mesmer either way, so you get to keep all the cool tricks from the core class!

I am new to mesmer myself and just never enjoyed Chrono or core, but Mirage is my bag, baby! Love it! Here's a video to give you a taste of what it feels like to play Mirage!

Is Ineptitude really that effective in PvE? in PvP for sure. Just has been very good for me in PvE.

@Oneira.7691 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@Wandererfreedom.2863 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:Chrono and Mirage are very different, but generally speaking mesmer is fairly effective at solo survival. The question is: Would you rather be a low-damage support-based class (Chrono) or a high-damage/low-utility class (Mirage)? You're still a mesmer either way, so you get to keep all the cool tricks from the core class!

I am new to mesmer myself and just never enjoyed Chrono or core, but Mirage is my bag, baby! Love it! Here's a video to give you a taste of what it feels like to play Mirage!

Not particularly, no. Superiority complex is better sustained damage. But the variant I use ineptitude with takes illusions over chaos to boost shatters. The purpose of ineptitude in this build is to synergize with blinding dissipation and the shatter traits in illusions to produce better area damage for burning down large groups of enemies. When in a sustained damage scenario (i.e. bosses) I drop illusions for chaos and ineptitude for superiority complex as shattering in this situation is a DPS loss.

When i see people talking about mirage and it being fun and amazing to play, i just feel sad. cos they probably gonna nerf this piece of art badly and probably destroy it to calm the crying individuals in the community about mirage being OP .

@Yukio blaster.9082 said:When i see people talking about mirage and it being fun and amazing to play, i just feel sad. cos they probably gonna nerf this piece of art badly and probably destroy it to calm the crying individuals in the community about mirage being OP .

This is a thread discussing PvE builds. As there is nothing OP about mirage in PvE in any way, I don't see any reason to be concerned. I have heard complaints about power shatter burst in WvW and the usual complaints from the PvP community (Let's face it: It's kind of their thing!). I was rather hoping ANet would realize that balancing between these disparate game modes is something they should simply avoid by doing a complete split between PvE/WvW/PvP balancing.