I find myself in quite the quandary trying to pick between Mesmer and Elementalist

[aspirine.6852]

@Jenny.4831 said:Would Viper's even be a good set for a Mesmer? I mean it's power, precision, condi damage and expertise, so it's trying to do a power build and a condi build at the same time. I figure that might work for an Elementalist or Guardian, but I'm not sure about Mesmer but then that's why I'm asking.

If Viper's is a good choice, how much of it is ideal? Armor, Weapons, Trinkets or only some of those and a mix of other things?

I only have about 300 gold right now and I really don't want to put any more real money into it, though I suppose $20 could get me another 500g or something. $20 is a lot easier to get, but if I'm not doing expensive crafting, I don't really need it for anything except as a cushion.

I got my memser from AliamRationem who posted above. If I remeber correcly vipers was either the best or a very good option to gear. And I finished everything with my mesmer after that. And I never played mesmer before that. :)

[Vayne.8563]

I'd take the mesmer because it's an iconic Guild Wars 2 class, that most games don't have. I mean almost every game has an elementalist which is a bog standard mage. Fire. LIghtning. I'd rather play something more unique.

I also think that with the big balance patch coming at the end of this month or maybe early next month, you can't depend on any current build. It's all going to change, so you might want to wait and see. But my money is still going to be on mesmer.

[Khisanth.2948]

@Jenny.4831 said:Would Viper's even be a good set for a Mesmer? I mean it's power, precision, condi damage and expertise, so it's trying to do a power build and a condi build at the same time. I figure that might work for an Elementalist or Guardian, but I'm not sure about Mesmer but then that's why I'm asking.

If Viper's is a good choice, how much of it is ideal? Armor, Weapons, Trinkets or only some of those and a mix of other things?

I only have about 300 gold right now and I really don't want to put any more real money into it, though I suppose $20 could get me another 500g or something. $20 is a lot easier to get, but if I'm not doing expensive crafting, I don't really need it for anything except as a cushion.

Viper's is basically the best choice for anything going for highest condi damage in the same way that berserker is best for highest power damage. As for how many pieces that depends on where you want to be on the spectrum of offense and defense. The power in there isn't really an issue because everything will still have a physical/power component(or they should, not having that leads to broken stuff in PvP/WvW). That aside if you play in the core game you'll want to have some power anyway since there are stuff that are just immune to conditions.

A set of exotic viper's(or any stat since it is stat selectable) armor is 5g(everything except the coat from the itzel mastery vendor) + ~7g(crafted coat). Weapon you could just get rabid. You can get ascended stat selectable trinkets from LS3, LS4, LS5/Ice Brood Saga(only amulet and accessory so far). You could also replace that coat with any other condition oriented stat losing roughly 4% damage.

@Vayne.8563 said:I'd take the mesmer because it's an iconic Guild Wars 2 class, that most games don't have. I mean almost every game has an elementalist which is a bog standard mage. Fire. LIghtning. I'd rather play something more unique.

I also think that with the big balance patch coming at the end of this month or maybe early next month, you can't depend on any current build. It's all going to change, so you might want to wait and see. But my money is still going to be on mesmer.

That patch is mainly for PvP/WvW stuff. There is very little impact for PvE.

[Vayne.8563]

@Khisanth.2948 said:

@Jenny.4831 said:Would Viper's even be a good set for a Mesmer? I mean it's power, precision, condi damage and expertise, so it's trying to do a power build and a condi build at the same time. I figure that might work for an Elementalist or Guardian, but I'm not sure about Mesmer but then that's why I'm asking.

If Viper's is a good choice, how much of it is ideal? Armor, Weapons, Trinkets or only some of those and a mix of other things?

I only have about 300 gold right now and I really don't want to put any more real money into it, though I suppose $20 could get me another 500g or something. $20 is a lot easier to get, but if I'm not doing expensive crafting, I don't really need it for anything except as a cushion.

Viper's is basically the best choice for anything going for highest condi damage in the same way that berserker is best for highest power damage. As for how many pieces that depends on where you want to be on the spectrum of offense and defense. The power in there isn't really an issue because everything will still have a physical/power component(or they should, not having that leads to broken stuff in PvP/WvW). That aside if you play in the core game you'll want to have some power anyway since there are stuff that are just immune to conditions.

A set of exotic viper's(or any stat since it is stat selectable) armor is 5g(everything except the coat from the itzel mastery vendor) + ~7g(crafted coat). Weapon you could just get rabid. You can get ascended stat selectable trinkets from LS3, LS4, LS5/Ice Brood Saga(only amulet and accessory so far). You could also replace that coat with any other condition oriented stat losing roughly 4% damage.

@Vayne.8563 said:I'd take the mesmer because it's an iconic Guild Wars 2 class, that most games don't have. I mean almost every game has an elementalist which is a bog standard mage. Fire. LIghtning. I'd rather play something more unique.

I also think that with the big balance patch coming at the end of this month or maybe early next month, you can't depend on any current build. It's all going to change, so you might want to wait and see. But my money is still going to be on mesmer.

That patch is mainly for PvP/WvW stuff. There is very little impact for PvE.

I wouldn't say that. There's some impact surely. With my mesmer, I often start fights with my great sword 4 skills, which now cripples, but will instead remove boons. That makes a fairly significant difference, at least to me. There are surely not as many changes coming to PvE, but that's not to say things won't change. Comparatively you're right, but I until I see the patch I'll reserve judgement.

[aspirine.6852]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Khisanth.2948 said:

@Jenny.4831 said:Would Viper's even be a good set for a Mesmer? I mean it's power, precision, condi damage and expertise, so it's trying to do a power build and a condi build at the same time. I figure that might work for an Elementalist or Guardian, but I'm not sure about Mesmer but then that's why I'm asking.

If Viper's is a good choice, how much of it is ideal? Armor, Weapons, Trinkets or only some of those and a mix of other things?

I only have about 300 gold right now and I really don't want to put any more real money into it, though I suppose $20 could get me another 500g or something. $20 is a lot easier to get, but if I'm not doing expensive crafting, I don't really need it for anything except as a cushion.

Viper's is basically the best choice for anything going for highest condi damage in the same way that berserker is best for highest power damage. As for how many pieces that depends on where you want to be on the spectrum of offense and defense. The power in there isn't really an issue because everything will still have a physical/power component(or they should, not having that leads to broken stuff in PvP/WvW). That aside if you play in the core game you'll want to have some power anyway since there are stuff that are just immune to conditions.

A set of exotic viper's(or any stat since it is stat selectable) armor is 5g(everything except the coat from the itzel mastery vendor) + ~7g(crafted coat). Weapon you could just get rabid. You can get ascended stat selectable trinkets from LS3, LS4, LS5/Ice Brood Saga(only amulet and accessory so far). You could also replace that coat with any other condition oriented stat losing roughly 4% damage.

@Vayne.8563 said:I'd take the mesmer because it's an iconic Guild Wars 2 class, that most games don't have. I mean almost every game has an elementalist which is a bog standard mage. Fire. LIghtning. I'd rather play something more unique.

I also think that with the big balance patch coming at the end of this month or maybe early next month, you can't depend on any current build. It's all going to change, so you might want to wait and see. But my money is still going to be on mesmer.

That patch is mainly for PvP/WvW stuff. There is very little impact for PvE.

I wouldn't say that. There's some impact surely. With my mesmer, I often start fights with my great sword 4 skills, which now cripples, but will instead remove boons. That makes a fairly significant difference, at least to me. There are surely not as many changes coming to PvE, but that's not to say things won't change. Comparatively you're right, but I until I see the patch I'll reserve judgement.

Will it remove boons also in pve? That sounds rather useless.

[Vayne.8563]

@aspirine.6852 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Khisanth.2948 said:

@Jenny.4831 said:Would Viper's even be a good set for a Mesmer? I mean it's power, precision, condi damage and expertise, so it's trying to do a power build and a condi build at the same time. I figure that might work for an Elementalist or Guardian, but I'm not sure about Mesmer but then that's why I'm asking.

If Viper's is a good choice, how much of it is ideal? Armor, Weapons, Trinkets or only some of those and a mix of other things?

I only have about 300 gold right now and I really don't want to put any more real money into it, though I suppose $20 could get me another 500g or something. $20 is a lot easier to get, but if I'm not doing expensive crafting, I don't really need it for anything except as a cushion.

Viper's is basically the best choice for anything going for highest condi damage in the same way that berserker is best for highest power damage. As for how many pieces that depends on where you want to be on the spectrum of offense and defense. The power in there isn't really an issue because everything will still have a physical/power component(or they should, not having that leads to broken stuff in PvP/WvW). That aside if you play in the core game you'll want to have some power anyway since there are stuff that are just immune to conditions.

A set of exotic viper's(or any stat since it is stat selectable) armor is 5g(everything except the coat from the itzel mastery vendor) + ~7g(crafted coat). Weapon you could just get rabid. You can get ascended stat selectable trinkets from LS3, LS4, LS5/Ice Brood Saga(only amulet and accessory so far). You could also replace that coat with any other condition oriented stat losing roughly 4% damage.

@Vayne.8563 said:I'd take the mesmer because it's an iconic Guild Wars 2 class, that most games don't have. I mean almost every game has an elementalist which is a bog standard mage. Fire. LIghtning. I'd rather play something more unique.

I also think that with the big balance patch coming at the end of this month or maybe early next month, you can't depend on any current build. It's all going to change, so you might want to wait and see. But my money is still going to be on mesmer.

That patch is mainly for PvP/WvW stuff. There is very little impact for PvE.

I wouldn't say that. There's some impact surely. With my mesmer, I often start fights with my great sword 4 skills, which now cripples, but will instead remove boons. That makes a fairly significant difference, at least to me. There are surely not as many changes coming to PvE, but that's not to say things won't change. Comparatively you're right, but I until I see the patch I'll reserve judgement.

Will it remove boons also in pve? That sounds rather useless.

There are bosses and fractals and stuff like that where it's not. Removing boons in fractals with certain instabilities is a must and I'd surely have that weapon on for that fractal, but I agree, for open world stuff it's sorta meh.

[Khisanth.2948]

@aspirine.6852 said:Will it remove boons also in pve? That sounds rather useless.

That depends. Open world? Probably. Definitely has uses in fractal. It also synergize with the new trait that increases damage against enemies without boons meaning it will be up 100% of the time in some PvE areas.

[Jenny.4831]

Thank you everyone for responding to my little "what should I play" post. I know these things are common which is why I was hesitant to even write it in the first place. I looked through other Mesmer v Elementalist posts but nothing seemed to quite match up with my own situation.

After thinking about this for a couple of weeks, I've decided I'm going to focus on my Mesmer. I just hope the upcoming patch doesn't wreck it, but then I hope no class/spec gets wrecked by it. No fun to invest quite a bit of time, effort and money into something that suddenly becomes a burden or downright useless due to the Anet's 'balancing' efforts.

I think in light of this decision, I'm going to start from scratch and enjoy the journey through the game.

With that in mind, all of my characters can have 4 professions and was thinking of: Weaponsmithing, Tailoring, Artificer, and ?

Until they raise Jewel Crafting to 500 it seems useless since we can get ascended jewelry from vendors. Chef? Not sure how to go about making ascended recipes and the like. Still, it would probably be more useful than JC right now.