Mesmer

Mesmers are magical duelists who rely on deception and confusion to keep their opponents in check. Indecision is their greatest ally. Using powerful illusions to distract, they make sure they never go toe to toe with an enemy; they use their powers and tactics to set up an unfair fight. Just when you think you've figured out what the mesmer is doing, illusions begin to shatter, clones start to fade away, and you realize you've been swinging at empty air all along. It's hard to keep your eye on the real mesmer.

The mesmer doesn't have the brute power of the warrior, or the ranged devastation of the ranger. Instead, the mesmer weaves a web of interlaced illusions, conditions, and phantasmal sources of damage. Through skillful play, mesmers combine these pieces into a deadly puzzle to be solved by their foes, while also helping their allies.

Illusions—Mesmers create illusions—mind tricks that manifest themselves physically. Most illusions are directed at a specific target, but anyone can see and attack them. They can only exist for as long as that target is alive and can only be dispelled by attacking the illusion itself. A mesmer can maintain up to three illusions at a time, with the oldest illusion being replaced by the newly created one. There are two types of illusions: clones and phantasms.

• 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.
  
• Phantasms—Phantasms are illusions that look like the caster but have their own names and carry special illusionary weapons, which look different and have specific behavior. Phantasms are more powerful, having more health and causing more damage. For example, a staff mesmer can summon an illusionary mage that attacks its target and deals extra damage for each inflicted condition.

Mantras—Mantras are a category of skill that have two phases. The mesmer first activates the mantra, which has a long cast time and replaces that skill slot with an instant-casting skill that the mesmer can then use. Mantras are powerful because many can be charged up before battle and then used in the middle of another spell, without interrupting that spell. For example, Mantra of Pain can charge up into an instant-damage power spike that can be used during a channeled spell, such as the greatsword skill.

Mechanics

Weapons
A mesmer can use a variety of magical, ranged, and melee weapons, including:

• Main Hand: Sword, Scepter
  
• Off Hand: Focus, Pistol, Sword, Torch
  
• Two-Handed: Staff, Greatsword

Confused Condition
The mesmer introduces a new condition to our set called confusion. An enemy with confusion on them takes damage each time they activate a skill. This condition stacks in intensity, so the more confusion an enemy has, the greater the damage.

Shattering
The mesmer has special abilities that can shatter illusions. Shattering will destroy all illusions and create a secondary effect. There are four different shatter skills:

• Mind Wrack—Destroys your illusions and does damage to opponents near them.
  
• Cry of Frustration—Destroys your illusions and gives the confused condition to nearby foes.
  
• Diversion—Destroys your illusions and stuns nearby foes.
  
• Reflection—Destroys your illusions and places a barrier around the mesmer, which reflects enemy projectiles.

wtf?

How do you get such info, like this bard or 26/04/12 as date of game premiere

26/4/12: 7th anniversary of the original Guild Wars release. Meanwhile, Beta testing is stated as being at the end of 2011, quote: 'When will there be a beta? We will be conducting small closed alpha and beta tests in 2011. The feedback from these tests will determine when we will do public beta tests and ship the game'. Beta testing usually begins when a game is near release, like in the case with Guild Wars 1, which was released exactly 6 months after the 'World Preview Event' announcement. Quote: 'October 26, 2004 —This weekend game players around the globe will have free access to Guild Wars, one of the world’s most anticipated online role-playing games, as ArenaNet and NCsoft kick off the Guild Wars World Preview Event. The free World Preview Event, which begins Friday evening, Oct. 29 and ends Sunday evening, Oct. 31'. Arenanet have been stating that they don't want to show anything unless they are close to release. Take a look at the content and frequency of videos being released, and the timing of profession revelations. It all points to an anniversary release.

Bard: The greyed out profession image fits with the long held rumors of a Mesmer profession. If it were so obvious, then why such a long delay in revealing the obvious (which is a counterproductive let down), and what about the 'evolution of mesmers' being talked about. Perhaps it's a final twist. The delay in the last profession reveal would have to be something unexpected that stands out, surely not a generic copy of an old profession. Wiki says: There is one scholar profession left to be revealed; it's confirmed to be a returning Guild Wars profession. This last profession is "'kind of complex and definitely plays differently than other professions", and will also best fulfill the expectations of mesmer fans. It is said it will be revealed before the end of the year'. A mesmer but not a mesmer (Bard). An Assassin but not an Assassin (Thief). A Paragon but not a Paragon (Guardian). A commando but not a commando (Engineer).

Elementalist: April 27, 2010
Warrior: June 9, 2010
Ranger: July: July 14, 2010
Necromancer: August 25, 2010
Guardian: January 27, 2011 (Merging of Paragon, Monk and Warrior)
Thief: March 11, 2011 (evolution of Assassin)
Commando: April 1, 2011 (April fools joke to throw people off the equivalent engineer)
Engineer: May 19, 2011
Bard: Perhaps xmas/new years eve (Throwing people off with what looked like a standard Mesmer)

Mesmer evolves into... a bard. Can you see a feathered bards hat, a fencing sword and a pistol holster?

Terran wrote:

26/4/12: 7th anniversary of the original Guild Wars release. Meanwhile, Beta testing is stated as being at the end of 2011,When will there be a beta? We will be conducting small closed alpha and beta tests in 2011. The feedback from these tests will determine when we will do public beta tests and ship the game[/color]'. Beta testing usually begins when a game is near release, like in the case with Guild Wars 1, which was released exactly 6 months after the 'World Preview Event' announcement. October 26, 2004 —This weekend game players around the globe will have free access to Guild Wars, one of the world’s most anticipated online role-playing games, as ArenaNet and NCsoft kick off the Guild Wars World Preview Event. The free World Preview Event, which begins Friday evening, Oct. 29 and ends Sunday evening, Oct. 31[/color]'. Arenanet have been stating that they don't want to show anything unless they are close to release. Take a look at the content and frequency of videos being released, and the timing of profession revelations. It all points to an anniversary release.

That actually seems clear to me as well, 2 years ago i said it's either gonna be xmax 2011 or 28th april 2012. I just thought you had some information.

Quote :

Bard: The greyed out profession image fits with the long held rumors of a Mesmer profession. If it were so obvious, then why such a long delay in revealing the obvious (which is a counterproductive let down), and what about the 'evolution of mesmers' being talked about. Perhaps it's a final twist. The delay in the last profession reveal would have to be something unexpected that stands out, surely not a generic copy of an old profession. Wiki says: There is one scholar profession left to be revealed; it's confirmed to be a returning Guild Wars profession. This last profession is "'kind of complex and definitely plays differently than other professions", and will also best fulfill the expectations of mesmer fans. It is said it will be revealed before the end of the year'. A mesmer but not a mesmer (Bard). An Assassin but not an Assassin (Thief). A Paragon but not a Paragon (Guardian). A commando but not a commando (Engineer).

Elementalist: April 27, 2010
Warrior: June 9, 2010
Ranger: July: July 14, 2010
Necromancer: August 25, 2010
Guardian: January 27, 2011 (Merging of Paragon, Monk and Warrior)
Thief: March 11, 2011 (evolution of Assassin)
Commando: April 1, 2011 (April fools joke to throw people off the equivalent engineer)
Engineer: May 19, 2011
Bard: Perhaps xmas/new years eve (Throwing people off with what looked like a standard Mesmer)

Mesmer evolves into... a bard. Can you see a feathered bards hat, a fencing sword and a pistol holster?

Of course, I could be wrong. Time will tell [/center]

Makes sense. It's just that in some interview i red it'll be a comeback class so i'd still go for a mesmer.

A comeback class as the Mesmerism attribute line of a Bard perhaps. Arenanet have been deliberately vague in their explanations, trying to neither comfirm nor deny as much as possible, while suggesting a Mesmer-LIKE profession that isn't quite a Mesmer.

Take a look at this image from the concept art, looks like a Bard to me. You can see a gun for a hand, marching to a harmonica.


A side by side comparison against Black and white backgrounds, to show how the transparency and background disguise a lot of detail...


As it appears with the other professions...