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[Elrathan]

I've recently managed to get both my mesmer and my necro up to 80 and I'm trying to choose one as my main (i.e. choose which one to gear first). I want my character to be an arcane blademaster, so his primary weapon must be ether a dagger or sword as GS feels too bulky for me. As much as liking the theme of the guy is important, I want him to be competent in dungeons/fractals and open world exploration. WvWvW and sPvP aren't a great concern for me.

From what I've found the relative strengths and weaknesses are as follows:

Dagger Necromancer:
http://gw2skills.net...XXRKO2woesO2hOA

Pros:

• Great sustained singe target damage (greater then an equally geared mesmer from tests in the mists)
  
• High passive survivability and good active damage avoidance through death shroud.
  
• High run speed through ether permanent swiftness (high investment) or locust signet (low investment)
  
• Good burst AoE with life transfer, well of suffering and marks

Cons:

• Decent ranged dps with death shroud but bad sustained dps with staff
  
• no real sustained ranged dps
  
• little single target burst outside of wells
  
• low combat mobility and mediocre stun breakers

Sword Mesmer
http://gw2skills.net...7 OSKatUrkCe7CB
Pros

• Good sustained cleaving damage and great burst
  
• Damage can be insane in fights that allow for three phantasms
  
• High active survivability through stub breaks, invisibility and mobility
  
• respectable sustained ranged damage with GS

Cons:

• No reliable speed increase outside of centaur runes+focus (this is a big negative for me as it makes exploration a pain)
  
• Damage can drop greatly on certain fights that don't allow for illusions to survive long
  
• Lack of large radius or sustained AoE
  
• Low passive survivability (unfortunately I'm not yet at the level where I can avoid all damage)

Does anyone who has more experience with ether class have anything to add?

Note: I realize that there is already a necro vs mesmer thread but I didn't want to hijack it. Plus I feel that my question is unique in a way as most people only seem to consider conditionmancers in it.

[Red Omen]

Mesmers seem the closest to the arcane blademaster archetype, and they bring so much utility to the table that they're highly sought after for a lot of high-end content. Bring a staff as your secondary weapon if you find yourself wanting the AoE department.

I think guardians can also satisfy the sword + magic thing (part of why I picked that as my main), although the heavy armor makes them seem more like mage knights. Like mesmer, they're another profession that's in extremely high demand. And, of course, elementalists use daggers as well.