This came from a thread I posted in in the Elementalist Forum. It occurred to me that perhaps the devs, who might favor other classes, simply don’t read that forum all that much.
So I devised a few commonsense buffs/changes that would help various Ele builds, and give the Ele better in combat mobility from a variety of gap closers, which could also be used OOC, but so can most of them on other classes as well.
Here’s the original list:
1. Adjust Ride the Lightning to have a 900 range, with a 20s CD. Adjust the damage to compensate. This makes it a gap closer with a shorter range than Warrior’s Rush with a comparable CD.
2. Adjust Lightning Flash’s CD to 30s, keep the 900 range, allowing it to be used in tandem with other movement skills. This also helps Staff and Focus users and is comparable to a Mesmer’s Blink skill.
3. Adjust Burning Retreat into a Sequence skill. First skill is Searing Blast, moving the Ele forward in the same fashion as Burning Speed, with a Blast Finisher at the end, giving the Staff Ele a second Blast Finisher bringing it in-line with the other available weapons. Burning Retreat then becomes the sequence skill but reverts shortly if not used (say 5s). This skill would then function similarly to Illusionary Leap, but without need for a target, and would provide Staff users with a forward movement gap closer/creator.
4. Adjust Blinding Flash to a teleport. Would function exactly like Flashing Blade, but keep the 900 range.
5. Adjust Magnetic Grasp to function without a target. If no target is selected when using MG, it simply defaults to using Magnetic Leap to push you forward 900.
That gives the D/D Ele two native 900 range gap closers, a Scepter Ele at least one (possibly two if going S/D), and a Staff user at least one of both a closer and creator. Having MG be a target optional gap closer/creator also opens up the possibility of viable D/F builds.
There are MANY other balance tweaks I could think up, but for now this is a short list and I think makes a fair point:
The Ele is a low armor, low health class. It has at least two weapon sets (x/D) that require at least partial melee range. As a class it has no natural defensive mechanics (i.e. Mesmer illusions/distortion, Ranger pet, Thief stealth, Necromancer death shroud, etc.) and relies almost entirely on dodges and utility skills for any semblance of defense. What Ele players became somewhat accustomed to with the long range RtL and to a lesser extent MF-heals was a degree of survivability in combat, especially in your face PBAoE.
Since ANet’s philosophy on Ele balancing is to reduce the ability to extend and escape from combat situations, something needs to be compensated with, especially in PvE and WvWvW. The above changes would give the Ele more in combat mobility and survivability, something that is sorely needed especially in D/D format.
To those detractors who say I’m crazy, look at the D/D build. Burning Speed, RtL, and Magnetic Grasp. If changed to the above, they become three mid range gap closers, and sans target gap creators. Contrast that to a Warrior running with GS and S/x. Two mid and one long range gap closers on shorter CDs than the above suggestions, on the class with the highest base armor and health.
If ANet’s design philosophy requires the Thief to be the most mobile, so be it, but that should not mean that they have to hamstring the Ele into boring unplayability. Especially when you consider the defensive advantages the Thief has (blinds, Stealth, near infinite dodging, profession mechanic that includes a 900 range gap closer, etc.), its clear that a light armor class with no inherent defense needs better consideration.