Guild Wars 2

Ever since I started playing my ele more, I was struck by how I didn’t always get my might stacks from blast finishers on fire fields. Later I realized that blast finishers have a rather short maximum range, and even if I see the combo flash on my screen, I won’t actually benefit from it if I’m not close enough. This really sucks when playing with a scepter or staff, especially in pvp, where I often want a comfortable distance between me and my targets.

Is there a good reason for the combo system working like this? Wouldn’t it be better if you always got the benefit of your own blast finishers, regardless of how far you are from them?

You’re supposed to get more benefit from being in melee than at range because range is inherently safer in the general course. If blast finishers and other buffs had infinite range, melee would have less reward and more risk. That might help change things up a fair bit but it’s clearly not what Anet intended risk-reward to be.

silly elementalist.. you can’t have your cake and eat it too
unless you aren’t an elementalist. . .

No it should not because being 900/1200 range away from the boss is very much different from being at point blank range.

If you want to stack buffs at a distance – do it at a distance but don’t expect ranged play to be as effective as melee play considering it’s not even close as risky.
Your own words describe this quite well – you want to be a “comfortable” distance away – but for that comfort you have to give something up – stacking boons is what you give up.

Being at range already means you miss out from other people’s blast finishers. I don’t really have a problem standing closer in pve, but I was looking at this mostly from a pvp staff ele’s point of view. Staff already pays for its raw, ranged damage for the damage coming in fields people can just walk out of, squishiness, and long cast times/delays on spells. A pretty staple fire trait gives fury for blast finishers I trigger on fire fields. That fury+might is quite a loss of dps overall. In pvp, if I walk into the fight to get my buffs, they go, OOOH STAFF ELE, splat.

I like the combo system a lot, especially on staff. One of my favorite combos is actually swiftness stacking while running around. Earth 2 at max range ahead, air 5 on it, (earth 2 blasts), arcane wave, air 4 for a bunch of swiftness. But due to the range limit, I have to wait a bit for the explosion to go off, or i’ll be too far to the swiftness, which runs a bit counter the the idea of getting somewhere asap (really annoying as a perfectionist).

I just think the combo system more fluid and satisfying if it always worked for your own finishers.

cheshirefox.7026:

silly elementalist.. you can’t have your cake and eat it too
unless you aren’t an elementalist. . .

I don’t understand. . .

Do rangers or pistol thieves suffer similar problems from being at range?

Linda Shors.5629:

Being at range already means you miss out from other people’s blast finishers. I don’t really have a problem standing closer in pve, but I was looking at this mostly from a pvp staff ele’s point of view. Staff already pays for its raw, ranged damage for the damage coming in fields people can just walk out of, squishiness, and long cast times/delays on spells. A pretty staple fire trait gives fury for blast finishers I trigger on fire fields. That fury+might is quite a loss of dps overall. In pvp, if I walk into the fight to get my buffs, they go, OOOH STAFF ELE, splat.

I like the combo system a lot, especially on staff. One of my favorite combos is actually swiftness stacking while running around. Earth 2 at max range ahead, air 5 on it, (earth 2 blasts), arcane wave, air 4 for a bunch of swiftness. But due to the range limit, I have to wait a bit for the explosion to go off, or i’ll be too far to the swiftness, which runs a bit counter the the idea of getting somewhere asap (really annoying as a perfectionist).

I just think the combo system more fluid and satisfying if it always worked for your own finishers.

cheshirefox.7026:

silly elementalist.. you can’t have your cake and eat it too
unless you aren’t an elementalist. . .

I don’t understand. . .

Do rangers or pistol thieves suffer similar problems from being at range?

you can use the blast finishers, you just have to make sure you are in the field, so you can target yourself or near you, or stand at the edge of the circle of the aoe. The game is very positional, you are supposed to be moving in and out of range to suit whats going on.
the easiest thing, just getting at max range doesnt give the best results.

move in and out as needed, or sacrifice a weak blast finisher/field for increased stacks (though your team could benefit as well)

From a design standpoint, the application of short term buffs can be anywhere on a continuum of “easy” to “hard.” The more risk people are required to take to benefit, the closer the design is to the hard end of the continuum. This plays into the idea of risk versus reward. Less risk, less reward, and vice versa.