Guild Wars 2

Before this most recent nerfs my vision of the elementalist was that is was either a ranged AOE damage dealer (staff) or a highly mobile but lightly armored melee (d/d).

In the SOTG talk, the developers said that they wanted thieves to be the most mobile class (which interestingly enough is not done by making thieves more mobile but by reducing the mobility of the ele).

Personally, I had always though of thieves as a deception based character (along with mesmers).

So what is the role of the ele? Is it a boon factory, like the guardian?

Weren’t they supposed to be ‘masters of versitility’? You know, exactly like engineers were supposed to be, before they were turned into some useless mid range master of nothing class.

I don’t think Anet know what they want half the classes to actually do.

The role of the elementalist is to be nerfed.

Same as everybody else:

DPS

D/D is still powerful, So is staff for zerg busting. Honestly bunker ele’s are still going to be strong in WvW when played well, even with the nerfs. There are still options available to Ele’s but they have screwed them quite a bit lately.

Is like the bad players they will always rerol to a thief , ele or a mesmer.

Problem is that anything non-bunker is getting hit harder. There are other viable builds out there (I enjoy my glassy D/D), but they’re becoming harder to play with each patch. And they still aren’t adding anything to really compensate and encourage build variety.

I would really, really like to know what they devs intend for the class. Because as is, I’m pretty kitten confused.

Khalic.3561:

Problem is that anything non-bunker is getting hit harder. There are other viable builds out there (I enjoy my glassy D/D), but they’re becoming harder to play with each patch. And they still aren’t adding anything to really compensate and encourage build variety.

Exactly.

The role of my Scepter elementalist, currently, is to have my teammates say “Hey, you want to bring your Mesmer or Guardian instead?”

Khalic.3561:

Problem is that anything non-bunker is getting hit harder. There are other viable builds out there (I enjoy my glassy D/D), but they’re becoming harder to play with each patch. And they still aren’t adding anything to really compensate and encourage build variety.

I would really, really like to know what they devs intend for the class. Because as is, I’m pretty kitten confused.

That’s basically why I asked. The most recent nerfs have affected my vision of the class. I’m not saying the class doesn’t have effective builds (or won’t) just that I don’t really see what it’s suppose to be.

TooBz.3065:

In the SOTG talk, the developers said that they wanted thieves to be the most mobile class (which interestingly enough is not done by making thieves more mobile but by reducing the mobility of the ele).

Personally, I had always though of thieves as a deception based character (along with mesmers).

For what it’s worth, I’ve felt they should have just kept "assassin" instead of calling the class "thief", since it more comes out of the GW1 assassin class than resembles other MMO’s/RPG’s thief classes. The ’sin had "deceptive" skills, but they were more based on mobility than trickery, if that’s a fair adjective to get my meaning across.

Honestly, as an ele, and talking to a few guild members. They believe that Anet is reverting back to the “holy trinity” and, thus pigeon-holing elementalist into a tank role with engineers and guardians. I already respec between PvE and WvW, because having a tanker build helps me survive fights while we are roaming.

Its every thing ElE is the jack of all trades and master at non of them.

Jski.6180:

Its every thing ElE is the jack of all trades and master at non of them.

Just like the kittening druid in world of kittening warcraft kittening bullkitten nerfs.

auras, ice bows, and occasional heals.

Jski.6180:

Its every thing ElE is the jack of all trades and master at non of them.

Ele is king of two things, jack and kitten, and jack left town. The Ele as it is now isn’t even mediocre at any role. The only thing it can do is lay down more combo fields than anyone else, but in Staff doesn’t have enough long range blast finishers to make a difference.

To be a “jack of all trades” the combined abilities of your various trades needs to amount to at least the baseline of other class’s abilities. The Ele has poor damage (AND ANet has said it wants to nerf AoE further), poor CC, poor mobility both in and out of combat, etc.

The Jack of All Trades is public relations doublespeak for “we have no idea what this class should do, so to make sure our Warriors and Thieves don’t lose any self-esteem, we’re going to make Eles into near stationary badge pinatas.”

Tumbero.3945:

Is like the bad players they will always rerol to a thief , ele or a mesmer.

Ah yes, thief ele and mes. They require, like, no skill at all. Yeah. Uh-huh.

Thief requires a lot of skill in spvp..no seriously
I played s/d that got buffed and its like awsomely fun and engaging with a huge amount of teleports and mobility.
You see a target?You are there in no time AND you get the joy to steal that poor elementalists prot and stability with one hit if you are lucky :P
Poor guy he has the rocks around him making him look ugly while i get the benefits
Killing eles never been so easy..downside is zero cond removal though
But seriously THATS mobility..

remove the whole class and make a new one. what you have now is a very, VERY hot mess that’s not fun to play.

Our role is, has been and always will be being the class with the flashiest moves.

The way I see it, the only things elementalists do better than other classes is area of effect damage (as in, their aoes are larger, not necessarily harder hitting) and combo fields. Other than that, I don’t see much an elementalist can do another profession couldn’t do better.

Thieves honestly do not get enough credit imo. The class is based on critical reactions/timing/decisions. Heavy emphasis on decisions. Initiative gives thieves freedom to do what they want but at a cost and only for so long. Too much investment in said freedom can lead to a dead thief.

Almost poetic when you think about
(Looks to sky feeling like an artist)

Benji.9203:

Thieves honestly do not get enough credit imo. The class is based on critical reactions/timing/decisions. Heavy emphasis on decisions. Initiative gives thieves freedom to do what they want but at a cost and only for so long. Too much investment in said freedom can lead to a dead thief.

Almost poetic when you think about
(Looks to sky feeling like an artist)

Essentially; good description of the class in general.

Ele’s new roll is to play glass cannon staff carry in Kaypud’s new 10v10 beach brawl.

So much fun.