Guild Wars 2

Dear Arenanet.
Please give us Elementalist a second weapon slot that we can quick swap to out of combat (& when all the weapon skills are off cooldown). Having to switch manually through the inventory between staff and dual daggers (two completely different playstyles!) is an incredible chore. “You get 20 skills per weapon set” IS NOT AN ARGUMENT AGAINST THIS.

Dear fellow guild wars elementalist players.
Please give me your support on this.

Thanks for listening.

Well, you certainly have my support. It is very annoying, and I agree I wish Anet would do something like this. Though, I have a feeling this will fall on deaf ears.

I see that kinda going against what they want, you could kill something, sit there, switch, then get back in combat, but I guess you can do that already but in a more annoying way. Seems like a decent idea though I would imagine the cool down after exiting combat might be longer for them in that respect.

Ya, it is not changing any game mechanics here. Just an ease of use thing. Hitting H and right-clicking the items you want and selecting equip/equip in off hand… just takes a lot of effort to do.

/signed

I wonder if they were worried it would make the ele op, or maybe to difficult to play? 2 weapon swaps and 4 attunements each?

Throwing this idea out there and let me know what you guys think in case weapon switching will make ele op…

How about locking 2 attunements with each weapon switch? That way you have to use some tactical planning in advance? Like fire and air with your first weapon and then when you swap you have earth and water?

Idk it could be a terrible idea just trying to brainstorm at 9am (probably a bad idea to brainstorm this early)

Hmm. all other chars get 10 skills across 2 weapon sets. The elementalist gets 20 skills for 1 weapon set. Doesn’t that give you 2x the tools at your disposal? Trouble juggling 4 attunements?

EnochDagor.6185:

Ya, it is not changing any game mechanics here. Just an ease of use thing. Hitting H and right-clicking the items you want and selecting equip/equip in off hand… just takes a lot of effort to do.

exactly. having to manually hit H, go into the inventory, find your weapon and equip them EVERY time you just want to swap between another set is tedious at best. have mercy Anet.

I agree with this suggestion as long as it remains an ‘out of combat’ swap.

I would like to see this for all classes- a way to swap additional weapon sets with the click of a single button, that only works out of combat.

I’m pretty sure its done for a balance issue, It would be unfair to give ele’s weapon swaps in PvP for instance. 20 skills vs 10 is a little skewed in the ele’s favor

You guys have such a huge range of spells anyway. Hehe Stance switch more.

GeneralBlueBees.9341:

I’m pretty sure its done for a balance issue, It would be unfair to give ele’s weapon swaps in PvP for instance. 20 skills vs 10 is a little skewed in the ele’s favor

You guys have such a huge range of spells anyway. Hehe Stance switch more.

harlander.1983:

Hmm. all other chars get 10 skills across 2 weapon sets. The elementalist gets 20 skills for 1 weapon set. Doesn’t that give you 2x the tools at your disposal? Trouble juggling 4 attunements?

It’s like… it’s like you two have no idea what you are talking about!
And clearly, you don’t!
I suggest you re-read what exactly is being suggested here. And then read up (or try playing) on how an elementalist works.

teyjattt.5214:

I agree with this suggestion as long as it remains an ‘out of combat’ swap.

Which is exactly what is being suggested.

Hey spoon, don’t be a kitten… I do support a “out of combat” swap. I didn’t see that earlier. Now apologize.

I agree, I hope we can get our 4 skill slots back from the original game, we need it too!

GeneralBlueBees.9341:

Hey spoon, don’t be a kitten… I do support a “out of combat” swap. I didn’t see that earlier. Now apologize.

I forgive you, just read the thread before you post in it next time.

My bad /love There is enough hate in this world, That’s why this forum is full of kittens.

I totally agree, but it really has to be only available when you’re out of combat, otherwise it could be a little OP

Just wanted to throw my support behind the out of combat weapon switching. Before entering a fight, I can usually take a guess for whether I’ll need to help healing (staff) or just pure damage (daggers). It’d be nice to easily switch ahead of time.

I’m not so sure that making it an OoC only switch is as easy as you guys are hoping, since that’s not something that’s in the game at the moment. It’d be nice, but it’s not something that’s a big deal to me. Yes, I have an Ele; my main is an Engineer, the other class that doesn’t have an alternate weapon set.

I think of it as the elementalist having 4 weapon sets, one for each elemental affinity. You already get 20 skills, you don’t need another weapon set.

It’s a balancing question, so I think it’s a no-no for in-combat switching.

Out of combat, sure. Just press H, equip the weapon, and there you go. Maybe even implement a keybind for quick weapon equipping.

RJMazz.6798:

I think of it as the elementalist having 4 weapon sets, one for each elemental affinity. You already get 20 skills, you don’t need another weapon set.

It’s a balancing question, so I think it’s a no-no for in-combat switching.

Out of combat, sure. Just press H, equip the weapon, and there you go. Maybe even implement a keybind for quick weapon equipping.

The OP is only saying that he wants a second weapon set to make out of combat switching more convenient. I honestly think it’s a good idea, it’s annoying to have to go into inventory whenever I want to switch weapons.

RJMazz and everyone else that assumes that they understand what the topic is about… please realize we are referring to an Out of Combat gear switch. This is just an ease of use feature and not a game mechanic feature.

Other games resolve this same issue with macros (a la EQ2) that allow you to switch gear easily.

Edit: The issue really gets bad when you’ve been roaming an area for a long period of time and have 5 different types of weapons in your bags of each kind that you can use. Then you have to figure out which one is the one that you prefer… takes time and is just inconvenient.

Ummmm… why? On any class, I don’t have 5 of each type of weapon in my bag. I know what I prefer & I salvage or vendor anything that isn’t up to spec (haven’t yet found a shield skill I’d waste bag space on on any class, for example). I don’t wish to sound ad hominem, but you are starting to sound as though you want an EZ mode button (in a small way, I’ll grant you)!

GeneralBlueBees.9341:

I’m pretty sure its done for a balance issue, It would be unfair to give ele’s weapon swaps in PvP for instance. 20 skills vs 10 is a little skewed in the ele’s favor

You guys have such a huge range of spells anyway. Hehe Stance switch more.

harlander.1983:

Hmm. all other chars get 10 skills across 2 weapon sets. The elementalist gets 20 skills for 1 weapon set. Doesn’t that give you 2x the tools at your disposal? Trouble juggling 4 attunements?

I don’t have any trouble at all stance changing. Over the course of leveling my Ele and playing PvP I’m quite confident in my abilities. There are 2 main issues with your statements though
1rst: We don’t have the same versatility of another weapon set. Yes we have 20 abilities but that isn’t really versatility. What I’m trying to say is for example a warrior can go from melee to 1200 range with his rifle., a ranger can go from long range with his longbow to melee with greats word, etc etc. by changing weapons you are changing play styles. We cannot do that. By changing elements you are changing your type of damage. Fire being main damage and aoe, air single target usually gives mobility and some control, water for support and control, and earth for conditions. That’s what we get for changing. If dagger dagger changing elements doesn’t make me magically able to switch to middle or long range, I’m still stuck in melee range. Same thing applies to staff. It’s not nearly as flexible as people make it out to be. More abilities=/=Versitility
2nd: Our abilities are balanced to be as effective as your 10. In otherwords having more abilities is actually a hindrance because our spells hit for less, and our damage combos tend to be twice as long. (don’t misunderstand this as me not having the ability to use my rotations I can, it’s just isn’t as efficient as hitting 1 or 2 buttons) and twice as easy to avoid (I’d state my rotations and combos for my d/d aura elementalist but the more people who know the worse off I am :p Pm if you wanna know build and rotations and such). Not to mention we have so many abilities that are near useless. For example the 2 ability under air in d/d Is almost not worth casting, you really only go into water for the frost aura and 2 heals, and the main reason for earth is earth quake and maybe churning earth. This doesn’t really affect our need to be able to switch weapons but it’s the counter argument to those who say more abilities=better

Ofc would be OP in combat, actually I think is OP even out of combat, I suggest a long cooldown…it is also true that changing weapon most of your build should be useless as far asd I know.

“Our spells hit for less” … says an Elementalist who masters the art of dealing damage.

Mitissa.1532:

“Our spells hit for less” … says an Elementalist who masters the art of dealing damage.

There’s a difference between what you read on the ArenaNet page and the actual numbers. The highest we can hit with one ability is 8k with fire grab. And that Is ONLY if we’re full squish build and attacking another full squish.

PS: building full squish is a mistake.
PPS: also fire grab is difficult to land unless your opponent is an idiot or he is immobilized.

We agree to disagree then. There’s more to killing someone than hitting them with the biggest spell.

Mitissa.1532:

We agree to disagree then. There’s more to killing someone than hitting them with the biggest spell.

O deffinetly. I don’t need the big numbers to feel good abou my class. Nothing feels better than landing my full rotation on a poor kitten. It’s wonderful, because I know it requires skill to do what I’m doing and isn’t as easy as HS spam

Though it doesn’t change the fact we’re currently the weakest profession (I will stomp though so i try not to let it get to me)

Raedwulf.3712:

Ummmm… why? On any class, I don’t have 5 of each type of weapon in my bag. I know what I prefer & I salvage or vendor anything that isn’t up to spec (haven’t yet found a shield skill I’d waste bag space on on any class, for example). I don’t wish to sound ad hominem, but you are starting to sound as though you want an EZ mode button (in a small way, I’ll grant you)!

No my point is, that you are in a dungeon or you are roaming an outdoor zone with a group or something… or even worse… in WvW. Action is constant, you don’t get a chance to stop and go through bags and say… oo that’s an upgrade or… oo I think i’ll salvage that (although, I have been selling most items instead of salvaging lately).

So you get bags and bags (I’m on 12’s right now, it’ll only get worse with 15’s) full of stuff. You have to keep 2 daggers, a sceptor, a focus and a staff… if you have more than 1 of each of those items (2 for daggers) than you have to figure out which item is which while switching. The list in the H window just puts them all there.

It is a matter of convenience. Why should we be penalized for inventory management when every other class gets an ability of convenience? Again, I am not asking for in combat switching…

Think of it like this… there is a cooldown for a when a warrior switches gear during combat (15s or something like that)… however, if the warrior is not in combat, there is no cooldown. All we’re asking is the same ability… to switch, out of combat, without a cooldown of having to scrounge around your bags.

{edit}@seph{/edit}
Perhaps you’re playing the wrong profession, then? There is no weakest profession, just the same as there is no weakest build. It’s all just a matter of play-style.

Whilst, again, I wouldn’t want you to think I’m attacking the poster… what is it that you want extra? Other classes may be able to do bigger headline damage, but the Ele has abilities that they don’t. Do you want their headline damage AND your other abilities on top? That would be overpowered. Do you want simple headline damage? Then maybe you’re on the wrong class. I’m not having a dig, I’m just puzzled…

Elementalist dont really need a change weapon button. Just need more power on some skills. Isnt normal that warrior or rogue hit you by 13K and you hit them by 1.2K. That’s ridiculous.
I think that with a weapon change button, we are too OP.
Imagine: d/d and staff. Staff for too longer attacks, and d/d for close attack. We have 40 skills to use. Is really insane. But, if we dont get any buff on our power, we really need a change weapon button.

EnochDagor.6185:

No my point is, that you are in a dungeon or you are roaming an outdoor zone with a group or something… or even worse… in WvW. Action is constant, you don’t get a chance to stop and go through bags and say… oo that’s an upgrade or… oo I think i’ll salvage that (although, I have been selling most items instead of salvaging lately).

Fair enough, but still, it’s the same for all of us. On any of 6 classes I can switch weapon sets in combat. But I can’t change my equipment. On two classes, I can’t change weapon sets in combat; I’ve got kits (Eng) or elements instead. And I still can’t change equipment in combat! So I really don’t see how the Ele is disadvantaged. Mine is only L10, by the way, so I’ll happily concede being a noob at it, but nevertheless… Yes, an OoC one-key switch would be nice but, honestly, it’s a pretty minor thing, isn’t it?

Raedwulf.3712:

Perhaps you’re playing the wrong profession, then? There is no weakest profession, just the same as there is no weakest build. It’s all just a matter of play-style.

Whilst, again, I wouldn’t want you to think I’m attacking the poster… what is it that you want extra? Other classes may be able to do bigger headline damage, but the Ele has abilities that they don’t. Do you want their headline damage AND your other abilities on top? That would be overpowered. Do you want simple headline damage? Then maybe you’re on the wrong class. I’m not having a dig, I’m just puzzled…

I love my Ele please don’t tell me to go play something else -.-. Please tell me what abilities we have that others do not. As I said I do quite well with my Ele, doesn’t mean their not in a weak spot right now. We have the lowest health, lowest armor, and lowest benefit per point of toughness. On top of that we have less damage than for example warriors while they maintain much more health than us and higher defenses. Thiefs (which is the closest thing to our equivalent) have more escape utility with their stealth to avoiding getting trashed, hit harder, hit easier, and most importantly do it all MUCH fast than us. In a game where seconds are your resource instead of mana or other resources having to use upwards of 6 abilities for your rotation (plus setting it up do you don’t miss) gets beaten out by 3 abilities that hit just as hard (maybe a tad bit softer) but much much quicker. I can trash thieves if I play well. The point Is though we have to work twice as hard to be able to do anything “well”. I love the Ele, i love feeling like the avatar, but it doesn’t change the fact that currently we are the weakest class. That is all. Disagree if you wish. Anywho this isn’t a thread about Ele balance. Make a thread about it and I’ll gladly go into great detail

How about making it an optional trait?

Specialist – Gain a second weapon set, and the ability to toggle weapon sets in combat. Attunements now have a 60 second CD (? and cannot be swapped in combat ?).

Maebe.6321:

How about making it an optional trait?

Specialist – Gain a second weapon set, and the ability to toggle weapon sets in combat. Attunements now have a 60 second CD (? and cannot be swapped in combat ?).

60 seconds? No thank you useless trait ahoy!

The idea would be that you’re “specializing” in Fire, or Electricity, and would prefer to swap between positions (melee vs ranged) instead of roles (healer/support vs damage). Just because it isn’t how you prefer to play Elementalist doesn’t make it “useless”.

Signed.

15 characters.

an out of combat hotkey weapon swap would be ideal.
/signed.

EnochDagor.6185:

Ya, it is not changing any game mechanics here. Just an ease of use thing. Hitting H and right-clicking the items you want and selecting equip/equip in off hand… just takes a lot of effort to do.

/signed

Im not trying to bash this post but its an interesting world we live in when you see someone saying it takes a lot of effort to open up the Hero tab and manually swap weapons.

Anyway it would be handy, but I don’t really think its a must have change. I dont swap weapons all that much with my Ele.

Actually IIRC, someone from A Net posted something along the lines of it’s something they’d like to do down the road, but it may be a while.

So, there’s hope (unless my memory is totally gone, which is a distinct possibility).

I know in Beta this was requested many times and Anet kept telling us that they are working on a solution for all classes to setup multiple weapon/gear sets and switch between them out of combat. I was honestly expecting them to have it in by launch, and here we are.

Anet, if you still have some time before implementing this feature, would it take much to give us a modified version of the current weapon swap mechanic but make it so that we can only use it out of combat? I know you are working a much more robust feature for all classes, but it would sure be nice if us elementalists could have something to use until that feature is ready.

Sephorai.3827:

60 seconds? No thank you useless trait ahoy!

Heh. I cannot help but agree with that! In answer to your other points, first, of course I’m not telling you to play another class! Let me re-phrase. What is your experience of playing other classes? You say this, that, & the other about those other classes, but…

I’m a notorious multi-alter. I enjoy the variety, and as someone that usually ends up as group / raid leader, I like to understand what each class is capable of. GW2 is a right kitten so far – too many possible builds on one class, never mind the other seven! My Thief, Guardian, and Ranger are all only just out of the starter quest; my Ele is 10; my Mesmer, Warrior, and Necro are all at 20; my Engineer main is closing on the cap.

What were you saying about health & the rest of it? Cos, quite honestly, I think you’re wrong. My Mesmer & Necro are no healthier, tougher, better, level-for-level, than the Ele. All light armour classes, all the same. I was playing the Warrior this morning. Despite his heavy armour, he was getting trashed; far more so than I’ve experienced with the lights. He may have heavy armour, he may have higher health, but his best weapons are melee, he takes a heck of a lot more damage as a consequence, and his self-heals don’t seem, to me, to be as good as other classes. There again, that’s probably largely down to the way I play him.

Nevertheless, I’ve had a harder time keeping him alive than I’ve had on the Ele. I’ve not found the Ele weaker than the Mesmer or the Necro. The Engineer rocks, I can’t deny. But yes, I do have to disagree with your comments. So far, I’ve not found any noticeable weakness on the Ele, as compared with other classes. I’m open to argument…