Guild Wars 2

So, we buffed warriors, guardians, necros, rangers (ish). thieves are strong as always and mesmers too. Yet, is there a reason why staff ele is the most underwhelming 2H weapon in the game, still ?!

Here, let me point out the obvious flaws again; damage is low, not vs golems who stay in the red circles 24/7, but it is obvious that you didnt take into account that by now, 1 year into the game, people have learned that standing in red circles is a no-no. Can we now remove the learning wheels and give us a rewards for making them eat more than one tick? People dont even bother to even dodge, it is that sad. Damage should take into account the fact that most if not all of the damage can be walked/strafed/dodge/tanked away.

Air 3, it is a joke, it can go through units, but whats the point if i hits the air (sigh) most of the time, from people who werent even dodging, yes, you read that right, you move 1 cm to the left/right and the skill misses, it is THAT sad.

Long casting time, fire #5 still too long for the medium damage it offers, same for air #2, only 1 scape mechanism, “bunker” builds were never really viable because unlike D/D we lack 9999 healing skills, yet the water/arcana ners hit us harder than them nonetheless. We feel like the neglected child of Anet. Inb4 focus, most people dont even know that weapon exists for eles.

Anet, please, answers? Or do I have to put #warriors, #thieves, #nerfelementalistsmore

Dont give me the WvW or Pve excuse. PvE mobs are stupid, they dont move, WvW is zerg fest and anything with 900-1200 works, and small skirmishes is still dominated by guardians and warriors.

Same ETA as when we get more than one build per class.

You want staff fixes?.. staff removed from game. Anet’s work is done here.

Seriously though why ask for buffs to an aoe weapon? I get that it’s not viable but why would anet buff aoe when they’ve said they don’t want an aoe meta…

Darnis.4056:

You want staff fixes?.. staff removed from game. Anet’s work is done here.

Seriously though why ask for buffs to an aoe weapon? I get that it’s not viable but why would anet buff aoe when they’ve said they don’t want an aoe meta…

inb4 current AoE condition meta with engis/necros/rangers………………..

Darnis.4056:

You want staff fixes?.. staff removed from game. Anet’s work is done here.

Seriously though why ask for buffs to an aoe weapon? I get that it’s not viable but why would anet buff aoe when they’ve said they don’t want an aoe meta…

How is this even a valid argument? Every weapon in gw2 is aoe! Except some thief skills lol.

So if that is the case they might as well buff staff to the levels of other aoe. Or what I’d suggest, bring other aoe down to staff’s level.

Aza.2105:

Darnis.4056:

You want staff fixes?.. staff removed from game. Anet’s work is done here.

Seriously though why ask for buffs to an aoe weapon? I get that it’s not viable but why would anet buff aoe when they’ve said they don’t want an aoe meta…

How is this even a valid argument? Every weapon in gw2 is aoe! Except some thief skills lol.

So if that is the case they might as well buff staff to the levels of other aoe. Or what I’d suggest, bring other aoe down to staff’s level.

I’d be down with the 2nd but definitely not the first part of that.. MORE AOE MOAR :/

Like everything ele, staff just needs an auto-attack with some actual teeth (like mesmer GS) and it will be good. I don’t want the aoe’s to be buffed too much b/c they are mostly used to provide fields to your team, although things like air 3 are pathetically weak. Fire 5 could use a shorter cast time or more damage, b/c you really do have to expose yourself to cast it, and the hits are pretty random.

I will say there is a clear imbalance between ele staff skills and necro staff skills. Necro skills give persisting aoe circles that proc their ENTIRE effect at one time (like engineer nades), whereas staff requires you to sit in the field. I think it would be better if necro marks worked a little more like wells: triggered and created a lesser effect and then stacked over time. Similar with nades (create a field that slowly ticks up on a condi). That would bring those effects down to a good level and decrease the effect of spam to simply a zoning tool (which is still powerful).

BlackBeard.2873:

Like everything ele, staff just needs an auto-attack with some actual teeth (like mesmer GS) and it will be good. I don’t want the aoe’s to be buffed too much b/c they are mostly used to provide fields to your team, although things like air 3 are pathetically weak. Fire 5 could use a shorter cast time or more damage, b/c you really do have to expose yourself to cast it, and the hits are pretty random.

I will say there is a clear imbalance between ele staff skills and necro staff skills. Necro skills give persisting aoe circles that proc their ENTIRE effect at one time (like engineer nades), whereas staff requires you to sit in the field. I think it would be better if necro marks worked a little more like wells: triggered and created a lesser effect and then stacked over time. Similar with nades (create a field that slowly ticks up on a condi). That would bring those effects down to a good level and decrease the effect of spam to simply a zoning tool (which is still powerful).

GOOD! Great suggestion! I love it!

That or make damage upfront and field remain behind, like engi and necro. It is clear that AoE work great for these two, and just about everyone else for that mater but staff.

BlackBeard.2873:

Like everything ele, staff just needs an auto-attack with some actual teeth (like mesmer GS) and it will be good. I don’t want the aoe’s to be buffed too much b/c they are mostly used to provide fields to your team, although things like air 3 are pathetically weak. Fire 5 could use a shorter cast time or more damage, b/c you really do have to expose yourself to cast it, and the hits are pretty random.

I will say there is a clear imbalance between ele staff skills and necro staff skills. Necro skills give persisting aoe circles that proc their ENTIRE effect at one time (like engineer nades), whereas staff requires you to sit in the field. I think it would be better if necro marks worked a little more like wells: triggered and created a lesser effect and then stacked over time. Similar with nades (create a field that slowly ticks up on a condi). That would bring those effects down to a good level and decrease the effect of spam to simply a zoning tool (which is still powerful).

Yeah, that also bothers me a lot. There’s too much drawback on Staff ele skills (not mentioning the 5cap limit, attunement swap CD, cast times, and long CDs for most skills) compared to other AOE abilities of other professions. Staff ele skills are either one-time damage (which isn’t all that excellent) with HUGE delay (Water 2, Air 2, Earth2), damage over-time that requires targets to sit in the AOE (Fire 2,4,5), CC with no damage at all (Water 4, Air 5, Earth 4), or very unreliable CC (Air 3, Earth 5). While on the other hand, Necros and Engie can basically spam nades and marks and achieve the full effect and duration of their condis. Something is really really off here. :/

When Arenanet gets the guts to actually fix their balance and or after the realize that they need to fire all the balance devs. Which ever comes first.

If anything balance looks more like the Ele’s staff rather then engi’s nade spam..

Darnis.4056:

If anything balance looks more like the Ele’s staff rather then engi’s nade spam..

+100000000

Darnis.4056:

If anything balance looks more like the Ele’s staff rather then engi’s nade spam..

maybe thats what needs to happen, but think about it, nerf ALL the classes to be brought on par with staff ele or only buff staff ele to be brought on par with the rest? The answer is quite obvious, one takes ENORMOUS amount of resources while the other is a “simple” fix, though I admit thats the beginning of power creep, but at the current rate of things (quick knee jerk nerfs and very small if barely noticeable buffs) then it might take another years or 2 to bring stuff to certain level.

Im down for Ele buffs

Yes a band aid fix is easier you’re right but I disagree with you where you think it’s the right answer or even a better answer.

The key to fixing the meta is to tone down things like
Necro Scepter1 and Signet of spite,
Slow necro attack speed to Mesmer’s scepter…
Passive buffs from Warriors
Spirit elite for Rangers

If those things were to go away Elemenentalist would be much more viable, unless you want to continue the power creep that’s been going on since beta..

OMG Necro UP BUFF NECRO
(Necro is super strong now maybe a bit too strong for skill required)
OMG Ranger UP BUFF RANGER
(Ranger is super strong now maybe a bit too strong for skill required)
OMG Warrior UP BUFF WARRIOR
(Warrior is in a great place right now, maybe a bit too strong for skill required)
OMG ELE UP BUFF ELE

You see where this is going?

It’s more easy to just give one spamming overpowered spec for every class, then the game will be balanced (and more dead too, but who cares, it’s already dead ).

After the PAX i expect cool stuff, every class should have one overpowered and easy to use spec, don’t disapoint me arena.net!! Give all the clases more POWA. I suggest more aoe condis, the staff ele could do an aoe skill that applies 2 or 3 new condis (the more the better), the aoe should be big since eles are suffering, like half of the map. It should have a nice animation, bright as the sun, with lots of sparkles and shiny things.

Aza.2105:

Same ETA as when we get more than one build per class.

GW3, 2019, be hyped.

I actually play a lot of staff Elementalist in PvP and have my fair share of opinions on it. The honest truth is that in a 1v1 situation, you shouldn’t lose to a staff Elementalist, ever. They really have it stacked against them in 1v1.
- VERY sluggish attacks.
- Queuing abilities is like pulling teeth.
- Attacks outright missing because of how slow they are. Air 3 misses when it matters most or goes on a mini cooldown when the person slightly side steps (or not?). And like OP said, misses unless the person doesn’t move AT ALL.
- Very weak defenses. Unless you get lightning flash you’re an easy target. You can escape decently if you combine all your abilities such as using static field, frozen ground, and unsteady ground. You pretty much need mistform and lightning flash, unless you have the regen and condition removal to help but then you’re sacrificing a lot in other areas that are essential.
- Pretty much all the DPS a staff Elemantalist has is in it’s AoE circles, in which if you don’t stand in them (for a while), you take minimal damage. Which isn’t a big deal, but once again, like OP said, most people have enough sense to move out of them before they can do anything.

BUT… Aside from that I really enjoy the staff. I don’t want staff Elementalist to become OP or 1v1 gods, I just want some issues fixed that are a pain to work with. I kinda expect to be a support like role, but I want to at least have more of a chance of beating people in 1v1s.

tl;dr ~ Despite the complaining, the main things I would want fixed are the sluggishness (of all attacks) and that attacks missing for no apparent reason (air 3 and some autoattacks).

Yes, despite being so technically challenged the class is fun in almost all aspects of the game, though knowing that you are gimping your team is not fun. I have played staff ele almost exclusively due to me always being staff mage/healer in all games if available, it fits my aesthetic playstyle, but having some efficience on top of that wouldnt hurt, specially since I know a lot of people share this playstyle choice with me, it saddens me that ANet recognizes this as well but does nothing about it, almost forcing all eles to be D/D or S/D in order to attain some sort of efficiency. That, is NOT ok, Anet.

Bashing aside, I really dislike doing that because it is unnecessarily mean but after a year I think it is definitely acceptable and even justificable to be upset about having such an obvious issue still in the game. Cmon ANet, I know you are better than this! Step up your game, bring some love to the weapon, not just the class, play test it, see its flaws for yourself, realize, reflect upon it and improve!

Staff more underwhelming than Ranger Longbow? pshhh.

But yea, Staff needs a burst option and another escape tool.

Atherakhia.4086:

Staff more underwhelming than Ranger Longbow? pshhh.

But yea, Staff needs a burst option and another escape tool.

I have actually killed single handlely people with it, specially with the latest buff which made them SO MUCH responsive, but yeah, the shortbow nerf was a bummer, I was running a SB/LB zerker balls-to-wall-do-or-die, but staff ele? Even if doing the same tactic always most often than not I die a horrific death, where the enemy walks away with 20-40% of their health and only 1-2 utilities used, when I went into TWO OR THREE long CD and a burning Excalibur sword.

Staff is theoretically speaking a very strong weapon if you look at the effects and “damage” of the skills, but theoretically speaking I can randomly select 4 numbers every day for the rest of my life for a chance to be a millionaire and im still p!ss poor.

The staff had its day. Its long gone now, the ele itself died not 2 long ago. I turned into a necro