ele vs warrior
Ele and war are the core of the current meta for the reasons you listed. Every ToL team recently has had a d/d ele and a hambow at the core.
That said, Ele are not first on the target list but necros , rangers, and engies are due to lack of stability and less ranged defenses. They’re just far easier to lock down and kill than ele. (Depending on whether you’re d/d or s/f but that’s besides the point)
As you said, you can hold 1v2, some eles can hold 1v3. Albeit they are using lightning to take off heal and return but no other class has as much recovery, mobility, cc and defense in one package. Saying you have no abilities that will save you no matter what is false when you have lightning flash and a natural mist form.
Hambows are similar or you can make a sword warrior and kill people with torment, or axe/warhorn shoutheal and never die to anything. Hambow has the most tournament value though.
I believe Ele, while you say it is a Jack of all trades, the thing is in GW2 this translates into unlimited skill cap because you have a response to anything a class can throw while retaining high damage, tankiness, cc and mobility. Counterplay is way more important than 100 extra points on your pure damage build, or 100 extra points on your pure bunker build.
It’s more like master of all trades than jack, so if you like ele already you are on the #1 class in PVP right now for most modes. I personally can’t stand ele style and playstyle.
Warrior by contrast has some weaknesses, putting them at #2.
you forgot mesmers
as an ele, i can sign Otakings post.
ele @ Gf Left Me Coz Of Ladderboard [vain] (EU) / Salty Strategy [PAIN]
The Ele is targeted first because it has a lower Health Pool and a lower Armor, so coordinated bursts can take one Ele down very quickly, while the warrior could tank the damage for much longer.
But what you are missing is that warrior completely lacks of active sustain. If the elementalist is good enough, he will NOT die even if targeted (Lightning Flash, or RTL alone can save you a lot of times), while the warrior, once designated as the next target, will surely die, sooner or later.
Being a D/D Ele helps your team alot, because of all the Might stacks you give, the AoE Protection, Regeneration, Swiftness, blast finishers, healing through water skills and so on. So personally I’d say: if you are willing to get very good, stay Ele, and learn positioning (yes, you can go out the point if you need to recover!).
i would not even constantly go inside the point during teamfights. kite, pierce, CC and kill from the sides. if you split up the enemy, you’re doing it right. call out the preferred target, call for spike, blink to him, knockdown/knockback, push for max dps on target, stomp, get out, rinse, repeat.
ele @ Gf Left Me Coz Of Ladderboard [vain] (EU) / Salty Strategy [PAIN]