Guild Wars 2

So with the upcoming “balance” update might is going to be decreased from +35 power/condi to +30. Thats not too big a deal in and of itself but the real clincher is the nerf on the sigil of battle. It will only give 2 stacks might per proc. That might sound harmless to every other class but here’s how it adds up. Under current system, 3 stacks might @ 35 pow/condi = 105 pow/condi. new system 2 stacks might @30pow/condi = 60 pow/condi. that’s over a 40% nerf. This won’t be too significant to classes like warrior, who are so tough they can trait offensively, thieves who hit like a truck cuz they can stealth and get away, mezmers who can clone and stealth, guardians who might up totally different via various means, necro’s who have huge life pool and don’t really need might (necro is my 1st main ele second, btw, huge hours on both in all types of game play, mostly wvw n pvp) rangers who don’t need might cuza range n dmg and/or tough/regen or engi’s because well, they do the engi thing. Thing is, ele, both staff and d/d has tiny armor and tiny life pool. We HAVE to trait defensively and utilize all our skills and combo’s to stay alive, armor variations depend on skill but mostly defense there too. Aside from CCs, the only way we can do any actual damage is dependent upon might, which the majority is gained from sigil of battle. Granted we get a bit off blasts but for the most part, Sigil of Battle is the single most important part of the build. Even if we take a hit on defense and run Spell Slinger for our cantrips to grant might, we will loose so much might it’s going to make us a joke in wvw. The thief or Warrior we could respectably 1v1 because of our damage output( due to might) is going to teabag us. We will have no hope of taking them down.

~Sionara D/D ele’s, except for those stubborn idiots like me who will try to adapt and persevere until Anet “balances” things again……

Thank the players for constantly complaining about might stacking builds.

If the might change that will over all effect every profession, will hinder your ability to succeed, it is a testament unto itself that a change was needed.

Personally, I do not feel that the might change was the way to go either, but the claims the OP are making, suggest that it was too strong for one profession over another.

The mistake the OP makes, is the entire complaint in itself, actually serves as a perfect example of why the change was needed. As I see it, your shooting yourself in the foot.

Fiddle Irk.9710:

… 3 stacks might @ 35 pow/condi = 105 pow/condi. new system 2 stacks might @30pow/condi = 60 pow/condi. that’s over a 40% nerf. …..

That’s a deceptive statement since most of a celestial d/d ele’s Might stacks aren’t coming from SoB. It’s a nerf, sure; but try recalculating overall %damage loss with all buffs. The loss isn’t anywhere near as huge as you are making it out to be.

…………………………….Bye!

More nerfs to elementalists… the class which has probably seen the most nerfs since launch, even compared to theif.

Not that anything can be done about this but really the issue with might stacking builds isn’t cele or might stacking in itself, it’s the ease with which they’ve been allowed to might stack. Before the april 14’th patch that changed runes and sigils dramatically ele might stacking still happened but they used rune combinations to get boon duration so the stacks would stay on them. The reason it was okay was cause they were still able to get a ton of might stacks but it was something pretty much unique to the elementalist as a class and therefore didn’t cause any real problems because it was up to them to perform their combos correctly or else they wouldn’t be able to deal damage to an enemy and theyd likely lose whatever fight they were in.

Post april 14, everybody can stack might with no worries, just equip a might stacking rune and a battle sigil and you’ll easily stack might with no reason to do fire field combos. just build tanky and get perma 25 might stacks because you can.

So really imo the issue goes back to the ease they allowed might stacking to occur, not the actual boon getting stacked. So because there’s really no way they’ll ever change the stuff back we are probably going to be seeing more nerfs as people will cry OP to everything instead of adapting and playing better. Sad truth but that’s how it is most of the time.

Though despite these nerfs I don’t believe the meta will really change at all, might stacking with cele will still be the best combo for people. they just may have to invest a tiny bit more into might stacking. So really, d/d ele will still be great and people will still complain until it’s not worth playing anymore so enjoy the ele while you can still compete with it.

Have a good day

like always, people will quickly come up with a new meta build, or not necessarily new tweaked in some ways, ele is to important in wvw for players to let it go to waste. Let the update come, and everyone will adjust like always.

Better idea would be if you couldn’t blast might at all.

Junkpile.7439:

Better idea would be if you couldn’t blast might at all.

no…thats just…no…blasting fire fields for aoe might is a valid strategy that encourages people to use and understand combo fields and combo finishers, why eliminate that

For Anet it seems the elementalist has one of 2 main role, with variations depending on the weapons:
1- A Water bot for WvW (staff) / Cleansing bunker for PPT hold in PvP (“OP Meta” d/d)
2- CC/AoE (capped) spamming (on staff) on top of a tower dying from a single necro auto-attack, a glass canon d/d kamikaze in WvW that always die first

You have to jump through so many hoops with this class just to do the same damage other classes do pressing 1 button, yet it is always nerfed.

If the Might rune was OP then they just needed to add more runes that enhances other boons equally, ex: 7% extra damage when under the protection boon, etc.

I personally think its not ENOUGH of a nerf.

But ok…

Personal stacking is not a problem, I think Anet got it wrong. Group stacking is too powerfull, not the individual.

It’s spelled “sayonara”

I don’t play elementalist in WvW anymore, won’t play it after this nerf for sure.

• You rely on might-stacking for getting damage
• Your damage (with might) is the same than a warrior with 20+k HP and 3k armour
• You have access to a very low number of blocks/damage mitigation compared to other classes and have no stealth like thieves, mesmers, rangers and engineers.
• Your health and armour are very low, unless you go total bunker, which makes your damage redundant.
• The only really succesful trait set-up is something along the lines of 0-0-4-4-6. Running 6 in Arcane is pretty much a must, other options aren’t viable.

I never stack might and i do lot’s of dmg. Use something else than lame celestial.

Wishful thinking but maybe the changes will be mitigated by some buffs to the DnD ele? Wait, who am i kidding?

OR just maybe, and remotely possible, the changes will only touch on sPvP and not WvW. /prays

Can I haz your stuff? ups I mean bye.

Good balance change, goodbye EZ mode ele.

“This won’t be too significant to classes like warrior, who are so tough they can trait offensively” … Ehhh ?

Then you say…“We HAVE to trait defensively and utilize all our skills and combo’s to stay alive”….. Like warriors can just run around 111111 soak up all the dmg and kill ppl left and right while laughing his kitten off.

Honestly,thats just bull…Did you ever try playing a warr without 4 in def,without “Utilizing all skills and combo’s to stay alive..” ?

You make it sound like ele’s have such a hard time when everyone else is just kicking kitten allover the place without any trouble.

Besides…I found this old thread from you where you say…

“PEOPLE, THESE CHANGES DON”T AFFECT JUST YOU! THEY AFFECT YOUR OPPONENT TOO.!

So you can’t just assassinate someone in 3 hits anymore huh? Might take a little skill to win the fight instead of just spamming huge hits because of your gear now huh? You might need to know when to use your skills instead of spamming them at the get-go so you’re opponent doesn’t have a chance to fight back huh? Bummer…."

Might wanna re-read your own statements..especially the last one.

You know that that nerf is stronger for warriors than for eles right? Also people blobing lost a lot of the dmg in their bomb with 25stacks…..

Might nerf is a great change

[not speaking about any profession in particular]

Might stacking is a combo that need to press more than 3 buttons.
Something that needs to think shouldn’t be more rewarding than pressing a single button !

Next step should be to buff the “1” for all professions and then remove all the other abilities. Wouldn’t it be great if we only had to press one button to get exciting fights ? And think about your opponent, you’d only have people that never do mistakes !

PvP and WvW will be so interesting in the future !

I guess gw2 is really on it’s way to be the best Esport…

BTW : Concerning WvW, if a zerg “forgets” to stack might, It’ll be 14,3% more forgiving.

I’m loving all the QQ from ez mode d/d eles who might actually now have to play a bit smarter to get the kills, or have more even battles.

Personally I don’t play d/d cheese ele in wvw as I play support staff ele, where the number of stacks of might I have aren’t so important (and generally a couple of guards or warriors nearby and a blast= 25 stacks anyway, I’m mostly celestial with a few changes and different traits (that work for me). one of my jobs in between water fields is finishing the downed and generally annoying the front lines by air and earth skills.

If you really like roaming, go to pvp and play against builds that are expecting you rather than getting your thrills taking on zerg built players wondering back to their zerg that are easy kills.

Everyone’s always so overdramatic when a profession they enjoy/main is getting a nerf. Wait until it happens before freaking out about it.

I remember when I saw that Dhuumfire was getting “nerfed.” I was thinking it was stupid that Engi’s had basically the same skill, being able to apply burns on crits, but Necro’s were getting theirs taken away. Then the change happened and I realized I liked it better because it gave me more control over my bursts.

There may not be any actual benefits to Ele from this change unlike what happened with Dhuumfire but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world for Ele either. Relax, wait until it happens and I’m certain it won’t be a big deal.

The meta won’t change at all from these changes.

Sure seems reminiscent of the warrior forums, not all to long ago.

BYE bb’s

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Relax, wait until it happens and I’m certain it won’t be a big deal.

Its more like , “Dear dev, please read the threads pertaining to the upcoming nerf and think them hard before implementation”

Victory.2879:

I’m loving all the QQ from ez mode d/d eles who might actually now have to play a bit smarter to get the kills, or have more even battles.

Personally I don’t play d/d cheese ele in wvw as I play support staff ele, where the number of stacks of might I have aren’t so important (and generally a couple of guards or warriors nearby and a blast= 25 stacks anyway, I’m mostly celestial with a few changes and different traits (that work for me). one of my jobs in between water fields is finishing the downed and generally annoying the front lines by air and earth skills.

If you really like roaming, go to pvp and play against builds that are expecting you rather than getting your thrills taking on zerg built players wondering back to their zerg that are easy kills.

So you dont play cheesy D/D ele because its op, but you play cheesy Celestial ele. Gz for fail hahaha

Ele are less affected by battle sigil change because they can combo field a lot more than any other class in this game.

MandJ.8965:

Victory.2879:

I’m loving all the QQ from ez mode d/d eles who might actually now have to play a bit smarter to get the kills, or have more even battles.

Personally I don’t play d/d cheese ele in wvw as I play support staff ele, where the number of stacks of might I have aren’t so important (and generally a couple of guards or warriors nearby and a blast= 25 stacks anyway, I’m mostly celestial with a few changes and different traits (that work for me). one of my jobs in between water fields is finishing the downed and generally annoying the front lines by air and earth skills.

If you really like roaming, go to pvp and play against builds that are expecting you rather than getting your thrills taking on zerg built players wondering back to their zerg that are easy kills.

So you dont play cheesy D/D ele because its op, but you play cheesy Celestial ele. Gz for fail hahaha

My build isn’t cheesy, it’s lazy:-)

D/D elementalist needed to be nerfed, badly.

They were experts at catching people, experts at escape, experts at sustain, experts at damage and experts at survivability.

You can’t tell me that’s not ridiculous.

D/d eles will still be good in wvw they are about being able to stay alive for a long time i am not sure if might going to changes this at all. If any thing War eng ranger all the bunker builds are going to get hit the hardest and that going to be a nice thing for ele.

What is “killing” d/d ele is how glassy ranges caster are building the meta has shifted to back line being more dmg and burst dmg kills d/d eles its the counter play to them.

Its a scary though what a d/d diamond skin condition ele is going to be like after this update no one going to be able to drop it below 90% hp.

Oh no, Ele’s wont be able to go full bunker and still do stupid amounts of damage I feel so bad for you guys /sarcasm

In reality, it isn’t nearly enough of a nerf and it will still be one of the strongest builds in the game.

That said, the way they are doing it is pretty dumb, it should have been a might duration nerf on the sigil and on blast fields. Lower duration means might becomes a boon more meant for bursting rather than a sustainable over the top damage source, aka enforcing the idea of risk/reward.

People seem to forget that eles go full bunker because they are the squishiest class and die in 2-3 hit or a necro or thief when focused.

Might stacking was the ONLY solution to stay alive and do half-decent damage. Now that it’s been taken out what are d/d eles supposed to do? Go kamikaze? Where they don’t even have time to do 1 churning Earth before being dead… Or go full water bots?

The problem has never been with might stacking, the problem has always been the crappy traits outside water and useless utility skills and elites the elementalist has.

Seriously my meteor shower was nerfed from 9k to 3k thanks to the meteornado nerf, crit nerf, and divinity nerf. All the class gets is nerfs and nerfs, over and over. And now we get a might nerf on top of it.

Xillllix.3485:

People seem to forget that eles go full bunker because they are the squishiest class and die in 2-3 hit or a necro or thief when focused.

Might stacking was the ONLY solution to stay alive and do half-decent damage. Now that it’s been taken out what are d/d eles supposed to do? Go kamikaze? Where they don’t even have time to do 1 churning Earth before being dead… Or go full water bots?

The problem has never been with might stacking, the problem has always been the crappy traits outside water and useless utility skills and elites the elementalist has.

Seriously my meteor shower was nerfed from 9k to 3k thanks to the meteornado nerf, crit nerf, and divinity nerf. All the class gets is nerfs and nerfs, over and over. And now we get a might nerf on top of it.

Cool story, bro. Necromancer says hi. It’s cold down here…

if you are fighting in a small group yes you wont have time to use Churning earth , same goes with a rangers barrage if his being pressured he can’t just cast barrage he has to set up space or use a distraction.

thats where a D/D ele fails all of its attacks are focused on forward movement and self survival (though i see the team support on that build as a bonus) but it don’t offer flexiable cc away from the point of contact (aka melee range) or at the eles location.
without the abilities to create distractions or some form of ranged skills like a D/F ele can use , the D/D ele has only one option to push forwards and only to back off a little to heal.

it was purely made intended for WvW zerg mashes and 1vs1 duals , everywhere else it lacks in those fields , it would be better or more flexiable for small groups to use a team set up of D/D’s And D/f’s .

ps reason for nurfs makes content harder and lets AI do somthing before it gets burned dead. bring on the nurfs im looking forward to the challenge, its way too easy to kill these bunny dancing full zerk build types , all they do is burst>rotate>defend not much flexabilty at all.

“Bawww my completely unbeatable cheese build is getting nerfed feel sorry for me”

No.

I don’t think that the changes to the Might stacking are too bad for the Ele, but everything Anet does to balancing effects the Elementalist profession due to its versatility and to a high percentage in a way, it feels like so many nerfs. Its more psychological problem the profession (or its player) has.

e.g.
Might change
>> Anet added more might boons and possibilities with their last balance stuff (e.g. Rangers getting Might boons with Axes). Now they realised that the boon got too strong (in PvP) and they are turning it down a bit (~15%). The Ranger I mentioned before still gets the boon from last patch, the Ele “feels robbed” of his top damage potential.

Sigil of Battle & Strength Runes
>> Eles always swap (well D/D ones), so they trigger the stacks of Might pretty much on recharge of the Sigil. Thereby the Sigil is excellent for the profession. Other professions might “waste” a few seconds on the swapping (e.g. focusing more on other skill rotations). The Ele feels most punished by the adjustments to the Sigil.
>> Strength runes have driven the Might meta to a high degree, but those are not touched by (this) balance.

Drake’s Breath
>> From a PvP POV, the change might make perfects sense, but the hard core Elementalist takes a look at the profession changes and can spot pretty much the only big nerf (1/3 of the uptime of Burning gets stripped) with his class, while e.g. Mesmers frolic at Confusion changes.

My take on the Ele in a competitive environment is that the profession is stuck in the Water/Cantrip/Arcana niche for over two years now (with nothing to break them out of it), while suffering from the very basic decision of Anet devs to not only have different armour classes, but also different health classes for the professions. With the Ele being the low armour and low health class, the try to hold on to anything they can get and eye professions with “passive” benefits like the Warrior with jealousy.

So how dead is the d/d Ele now? Still seems very stronk, watched a seemingly good one duel with 9-15 stacks of might as average, the duels he dominated completely in he was up to 18-22, at top peaks between 20-22, it was quite impressive and I can only imagine his stacks before the nerf :O

As I suspected. NO change in their effectiveness. A little less damage but barely.

Good eles can still perform well, but you still need to put a lot of effort into getting your full potential, and even more so now…

The only thing great with elementalist is it’s simplicity in build since release of the game: forced Water and Arcana traits, with cantrips (like Gorani.7205) stated.

Combining 30 spells to get might was hard, and took time to get it. Now it is even harder and takes even more time to gain might. Good luck to all playing elementalist now. /sarcasm

Thinking D/F may be more the meta due to all the glass ranges class such as necro and ranger though i not seen many kill shot wars i though that was buffed some what has any ele run into that?

Any way what i have found going a bit higher into crit dmg is the key these days landing a 4k BS or 5K Fire grasp put ppl on there heals. So its moving a bit away from dps and more spike dmg.

Ele player in guild say, “ele nerf will be a small pinch on the arm”. D/D Ele not going nowhere; just like thief class for 2 years. Watch after patch or after expansion; same instant kill, same God everything with Super Class; thief, elementalist and engineer.

No serious nerf, No Worry!

Evidence; 7 month July 2014; result from many thief nerf patch; thief still instant kill, thief still perma stealth, thief still stealth wall, still many thing

Suggestion; record video gameplay of d/d ele and make thread and see if serious change after nerf patch.

Again, no worry for good-bye to d/d nerf until serious nerf

It’s not that bad. But yeah, an unnecessary nerf for wvw because of pvp qq.

“we don’t want to invalidate players time spend”. Which is why we balance the whole game around a single gimmicky game mode where time spend to get gear is expressed in seconds, and free.

D/D Ele wasn’t a problem in WvW. It was a problem in sPvP.