Guild Wars 2

Let me give you guys, few reasons why a sword for next elite would be the worst thing ever happening to this class , something that can potentially completely destroy that little fun you have left using it.

If we get sword

-They will try to give a burst/dps elite to eles
-Again you are forced at mele range on the squishiest class
-Again you find yourself locked in using specific trait lines to stay alive
-Again you can be easily outranged by skilled opponents
-Again you put yourself in harm way to deliver dmg
-Again you will find yourself with limited options to stay alive, as Anet fear to create another invincible bunker that dish out dmg at the same time
-As we have dagger already, they will try to create a hybrid weapon ( half scepter/ half dagger mh) that ultimately won’t work because of ridiculous cast time/animations

Basically if we get sword MH as next elite spec….it will be a complete disaster and I bet 2000 gems on it

If we get greatsword

-We get access to the best looking skins in the game ^^
-Anet can push for a 1200 range single target weapon ( the first for ele in 5 years)
-The gs can possibly have: couple evades to create distance / 1-2 block / fast animation attacks/ some major CC skill/ maybe a new condi only available to GS
-Not being forced anymore at mele range will free the ele from being locked into specific trait stats to be viable
-We gain access to a brand new role : burst with some support, finally viable

They are more benefits ofc, but these are the ones I can currently list.

a 2000 gems bet that ele next elite will be amazing in case we get greatsword

So who’s ready to bet?….Also what is your opinion?

I’m betting that a sword will come with evades (or blocks)

The only 1200 range weapon in this game that have blocks, evade and cc and burst is hammer for revenant and It is really bad weapon both in pve and pvp.
All the other weapons with 1200range or dont have burst and bad (druid staff, Mesmer staff) or dont have blocks nor evade.
So the idea of a 1200range bursty weapon with cc evade and blocks is op as kitten and can only happens to be nerfed into the ground and be unviable like rev’s hammer.

So I would prefere a sword that can be main melee with some ranged option… That can giustify to have evade and/or blocks.

I need ele sword. I will fite u

lucadiro.4519:

The only 1200 range weapon in this game that have blocks, evade and cc and burst is hammer for revenant and It is really bad weapon both in pve and pvp.
All the other weapons with 1200range or dont have burst and bad (druid staff, Mesmer staff) or dont have blocks nor evade.
So the idea of a 1200range bursty weapon with cc evade and blocks is op as kitten and can only happens to be nerfed into the ground and be unviable like rev’s hammer.

So I would prefere a sword that can be main melee with some ranged option… That can giustify to have evade and/or blocks.

Let’s put this way, a melee burst ele would work if :

- We get a 1200 range instant cast gap closer utility ( on target only) with max 25s CD
- We get short CD block ( 5-8s) on sword +couple of evades ( max cd 20s)
- We get some scary burst on 10-15s CD
- We get a master or GM trait that increase HP by 300 pts

That’s a lot to hope for…but that’s the minimum you need to keep up with ranged power creep post HoT

With this said, you must realize that Anet will always keep a close eye on ele to avoid a kitten storm from the PvE crowd , ’cause you know :" ele is the best class, best dps" accordingly to them…like they completely live on another planet.

Before adding anything to a possible sword main hand , they will consider the possible set combo : s/f or s/d

They will start taking away that block and that evade ….‘cause you know, focus has obsidian flesh -_-
They will start taking away that gap closer and that utility…..’cause you know, dagger OH has ride the lightning …-_-

You will end up with a kittenty and useless weapon, only viable with some gimmick at bronze/silver level and pve farming

With GS, you can’t go wrong, ele has no weapon swap…those dodge/blocks are now justified and that’s why I think greatsword ele would be the kitten…where you will all cry hard if ele get sword…’cause it will be absolute trash

Take a look at Tempest and warhorn..then tell me again how a burst melee ele would work

If you think my GS suggestions are OP well guess what?! If ele wants a viable burst spec, it will need to compete with current power creep, anything less and you may as well don’t bother

They can easily make sword a range weapon. It’s not like greatswords, weapons that are usually seen a melee in reality, are strictly melee weapons in game. Mesmer GS is a range weapon technically (though it hilariously does so much more damage up close), so why would they restrict sword to melee range?

I have no problem if they choose GS though since it’s just staff that actually has any good range out of all our weapons. Warhorn was a terrible weapon to choose because we already have two MH and two OH weapons, but only one 2H weapon. So adding another 2H will make sense that way. But if they want to give us another MH, I’m fine with that too, and it could easily be a 1200 range weapon, or even have a trait that adds 300 range to it.

I’ll bet you 10,000 gold, my account and my grandma that mainhand sword will kick kitten .

Literally all the negative feng shui this side of Jupiter went into tempest. It’s a physical impossibility for any future ele specs to be bad.

The great CEThelucid put it far more eloquently than I ever could:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Next-elite-spec-for-elementalist/first#post6071454

Elemental Earth Sprite added with Sies Burnheart.
Elemental – Ley-Line Sparks and Anomalies
Elemental – Bloodstone and Sprite
When temples are uncontested – elementals spawn – there was patch that corrected it for all temples to work the same.
Not only norn shamans summoning elementals.
Earth hands returned in hot once and now.
Fire-torandos that instead push/pull/knocback/launch, they drag you in specific way.
Attacks splited on rings – far ring damage, then mid ring damage and last cose ring damage.
White mantle battle mages gain stealth in vaport/mist/steam.
Bloodstone elementals have mines.
Ley-line anomalies are in a way are consumable.
Elementalist boss from raid had noticable influence over atmosphere.

I’ma do a shameless insert here, because I challenge your notion that Sword Main-hand won’t work for an Ele Elite spec, and I challenge you with this:

The Spellweaver

I don’t see neither sword or GS lol, i think they’re both horrible weapons for the elementalist.

My bets are on main-hand torch or whip PLEASE ANET introduce whip, you already have the animations :V

I want focus (orb class skin) say 1,000 high aoe attks with a high dmg aoe utility. The siege mages there already enofe melee magese out there and if you wanted to be a tank you can already do that with core / tempest ele.

Daredevils can chain dodges for a good 20 secs, so I fail to see how Obsidian Flesh or RtL would annihilate swords viability in any way. Chances are they will implement a selfish, defensive playstyle with a new ESpec, not unlike DD in some ways. (obviously DD isn’t very defensive but anyway…)

A sword would serve that perfectly as a super mobility weapon. Instead of focusing on what range it will be I’d say its what purpose it serves is a bigger dealbreaker. They could even make a weapon that covers the whole range, with melee fire to 1200 earth for example. Unlikely but not an impossibility.

Everyone is here either praying for mainhand sword or GS… I personally think both those choices are kinda bleh. Nearly every class in the game can wield a sword, it’s been done and to me its un-interesting. I also don’t think we’ll ever get GS because we already have FGS and I’m sure Anet will argue some reason behind that being why we wouldn’t get it (probably not risk confusing people who have the Volcanus skin vs actual FGS?)

I’m personally hoping for Mace. Only three classes use it, and honestly I rarely see any of them really actually run it. It’d be pretty awesome to see what they could do with a Mace on an Elementalist. I’d imagine it would bring a more tanky spec to the Ele. And I’d love to see an ele slam their mace down to cause a major eruption of lava or what have you.

Although to be fair, whatever they do on a Sword could probably be done on a Mace and vice-versa. eh.

I just hope whatever the new extension to our class is that it brings some build diversity that is much needed to the ele community.

I hope we get both GS and Sword to be honest with you. I love both weapons out of all of them in the game. Was quite sad when I found out neither were on the core when the game was released.

I have no doubt that we can use a GS with the next elite spec. FGS >_>

reikken.4961:

I’m betting that a sword will come with evades (or blocks)

Something like Blurred Frenzy? CAT YEAH.

Also bolt should totally be usable by elementalists.

Eponet.4829:

Something like Blurred Frenzy? CAT YEAH.

Also bolt should totally be usable by elementalists.

You have no idea how much I need Bolt ele

I want pistols for a mid-range spell slinger.

Hell I’ll give you 4000 gems if they make ele gs a thing.

they could totally rip of revelation online. the sword mage already plays like ele and actually does the elemental atunment much better in a way that doesn’t give the class mass amounts of abilities. simply changing effects of some spells based on atunment (elemental blast does a ground AoE DOT in lightning, slows in ice, high damage in fire)

It’s going to be torch for theme reasons.
No element can be channeled through melee means.
You must heal, and light up the darkness for actual dps players.

katniss.6735:

It’s going to be torch for theme reasons.
No element can be channeled through melee means.
You must heal, and light up the darkness for actual dps players.

Torch has strong thematic connection, but only with Fire attunement. So I don’t know.

That being said, I find both Sword and GS rather cheesy for a spellcaster. Come on… It’s bad enough mesmers and necromancers swing oversized pieces of metal for no good reason.

Feanor.2358:

katniss.6735:

It’s going to be torch for theme reasons.
No element can be channeled through melee means.
You must heal, and light up the darkness for actual dps players.

Torch has strong thematic connection, but only with Fire attunement. So I don’t know.

That being said, I find both Sword and GS rather cheesy for a spellcaster. Come on… It’s bad enough mesmers and necromancers swing oversized pieces of metal for no good reason.

I agree, although GS added some QoL movement additions to the necro.
Thief shortbow spam would make more sense to have a small weapon like that on all three of the casters. I would personally like to not have to see my weapon at all and just cast fast spells from my hands. But that would mean a new kind of weapon altogether.

I really like torch, changing colors betwen attunements.

But i also want a 2 handed weapon or 2 one handed weapons because i want to see new skills

But more than a new weapon, what will be the new “mechanic” for this class?

An idea that just came to my head is to change the attunement spell for another spell, but diferent than overload, it can be an instant spell or some sort of toolkit skill like engineer, so if im in fire attunement i use the toolkit fire skill, but if i want to use the water toolkit skill, then change to water attunement, these toolkit skills will not need a charging time like overloads, and will not increase time between attunements.

Another idea is to make a “shroud skillbar” (except you dont have life force) with 5 new weapon skills.

Another idea is that, rather than a shroud skill, you get an f5 skill which makes a special effect in your other skills, and you can have traits that have sinergy with this “special skill”.

ok, but baack to the main theme, id prefer sword rather than greatsword, i mean, dagger/sword elementalist would look great.

So you don’t want sword because you presume it will be melee? Yet you say Greatsword will be 1200 range? What?
Greatsword also limits what you can bring offhand. Sword could be tailored to be both offensive and defensive depending on your offhand.

ele already have greatsword and it’s the elite skill called FieryGreatSword

A traditionally melee weapon doesn’t necessarily mean it will be close range. Examples:

Staff – Long range with ele, close range with thief, medium with guard.
GS – Close ranged with war, long range with mez
Hammer – Long range with Rev, close with war
Axe – Close on war, long on necro

etc.

I’m rooting for a GS, because that way we would get 20 new skills, as opposed to 12 with sword.

Knuckle Joe.7408:

A traditionally melee weapon doesn’t necessarily mean it will be close range. Examples:

Staff – Long range with ele, close range with thief, medium with guard.
GS – Close ranged with war, long range with mez
Hammer – Long range with Rev, close with war
Axe – Close on war, long on necro

etc.

I’m rooting for a GS, because that way we would get 20 new skills, as opposed to 12 with sword.

This is actually the exact same reason why I doubt that it will be a two handed weapon, and probably another off hand.

I’m really hoping it’s GS or MH Sword that’s melee. Spellblades(or whatever other of their many names you want to call them) are one of my favorite classes, but usually they don’t work out very well in most mmos because of how stats and such work. I feel like it could actually work well in GW though since there’s no str, int, and agi stats that you have to try to balance between.

Did you forget the hp and armor stats? We’re the squishiest of the squishy classes. And we already play in melee range if we want to produce any meaningful damage output. Sword is such a cliche… Still better than GS though.

Let’s see what Ele already has available:
1 two handed.
2 main hands.
3 off hands.

For the sake of variety/diversity, it’d be stupid to get another off hand.

Sword main hand. Staff Offhand.

MyPuppy.8970:

Sword main hand. Staff Offhand.

Gandalf?

+1 internetz to you good sir!

Feanor.2358:

Did you forget the hp and armor stats? We’re the squishiest of the squishy classes. And we already play in melee range if we want to produce any meaningful damage output. Sword is such a cliche… Still better than GS though.

Sword might be a cliche, but it’s also a cliché that makes sense. Elementalists don’t have access to shields, and they hold their daggers in an ice pick grip.

Additionally, they wear cloth, so they can’t rely on their armour for protection.

Thus, they’ll need to rely on their melee weapon for defence. Of the options, the only thing that’s anywhere near as stand alone defensive as sword is great sword, and does anyone really think that elementalists will ever actually get another 2 handed weapon? 20 skills is a /lot/ for them to devote to elementalists.

AncientYs.8613:

MyPuppy.8970:

Sword main hand. Staff Offhand.

Gandalf?

+1 internetz to you good sir!

“You shall not pass!”

I bet he asks for a Line of Warding too…

Eponet.4829:

Feanor.2358:

Did you forget the hp and armor stats? We’re the squishiest of the squishy classes. And we already play in melee range if we want to produce any meaningful damage output. Sword is such a cliche… Still better than GS though.

Sword might be a cliche, but it’s also a cliché that makes sense. Elementalists don’t have access to shields, and they hold their daggers in an ice pick grip.

Additionally, they wear cloth, so they can’t rely on their armour for protection.

Thus, they’ll need to rely on their melee weapon for defence. Of the options, the only thing that’s anywhere near as stand alone defensive as sword is great sword, and does anyone really think that elementalists will ever actually get another 2 handed weapon? 20 skills is a /lot/ for them to devote to elementalists.

At the same token, we only have ONE 2 hander. That sucks!

But I’d be extremely happy with either sword or GS.

And please, no rifles or pistols…. I hate that they are in the game anyways!

A lot of people thought we’d get sword at the first expansion. Sword would add a lot better condi applications. We don’t fit that role properly as is. Fire sword, lightning sword. They have a nice ring to them.

katniss.6735:

A lot of people thought we’d get sword at the first expansion. Sword would add a lot better condi applications. We don’t fit that role properly as is. Fire sword, lightning sword. They have a nice ring to them.

Well, warhorn was the rushed compromise we got since they didn’t have enough time to make sword work in a balanced way. Our current situation is that the expansion they are working on has alrdy had more development time than HoT ever did. And they still haven’t even made an announcement about it.

Eponet.4829:

Feanor.2358:

Did you forget the hp and armor stats? We’re the squishiest of the squishy classes. And we already play in melee range if we want to produce any meaningful damage output. Sword is such a cliche… Still better than GS though.

Sword might be a cliche, but it’s also a cliché that makes sense. Elementalists don’t have access to shields, and they hold their daggers in an ice pick grip.

Additionally, they wear cloth, so they can’t rely on their armour for protection.

Thus, they’ll need to rely on their melee weapon for defence. Of the options, the only thing that’s anywhere near as stand alone defensive as sword is great sword, and does anyone really think that elementalists will ever actually get another 2 handed weapon? 20 skills is a /lot/ for them to devote to elementalists.

Thematically speaking, a sharp piece of metal is the last thing you need when you have power over elements. Why would we even let a foe reach close enough to us so we can use such a primitive tool? We can freeze the very ground they’re walking on, we can make it unsteady, we can call earthquakes and winds to knock them down. We can even turn our flesh to stone. Melee weapons? Please… Melee weapons are for those who lack imagination.

What about a trident or a spear on Land?

Feanor.2358:

Eponet.4829:

Feanor.2358:

Did you forget the hp and armor stats? We’re the squishiest of the squishy classes. And we already play in melee range if we want to produce any meaningful damage output. Sword is such a cliche… Still better than GS though.

Sword might be a cliche, but it’s also a cliché that makes sense. Elementalists don’t have access to shields, and they hold their daggers in an ice pick grip.

Additionally, they wear cloth, so they can’t rely on their armour for protection.

Thus, they’ll need to rely on their melee weapon for defence. Of the options, the only thing that’s anywhere near as stand alone defensive as sword is great sword, and does anyone really think that elementalists will ever actually get another 2 handed weapon? 20 skills is a /lot/ for them to devote to elementalists.

Thematically speaking, a sharp piece of metal is the last thing you need when you have power over elements. Why would we even let a foe reach close enough to us so we can use such a primitive tool? We can freeze the very ground they’re walking on, we can make it unsteady, we can call earthquakes and winds to knock them down. We can even turn our flesh to stone. Melee weapons? Please… Melee weapons are for those who lack imagination.

The exact opposite can also be said. Not accepting a different style could be considered a lack of imagination. Have you never seen a battle mage/spell blade type character? They weave the elements into their weapons to enhance them, and cast destructive spells while in melee.

I disagree. Remember, thematically speaking. Why would you even consider letting an enemy close, letting him fight with you when you can make him fight the environment. Remember Darth Vader defeating young Luke Skywalker by simply retreating and throwing inanimate objects at him with the Force?

P.S. Not only have I seen, I have played one many times. And they NEVER turn out as cool as they sound. For balancing reasons you can’t have everything in a game. So you’re either an amazing caster, an amazing martial warrior or a non-amazing mix of both.

More headcanon than the 1812 Overture

Feanor.2358:

I disagree. Remember, thematically speaking. Why would you even consider letting an enemy close, letting him fight with you when you can make him fight the environment. Remember Darth Vader defeating young Luke Skywalker by simply retreating and throwing inanimate objects at him with the Force?

P.S. Not only have I seen, I have played one many times. And they NEVER turn out as cool as they sound. For balancing reasons you can’t have everything in a game. So you’re either an amazing caster, an amazing martial warrior or a non-amazing mix of both.

I disagree with your disagreement. In your example of DV, he uses both the force and his lightsaber, sometimes at the same time. In fact, in RotJ, he uses the force to throw his lightsaber.

Also, Gandalf would like a word with you.

I pointed out a specific scene for a reason, you chose to ignore it and discuss the character himself. OK. Anakin Skywalker is a perfect example of what you can’t have in a game, as he’s both exceptionally skilled at lightsaber combat and one of the most powerful Force users.

Gandalf is from a setting where magic is used very little. I don’t see how he’s relevant.

I would like axe or sword. Ultimately I want either a condi-oriented gameplay, or single-target burst gameplay, but I think elementalists will never be truly single-target as an ele skill follows the same rule of thumb: hits at least 3 targets.

Alternatively, I’d like to see how they would come up with a healing spec wielding a longbow! It would be rather cool as it reminds me of elf concept (shooting healing arrows, or control).

This heavy focus on boons is somewhat saddening.

Pure single-target is a rare sight in games. Most of the time there are a lot of enemies around which makes the single-target gameplay feel sluggish. The current Scepter/Warhorn meta is s decent tradeoff. Air skills are either single-target (1, 2) or deal more damage when used against a single target (5). At the same time you still get some AoE coverage with your Fire skills.

Feanor.2358:

Pure single-target is a rare sight in games. Most of the time there are a lot of enemies around which makes the single-target gameplay feel sluggish. The current Scepter/Warhorn meta is s decent tradeoff. Air skills are either single-target (1, 2) or deal more damage when used against a single target (5). At the same time you still get some AoE coverage with your Fire skills.

Scepter air auto-attack hits 3 targets in a line.

Feanor.2358:

I pointed out a specific scene for a reason, you chose to ignore it and discuss the character himself. OK. Anakin Skywalker is a perfect example of what you can’t have in a game, as he’s both exceptionally skilled at lightsaber combat and one of the most powerful Force users.

Gandalf is from a setting where magic is used very little. I don’t see how he’s relevant.

And I’m pointing out that your specific scene/character example is flawed to use for the point you were making. So is your stereotypical view of magic users. I pointed out why the example you used to backup your point actually supports the opposite view that you have. In addition, using the same character, I provided another example.

Also, the comment you made about Gandalf pretty much just invalidated you….. I mean, that’s gotta be a joke, right?

……riiiiight? O.o

Nope, I’m dead serious. Middle Earth is a magical place, but magic isn’t widely or often used. Magic in Tyria is much more common, a better parallel would be the age of legend from WoT or the world of Eberron. Gandalf himself doesn’t perform epic feats of magic comparable to what Tyria has seen – the Searing, the Foefire, the sinking of Orr are all feats of magic of epic proportions which dwarf everything from LotR.

As for Vader, it was simply an example how a magic user wins a fight without having to even lift his lightsaber. Again, if you expect to build a character like Vader, prepare to be disappointed.

Feanor.2358:

Nope, I’m dead serious. Middle Earth is a magical place, but magic isn’t widely or often used. Magic in Tyria is much more common, a better parallel would be the age of legend from WoT or the world of Eberron. Gandalf himself doesn’t perform epic feats of magic comparable to what Tyria has seen – the Searing, the Foefire, the sinking of Orr are all feats of magic of epic proportions which dwarf everything from LotR.

As for Vader, it was simply an example how a magic user wins a fight without having to even lift his lightsaber. Again, if you expect to build a character like Vader, prepare to be disappointed.

Except he didn’t win the fight with magic (aka the Force) alone. He won it by using both melee and magic. And to further this argument, it takes using the Force just to be able to use a lightsaber effectively and without cutting off one of your own limbs on accident.

But now, we’re encroaching a topic derailment.