Guild Wars 2

So the new specialization changes have been revealed, and I must say, I’m a little disappointed with the final results. In some ways, I actually liked the previous reveal better.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that the arcane line did not end up getting gutted…however the changes didn’t really do anything to introduce elementalist build diversity. In fact, if anything, it seems that fresh air S/F and signet auramancers are no longer viable, since air lost a significant amount of damage, and fire’s embrace is gone as well.

Instead, the arcane line-the line that has always been the staple of elementalist PVP builds- has been buffed (EA being a minor effectively means we get a free spot for an extra trait). This means that the arcane line will again be used in any PVP builds.

The water line remains as crucial as ever since it’s our most reliable method of sustain and condi removal, which is likely an ele’s best bet against the new condi builds that may pop up. It also doesn’t help that ether renewal now needs a water trait to have the same CD it used to have.

This then leaves us one “free” specialization. Taking air or fire on their own probably won’t be enough for DPS (though fire is considerably better IMO), and as such, probably won’t be able to compete with earth, which gives a ton of tankiness.

Now, for those who are truly skilled and/or have a team to back them up, I’m sure we’ll see some glass staff DPS eles as well, but that will remain a situational pick.

So for the meta build of eles, we arrive at the same playstyle that we’ve been using for the past couple years. Bunker ele. I don’t know about you, but I for one am disappointed with this. I wish they’d actually give us more build diversity by taking some of the utility from the arcane line and giving them to the elemental lines.

Let’s hear what everyone else thinks.

ele got buffed into the skies and you are not that satisfied…

You did see that powerful auras has been changed to any aura.

Hi my name is kentigem I gain protection when I receive chaos armor. If you blast my fields I get 10 seconds per blast. I also can share all my boons every thirty. Together with you and your aura traits and my boon share we are a boon nightmare.

Althought it seems that the condi signet build is gone, seems a condi build based on fire/water/earth could still be possible, or even fire/air/earth for more offensive version…

EremiteAngel.9765:

ele got buffed into the skies and you are not that satisfied…

The current meta build has been buffed. What about the ones that never were meta. They were left in the dust, and in case of signet builds, kicked in the nuts.

I don’t like using the same builds over and over, or to run into other elementalists who are all playing the same builds. That’s what I’m not satisfied about.

EremiteAngel.9765:

ele got buffed into the skies and you are not that satisfied…

Ignore him he doesn’t understand balance.

Anyway I think your concerns are valid OP and hopefully they are addressed in the elite spec. But I would look at auramancy again.

While Arcana and Water still seem pretty much mandatory in pvp, changes to both fire and earth seem to have added a bit more diversity. Also with the burning changes we could see more condi focused builds. Over all it did fall short but we still have tempest, who knows, maybe it will open up non arcana/water specs.

No, I’m disappointed for the sole reason that water and arcane are still going to be mandatory in pvp/wvw, and that this has been the case since the game’s release.

They just don’t get it.

Since when did Fire’s Embrace become a “useless” trait to be removed?
They stated that the specialization system would force us to “change” our builds….
but WTF this just removed a build entirely…
GG, Anet,GG, Much build diversity, such wow

Thats also my feeling.
When looking at the elementalist it feels like water is madatory, which will also push cantrips more.
I would swap Soothing Disruption with Inscription!
also Arcane is pretty strong for very active play and the moving,dodging eles rolling around in PvP will take water + arcane.
Eles did loose the signet/aura build, got a bit of buffing but in the end stay the same.
Also some traits are poor and will rarely been taken.
I like the change but it could be done much better by assigning the traits a bit elswere …

Ele got a small boost on some areas, but still many traits seam useless:
Conjurer / Stop, Drop, and Roll / Soothing Power / Bountiful Power and many skill categories have little of a reason to get some use: Glyphs / Signets / Conjures are too weak!
Glyphs > High cast and not rewarding enough
Signets > Boring and weak
Conjures > By using them elementalist looses his identity and cannot be benefited by his elements (unless he goes Arcana line for Elemental Attument and Evasive Arcana) he is just vulnerable!
Also, Stone Splinters is gone, Bolt to the Heart is now a Grand Master so less and less ways to deal good damage.
Lastly Earth line looks still irrelevant and weak for someone to pick it.

Check on what other classes get and you will understand that we got nerfed!

Shadowflare.2759:

EremiteAngel.9765:

ele got buffed into the skies and you are not that satisfied…

The current meta build has been buffed. What about the ones that never were meta. They were left in the dust, and in case of signet builds, kicked in the nuts.

I don’t like using the same builds over and over, or to run into other elementalists who are all playing the same builds. That’s what I’m not satisfied about.

Well no ele been buff to fit in the meta due to the fire changes.

I sse the point. Somehow there is not so much diversity to go waht you lik. There are good builds but is don´t see very much competative options. Bunker Ele got better … LoL. Condi ele got Power Overwhelming.
I always see water in the build, and cantrips. That feels a bit booring.

Water still feels more or less mandatory for PvP/Wvw, but I consider Water as important as Valor on my Guardian; regardless if I’m playing striker or bunker Water/Valor always seem to creep into my builds since they offer some of the best sustain.

One thing I’m particularly interested in is that Auras seem to be coming back in extra supply. Staff users can also get access to auras through Sunspot and Soothing ice. As others have already pointed out Powerful Aura’s wording has changed to imply that the trait is no longer bound to just weapon-generated Auras. Ah yes, the old Earth Rune Aura build…good times…good times.

Overall, I’m more on the thumbs up side of the changes than thumbs down.

I think all of the existing builds for ele got a buff but the FE build (most ppl did not use) that has been mostly removed though you could do something with it just – the FE.

Just go line for line what did ele get vs what it hard for that line. There realty nothing that has been removed.

i would realy like to try full glyph, but if i do so i will screw my survivability much more then pushing my damage.

Jski.6180:

Shadowflare.2759:

EremiteAngel.9765:

ele got buffed into the skies and you are not that satisfied…

The current meta build has been buffed. What about the ones that never were meta. They were left in the dust, and in case of signet builds, kicked in the nuts.

I don’t like using the same builds over and over, or to run into other elementalists who are all playing the same builds. That’s what I’m not satisfied about.

Well no ele been buff to fit in the meta due to the fire changes.

We practically have 2 mandatory traitlines, both of which necessary for survival, so even if we were to go in the fire traitline, we’d still not hit for all that hard. These fire changes also came at a time where they took away the damage modifiers in air attunement, so really we didn’t gain much.

With the previous reveal, at least there was a reason to ditch the arcane line, which added some reason for experimenting with other builds. They could have achieved something similar by
1) Making elemental attunement baseline but does not affect allies, or
2) Splitting elemental attunement and giving the effects to each of the element’s minor traits. This makes more sense now since they’re called specializations.
This would have lightened our reliance on the arcane line.

PS. S/F fresh air definitely didn’t get a buff. Scepter’s main advantage in FA builds was its instant-cast spells aided by air modifiers. Bolt to the heart being grandmaster, and the nerf on air training means that Scepter fresh air builds have lost a lot of power. The removal of ICD on fresh air doesn’t do anything for scepter builds either, considering that the 2/3 would be on cooldown even if you could swap right back into air.

Fresh air D/F may emerge since the dagger auto is actually worth using, but even then, it wouldn’t be able do nearly as much burst.

Wolfric.9380:

i would realy like to try full glyph, but if i do so i will screw my survivability much more then pushing my damage.

I tried that 2 weeks ago that I was on an experimenting mode, it was sooooo bad on sPvP, slow and low damage, long cast, big cool downs and nothing to survive. I failed hard! :P

Shadowflare.2759:

Jski.6180:

Shadowflare.2759:

EremiteAngel.9765:

ele got buffed into the skies and you are not that satisfied…

The current meta build has been buffed. What about the ones that never were meta. They were left in the dust, and in case of signet builds, kicked in the nuts.

I don’t like using the same builds over and over, or to run into other elementalists who are all playing the same builds. That’s what I’m not satisfied about.

Well no ele been buff to fit in the meta due to the fire changes.

We practically have 2 mandatory traitlines, both of which necessary for survival, so even if we were to go in the fire traitline, we’d still not hit for all that hard. These fire changes also came at a time where they took away the damage modifiers in air attunement, so really we didn’t gain much.

With the previous reveal, at least there was a reason to ditch the arcane line, which added some reason for experimenting with other builds. They could have achieved something similar by
1) Making elemental attunement baseline but does not affect allies, or
2) Splitting elemental attunement and giving the effects to each of the element’s minor traits. This makes more sense now since they’re called specializations.
This would have lightened our reliance on the arcane line.

PS. S/F fresh air definitely didn’t get a buff. Scepter’s main advantage in FA builds was its instant-cast spells aided by air modifiers. Bolt to the heart being grandmaster, and the nerf on air training means that Scepter fresh air builds have lost a lot of power. The removal of ICD on fresh air doesn’t do anything for scepter builds either, considering that the 2/3 would be on cooldown even if you could swap right back into air.

Fresh air D/F may emerge since the dagger auto is actually worth using, but even then, it wouldn’t be able do nearly as much burst.

Nerfing a well balanced and useful trait line is not the solution! – Ah lets make everything suck so you can pick a from a bigger variety of kitten.
No, the solution is to make the other trait lines more useful, strong and interesting.

Anyways with the changes we got I believe that Fire Line got a boost and Air is still good, only Earth is always too weak and irrelevant. My only problem are some specific traits, that either they disappeared while they were used a lot, like Stone Splinters, or they are brand new and they offer minor things that no one will pick cause there are many other better options like Bountiful Power or Soothing Power.

I dont think arcana is still mandatory for pvp…
the main reason to go arcana was for EAr, EAtt and vigor.

Vigor got nerfed, and you can get some with cantrips.
Protection you can get with auras, and fire gives you one aura every 10s
fire also can give you perma fury, air can give you fury with auras.

Arcana is nice, but I wouldn’t say mandatory.

I was hoping staff would become usable in PvP well mainly stronghold and It isn’t, so the status quo did not change for me. Not I am not playing a kittening bunker.

lLobo.7960:

I dont think arcana is still mandatory for pvp…
the main reason to go arcana was for EAr, EAtt and vigor.

Vigor got nerfed, and you can get some with cantrips.
Protection you can get with auras, and fire gives you one aura every 10s
fire also can give you perma fury, air can give you fury with auras.

Arcana is nice, but I wouldn’t say mandatory.

Fire air water burst scepter/dagger or foces should work well in spvp.

I must say though Arcana line now has effectively killed earth line for all but very specialized builds.

Air and Fire is fine. Water is mandatory … Arcane is good and will beat taking fire often. GM earth now offes nothing realy good for active ele swaping. Signets lost theit main build, Diamond Skin is unreliable. Stone Heart needs staying in earth, which looses utility.
For PvE Staff fire becomes realy nice.

I dont think 0 0 6 6 6 will see much play cause of too much tankiness .Instead fire is what the new bruiser goes for ,cause you dont even need the prot on auras anymore since you have the new arcana master trait.
Water /arcana still remain mandatory while now all traits can be picked to some effectiveness with earth being the worst.
I cant make my mind wether fresh air is gonna be air water arcana with a massive boost in utility compared to now but less damage..Or fire air arcana with a bit increased utility with the blinds and smiliar levels of damage and survivability as currentrly.
I mean if you can play a 0 6 0 2 6 now at least to some effectiveness why isnt a 6 6 0 0 6 possible when you also get massive blind application!

Well for me arcane is not mandatory. It´s tempting but i feel i can leave it out. But water seems just to good to drop it. And cantrips look much better then using sigents or glyphs. Someone might use arcane sills at least i thought of going arcane instead of water and play full arcane skills for burst damage. Go in fire, kill, die ^^.
For traits it overal looks good. Conjurer is meh and can´t compete with the other two, rock solid looks to short (better 3 seconds), stop/drop/roll is nice but the ohter two options are gorgeous.

Greetings

Wolf

i think arcana is still mandatory cause of the protection. The other option is earth but i dont think its that good alternative since you ll have to go all the way up to 6 now with no defensive stats tied as well.And then you still need regen and cond clear so water while on arcana you can get prot,regen,cond clear more utility cause of lower swaps and vigor,fury all package in 1 line which leaves more freedom for more utility or more damage to get

I planned to try a new aura build, but aura traits are still so much all over the place, that makes it difficult to have an optimal build. Plus we dont gain any aura from earth nor arcana line. I would have reworked elemental shielding to pop a magnetic aura when you make a combo in earth (10s icd) and gain 3s protection when you apply an aura to yourself or an ally (more active gameplay than waiting to be hit which is always a bad idea as an ele), and made arcane shield as an arcane aura. And I would have increased the range of aura share and/or made the boon duration on aura proc factor with the number of allies affected (on yourself only, not allies). That would make a good alternative to EA and make the support line rewarding, since we have a grandmaster minor useless for us. I also wished there was a trait that grants regeneration whenever you pop an aura. Kinda feels lacking, since we can have might/fury-swiftness/prot. That would make cantrips less mandatory.

Some small changes would help.

Move cojures to water master. Give vigor to whoever holds one instead of the aura.
Move cantrip mastery to air master.
Move glyphs to fire master and make it -33% not 20.
Move one with fire to adept.

Trait rotation for diversity.

Greetings
Wolf

To get on the topic.
I am not disapointed. Ele changes are neither bad nor realy good. Eles suffe a bit from vigor reduction, and HP loss and Get overall good trait lines. Build must be rebuilt but that was expected.
Conjures, glyphs, tornado still getting the short stick. A few traits can´t compet with their counterparts. Adressing conjures and glyphs might solve that.

Changes like the following would be needed to make an ‘Aura’ build viable I feel.

Superior Rune of Radiance
(1) +25 Power
(2) When you receive an aura, you gain 5s of Swiftness (5s ICD)
(3) +50 Power
(4) Upon weapon swap, you have a 33% chance to gain 4 seconds of light aura (18s ICD)
(5) +100 Power
(6) The durations of auras you apply are increased by 25%

Earthen Blast: Cripple foes around you and gain a Magnetic Aura for 4 seconds when attuning to earth.

Arcane Fury: Upon weapon swap, you have a 33% chance to gain 4 seconds of chaos armor (18s ICD)

- Ideally looking to see the Chaos/Light Auras proc approximately every 25-30 seconds. They are both combat only.

- The Earth line is now balanced with Fire/Air/Water which each give access to their respective Aura.

- Ele is no longer directly competing with a Bunker Guard / Shoutbow as a pointholder, but rather a supportive teamfighter.

- Numbers could use some tweaking but hey.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/PvP-landscape-Upheaval-Rise-of-the-Mesmers/first#post5183292

are eles really only status quo? I did a pVp ranking here. share your thoughts on where eles will stand after the patch