Guild Wars 2

Feedback for Tempest:
Gamemodes: PvE, PvP
Environment: Dungeons, Open-World, Raids, Conquest
Gear: Ascended Celestial, Ascended Berserker

I’m not going to touch on balance that much but rather a few QoL things that I think would make Tempest feel alot nicer to play.

Swap attunements during an overload
Attunement swaping has never interrupted any skills for elementalists in the past and skilled elementalists use this to their advantage in order to gain damage modifiers or other bonuses.
Being stuck doing nothing during a four second channel just feels horribly clunky and boring, not to mention the dissapoinment when you swap attunements a split second to early and forfeit your overload completion bonus.
Allowing elementalists to swap attunements while overloading wouldn’t be that huge of a power increase since they still can’t use any spells in the new attunement less they interrupt the overload (except for auras).
Preferably the overloaded attunement’s cooldown wouldn’t start until the effect is finished, aborted or interrupted, while the new overload’s cooldown would start instantly when you swap. This strikes a nice balance between making swaping attunements during an overload overly potent and having you simply forfeit spells without any rewards.

Range indicators for all overloads
Currently both the air and the water overload does not have any range indicators at all. This is not such a big issue on the water overload since it features a clearly defined area where the effect occurs.
It would be really nice if every attunement recieved either a range indicator or a visual “indicator” similar to the one on the water overload.
Because consistency.

Buff arcane abatement
This is more of a general topic but with Heart of Thorns coming there are going to be alot more situations where you find yourself taking falling damage and/or dropping onto your target from above.
Now, it does admittedly feel awesome to drop onto somebody’s head with a ring of fire but quite frankly the trait itself is really measly. Some love to all of the falling damage traits would be really appreciated and make you feel alot better about using them, especially if they had some effect that is useful in open-world exploration such as passive movement speed or increased jump height (though that might be broken).

Shiny effects
Classes like guardian and necromancer get really fancy effects behind their skillbars and revenant, being the new class, tops them all. The elementalist skillbar, however, leaves quite alot to be desired as it’s completely void of any special effects at all. This is despite the fact that we’re talking about an elementalist, user of [fire/water/air/earth], meaning I’d be really easy to come up with four different background effects for the different attunements.

Fine-tuning “rebound”
The way I see it, rebound is one of two things;
A. It’s a “This is it, boyz!”-skill, which you pop and then go HAM.
B. It’s a clutch twitch reaction full party wipe save skill.
Depending on what the skill is supposed to be I believe that it should either get;
A. Increased buff duration and slightly longer cast time (prettier too, floating elementalists look really epic).
B. Shorter, perhaps even instant cast time and then give some sort of penalty to the elementalist, e.g. health cost or animation lock (floating character doesn’t hurt here either).
Right now, even though the concept is really epic, it’s basically a “when you fall below X% health do Y”-trait, but in AoE. Super powerful elite skills that have a trade-offs are much more fun.

That’s all I got (though I do not consider it exhaustive), so thanks for the lovely beta-weekend and for your hard work trying to get raids up and running, it’s really appreciated!

Woah, Tempest is looking MUCH better this time around!
Heres my feedback to what I think could see tweaks.

- Overloads is in a good place
- Shouts are pretty flavorful, I find Rebound much better, however I would still prefer a Maeltsrom styled elite.
- I feel Eye of the storm should give a 2s shock aura and increase it’s CD slightly
- Eathen proxy trait needs a slight nerf, i recommend merging with hardy conduit
- Tempestuous Aria should get 3 might instead of two, I would rather blast finish then pick the trait

Overall fantastic changes to Tempest, I feel it only needs a little extra flavor(not neccessarily damage or support) and it will be a great elite

Shuai.7435:

Shiny effects
Classes like guardian and necromancer get really fancy effects behind their skillbars and revenant, being the new class, tops them all. The elementalist skillbar, however, leaves quite alot to be desired as it’s completely void of any special effects at all. This is despite the fact that we’re talking about an elementalist, user of [fire/water/air/earth], meaning I’d be really easy to come up with four different background effects for the different attunements.

I would LOVE this!

There’s like…a 1% chance of it actually happening, but boy, would I love this.

Most traits in the Tempest line are either about picking up the less-worst option or about making the vverloading functional.

For instance, every minor traits are about making the overload mechanic functional; technically, Tempest do not have minor traits. The protection lasts for the 3/4 of the overload and swiftness lasts 1 extra seconds. When we look at the minor traits from the other profession, we see some stuff that are useful outside of the new mechanic:

-Chronomancer: You move 25% faster. The duration of incoming movement-impairing conditions is reduced by 25%.

-Reaper: Whenever you inflict fear, you also chill.
Chill lasts longer, and chilled foes deal less damage to you.

And all other specializations except Tempest.

About major traits, I can safely say that only one of the trait is good: Elemental Bastion. For the rest, it’s about picking the less-worst.

To conclude, minor traits are non-existant and need to exist.

Karl…

Please let us switch attunements mid overload. Being able to take advantage of damage modifiers cross attunements is something the elementalist is dependant on. It would also allow for more skillful play as it would be a bit harder for enemies to read what will happen instead of just standing there looking at the spelleffects like they do now.

Please Karl

Rookni.2469:

Karl…

Please let us switch attunements mid overload. Being able to take advantage of damage modifiers cross attunements is something the elementalist is dependant on. It would also allow for more skillful play as it would be a bit harder for enemies to read what will happen instead of just standing there looking at the spelleffects like they do now.

Please Karl

Dropping a conjured weapon when casting an overload will cancel the cast.

First off, please for the love of whatever you find holy let Auras stack in duration. I know you “fixed” Frost Aura recently, but Light Aura DOES stack duration, and there are various other powerful effects (Quickness and Alacrity, for example) which are allowed to stack duration freely. Tempest has very high potential for aura overlap, especially in group content.

As for Latent Stamina, I say that it should be made into “When you complete an Overload, grant Vigor in an AoE. Gain 10 Endurance when you grant Vigor to an ally.” This fills a similar niche as Unstable Conduit, but the solution was already pointed out by Alekt above. The Tempest traits are VERY lacklustre, and said lacklustre effects only activate while using Overloads. If a trait is going to be that specific, it should give a beefy benefit. So I propose merging Unstable Conduit and Speedy Conduit, with the final product occupying the Master Minor slot. You get Swiftness and an Aura at the start of an OL, overall a useful buff to OLs that gives them some form of defencive utility as well as offence.

Another trait that’s lacklustre is Hardy Conduit. Honestly this one can probably be merged with Earthen Proxy, with the result occupying EP’s Majour trait spot. So in the now empty GM Minor, you add the following. “After remaining in an attunement for 10 seconds, gain a buff based on the attunement. Fire = +10% damage, Air = +7% Crit rate, Water = +15% to outgoing healing, Earth = -10% damage taken.” This encourages not just the use of Overloads, but the Tempest playstyle itself, staying in an attunement longer than normal to gain greater power.

Finally, please add a -20% CD effect to Tempestuous Aria, Shock & Aftershock in particular really needs some way to mitigate the hefty CD, and the current incarnation of TA just feels kind of meh.

Context of feedback:
PVP/WVW

Feedback

• overloads still not really worth the opportunity cost, 4sec channel is too long for given effects, I can almost always do something more impactful with those 4sec than channel overload like a sitting duck. suggest halving channel time.
• agree with others that stab on overload has to be a minor, or else it becomes a mandatory trait.
• condi resistance GM trait is fairly useless, should be all condis (to counter the fact you’re a sitting duck while overloading)
• warhorn GM also weak, would never choose it. needs additional work.
• non-heal shouts should be instant cast.

Overall, am still very disappointed with Tempest as yet another close-range support spec, which IMO is already very well covered by D/D, and I really hope there’s further differentiation on the way sometime in the near future.

In general , I’m starting to like the Tempest more. I still haven’t used attunement overloading much but that’s ok. I feel, I would use them more in Raids. However, I want to say Lightning Orb seems weaker in dps for a 25 second CD.

PvE – Sinister Gear (played at SW, Verdant Brink and the first Raid Wing)
Overload:

• Its damage and conditions are in a pretty good spot, though using these skills as a stun breaker might be overpowered, since changing attunement only restricts you for 4 secs then you can overload again, I would suggest to only add stun break to earth overload since its function is more defensive or, if left as it is, once you overload, all the others overloads go in cooldown aswell.
• Also, since fire and air leave a combo field once you finish overloading, it would be very interesting if water leaves a water field and earth a smoke field to add more after play once you finish overloading.

Warhorn

• Heat Sync: This skill was great on the raid, but I suggest that, if nerfed, restrict only the amount of might that is being shared.
• Lightning Orb: Still very hard to use, unless you are in a fight with lot of mobs. Also if this skill hits a wall it will end. Some people are fine with skill but I have a suggestion: a lightning ball that work as a projectile and when it hits the target it explodes, damaging and applying vulnerability to all enemies nearby the target.

Utilities

• “Shock and Aftershock!”: It’s in a fine place, but it could have the benefit of being a blast finisher, perhaps nerf some of the damage or reduce cripple duration to balance out with this add.
• “Eye of the Storm!”: It would be awesome if it had a Shock Aura, to fit the other skills and this auramancer theme, also since is a “retreat” skill, I would help your allies to escape. Perhaps increase the cooldown to compensate.

Traits – Tempest has a lot of potencial to reintroduce the auramancer idea, so here is what I suggest:

• Unstable Conduit: Add: Rebound applies Chaos Aura when used. (Not as an after casted “bonus”)
• Harmonious Conduit: Add: Wash the Pain Away applies Light Aura when used.
• Element Bastion: I think the idea of auras healing fine, but I don’t think we need another frost aura, I would suggest that this trait should increase the duration of auras.

(note: light aura is very rare in the game right now and chaos aura is mostly applied by mesmer or chaos fields, the auramancer idea here is spreading as many aura types as it can and restricting it by certain traits will differentiate a Tempest from an Auramancer Tempest)

I don’t know if this has been suggested yet, but please give us the option of ending Overcharge early (by pressing the button again), to cancel out of it and leave the after-effect on the ground early.
This alone would help Tempest a lot, because you wouldn’t feel trapped into such a potentially vulnerable position while overcharging. I know you can dodge-cancel out of it, but this uses a dodge and doesn’t leave the after effect, so it doesn’t seem good enough. It would be far better to have an optional cancel button replace the overcharge button while channeling it.

Bitoku Kishi.8346:

I don’t know if this has been suggested yet, but please give us the option of ending Overcharge early (by pressing the button again), to cancel out of it and leave the after-effect on the ground early.
This alone would help Tempest a lot, because you wouldn’t feel trapped into such a potentially vulnerable position while overcharging. I know you can dodge-cancel out of it, but this uses a dodge and doesn’t leave the after effect, so it doesn’t seem good enough. It would be far better to have an optional cancel button replace the overcharge button while channeling it.

Stow weapon should cancel the skill, but doesn’t leave a field.

Ok, time for feedback.

Before I begin, I want to thank the entire team for everything, you guys are working hard and we know it, enjoy your cupcakes ! (for those that have no idea what I’m talking about, go to this link https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cupcakes-for-arenanet-staff/x/12355874#/ and please donate to the cause, cupcakes for Anet, we are already at 85%)

Overall tempest feels better and snappier, however it still feels very underwhelming in some regards, namely its support role and its ability to survive long enough to do so.

This is strickly ranked PvP!!!
Build; celestial, auramancer, water/arcana/tempest. Basically trying to get as many auras as possible out. 3 shouts (except lighting one, for reasons I will later explain), Rebound and healing signet. Soldier runes. Energy/Leeching or Renewal sigils.
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Overloads;

The problem with them isn’t about numbers, although of course, numbers matter. I know it is really late to go back to the drawing board so instead lets work with what we have, the strengths and weaknesses. The risks: you have to get into near-melee range for them to have any effect, with the amount of random CC flying all over the place, even a single 1/2 daze is enough for it to lock you out for 20 seconds. This is perhaps the biggest offender. You are locked out of weapon skills and being basically sitting duck, and 1 stability stack isnt cutting it tbh.

Solutions; make the lock down increase the longer you channel. Or make the channel shorter, weaker channel but stronger after effect OR increase range.

Also, the trait Unstable Conduit needs to provide the aura at the beginning, not the end. Reward the channel with stronger after effects.

Fire damage needs to be raised a QUITE a bit, as it stands right now, locking yourself out of your main DPS attunement isn’t worth it at all, or not doing almost any DPS for 4 seconds either. Add weakness to it.

Water needs higher channel healing, less payoff heal (a bit too strong), and leave a water field instead for 3-4 seconds. Add 2 secs regen every 2 seconds for 6 secs instead of flat 8 secs. (for non auras builds).

Air seems pretty good, maybe increase it to 5 targets (?).

Earth; nerf the protection, a bit too much. Also add 2 seconds blind every 2 seconds to its effects. Could use a little more damage, in the form of bleed stacks since earth is usually condi focused.

Shouts

Skill effects are beautiful! However the effects are still very, VERY, VERY underwhelming! Outside auramancer build and or soldier runes, shouts are highly outclassed! And even as an auramancer with soldier runes, they are still very lackluster in both team support and self survival. I understand they must be weaker than cantrips, the selfish ones, but auras, outside Magnetic Aura and Shocking Aura (which do not stack in duration!) auras have little place in PvP in terms of support as compared to aegis, protection, condi removal, etc etc.

The biggest issue I found is the lack of Stunbreaker, which happens to be in the only shout that doesn’t have a corresponding thematic aura; “Eye of the Storm”.

Solutions;

“Feel the Burn”. Make it the (a?) stunbreaker. This is a must. Also, perhaps increase the base damage since fire stands for direct damage (?)

“Flash-Freeze”. Needs to be instant. In fact, all shouts should be tbh. I can’t put my finger on what makes this shout the most underwhelming. It has low CD and gives an aura so over Eye of the storm it is better, but the skill just…feels wrong. I have no way of fixing it since I dont know what makes me not like it, but neither damage nor CC is the issue, perhaps add some cool functionality (?).

“Shock and aftershock”. Again, needs to be instant. CD could use some reducing, the effects do not justify its long CD tbh. Decrease aura duration to 4 seconds since 5 might be too much, specially with lower CD. (30-35 seconds seems reasonable)

“Eye of the Storm”. The aura, cmon ! Reduce the superspeed to 3 seconds. Reduce CD to 25-30.

Rebound

We are perhaps the only class with a full line-up of underwhelming elites. On a game with Moas, Lich forms, Banners, Glints, Mass invisibility, Time Warp, etc etc, the best thing we have is a glorified warrior’s GS for running away with limited charges and that locks us out of skills.

It is ok to give us a decent elite . Right now the idea is good, but the implementation is poor. As it stands the heal is negligible, a single autoattack will down you from the hp everyone gained. It has a cast time so no clutch and cant be used while CCed.

Solution: Upon reaching 1 hp, the person becomes invulnerable for 3 seconds and gains 3-4k healing afterwards. Lasts for 7 seconds. If it fails, it gives all auras for 3-4 seconds, with a buff based on current attunement; fire 3 might, water 5 secs regen, air gives fury, earth is protection. Of course CD 180.

Traits:

Latent Stamina. Poor choice. Im sure it will be good in raids, but compared to other traits.

Gale Song; with the changes to “Eye of the Storm”, this one would be ok.

Unstable Conduit. Aura at the beginning. Buff at the end based on the attunement (refer to the reasoning for the aura before-hand at overloads section)

Speedy Conduit; superspeed isntead. Everyone is getting it, we need it more than most, specially if running staff and need to get in range for the short range overloads.

Earthe Proxy; now that it is selfish, make it so it reduces condis by 20% (?)

Harmonious Conduit: 2 stability per 2 secs.

Tempestuous Aura: Increase duration of weakness or add a blind. 20% shout CD decrease, we got none (?).

Grandmasters are ok for the most part. Maybe Lucid Singularity can stunbreak for yourself and everyone around you. (raids!)

Elemental Bastion; maybe increase the healing scaling a bit, also, base heal maybe a little bit more (33% more), BUT add a 1 secs internal CD to it since otherwise it might be too much.

Overall better the class feels in a better place, but there is still a reason why the specc isn’t very welcomed, it still feels sort of underwhelming in many regards. It loses in support to most bunkers, specially D/D ele, bunker guardian, bunker engi, cele staff ele (sad, I know). And it doesnt work for DPS since for 4 seconds you arent using any skills, and sure, you dont need to use overloads, but whats the point of it if you dont use them, the traits are still too weak to justify replacing water/arcana from most builds, leaving only 1 DPS trait left (ever since the uncalled for blinding ashes nerf, and might on cantrips, fire seems more like a poor choice really). Numbers isnt the answer, but rather some mechanics.

Lets make Tempest go from last place to first
http://strawpoll.me/5643009/r

While in a boss fight 30% or 40 % or protection do not change anything, we have to dodge. And vigor is the only boon on influence for dodge.
Vigor is provided by arcana on critic, or water by switching (tempest trait), however after switching we must wait for 20 s if we were overloading an other element or 10s normally (if not taking arcana trait).

We need vigor on aura and lower overloading cd.

So after numerous threads , Anet will maintain their position on the tempest build and will refuse to rebuild it from the ground up.

So let us be honest, its BWE3. Very minor changes will only be made. And thats the best case scenario.

Oh well atleast dnd is still viable

One of the Shouts should be a blast finisher.

I’m talking only from a WvW in full clerical gear aura share perspective here :

WarHorn:
Fire 4 : good, maybe remove some of the most OP boons
Fire 5 : nice on bridges/wall, but a bit low on damage (and the combo still field beeing bugged)

Water 4 : the bump is too slow, barely usable for this purpose, but the heal is good
Water 5 : For me the speed is perfect, not too fast when you are crippled, but not too slow either.

Air 4 : Very good
Air 5 : at least you can use it to tag loot bags

Earth 4 *: perfect
*Earth 5 : Good on bridges/wall

overloads :
Fire: Don’t really like it, I find its damage low, I only use it for might stacking (and it’s boooooring)
Water: Was better before, the 4 second duration make it too dificult to finish, and even if you do, having to wait 4 second to cast a decent heal is bad.
Air: Good, even if the damage isn’t high, it throws a lot of attack so in the end, it does more damage than overload fire, and it look cool (and shocking aura at the end of if [if traited] is very good)
Earth: Nice, good protection sharing for your group, 3 stack of stability might be a little low, but still good.

Shouts :
Heal : Very good group healing. I could get up to 7k base heal + bonus heal to allies.
Fire : Not very good, only use it because of low CD and instant cast to share aura (and heal) Can be used to hit ennemies on walls, not very fun to play
Water : Only used it because of low CD, but not very good or fun to play
Air : only used it in outnumberd situation as a panic button, and even here didn’t feel very good (still saved my life twice, but it feel like it’s missing something)
Earth : loved this one, but to high CD (I’d like half of the CD, instant cast and half aura duration so it doesn’t become too OP with a 20 sec CD). It was fun to play but the high CD end up in making us barely use it.
Elite shout : Liked it a lot, dificult to master, but the delayed aura is good, (For instance, I cast an air aura and then the elite and go to another autunement ==> 10 sec air aura)

In overall, I found the tempest half boring half fun, some of the skills felt so boring while other where quite fun to play.

From my sPvP testing:

I used a celestial amulet and dagger mainhand, to compliment the up close and personal nature of overloads.

This has been my favourite version of Tempest so far. The improved overload features really helped, especially with overload air. I had modest success with some Tempest setups, but there are still some improvements I would like to see:

Ability to change attunement mid overload, without interrupting the overload. This would open up options for elementalists who have also chosen Arcane and Water, or even earth to cripple them inside your fire overload for example.

A second blast finisher on warhorn, to match the 2 blast finishers both focus and dagger offhands come with. Yes, warhorn has Heatsync but given the intended nerfs and the fact it deprives us of a damage skill in our fire moveset, I think it’s more than fair to maintain two blasts on warhorn as an offhand choice.

Continuing with warhorn, the air #5, lightning orb, moves far too fast. Either a velocity reduction, or a damage increase should be considered here in my view.

Fire overload did need it’s damage reduced, but I almost feel it was reduced slightly too much. I’m not sure if many would agree here, but I often felt I would have done better to spam lightning whip instead of use a fire overload when attempting to finish a player off which seems uncomfortable, given that fire overload is such a short radius compared to air overload, and the Tempest traits are all about overloading.

As I commented in another thread re. minor traits, the minor traits really are lack lustre. The only affect overloads, and thus only an actively overloading Tempest, devoid of any synergy for any other aspect of the elementalist. This is not true for other elite specialisations of other classes (fantastic examples in the other thread, such as chronomancer and reaper). I would like to see minors that encourage eles to grow out of the water/arcane/x meta, so cleanse/utility would be lovely options to see in Tempest. Perhaps they would help in designed raid encounters too, making ele/tempest a more tempting prospect to bring along. One example could be that shouts offer resistance for x seconds, to encourage the use of shouts as a Tempest, giving them more of an identity and place in sPvP etc.

Speaking of shouts (ironic unintended pun, honest) I really wanted to make at least one work for my non-aura focused Tempest, but I just couldn’t drop any of the usual culprit PvP cantrips (cleansing fire, lightning strike, armor of earth) for them – even when I wasn’t running Water traits for vigor and regen. One idea here would be to consider adding stability to “Shock and Aftershock” – I would happily drop armor of earth then, as this allows me a near guaranteed overload in a pinch, which is the main reason I kept armor of earth.

Those are very brief points on what comes to mind first, so perhaps the most prominent for me.

Oh, I forgot to comment on rebound – it is definitely better than it was, but I think to function as it is the heal needs to be more significant. ~2-3k is hardly enough to get you out of a tight spot, especially if condis are stacked on you. Frankly though, I would prefer it if we had an offensive elite we could utilise – fiery greatsword is mostly used for movement, the elemental summons are situational, and tornado is just underwhelming generally, especially as it kicks us out of attunement swapping for bonuses. Again, I appreciate we are very late in the development cycle… but I would be surprised if most elementalist players are satisfied rebound.

One suggestion would be something to fit with the theme of tempest and overloading attunements – you could conjure a field depending on your current attunement as well as a unique spell effect, such as a water field + aoe cleanse for water, with the same aoe chilling foes, lightning field and aoe blind for air and superspeed for allies, fire field and aoe burn.. perhaps mini burning tornadoes, as a mimic of the fire overload but without granting might to everyone as we have enough of that already and/or grant quickness to allies… and for earth, a field here is tricky but I would hazard to say smoke as elementalists have enjoyed this before with their underwater skills, or if giving stealth access to ele’s is too much, perhaps poison instead, mostly for weakness, with a pulse of cripple or bleed on foes and resistance or protection on allies (resistance preferred, as tempests can already quite handily give allies protection).

Essentially something that’s flashy and worthy of being an elite, and not another “I wish we could have 4 utilities instead” would be absolutely wonderful.

First, THANK YOU KARL MCLAIN, AND EVERYONE ELSE AT ANET FOR ALL THE WORK ON TEMPEST! I played with Staff, Dagger/Dagger, Dagger/Warhorn, Scepter/Warhorn and Scepter/Focus, during the beta. Tempest really feels like a amazing breath of fresh air from the required constant Fire, fire, fire play that is always demanded for Elementalist. For my staff builds I used Knight armor set, with a mixture of different condition damage accessories allowing me to focus air as my focus attunement and for Warhorn builds I used a mixture of toughness/vitality armors with rampage accessories for Dagger and Scepter. Those made me feel more comfortable with being able to take more damage while staying in a closer distance compared to Staff use. Shouts work great, and I do not see many changes that really need to be worked other than Distance vs Cooldown on Warhorn:

In WvW I felt that the warhorn cast times were a bit too slow on recharge. But as I played I thought that perhaps to improve warhorn, could the distance of warhorn skills traveling a longer distance before they time out would probably be a bigger help. Tidal Surge really felt like it really needs a bit more distance. Running next to my Commander I was not even able to knock any enemies back with it or heal much of anyone who was just a little up front of me, making it a little difficult to use effective. Water Globe works very well also, but I felt it needed a bit more distance because as our Commander pushed us forward the healing would miss the intended players mostly because of its time traveling. I have no issues with the speed, and welcome the slow travel because to me its travel really feels like a crowd control skill. I will not dive deeper into anymore of the traits because in a general sense I just feel that the rest of the warhorn skills could benefit with a bit more travel distance, and the cooldown time feels it can remain as is without causing heavy overhauls to the work you guys have done.

Thanks for reading.

I had some pretty good fun playing the tempest this BWE and I hope that it will be a serious choice when HoT is released. I want to incorporate it into my playstyle without worrying about being at a disadvantage when compared to everyone else. I didn’t end up playing the tempest as much as I wanted to in BWE3, but my opinions have changed a little since my first post in this thread.

Overloads
I have to say that the stunbreak is an amazing addition, please don’t remove it. With all of the costs that overloads have, this is a pretty good addition to help balance them out.

• Fire: The damage is good, as well as the might stacks and the new fire field. My only complaint is that it’s too small because you need to be at point-blank range to use it and this makes it riskier and more unreliable. If the radius was increased to 240, I believe that the overload would be in a good place.
• Water: The only overload that I can say is outright bad without hesitation. The heal is OK as well as the cleanse. However, this makes you a sitting duck while channeling because you are not dealing any pressure. This either needs to deal some form of pressure or help you avoid the hits somehow. My recommendation would be to make it destroy projectiles and pulse weakness around you, so that it can deal with both melee and ranged threats. I can’t say how powerful it would be like this, but we don’t have any more BWEs to test it. It would also be pretty nice if it left a water field behind, even if it didn’t have any effects except being a field.
• Air: I love this one. It can work very well with fresh air builds, but it isn’t that bad on its own either. It can deal some pretty good damage and has a big radius. The vulnerability can be useful if you have no other source at hand. Its lightning field and static charge also provide some good support.
• Earth: I have no complaints about this one. It does good damage for an earth spell and has some pretty good inbuilt defenses and CC. The radius is also pretty decent.

Traits
The biggest problem with the tempest is the traits in my opinion. If these are brought up to the level that they should be, the spec will instantly become a very temp(es)ting choice.

Minors

• Singularity: Gives access to all the basic tempest stuff, overloads, shouts and warhorn. There is not much to say here as it’s in line with every other elite spec.
• Speedy Conduit: This feels as if it was a basic overload functionality that was ripped from the abilities and given to the trait. Needless to say, it feels like a ripoff because other elite specs don’t need to invest multiple minors into their new mechanics. If tempest was OP because of overloads I would overlook this, but the fact of the matter is that the tempest is under-performing right now. I would suggest to replace this trait and either make the swiftness baseline, or even better give 4s of superspeed to overloads instead.
• Hardy Conduit: The protection boon needs to become baseline for the same reason as Speedy Conduit.

Suggestions for replacements of the minors can be found in a dedicated thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Tempest-does-not-have-minor-traits

Majors

• Gale Song: Not an amazing trait by any means, but it doesn’t need any direct additions. If “Eye of the Storm!” is buffed this will be fine.
• Latent Stamina: I really don’t like this trait. It is very counter-intuitive to have an attunement swap trait in tempest. It is also odd to have it grant vigor while overloading hinders the dodge mechanic. At least the vigor is also granted to allies who can make better use of it. Still, it is extremely underwhelming and I believe that it needs a rework.
• Unstable Conduit: This is a good adept major trait because it gives you more aura access, which also synergies with Powerful Aura if you choose water. This is a perfect example of a good overload trait. It gives a very good bonus, but that bonus is not mandatory to make overloads functional.

• Earthen Proxy: A very underwhelming trait. The 7% damage reduction isn’t very noticeable even if you get permanent protection. Most builds will not be able to get permanent protection by the way. This needs a rework.
• Harmonious Conduit: This trait is very good. It’s so good that it is mandatory. Overloads cannot even function in most competitive environments without this. Unlike Unstable Conduit this is not a choice., you either take it or you kitten yourself. The stability needs to be made baseline and replaced with a 5 second cooldown reduction of overloads. The damage bonus can stay.
• Tempestuous Aria: I can understand why this doesn’t give cooldown reduction. You believe that the might + weakness is pretty strong in itself. It’s definitely more than what most other utility skill traits give if you don’t factor in their CDR. However, some shout cooldowns are slightly higher than they should be. I believe that the base shout cooldowns should be looked at again individually.

• Element Bastion: A perfect grandmaster trait. It has very good synergy with auras, which are a prominent tempest theme. It also provides another aura when you drop below 75%, which gives it synergy with itself. Very good support trait.
• Imbued Melodies: This has the potential to be a pretty good support trait if you really like boons. The boon duration increase is sizable and the sand squall application potential is great. With only a 10s cooldown and a 90% health threshold, you can apply it pretty often if you manage to keep healing yourself or if a friendly druid heals you instead.
• Lucid Singularity: This is the only selfish trait of the grandmaster tier. I have to say that it is a very good option if you are soloing stuff or doing PvP and WvW. When you are overloading, it makes you invulnerable to some of the nastiest control effects out there. Even thought it’s good it is not mandatory for overloads to be functional. Not everyone will take this, unlike Harmonious Conduit.

Shouts

• “Wash the Pain Away!”: A really good healing skill. It does nothing but restore health. However, the healing amount is good and it can also heal allies.
• “Feel The Burn!”: A very nice utility shout. It is an incredibly good skill to use for aura synergy due to its low cooldown. The damage isn’t amazing, but it’s good enough for its cooldown. The skill is even instant, which makes it usable while overloading.
• “Eye of the Storm!”: This is the worst shout. The only thing that it really has going for it is that it’s instant. Stunbreak and superspeed isn’t bad, but the cooldown is way too high for what it offers. The fact that the stunbreak is AoE does not help much, because it is nigh impossible to coordinate its use. If this granted shocking aura for 5s, the cooldown might have been justified. Otherwise, this needs a major cooldown decrease.
• “Shock and Aftershock!”: Feels awkward to use because magnetic aura is a potent defensive tool, while immobilize and cripple are good CCs. Do I use this to reflect projectiles when I’m far away or do I CC my opponent? The cast time on this is rather justified but the combination of effects is weird to say the least. This could probably be shaved to 45 seconds cooldown and still be fine, due to its awkwardness.
• “Flash-Freeze”: This is a decent ability if you need more ways to apply auras, as it’s the second best shout at doing this. Frost aura is also a better aura than fire shield. The frost aura + chill combo may be enough to justify the higher cooldown than “Feel the burn!”, even though this deals less damage. However, it should be instant, so that it works with overloads.
• “Rebound!”: It’s pretty neat that this can help your team recover from a difficult situation, but this is not usually the case due to its low heal. The auras that it gives if you don’t get downed aren’t that good for the cooldown, but they do offer some form of compensation so they are okay. This is probably going to be good enough if you look at adjusting the amount of healing.

Warhorn

• Heat Sync: A somewhat overpowered ability. I would say that this is just about as good as Mesmer’s Signet of Inspiration. However, it is one of the 20 weapon skills of the tempest. The Mesmer needs to sacrifice a utility slot for this. Boonsharing is something that the elementalist has never been able to do, but this needs to be toned down somehow. Restricting it to sharing might only would be a sure way to kill the skill though. I think that it should be able to copy most types of boons. The exceptions should be the most powerful ones. Maybe blacklisting quickness and stability would be sufficient.
• Wildfire: This is an okay ability but nothing spectacular. It’s nice to have a fire field on warhorn, but I think that shaving 5s off its cooldown wouldn’t be asking for too much.

• Tidal Surge: This has a dual purpose, so it could theoretically be really good in certain situations. Unfortunately, these situations don’t happen that often and when they do happen this is way too slow. This needs to become much faster if it is to be used effectively.
• Water Globe: This is a pretty awkward ability to use. You usually want static water fields because they are easier to blast. Since raids will likely require more mobility this might have some use there, but I really don’t believe that it can be used optimally in most situations. Increasing the healing on this would make it better, maybe then it would be worth it.

• Cyclone: This is a decent CC skill that also helps your team maintain mobility. It won’t very useful on any bosses but it can help with other annoyances. It can round them up in one place and get them ready for some AoE.
• Lightning Orb: The worst warhorn skill by far. Its damage is pretty weak and the orb itself is quite slow as well. I don’t know if this can be salvaged, it might need a rework.

• Sand Squall: This is a very good support option. Extending boons on allies by 2s isn’t that bad, especially since it affects all of them. The magnetic aura can also help a lot with projectile reflection and aura synergy. It honestly puts all other aura weapon skills to shame if you compare it.
• Dust Storm: This is an okay skill. It does a little bit of damage, but its primary purpose is to blind a few foes. I don’t find it particularly good, but I’m not sure if it really needs a buff.

Tempest is a joke, developers obviously want elementalists to not be played at all in future pve content.

The shout trait really should either give a straight 20% cooldown reduction, or something like other classes now have, like 2% cooldown reduction per ally affected or something.

Also, Warhorn fire #4 should only share boons eles can produces themselves. Might only would be severly underpowered and all boons seems op because of quickness and alacrity from others.

Warhorn fire #5 should really be faster, be more interactive for finishers, and rip a boon again from enemies to justify it’s extremely long cooldown.

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

The shout trait really should either give a straight 20% cooldown reduction, or something like other classes now have, like 2% cooldown reduction per ally affected or something.

Also, Warhorn fire #4 should only share boons eles can produces themselves. Might only would be severly underpowered and all boons seems op because of quickness and alacrity from others.

Warhorn fire #5 should really be faster, be more interactive for finishers, and rip a boon again from enemies to justify it’s extremely long cooldown.

Very interesting idea.

Valento.9852:

Jski.6180:

I still think WH for its GM still seems lacking compared to the other 2 GM overload being the tankly and aura healing being the healing support. I think the WH GM should up the number of targets you can hit with the WH. That and the worlding is odd on it in that it has 2 cd.

It also seems the GM for overloading dose not seem to work right as if you can still be chilled cripaled etc.. when your overloading. Dose the -100% dose not take in account for +40% effects so your just cutting most of the duration but still getting hit with the +40%?

A lot of the effects that WH dose need to center on the tempest and stay on the tempest such as the water field lighting orb and wild fire. The lack of control after you cast it feels like a waist use.

Oddly staff tempest works well with the +10% dmg done after overloading but it dose not last long enofe to do any thing realy big. A longer duration would be nice.

That short duration +10% dmg is insanely good for melee weapons, though, as they’re much faster and make the most out of it. If you have a guardian give you quickness… oh God.

Ya i get that combining it with BS after doing air overload is a very powerful. I realy wanted is to get the +10% dmg with a full meto cast / duration.

Lighting orbs move straight forward, why it doesn’t move like in skill picture? Increase a bit movement speed and check if its better.

Can we ask for actual full list of what tempest things are now?
+ things that you going to check, though about etc..

We are running out of time, cuz Hallowen is so close.

I agree with Tempest Master and Grandmaster minor traits being very lackluster.

They feel like cop-outs. None of the other Elite specializations’ Master/Grandmaster minors are so narrowly targeted to their unique mechanics.

Speedy Conduit, Hardy Conduit and Harmonious Conduit should all be merged into the Master minor trait (perhaps axing the damage buff after Overloading), and the Grandmaster minor should offer something unique and flavorful that isn’t related solely to improving Overloads.

In an odd way its the base ele class effects that need to be fixed more then tempest. Such things as icd bring per person not per activation. That would go a long way to make tempest all the better to play becuse icd per activation simply dose not work well with aoe.

Glenstorm.4059:

They feel like cop-outs. None of the other Elite specializations’ Master/Grandmaster minors are so narrowly targeted to their unique mechanics.

Why? Why do people even SAY things like that out loud?

Go look at Druid (heals or nuthin’), at Dragonhunter (damage bonus only at a range greater than 85% of the class’ kit) or Berserker (bonus while in your profession’s special place… sound familiar?). Then drop the woe-is-me persecution complex and try again.

Nike.2631:

Glenstorm.4059:

They feel like cop-outs. None of the other Elite specializations’ Master/Grandmaster minors are so narrowly targeted to their unique mechanics.

Why? Why do people even SAY things like that out loud?

Go look at Druid (heals or nuthin’), at Dragonhunter (damage bonus only at a range greater than 85% of the class’ kit) or Berserker (bonus while in your profession’s special place… sound familiar?). Then drop the woe-is-me persecution complex and try again.

I think you’ve missed something.

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

Also, Warhorn fire #4 should only share boons eles can produces themselves. Might only would be severly underpowered and all boons seems op because of quickness and alacrity from others.

Just to clarify, alacrity isn’t a boon.

Nike.2631:

Glenstorm.4059:

They feel like cop-outs. None of the other Elite specializations’ Master/Grandmaster minors are so narrowly targeted to their unique mechanics.

Why? Why do people even SAY things like that out loud?

Go look at Druid (heals or nuthin’), at Dragonhunter (damage bonus only at a range greater than 85% of the class’ kit) or Berserker (bonus while in your profession’s special place… sound familiar?). Then drop the woe-is-me persecution complex and try again.

Whoa there, take it down a notch. I don’t feel persecuted at all; in fact, I think Tempest is in a generally good spot. The thing is, most of those other specs’ minors have at least some utility outside of their unique mechanics, and I think that ours can and should be that way too. Ours literally make Overloads better. I’m not saying that’s bad, but the traits can be merged, and a new Grandmaster minor can be introduced that gives us synergy outside of Overloads.

Maybe saying “cop-outs” was wrong on my part, and I do apologize for that.

Khalic.3561:

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

Also, Warhorn fire #4 should only share boons eles can produces themselves. Might only would be severly underpowered and all boons seems op because of quickness and alacrity from others.

Just to clarify, alacrity isn’t a boon.

Amen to that. You know how creepy it would cascade across the entire game? hahah

Still, minor traits could use a review. All minors always say: these things are granted by default. If something should be baseline, then it should fit into minor slots, what are your ideas guys?

Glenstorm.4059:

Maybe saying “cop-outs” was wrong on my part, and I do apologize for that.

Sorry. “Long night” would just be an excuse so let say you happened to fall at the end of a very long list of people making comparisons to other classes that are extremely slanted.

All of them are a work in progress and many of them are extremely tightly built to deliver on one vision when a little bit of shuffling could definitely open up some more build-space for us to explore. I hope Elementalist (and the others) gets one good last look between now and launch day with an eye towards how trait effects can be placed so that we’re enabled instead of constrained.

I think we’re on the same page there .

Nike.2631:

Glenstorm.4059:

Maybe saying “cop-outs” was wrong on my part, and I do apologize for that.

Sorry. “Long night” would just be an excuse so let say you happened to fall at the end of a very long list of people making comparisons to other classes that are extremely slanted.

All of them are a work in progress and many of them are extremely tightly built to deliver on one vision when a little bit of shuffling could definitely open up some more build-space for us to explore. I hope Elementalist (and the others) gets one good last look between now and launch day with an eye towards how trait effects can be placed so that we’re enabled instead of constrained.

I think we’re on the same page there .

Agreed

Can we all agree that Latent Stamina, Earthen Proxy, and Speedy Conduit need a complete rework? And Harmonious Conduit needs a second pass? :P

I find it interesting that no one has mentioned the biggest problem I experienced with Rebound: It doesn’t effect the elementalist themselves.

Now regardless of how good a skill it would be otherwise (and, granted, I might have just experienced a bug), this makes it absolutely useless in solo play, and barely usable as a niche effect in dungeons/raids. The heal/buff need to affect the caster as well as targets around them.

Serenawyr.1523:

I find it interesting that no one has mentioned the biggest problem I experienced with Rebound: It doesn’t effect the elementalist themselves.

Now regardless of how good a skill it would be otherwise (and, granted, I might have just experienced a bug), this makes it absolutely useless in solo play, and barely usable as a niche effect in dungeons/raids. The heal/buff need to affect the caster as well as targets around them.

I think it does, but there is some sort of lag between when you use it and when it is applied.

There’s something that needs to be mentioned that I haven’t seen yet here.

For anyone who is basing their tempest experience on PvE, many/most of the mobs in the open world were (apparently mistakenly) nerfed. So even though I initially thought I was being much more effective than in the previous BWEs, at least some of that must be attributed to the content being easier.

Powerful Aura and Tempest Shouts simply does not interact well with each other.

Aura from shouts are getting double applications frequently, which is fine with Zephyr’s Boon, Elemental Shielding, and Element Bastion, since you can get double boons or heal from it.

But I think it could be nice if Powerful Aura can actually modifies the number of allies that affected by the aura from shout to 10 instead of 5 doubles? It could be nice as a support in a raid squad.

About the tooltip, maybe adding an extra line to distinguish Number of Enemy Targets (affected by the condition) and Number of Allies (affected by the auras) as an QoL?

The only things that I ask for is a possible damage increase for shouts as the current damage for them is lackluster. Changing rebound a bit more as I think in its current state it isn’t a great elite, the only reason I was using it was because it is really the only support/utility elite. Also being able to swap attunements while in overcharge to take advantage of damage modifier and other traits like Rock Solid or a quick burst heal from water trait line.
This is also kind of related to tempest, but reworking glyphs so that they are somewhat useful and can work well with a tempest build, or really any ele build.

Valento.9852:

Khalic.3561:

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

Also, Warhorn fire #4 should only share boons eles can produces themselves. Might only would be severly underpowered and all boons seems op because of quickness and alacrity from others.

Just to clarify, alacrity isn’t a boon.

Amen to that. You know how creepy it would cascade across the entire game? hahah

Still, minor traits could use a review. All minors always say: these things are granted by default. If something should be baseline, then it should fit into minor slots, what are your ideas guys?

After giving it some thought, I think that the minors should help with survivablility. The ele is really squishy in raids and I really doubt that our base survivability is getting buffed any time soon. Edit:What if Earthen Proxy is moved to one of the minor slots and buffed from +7% to +10% damage reduction and that reduction also applied to condition damage?

i just don’t get it: Tempest is better on every other weapon set than warhorn and it seems nothing is being done about it.

It is by far the biggest issue. Traits and shout can be fixed after, but Warhorn still feels like it’s in alpha stage and it is far from being ready for the release of HoT.

I did mention it a page or two back. Yes, Rebound doesn’t effect the Elementalist. That is absolutely the first thing that has to change. Then the heal needs to be raised 2-3×. And then there needs to be a better baseline effect if the heal doesn’t proc. Like a 50% heal, or protection, or something. Raise the CD if necessary. A bad elite with a short CD is much worse than a good one with a long CD.

Serenawyr.1523:

I find it interesting that no one has mentioned the biggest problem I experienced with Rebound: It doesn’t effect the elementalist themselves.

Now regardless of how good a skill it would be otherwise (and, granted, I might have just experienced a bug), this makes it absolutely useless in solo play, and barely usable as a niche effect in dungeons/raids. The heal/buff need to affect the caster as well as targets around them.

Xillllix.3485:

i just don’t get it: Tempest is better on every other weapon set than warhorn and it seems nothing is being done about it.

It is by far the biggest issue. Traits and shout can be fixed after, but Warhorn still feels like it’s in alpha stage and it is far from being ready for the release of HoT.

I think traits should be prioritized over the warhorn. I mean when it comes to an elite spec, you’re forced to take the traits, but you’re not forced to take the warhorn, shouts, and in the tempest’s case, you don’t necessarily have to overload all the time if ever.

Still, I do totally think that everything should be worked on and improved, but I am firm in my belief that the traits should be the focus for tweaking, and post-launch buffs probably won’t happen for several months after launch, since the devs will probably focus instead on nerfing the imbalanced stuff that the expansion introduces across all elite specs, when it becomes apparent that the imbalances are clear.

yup the tempest and d/w in wvw feels weaker than in pvp.

Godservant.8736:

So, I’ve been playing Tempest all weekend, and I think I finally figured out what bothers me about it. The problem, I think, is that it isn’t good at any one thing. It does not excel at damage, and it does not excel at support. As an elite specialization, I think it should pick one thing and excel at that one thing. Granted, there are several elites that don’t “excel” at any one thing, but perhaps that’s why not everyone is happy with them yet.

As an example, I would have probably given Tempest condi damage, and had it excel at condi damage. Earth would stack more bleed, water would do chill damage (Reaper has that on lock, I know), air would have dazed/stunned, and fire would keep on burning. That kind of condi damage could synergize well with the shouts with some adjustments (Chill damage, cripple/bleed, burns, stun). I understand there are likely problems with this idea, but it’s an example. I would have given Tempest a job, and it would do that job well.

Anyways, there’s my thoughts on that. I’m not particularly pleased with Tempest because it does not have the capability to excel at any one thing.

I actually think the spec shouldn’t particularly force you to do a particular role but enhance the role you choose. I feel the Arcane line does the opposite and makes your build more generalized, rounding out your build more so tempest should do the opposite. It kind of could, in a logical sense but not sure if it turns out like that in practice.

For example, you want to make a tanky build so you aim for mostly defensive stats, use condition damage to kill an take the earth line. Putting tempest in that mix and now you have earth overload for more stability, protection and more use to sticking inside earth attunement. If you instead go arcane, you definitly get lots of options but are more generalized, like team support boons, might, fury, ect and encourages you to swap more.

Huge improvement from BW2! I still think Tempest needs some condi removal outside of cantrips & water. Also maybe a higher heal on rebound or something else completely, make this skill feel me “elite” and thematic with the Tempest. Lastly adding stability baseline to overloads is a good idea, I’m loving the stun breaks on overloads as well. Please rework latent stamina.

Cooldowns on overloads feels a bit too long. Overall overloads are better now, just the cooldowns..

Stability while overloading is a good addition, but I’m not sure if 1 stack is enought.

Feel The Burn should apply more burning or longer burning. It’s clearly offensive shout, but even Cleansing Flame applies more burning and removes conditions. I know that it has longer recharge, but it’s because it’s way superior to feel the burn.

Shock and Aftershock has too long cooldown. Comparing it to other reflect abilities, it’s just too weak.

Warhorn:
Wildfire – Too long cooldown for the only fire field with this set and it doesn’t work with Persisting Flames. Since it’s fire field it should work with this trait, otherwise it feels inconsistent.

Water Globe – It should be centered around your character.

Rebound: Personally previous version was more useful for me, but this one adds more variety. I might use this one too sometimes, so yea, whatever.

I kinda agree with removing cooldown trait from warhorn, as no other weapon got trait like this. Still I really liked cooldown of Wildfire with this trait.

On the other hand, every set of utility skills got its cooldown trait, except shouts. I think this one is missing, especially if you want to build a healing spec with heal on auras.

If Water Globe becomes centered around the Tempest, we’ll have a Fire Field and a Water Field working this way, and I’m not confident the devs like Tempest that much to allow for two movable fields to us.

Specialisation: Tempest

Animations and sounds: Great improvement, earth attunement is way better.

Mechanic (Overloads):
Normalize all radius to 360, increase damage in 3o% to fire and air.

Weapon (Warhorn):
Wildfire: a little bit slow, the fire spread need to be 100% faster.
Lightning Orb: increase the damage in 100% and each time the orb hits your allies give them a static charge buff.

Skills (Shouts):
All shouts needs 20% more damage.
Shock and Aftershock: long cd.
Eye of the Storm: add damage in it, decrease the cd.
Flash-Freeze: should be a cond removal.
Rebound: Double the heal and raise the buff time to 10s, also less cd.

Traits:
Speedy Conduit: should be merged with hardy conduit.
Earthen Proxy: Effectiveness increase 20% to all boons, not tied to only protection.
Harmonious Continuity: increase the duration of the buff to 10s.
Elemental Bastion: raise the heal amount in 30%