Dear Anet,
I know someone from the team is reading this, maybe even a developer (especially JonathanSharp). I also know that you’re most propably going to ignore this post like you do in 99% of all threads which adress an uncomfortable topic. But I still have hope, and maybe just once in a whole year of playing guild wars and contributung to the forums I will get an answer to my questions and you guys actually show me that you care about the game and especially pvp. I also think that I’m not the only one waiting for clear answers to some issues – so please respond one single time to our questions.
First off, I play elementalist in PvP. „Why elementalist“ some may ask – simple answer: because it has the most fun playstyle – I intentionally didn’t write that it’s the most fun class since sadly that’s not the case. You’ve done a really great job in designing the elementalist but in fact your sense of „balancing“ totally destroys the fun one could have with that profession.
PvP has many things that are kinda broken or annyoing but this time I only want to focus on the elementalist – especially on one statement about eles from JonathanSharp: „I think Mes and Ele are probably ok for the most part, as long as we tone down the conditions output from some classes, and bring the S/D Thief in line.“ As if Conditions and S/D-Thieves are the only problems – these are just the tip of the iceberg. Have you even spent a single thought on what you were doing when you were buffing conditions, adding torment whilst nerfing condition-removal on ele – you’re buffing other classes and nerf eles at the same time – now you’re wondering why condition-spam destroys eles.
The problem is: you don’t seem to think of the consequences of your balancing-changes. You tried to make staff viable by reducing aftercasts and casttimes – but that isn’t the problem – the real problem is that the casts never hit anybody because the animations are too slow. Did you really think that the cast-times were to high?
Also you nerfed bunker-eles (with a vast amount of spell-changes), not considering that people don’t play it because it’s a strong build – but the only viable build that was available. You tried to make burst-eles viable via fresh-air. Though I think that this mechanic of instant-casts is just as broken as let’s say perma-dodge-thieves it’s a fun playstyle and a somewhat viable build. But this is now the only build we have. The problem is: without berserker-amulett it’s totally useless, and using berserker-amulet you’re getting oneshottet and totally destroyed by nearly all classes out there.
So, how does it make sense to nerf the defense of a class with lowest base armor and HP? Didn’t it come to your mind that this may cause some issues?
This might look like a flame-thread but still I just want to adress the DEVs if they really know what’s happening on the battlegrounds. Have you ever played elementalist on a high level? – if no, how can you say that elementalist is ok? Because nobody is demanding nerfs anymore? Do you think you’ve done enough balancing? The class-description states that elementalists have low defense but inflicting devastating damage – where is this damage? I chose the ele because the description is totally what I want to play – but I’m terribly dissappointed. First I had to spec bunker, now I have to play with a subpar class that feels like a thief, only without stealth or other working defensive mechanics and therefore dying constantly.
I know balancing is a difficult thing, I also know that you actually care about the game overall, but why do you have to make the game even more imbalanced with each patch? Where’s the love for the detail, the pride in having created a genious class like the elementalist? All your efforts made so far will go down the drain if you don’t change the current situation.
TL;DR: Please someone just make a detailed statement about what role an elementalist should take in your opinion. Also state if in your mind eles really excell in fitting that role. Tell us if you’re satisfied with the current state of elementalists. What should be an ele’s strenght, whakittens weakness? These are questions that matter when balancing a class – but I somehow think that you don’t really know what to do with eles. If you seriously think that the class is „ok“ how do you explain that nobody plays it anymore (in tPvP), how do you explain the huge amount of QQ on the forums?
ps: @all players (concerning the picture): please spare me with your „learn to dodge“/“l2p“-comments. I the pic because in my mind it’s a perfect example of fail balancing – a warrior with higher HP and highest toughness, higher mobility and better defensive CDs – does an incredible higher amount of ranged damage than an elementalist could ever achieve. I think that speaks for itself …
Rachat – Elementalist (Abbadon’s Mouth)
