Guild Wars 2

So I’ve logged in during the test weekend, stayed bit after it ended and came to conclusion that base ele is severely under powered. Just to make it clear I am talking mostly spvp (some wvw) not pve as that is not something that I know anything about.

Here is my reasoning:
If any class runs with zerker/marauder amulet, runes that grand power/ferocity + dmg % while hp is 90+%(w/e is the name) and gets free time to hit other players these players should feel pressured to do something about that player. Never happens with s/f fresh air ele. I can literally blow full combo on anybody and they will not come even close to being dead so there is no pressure to speak of. By full combo I mean DT -> Phoenix 2x->Air attoument proc->lightening strike-> arcane blast most of that while under tempest defense bonus. If that combo can’t kill zerkers and force other builds to be defensive for a moment(which it can’t) how is ele supposed to fight? I spent all my big cds enemy doesn’t feel pressured and I have to go defensive instead of them. Not how damage build fight should look like. Even if the enemy feels slight pressure from the burst the cool down on it is way too long and the setup way too complicated to make it worth the while. Before it becomes available again enemy will recover and put pressure on me.

Every other class that I did fight against had better damage/defense ratio. They hit me harder than I hit them while having more defensive options. Every other class that I played with in team had way better burst and sustained damage.

I get it that you have to make new specs compelling but it should be done by fun/fresh gameplay not powercreep. Even if we talk only base classes ele still draws the short straw – especially since the phoenix “fix” which essentially ruined any burst capabilities we had.

I dunno if its me but on my ele i’m getting destroyed by veteran enemies and champions easily.Granted i got a lot of condi gear but wow this class is weak pre tempest.

In truth the base class has always been weak and relied heavily on skill (avoiding dmg through evades and movement) and constantly stacking boons (proctection, regen, vigor, etc). So in most fights if base ele gets caught with their pants down they will be dead before the fight begins.

However when the boons start ramping up it can be decent. My only big issue is condi bombs and/or boon corruption, just to easy for classes to reapply conditions, and there are really only two good “moves” that allow us to remove conditions quick enough.

Base ele dose need a supporting buff that may come in the form of barror i hope. Ele core needs to be a balances between dmg support and tankness. Right now its got ok dmg and tankness but its support is very lacking these days.

Other then that i would say the base wepon need a bit of a buff out side of the ideal of the elite spec. Scepter needs work on a few skills that seem more like places holders then any thing else. Dagger as things stand needs a bit more def skill. Staff if its a more support aimed wepon needs to have support like effects (both boons healing and cc soft/hard) on its pure dmg effect that it has even if its just effects from trait lines such as blasting fire field gives out fury but only on core lines.

Added note:
I am still looking for that arcain elite and that conjurer wepon heal skill. One day!

I’ve toyed with marauder s/f fresh air/water /arcane on spvp and can nuke people really fast. If you can’t do that, not sure what you’re doing wrong, but it’s not the base ele.
Only classes I have some trouble with is mesmers and engies. and ventaris. Only place where I feel tempest overload would help me win.
Core ele got nice damage. it only lacks in support.

Ends alot of match with most damage and a bit rarer most healing.

FitzChevalerie.1035:

I’ve toyed with marauder s/f fresh air/water /arcane on spvp and can nuke people really fast. If you can’t do that, not sure what you’re doing wrong, but it’s not the base ele.
Only classes I have some trouble with is mesmers and engies. and ventaris. Only place where I feel tempest overload would help me win.
Core ele got nice damage. it only lacks in support.

Ends alot of match with most damage and a bit rarer most healing.

Sadly tempest makes for a better freash air bust ele for now. Tempest over all dose more dmg then ele core and that going to be a real problem going forward.

One thing i noticed is:If Ele is downed he is as good as dead.There is zero chance of surviving once a ele is downed.I feel other classes have better chances.Rangers can have their pets heal necros can fear Eles can mist away for a short distance and then hope its far enough usually leading to not being far enough and die.

But mist form → portal is nice

Axl.8924:

One thing i noticed is:If Ele is downed he is as good as dead.There is zero chance of surviving once a ele is downed.I feel other classes have better chances.Rangers can have their pets heal necros can fear Eles can mist away for a short distance and then hope its far enough usually leading to not being far enough and die.

Might agree or not considering the rest of the downed skills… but then I think about Mist form and that’s all we really need.

I think it’s great, both sPvP and PvE.

And absolutely one of the best downed state for WvW. It saved me soooo many times in WvW in situations I would be dead as any other class.

Yup, did that a couple times in spvp too, when making ennemy team chase me to spawn gate ^^’

Axl.8924:

One thing i noticed is:If Ele is downed he is as good as dead.There is zero chance of surviving once a ele is downed.I feel other classes have better chances.Rangers can have their pets heal necros can fear Eles can mist away for a short distance and then hope its far enough usually leading to not being far enough and die.

This I agree with. The issue is damage taken/health in downed state. Sure we can stale with mist for few sec but there is 0 chance of being resurrected if anything is attacking you. I really think that anet should take second look on downed state hp/toughness and skill for each class. It is almost as unbalanced as underwater combat.

On the original topic. I played few more days and I still think ele needs slight buff. Be it either damage/survivability as is most other classes similarly speced either do more damage and got similar survivability or other way around.

I like mistform downstate with the fire trait that procs lava font on death , if you use it after so long being downed , you can create a second lava font with it , that has rallied me in 1 v 1 downed state fights before lol

the #3 ability should be summon a tornado at your location for X seconds that knocks enemies away =P

Ele is and was always one of the hardest professions to play in order to bring its full potential. Core ele is one of the strongest to play. In good hands its highly rewarding and sadly in bad hands its just not worth playing. I agree that a lot of ppl can benefit from little buff but if good players see such buff I am afraid it will be too op. I play ele both core and temp and I am doing pretty nice myself vs any class. Even in PVE, after the meteor nerf, after the overload nerf I still find myself in top dps position.

bOTEB.1573:

Ele is and was always one of the hardest professions to play in order to bring its full potential. Core ele is one of the strongest to play. In good hands its highly rewarding and sadly in bad hands its just not worth playing. I agree that a lot of ppl can benefit from little buff but if good players see such buff I am afraid it will be too op. I play ele both core and temp and I am doing pretty nice myself vs any class. Even in PVE, after the meteor nerf, after the overload nerf I still find myself in top dps position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRzYWesu6Fo

I agree with it: core Ele (Both FA and DD) is slowly getting better patch after patch, thanks to tweaks to core skills and nerfs to other classes around.

After years you find that the same playstyle, skill bar and build abandoned after the first expansion is now playable again (in the right hands). This is “good news” or “bad news” depending on the point of view.

The main issue of the Core Ele is, in my opinion, build diversity for PvP/WvW. Being forced in the Water/Arcana combination since release is sad. This could get even worse if the Weaver will also be forced into it; that’s why I hope they fix Unravel Hexes or give a new option to address the conditions cleansing.

Water and Arcana are too good to skip at the moment. Sadly or not – they will stay with Weaver to get his optimal setup for pvp and wvw. But I am pretty sure that Weaver will boost the core ele gameplay a lot which I think is the right direction. Ele is way more fun to play as core and weaver is inspired by this playstyle. I tested it only for few hours and I find it very powerful, can’t wait to get more practice with it.

I would love to see a buff to the core Elementalist. I’ve felt underpowered since the introduction of elite specs. It would be nice to get the stat buffs back to the core ele trait lines:

Earth: Per point: Toughness +50 Condition Damage +50
Fire: Per point: Power +50 Condition Duration +5%

Etc. The June 2015 update killed this mechanic that made the core traits worth it imo.

I just want a buff to the Fire traitline or a new Fire trait so that it’s usable in PvP. Maybe something like “Cauterize: While you are standing in a fire field, remove a condition once every 2 seconds.” A trait like Cauterize would also open up new build options like Earth/Fire condition build, because you aren’t forced to take Water for a condi cleanse.

I know that Burning Fire exists, but it simply isn’t good enough with a 40 second cooldown. You still die every time to condi builds.

Comparing similar traits for other classes, i.e an adept tier Resounding Timbre has superior healing power scaling than a master tier Soothing Disruption. It also does more because it affects allies, so it doesn’t seem fair.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Resounding_Timbre
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Soothing_Disruption

Reve hammer 2 makes much more dmg than my phoenix and off-hand dagger skills are weak too.