Guild Wars 2

Elementalist

Fixed a bug where elementalists would not be attuned to any element, resulting in an empty skillbar.
Shocking Aura: This aura is no longer incorrectly considered a boon. The aura will no longer be affected by boon duration, but also cannot be ripped by boon removal skills.
Tidal Wave: This skill is now a leap finisher.
Ice Wall—Detonate: This skill is now a blast finisher.
Magma Orb: Damage is now split equally between the projectile and the explosion, instead of 2/3 explosion and 1/3 projectile. The total damage remains unchanged.
Boil: This skill is now a fire field.
Murky Water: This skill is now a smoke field.
Rock Blade: This skill is now a small projectile finisher. Bleeding duration has been increased from one to three seconds. Aftercast has been increased by 200 milliseconds.
Signet of Air: Increased the passive movement from 10% to 25%.
Soothing Wave: This trait has incorporated the benefits of the now-defunct Icy Mist.
Icy Mist: Replaced with Arcane Abatement. Take 50% less damage from falling. Create a spell when you take falling damage based on your attunement. Fire—Ring of Fire, water—Healing Wave, air—Static Field, and earth—Earthquake.
Arcane Resurrection: Applies auras for five seconds instead of 10. Now also increases revive speed by 10%.
Stone Splinters: Increased range from 300 to 600 units.
Bolt to the Heart: Increased health percent from 25 to 33.
Pyromancer’s Puissance: Increased might duration to 10 seconds.
Cantrip Mastery: This skill now works with Mist Form in PvE.
Trident: Rock Blade: This skill is no longer able to attack targets behind the player.
Mist Form: This skill now allows players to swap attunements while it is active, allowing glyphs to work in Mist Form.
Magnetic Grasp: This skill is now working as a leap finisher.
The Fireball tooltip has been updated to display the correct radius.

Wait what? There are no significant nerfs. What’s the catch?

No buffs to staff or scepter. A lot of trait stuff going on. And underwater stuff…

lol source?..no wait haha!

Otaur.9268:

No buffs to staff or scepter. A lot of trait stuff going on. And underwater stuff…

I guess some people will never be happy.

silvermember.8941:

Otaur.9268:

No buffs to staff or scepter. A lot of trait stuff going on. And underwater stuff…

I guess some people will never be happy.

Lol indeed

At least we got Magnetic Grasp back as a leap finisher.

Autumn.8043:

Elementalist

Signet of Air: Increased the passive movement from 10% to 25%.
Soothing Wave: This trait has incorporated the benefits of the now-defunct Icy Mist.
Icy Mist: Replaced with Arcane Abatement. Take 50% less damage from falling. Create a spell when you take falling damage based on your attunement. Fire—Ring of Fire, water—Healing Wave, air—Static Field, and earth—Earthquake.
Bolt to the Heart: Increased health percent from 25 to 33.
Pyromancer’s Puissance: Increased might duration to 10 seconds.
Cantrip Mastery: This skill now works with Mist Form in PvE.
Mist Form: This skill now allows players to swap attunements while it is active, allowing glyphs to work in Mist Form.
Magnetic Grasp: This skill is now working as a leap finisher.

those are the worth fix/change… well… ti could have gone better but it could have gone really worse… at least it doesn’t seem that we got nerfed… but still soon to say since some of the last nerf we got were stealth or from bug introduced due to patching…

still one of the best patch for the ele till now…

PS: if I understand it correctly… the new falling dmg trait is in place of an old water trait… but it really sound like something that should be in the arcane line :/

PPS: also on the falling dmg trait… lol… RoF vs Quake vs Healing wave…. alwayis remeber to switch attunement mid air if u’r in fire attunement…

PPS: and with the new update to signet of air all those speed passive that already where pretty useless due to not stacking are now totally dead… just equip the signet while moving and be ready to swap it out before entering combat…

BIG indirect nerf to D/D and staff support builds.

Necros, Rangers, and Mesmers will be moving considerably faster.

I still like the D/D build though.

plasmacutter.2709:

BIG indirect nerf to D/D and staff support builds.

Necros, Rangers, and Mesmers will be moving considerably faster.

I still like the D/D build though.

Big? I’m not seeing a big nerf to them. Other classes are just being brought up in terms of mobility; this doesn’t really detract from eles.

Holly kitten a buff to dmg, its not big but ill take it.

plasmacutter.2709:

BIG indirect nerf to D/D and staff support builds.

Necros, Rangers, and Mesmers will be moving considerably faster.

I still like the D/D build though.

well… if our support value was in the area swiftness… than we really had nothing to loose to begin with ^^’

fortunately support ele bring more than just swiftness to a group… so I don’t see it as a nerf… not even an indirect one…

Well, they DID say they were improving our trait lines. I expected more than only changing two traits in the fire/air lines, but it’s a good start.

Now to begin my mad experiments with the new Pyromancer’s Puissance and see if the damage increase is worth it! Muahahahaha~

there has to be a hidden nerf, there just….has to be, where is it…hmmm :S

at least some of our traits got fixed, I’ll take it…

EDIT: interesting to see how the damage when falling trait works out, at least, I won’t die to RTL’ing off a cliff

Shocking Aura: This aura is no longer incorrectly considered a boon. The aura will no longer be affected by boon duration, but also cannot be ripped by boon removal skills.

Does this still work with powerful allies, zephyr’s boon, and elemental shielding?

This looks like a nerf to the d/d auramancer build, is it?

Also monk/water/earth runes don’t help dagger 3 aura anymore? wtf.

Since no one else will say it… Thank you, Anet.

There are some good things in there, but why in the world are they never addressing the issue with weapon skills’ attack speeds that is seriously impacting the playability of numerous sets across professions!?

Drakken.3427:

Shocking Aura: This aura is no longer incorrectly considered a boon. The aura will no longer be affected by boon duration, but also cannot be ripped by boon removal skills.

Does this still work with powerful allies, zephyr’s boon, and elemental shielding?

This looks like a nerf to the d/d auramancer build, is it?

Also monk/water/earth runes don’t help dagger 3 aura anymore? wtf.

What it’s referring to is the actual aura, not the boons granted by auras. Shocking aura was lasting more than 5 seconds, and that is what’s being fixed. The boons granted by aura application should remain unchanged if the text is correct.

i can live with this for now, hopefully next month staffs and scepters get a buff, but for now, its fine

Leuca.5732:

Drakken.3427:

Shocking Aura: This aura is no longer incorrectly considered a boon. The aura will no longer be affected by boon duration, but also cannot be ripped by boon removal skills.

Does this still work with powerful allies, zephyr’s boon, and elemental shielding?

This looks like a nerf to the d/d auramancer build, is it?

Also monk/water/earth runes don’t help dagger 3 aura anymore? wtf.

What it’s referring to is the actual aura, not the boons granted by auras. Shocking aura was lasting more than 5 seconds, and that is what’s being fixed. The boons granted by aura application should remain unchanged if the text is correct.

It was also granting extra damage if you had the water minor trait and could be removed by enemies.

Vayra.3290:

Leuca.5732:

Drakken.3427:

Shocking Aura: This aura is no longer incorrectly considered a boon. The aura will no longer be affected by boon duration, but also cannot be ripped by boon removal skills.

Does this still work with powerful allies, zephyr’s boon, and elemental shielding?

This looks like a nerf to the d/d auramancer build, is it?

Also monk/water/earth runes don’t help dagger 3 aura anymore? wtf.

What it’s referring to is the actual aura, not the boons granted by auras. Shocking aura was lasting more than 5 seconds, and that is what’s being fixed. The boons granted by aura application should remain unchanged if the text is correct.

It was also granting extra damage if you had the water minor trait and could be removed by enemies.

Yes, which means that it wasn’t really nerfed at all; we were probably helped more than hurt simply because boon removal could wreck anybody who used shocking aura at the wrong time.

Leuca.5732:

Vayra.3290:

Leuca.5732:

Drakken.3427:

Shocking Aura: This aura is no longer incorrectly considered a boon. The aura will no longer be affected by boon duration, but also cannot be ripped by boon removal skills.

Does this still work with powerful allies, zephyr’s boon, and elemental shielding?

This looks like a nerf to the d/d auramancer build, is it?

Also monk/water/earth runes don’t help dagger 3 aura anymore? wtf.

What it’s referring to is the actual aura, not the boons granted by auras. Shocking aura was lasting more than 5 seconds, and that is what’s being fixed. The boons granted by aura application should remain unchanged if the text is correct.

It was also granting extra damage if you had the water minor trait and could be removed by enemies.

Yes, which means that it wasn’t really nerfed at all; we were probably helped more than hurt simply because boon removal could wreck anybody who used shocking aura at the wrong time.

well I’m calling it a bug fix… a bug that helped us more than what it did aginst us… boon removal are not so frequent (only a few class as access to them and few people use their sigil slot for the boon removal one…) also elementalis is known for staking a good amount of boon so efen against a boon removal we have a good cover for the aura… and a 70% extra duration in wvw was awosome (form 5 sec to 8,5 sec) add it up to powerfull aura and u will have a great boos to your party during a push inside the enmy lines…

but as said.. it was a bug… so calling it a nerf is out of the way… just that people would probably feel a bit happier if the see some bug that damage us get taken care of ^^

Stone Splinters: Increased range from 300 to 600 units.
Bolt to the Heart: Increased health percent from 25 to 33.

I think both of these have potential to be indirect buffs to scepter as 600 range is very common and 7 percent is very large when you are talking about a large damage increase and both of these already synergize well with potential lines a scepter/dagger ele would go down makes a high burst build look very strong, combine that with the might stacking from the fire trait could be very deadly.

Leuca.5732:

plasmacutter.2709:

BIG indirect nerf to D/D and staff support builds.

Necros, Rangers, and Mesmers will be moving considerably faster.

I still like the D/D build though.

Big? I’m not seeing a big nerf to them. Other classes are just being brought up in terms of mobility; this doesn’t really detract from eles.

A big part of D/D survivability is the ability to break combat and either run or kite&heal. I’d say it’s pretty big.

General balance

Underwater fields and interacts. We’ve gone through and improved our underwater combat experience. Many professions had a distinct lack of fields and/or interacts, but now have them so as to improve the player interactions with one-another for underwater combat. Most professions have the same fields as they do above water, but there are some differences as well, such as the Elementalist who now has a smoke field on their Murky Water skill.

Class balance philosophies
We normally try to employ metered and controlled balance changes with each pass, rather than huge reductions or improvements to classes. We want to get all classes on the same playing field, and we want to avoid “whack-a-mole” style balance. HUGH increases and HUGE decreases lead to meta instability, and thusly, we try to make multiple small tweaks rather than putting in massive changes that we have to later correct. (reword this section)

When designing and balancing the classes, we try to make sure that class roles and identities stay intact. So, in doing so, we make sure that there are rules and boundaries outlining the capabilities and weaknesses of each class.

More notes ore something:

Ele

We see the elementalist as the king of versatility. The skill ceiling for the Ele is exceptional, as the ability to leverage all four attunements at the right time is crucial for understanding the elemetnalist. The Ele boasts some of the best team support and control abilities in the game, as well as some great area of effect damage.

I’m really glad there was no nerf, but instead even some small buffs by bugfixing and improving trait lines.

I love it.

why falling trait that is actually arcane thing is in the water line?

Can we go invisible under water now?

Forums went down for me and i Can’t edit atm :s

Going forward

Tank vs spike vs physical DPS vs condie DPS. We want to keep making balance changes that allow all classes to have various builds they can use. We don’t want tanks dominating the game, and we don’t want spike builds dominating. It’s healthy to have multiple types of builds in the meta, so we’ll be improving the balance to facilitate a healthy meta.
AOE balance. We feel that in PvP some AOE builds are too strong for the opportunity cost, and we’ll be bringing those in line in the next few patches.

There was a big indirect nerf to the D/D element in the sense that a lot of classes got a massive movement speed buff, meaning D/D is no longer one of the most mobile classes. Intended or not, I don’t know. But clearly D/D elements wont be as good in chasing/escaping anymore.

So, what cool stuff can be done underwater now? We have a leap finisher and a blast finisher in water. Fire with field and better auto-attack, earth with smoke field and a better auto-attack can counts as projectile finisher.

Fire → Water = Area Might, Fire Aura (yay auramancers).
Fire → Earth = Burning sometimes.
Earth → Water = Area Stealth, Self Stealth (woot, elementalists can cover themselves in water! Makes perfect sense too).
Earth Self-Combo = Blindness sometimes.

Soothing Wave: Still unsure about this trait, seems to be unfocused, even more so now. A buff nonetheless.
Arcane Abatement: A Fire Field, a aoe heal that removes conditions, A Lightning Field that negates movement and an area KD. Now, isn’t that an awesome fall damage trait? Glad to see we’re getting attunement-dancing traits outside of arcana too.
Arcane Resurrection: I use this one in my Auramancer, the revive speed is a nice bonus, but I wonder how relevant it might be.
Stone Splinters: Good for Scepter/ Dagger now.
Bolt to the Heart: More reliable bursting.
Pyromancer’s Puissance: Use some auto-attacks to get ~5 stacks this way, and blow your burst. Is it good enough? Nonetheless, wwice as strong is twice as strong.

Signet of Air: Great alternative to swiftness builds, but might not find a room yet. Convenient for pve/ wvw.

I’m really surprised and glad we didn’t get any major nerfs. The new falling skill also looks like it would be really strong, so i’m guessing its not at full power? Interesting underwater buffs as well Overall, a great patch for us compared to the usual.

Oh and I think the aura thing was actually already implemented earlier in a stealth patch?

roostapro.9827:

AOE balance. We feel that in PvP some AOE builds are too strong for the opportunity cost, and we’ll be bringing those in line in the next few patches.

I’m concerned about this, as D/D is pbaoe. (but I think it has more to do with shatter builds, 100 blades, and thief aoe bleed spam)

I’m more concerned about the fact that dynamic events are balanced around launch level aoe, so if the amount of damage is reduced rather than increasing the opportunity cost it will wreck pve.

I’d like to hear more.

Ekove.4586:

There was a big indirect nerf to the D/D element in the sense that a lot of classes got a massive movement speed buff, meaning D/D is no longer one of the most mobile classes. Intended or not, I don’t know. But clearly D/D elements wont be as good in chasing/escaping anymore.

I think we can still outrun both Rangers and Mesmers any day. Mesmers are only getting higher swiftness uptime. Rangers lack a blink and aren’t that threatening even if they managed to catch us.

for the smoke field it could either be invisibility OR blindness (Veteran Scouts in WvW use what appears to be a smoke field, that blinds you to miss your next attack) against your opponent, could be useful in WvW

plasmacutter.2709:

roostapro.9827:

AOE balance. We feel that in PvP some AOE builds are too strong for the opportunity cost, and we’ll be bringing those in line in the next few patches.

I’m concerned about this, as D/D is pbaoe. (but I think it has more to do with shatter builds, 100 blades, and thief aoe bleed spam)

I’m more concerned about the fact that dynamic events are balanced around launch level aoe, so if the amount of damage is reduced rather than increasing the opportunity cost it will wreck pve.

I’d like to hear more.

We share the same worries ..but as long kittenter/100b/caltrops/traps build get a dmg nerf, I’ll be happy to eat the nerf on my AoE dmg skills

Ekove.4586:

There was a big indirect nerf to the D/D element in the sense that a lot of classes got a massive movement speed buff, meaning D/D is no longer one of the most mobile classes. Intended or not, I don’t know. But clearly D/D elements wont be as good in chasing/escaping anymore.

Ah, that`d explain it.
Thought we`d been bugged & made slow, having seen loads just wandering past me at speed, inc 1 Necro with pets, I could RTL past it, it`d soon catch up & pass me.

/siiiiiiiiiiigh

Hate to rain on the parade, but have you seen the updates to other classes? Increased damage and combos all around.

By comparison, our few improvements have left us pretty weak.

And that part about thieves being frail but in return they get the highest burst damage. Hello! Elementalists have the same HP but with Light Armor! We’re more frail, and have worse DPS. If AoE is our strength, we’re useless in PvP duels, and considering they’re going to reduce AoE further in PvP, it doesn’t look good.

Clark Skinner.4902:

Hate to rain on the parade, but have you seen the updates to other classes? Increased damage and combos all around.

By comparison, our few improvements have left us pretty weak.

And that part about thieves being frail but in return they get the highest burst damage. Hello! Elementalists have the same HP but with Light Armor! We’re more frail, and have worse DPS. If AoE is our strength, we’re useless in PvP duels, and considering they’re going to reduce AoE further in PvP, it doesn’t look good.

We’re supposed to be great at control, party support and aoe. Which is true. Tell me of a thief that can do these three things better than us in a single build (aka, not even close).

Oh wow. Signet of Air now practically mirrors Signet of Shadows. Only is has a shorter CD and deals damage.

Locking skill bars in free and paid tournaments. This is a change that will prevent people from cheesing the ability to swap skills and weapons in-between fights in a competitive game (either a free tourney or paid tourney game). This will mean that once the game starts (the countdown is done), you will be locked into your weapon sets, utility skills, elite, etc.

no more open inventory
put on staff
earth2→f3→lite5→lite4..
then switch back to daggers
make me sad

Arheundel.6451:

silvermember.8941:

Otaur.9268:

No buffs to staff or scepter. A lot of trait stuff going on. And underwater stuff…

I guess some people will never be happy.

Lol indeed

Just so both of you know I was referring to TwoBit’s post about “No significant nerfs? Whats the catch?” Guess you didn’t read the previous post. And FYI If you read these forums often, complaints about staff skills / scepter skills are a common topic.

I want to ask you guys to go and check this thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/D-D-Ele-100-protection-uptime-is-back/first#post1000457

This @Cosmic teapot has created already before a couple of threads and his only purpose is to stir up even more hate toward the ele, he usually use these paradox, baseless number crunching theories liek blowing off all your skill+utilities just to obtain a single effect

E.G= using 3 cantrip build- use at the same time all your cantrips to obtain 30s+ regeneration – then indirectly call for nerfs on the ele after using these absurd theories as proof.

Now you guys go and decide what to do( report-ignore-discuss), for me that’s obviously a whine thread and accordingly to the policy no whine threads are allowed

Still no fix to Windborne Dagger trait.

Is there a list of traits that still don’t work at all/bugged? Or should we make one so Anet knows.

silvermember.8941:

Otaur.9268:

No buffs to staff or scepter. A lot of trait stuff going on. And underwater stuff…

I guess some people will never be happy.

Why should those of us who choose to play staff or scepter be happy when D/D receives buffs (which were not needed) but we receive nothing specifically.

Otaur.9268:

No buffs to staff or scepter. A lot of trait stuff going on. And underwater stuff…

Yeah. I was hoping to see some Staff projectile speed increases. Ah well.

omg, I think I have a new build …

Mogar.9216:

omg, I think I have a new build …

Share? XD

plasmacutter.2709:

Leuca.5732:

plasmacutter.2709:

BIG indirect nerf to D/D and staff support builds.

Necros, Rangers, and Mesmers will be moving considerably faster.

I still like the D/D build though.

Big? I’m not seeing a big nerf to them. Other classes are just being brought up in terms of mobility; this doesn’t really detract from eles.

A big part of D/D survivability is the ability to break combat and either run or kite&heal. I’d say it’s pretty big.

I disagree; 25% speed increase was really the main mobility buff; this is not going to hinder escape all that much, and if anything it’s a necessary change what with eles being able to run so well. It will probably be noticeable, but not altogether game altering.

So, underwater was mainly touched upon.. dang. Neither fire or air traits have been made any more appealing (miniscule changes), and no really exciting changes, except the falling thing, which belongs in air really.

I thought they said that the traits would be meddled with, allowing a wider variety of viable builds? Apparently not this update. I better end talking here, otherwise I would seem depressed by the lack of interesting changes. Got my hopes too high for this one..

Anyhow, still nice with new things, even though they’re lackluster. Thanks Anet.