Guild Wars 2

Dear Dev,

if you are reading this, please consider nerfing all staff’s AoE to single target, so that we the remaining staff eles can move on. It is very frustrating and frightening to read the changelog everytime there is a patch. Crossing our fingers, hoping nothing will happened to AoE nerfing.

I have really had enough for all this. NERF us now so that we can move on to other classes or OTHER GAMES.

Eles are the best class to play Guild Wars 2 with and I am sticking to my staff ele until the AoE nerf is been implemented due to whining from whiners who can’t seem to use the dodge or move out of the way of the red circle on the grounds.

So, please. Devs! Nerf us now! So that I can move on or the remaining staff’s eles can move on if they are in a similar situation like me. If they are elitism players, my condolences to them, however, I don’t think they will care as they are the “elites” they will survive, until us eles are grounded in Lion’s Arch because walking out into the world then will mean dead due to accidentally hitting a doe with skill 1.

thank you for hearing me out.

I don’t think a lot of people rage at staff eles…

They seem fairly balanced

Kronyx, I think he was referring to the fact that the dev’s have said they plan to nerf aoe. Also, this will happen in a month or two because some major spvp players are complaining about aoe (you should keep an eye on the spvp forums just so you know what nerfs are incoming). My guess is they will either nerf aoe in spvp only, or tone it down so much to the point that we are a laughing-stock. There isn’t really a middle-ground, I expect no buffs in return.

i dont think they’re going to (after all the dissent on the forums about it); it isnt needed and it would make some weapons obsolete (looking in particular at necro; which has no cleave and makes up for ti with staff marks)

People play Staff Ele in sPvP?

I mean, I do. But that’s like a once a month reminder that I don’t really like sPvP.

Remember, every major balance decision is made around pvp, regardless of it’s impact elsewhere.

On a very rare occasion, a skill will get un-nerfed in non-pvp settings, but it’s on such a whack-a-mole basis that there’s no way to predict it.

Because a thief ( gold child of Anet) sometimes get killed by Aoe…we can’t have it ! Nerf aoe!

Arheundel.6451:

Because a thief ( gold child of Anet) sometimes get killed by Aoe…we can’t have it ! Nerf aoe!

I think you meant to say Warrior….. lol

War and thief, I believe..

Yes, war and thief – the classes our “balance” devs play. Should we be surprised by the outcome?

WoW simply made it so pets took around 75% less damage from AOE. This is because pets are too stupid to get out of AOE, and they don’t dodge…

As for the players that are too stupid to get out of AOE, I say, natural selection.

I hope Anet just nerfs damage to pets—that would remedy many of the reported issues.

Sounds odd to blame devs for balancing around their own profession preferences.

As far as I know they like playing engineers. Probably because they are game engineers irl. Shrugs

I very much doupt sPvP players talks about staff AoEs. Exept for eruption you can pretty much sit into them and shrug at damage.

Let me clarify a few things, it was “rumoured” months ago they are planning to nerf AoE across the board. And this would affect us staff user. I heard reasons like “Players resurrecting downed players got AoE is why we must nerf it!” and “AoEing single target is too strong!”.

What the kittens is wrong with these people? or the devs? Are they on something? So now if we see some ENEMY invaders resurrecting ONE down player, we must NOT AoE him and his fallen comrade. BE a GENTLEMAN and let him save his comrade. ?? We serious? In a war, we must show compassion? Then will the ENEMY invaders show me and my comrades compassion and let me get out of downed state before we resume fighting? Tell me? Are you telling us how we must play our characters? Whatever happened to play the way we want to play?
WTH ? Is this WvW or Gentleman vs Gentleman? Or is this War? or a gentleman quarrel?

AoE single target is too strong? Serious? If I meteor shower 1 single target, i would be lucky if I can even hit it at all! And the 5 person limit on AoE is already bad enough, nerfing AoE?

Then why bother having a weapon call “Staff”? Is it there for show? or are we suppose to just poke at ambient creatures?

Emperor.1360:

PinCushion.7390:

People play Staff Ele in sPvP?

I mean, I do. But that’s like a once a month reminder that I don’t really like sPvP.

Many, if not most, of the high-tier, organized sPvP teams prefer staff elementalists (sometimes scepter ones) focused on damage output.

Higher tier spvp teams? Do you mean tpvp teams and thats is 100% not true. Scepter maybe but not staff.

High arcane high water builds easily countered lawlz.

Emperor.1360:

YourOwnFear.2743:

Higher tier spvp teams? Do you mean tpvp teams and thats is 100% not true. Scepter maybe but not staff.

I do mean sPvP (structured player-versus-player) teams, and it is true. If you speak with some of the top-ranking players, watch streams of top-tier play, and get into the top-tiers too—-you will see organized groups with staff elementalists (usually full damage) all over.

Many low-ranked players, especially on these forums, seem to have a fixation on the staff as a “bad weapon”, or do not like it for sPvP. I am unsure as to whether this is because they feel that the staff is not a “cool enough” weapon in appearance, or if they do not know how to play it. A well-played staff elementalist IS challenging to play (especially if damage-focused, because one can die quickly), and it is likely that many low and mid-tier players simply do not put in the time necessary to master the weapon paired with an effective build. By “effective build,” I do not refer to anything even resembling the typical (for unorganized sPvP) and easily-countered, high water, super-high arcane builds.

That is not to say that the staff is useful all of the time, in every situation, against every team design. A good sPvP elementalist needs to know when to switch to a different weapon/build to beat a particular organized team. However, most organized teams run with staff elementalists by default because a staff elementalist can do better what most classes simply cannot do (i.e., lay down large AoE for heavy damage and some control—-essential for taking points from organized players).

I can agree with this. When I sPvP with staff I often find myself wishing that my team was organized. If I knew where group fights were going to take place I could get into position much easier.

I find hotjoin sPvP is more difficult because you have to rely on your team picking the correct points/portions of the map to stage these group fights. Assuming your team knows how many players to send where and when, you still have to guess where the fights are going to occur. Being in position prior to the fight is a huge advantage as opposed to trying to navigate through the battle.

I worry about tPvP because it seems like 5v5 doesn’t facilitate enough group fights to merit the use of staff. As for being focused into a 1v1, I have yet to discover how to be anything more than useless.

I’d love to find some recent footage of staff being used in tPvP/1v1 to any degree of effectiveness.

Emperor.1360:

YourOwnFear.2743:

Higher tier spvp teams? Do you mean tpvp teams and thats is 100% not true. Scepter maybe but not staff.

I do mean sPvP (structured player-versus-player) teams, and it is true. If you speak with some of the top-ranking players, watch streams of top-tier play, and get into the top-tiers too—-you will see organized groups with staff elementalists (usually full damage) all over.

Many low-ranked players, especially on these forums, seem to have a fixation on the staff as a “bad weapon”, or do not like it for sPvP. I am unsure as to whether this is because they feel that the staff is not a “cool enough” weapon in appearance, or if they do not know how to play it. A well-played staff elementalist IS challenging to play (especially if damage-focused, because one can die quickly), and it is likely that many low and mid-tier players simply do not put in the time necessary to master the weapon paired with an effective build. By “effective build,” I do not refer to anything even resembling the typical (for unorganized sPvP) and easily-countered, high water, super-high arcane builds.

That is not to say that the staff is useful all of the time, in every situation, against every team design. A good sPvP elementalist needs to know when to switch to a different weapon/build to beat a particular organized team. However, most organized teams run with staff elementalists by default because a staff elementalist can do better what most classes simply cannot do (i.e., lay down large AoE for heavy damage and some control—-essential for taking points from organized players).

My apologies, didn’t think you could possibly be talking about spvp. Its not organized or balanced so anything can do good there because you should never find yourself in a 1v1.

Emperor.1360:

I do mean sPvP (structured player-versus-player) teams, and it is true. If you speak with some of the top-ranking players, watch streams of top-tier play, and get into the top-tiers too—-you will see organized groups with staff elementalists (usually full damage) all over.

I’d love a link or 2 to some of the streams you’re talking about.

All I ever see in tpvp ele vids is d/d s/d. Usually 0/10/0/30/30 or 0/0/10/30/30

NeXeD.3042:

All I ever see in tpvp ele vids is d/d s/d. Usually 0/10/0/30/30 or 0/0/10/30/30

Same here, but I hate that build/playstyle. I rolled a Guardian for my support/bunker toon. I rolled an Ele to AoE fireball the living daylights out of things and Kite or Die. So far that particular playstyle has eluded me, but if there’s a video or stream of someone pulling it off I’d happily admit that I’m doing it wrong.

when i see a staff ele i think free badges

Miiro.3124:

when i see a staff ele i think free badges

If I don’t have team members babysitting me then this is a fair assessment. If I get engaged in WvW my first goal is to run to the nearest clump of people or nearest keep.

I don’t generally make it unless I’m running a very tanky build.

PinCushion.7390:

Miiro.3124:

when i see a staff ele i think free badges

If I don’t have team members babysitting me then this is a fair assessment. If I get engaged in WvW my first goal is to run to the nearest clump of people or nearest keep.

I don’t generally make it unless I’m running a very tanky build.

Rangers like myself thank you for your effort

SirDrygan.1823:

Then why bother having a weapon call “Staff”? Is it there for show? or are we suppose to just poke at ambient creatures?

I have an idea of what we could all do with our staves that might get their attention

Miiro.3124:

PinCushion.7390:

Miiro.3124:

when i see a staff ele i think free badges

If I don’t have team members babysitting me then this is a fair assessment. If I get engaged in WvW my first goal is to run to the nearest clump of people or nearest keep.

I don’t generally make it unless I’m running a very tanky build.

Rangers like myself thank you for your effort

Don’t mention it. I know how your pets enjoy chasing things, and Rangers need badges too. For every time I’ve been mauled to death by a bear or jaguar in the open field I’ve probably turned some ranger into a smoldering crater while he was pew pewing off of a keep wall.

I hope the devs get the nerf over with and put us out of our misery. Then maybe I could go concentrate on my Mesmer whose role now is just to port players up to JPs for FREE and keep those people asking for tips far far away!

I don’t really see how AOE is too powerful as it is. Can only hit 5 people anyways, and they can dodge.

As someone who plays a Staff Elementalist in those WvW zerg balls, I think they might be referring to how Static Field (and similar things, like Veil) affect an infinite amount of people.

It’s pretty powerful, being able to stop an entire zerg with one ability.

Sunflowers.1729:

As someone who plays a Staff Elementalist in those WvW zerg balls, I think they might be referring to how Static Field (and similar things, like Veil) affect an infinite amount of people.

It’s pretty powerful, being able to stop an entire zerg with one ability.

I think that is fine, its what a control spell is supposed to do. And it’s not like I see it abused or anything in WvW either. Seems quite fine like it is, people can avoid it, run around, or not run into it. If you get caught in the barrier, yes, you get stunned a little bit and might receive a follow up, but it is hardly a zerg killer.

Sunflowers.1729:

As someone who plays a Staff Elementalist in those WvW zerg balls, I think they might be referring to how Static Field (and similar things, like Veil) affect an infinite amount of people.

It’s pretty powerful, being able to stop an entire zerg with one ability.

But static field would be completely useless if it only affected 5 people. Imagine Gandalf standing before the hoard today. His resounding voice can be heard defiantly shouting “YOU SHALL BRIEFLY PAUSE”.

If they change the skill he would be screaming “A SMALL NUMBER OF YOU SHALL HESITATE”

TooBz.3065:

Sunflowers.1729:

As someone who plays a Staff Elementalist in those WvW zerg balls, I think they might be referring to how Static Field (and similar things, like Veil) affect an infinite amount of people.

It’s pretty powerful, being able to stop an entire zerg with one ability.

But static field would be completely useless if it only affected 5 people. Imagine Gandalf standing before the hoard today. His resounding voice can be heard defiantly shouting “YOU SHALL BRIEFLY PAUSE”.

If they change the skill he would be screaming “A SMALL NUMBER OF YOU SHALL HESITATE”

You forgot to say “Please.”

TooBz.3065:

But static field would be completely useless if it only affected 5 people. Imagine Gandalf standing before the hoard today. His resounding voice can be heard defiantly shouting “YOU SHALL BRIEFLY PAUSE”.

If they change the skill he would be screaming “A SMALL NUMBER OF YOU SHALL HESITATE”

Dude – I just spat coffee all over everything – thanks for the laugh.

SirDrygan.1823:

Let me clarify a few things, it was “rumoured” months ago they are planning to nerf AoE across the board. And this would affect us staff user. I heard reasons like “Players resurrecting downed players got AoE is why we must nerf it!” and “AoEing single target is too strong!”.

What the kittens is wrong with these people? or the devs? Are they on something? So now if we see some ENEMY invaders resurrecting ONE down player, we must NOT AoE him and his fallen comrade. BE a GENTLEMAN and let him save his comrade. ?? We serious? In a war, we must show compassion? Then will the ENEMY invaders show me and my comrades compassion and let me get out of downed state before we resume fighting? Tell me? Are you telling us how we must play our characters? Whatever happened to play the way we want to play?
WTH ? Is this WvW or Gentleman vs Gentleman? Or is this War? or a gentleman quarrel?

AoE single target is too strong? Serious? If I meteor shower 1 single target, i would be lucky if I can even hit it at all! And the 5 person limit on AoE is already bad enough, nerfing AoE?

Then why bother having a weapon call “Staff”? Is it there for show? or are we suppose to just poke at ambient creatures?

Hahaha I agree to all your post staff is pretty much a hard weapon to use effectively and nerfing it will make it completely useless. I even used meteor shower on a moa and guess what none of the crap even hit it LOL!

You can still do well with a staff if you’re a good player. But you’ll have to be pretty good, and would probably do better with another profession. But if you’re good, it’s possible to do well with staff, even 1v1.

ThiBash.5634:

You can still do well with a staff if you’re a good player. But you’ll have to be pretty good, and would probably do better with another profession. But if you’re good, it’s possible to do well with staff, even 1v1.

1v1ing players below one’s skill level is a problem for approximately no one.

ThiBash.5634:

You can still do well with a staff if you’re a good player. But you’ll have to be pretty good, and would probably do better with another profession. But if you’re good, it’s possible to do well with staff, even 1v1.

Hence, “good” player. But not everyone plays this game like those players who put in more hours in the game!
Doesn’t mean eles should be buffed to god mode for casual players, at least better chances of survivability rather than getting downed most of the time. maybe 10% more HP, 1% increased in mobility, 0.5% additional damage to all skills (I know, this will let lots of people screaming and foaming at their mouth on OVERPOWERED eles.) and less 100 range (1200 to 1100 range) (due to increase damage).

Maybe weapon swapping. But I personally don’t want weapon swap because it will only allow more people to foam at their mouth and screaming OP at us.

Anyway, we eles need a buff. But not so much. Just enough to make us survive more. Yeah, yeah, switching attunements in battle is the way to survive, but that is if we don’t mess up. One mistake and we are downed.

I also rolled the other 7 profession and even if I make a mistake, they can still take it without problems (unless there is a ultra champion hitting them with a no-cooldown skill). My guardian and warrior I practically can stand like a tank for long periods of time and take hits after hits before eventually dodging away for a heal and buff before going in again.

When I am on my ele, I stand FAR FAR away from the boss and still run all over the place to avoid their attacks because 1 hit and I am downed.

That is why I like to play an ele, I have to dodge, use all skills, all attunements all utilities, looked at the health, concentrate on what I am doing and such…..I remember when I first play GW2 and roll my ele, I was dying left, right, up, down and center. (New to GW). Didn’t even asked for help because I didn’t know much. And I didn’t even know how to use the other 3 attunements. Only use fire all the way until level 40 before someone told me I need to use the other 3 to survive, so, I started learning how to switch attunements in battle and I got better at NOT dying alot. Lol.

So, once eles get AoE nerf, staff is basically useless in anything. I can park my ele in LA and do chatting. When I am doing dungeons and other stuff, I would have to log in with my other characters.

SirDrygan.1823:

ThiBash.5634:

You can still do well with a staff if you’re a good player. But you’ll have to be pretty good, and would probably do better with another profession. But if you’re good, it’s possible to do well with staff, even 1v1.

Hence, “good” player. But not everyone plays this game like those players who put in more hours in the game!
Doesn’t mean eles should be buffed to god mode for casual players, at least better chances of survivability rather than getting downed most of the time. maybe 10% more HP, 1% increased in mobility, 0.5% additional damage to all skills (I know, this will let lots of people screaming and foaming at their mouth on OVERPOWERED eles.) and less 100 range (1200 to 1100 range) (due to increase damage).

Maybe weapon swapping. But I personally don’t want weapon swap because it will only allow more people to foam at their mouth and screaming OP at us.

Anyway, we eles need a buff. But not so much. Just enough to make us survive more. Yeah, yeah, switching attunements in battle is the way to survive, but that is if we don’t mess up. One mistake and we are downed.

I also rolled the other 7 profession and even if I make a mistake, they can still take it without problems (unless there is a ultra champion hitting them with a no-cooldown skill). My guardian and warrior I practically can stand like a tank for long periods of time and take hits after hits before eventually dodging away for a heal and buff before going in again.

When I am on my ele, I stand FAR FAR away from the boss and still run all over the place to avoid their attacks because 1 hit and I am downed.

That is why I like to play an ele, I have to dodge, use all skills, all attunements all utilities, looked at the health, concentrate on what I am doing and such…..I remember when I first play GW2 and roll my ele, I was dying left, right, up, down and center. (New to GW). Didn’t even asked for help because I didn’t know much. And I didn’t even know how to use the other 3 attunements. Only use fire all the way until level 40 before someone told me I need to use the other 3 to survive, so, I started learning how to switch attunements in battle and I got better at NOT dying alot. Lol.

So, once eles get AoE nerf, staff is basically useless in anything. I can park my ele in LA and do chatting. When I am doing dungeons and other stuff, I would have to log in with my other characters.

Start with a 20% base damage increase for non-AoE staff skills and a staff trait to increase range to 1500 and we might be starting in the right direction on balancing Staff Elementalists.

IMO, AOE skill damage is mostly fine. However, I think someone entered some wrong numbers in a spreadsheet to come up with single target Staff skill damage.

I have two 80 Eles on separate accounts, one D/D and the other Staff. My Staff Ele takes opponents longer to kill, but that hardly ever matters because the D/D ele still has a much better chance of killing a foe before reaching zero HP than the staff Ele. I’ve killed players one on one with D/D in maybe five seconds, but almost all my Ele 1v1 kills in WvW have taken well over 30 seconds.

When you play a profession that many other professions can kill in 5 seconds and the quickest you can kill is 20+ seconds, then something isn’t right.

My current Staff build is balanced, with over 3100 attack power and ~38% crit rate and decent crit bonus. My defensive Guardian with 1900 attack power and 5% crit rate can still kill players 1vs1 much more quickly!

Forget about underwater damage output for any ele weapon set. It’s FUBAR across the board. I bring that up because it seems to provide additional evidence that someone either entered some wrong numbers somewhere, or someone is just clueless on how to balance damage numbers for the profession.

The idea that a .5% damage increase would bring balance, or that any damage increase would require a range decrease strikes me as fairly absurd.

If the devs ever do decide to actually nerf AoE damage, than Staff Ele would probably need an increase to their single target skill damage 2x-3x the percentage decrease in AoE damage to even be in the ballpark of balanced.

i want what he is smoking. So you want a weapon that has great aoe damage and great single target damage lol.

imo i think the ele is a great class it does many jobs well survival is insane once you get down your attunements swapping i run s/d mostly. i had problems to start with getting used to the class but the biggest point i had to learn was not the attunement swapping but too realize i am a support class if the kill is there take it but don’t roll around like you can drop people like flies or because you have good survival mechanics you can out last anything. i 1. support my team. 2. go for kills if there is the opportunity. and after i realized that is how i should personally play the ele i will never roll another class again because its just too fun.

durick.8064:

i want what he is smoking. So you want a weapon that has great aoe damage and great single target damage lol.

Yes, because other classes can have two contrasting weapons and switch between them. They are never stuck in a single mode. Warriors can spec greatsword and rifle, giving them access to excellent range and excellent close range, both with good damage. Elementalists cannot weapons swap and thus their weapons must be able to offer two styles of fighting across their attunement range.

chronometria.3708:

durick.8064:

i want what he is smoking. So you want a weapon that has great aoe damage and great single target damage lol.

Yes, because other classes can have two contrasting weapons and switch between them. They are never stuck in a single mode. Warriors can spec greatsword and rifle, giving them access to excellent range and excellent close range, both with good damage. Elementalists cannot weapons swap and thus their weapons must be able to offer two styles of fighting across their attunement range.

Conjure Fiery Greatsword fills this gap for me pretty well. It excels in most of the places where staff fails.

Is this guy trolling or what? Because staves are good as they are right now, I mean come on now. And there’s not a lot of players playing with a staff anyway.

I think A-net have more interesting nerfs to do in the moment. Let them work on the important stuff rather than force them to work on the less important stuff, maybe?

Phantom.3548:

Is this guy trolling or what? Because staves are good as they are right now, I mean come on now. And there’s not a lot of players playing with a staff anyway.

I think A-net have more interesting nerfs to do in the moment. Let them work on the important stuff rather than force them to work on the less important stuff, maybe?

He’s absolutely trolling, but has unwittingly started a relatively interesting conversation.

I just can’t believe ele’s find something to complain about.. good grief. Play a necro mang then you’ll have something to cry about. Srsly lol. No offense but ele’s mesmers and engi’s are the dev’s favorite children. They work so hard to keep these profs above the rest and you actually complain lol. No real surprise though.

IT IS I, 1v1 RANGED OPTION PERSON

I WANT MY NAMESAKE

TheDevice.2751:

I just can’t believe ele’s find something to complain about.. good grief. Play a necro mang then you’ll have something to cry about. Srsly lol. No offense but ele’s mesmers and engi’s are the dev’s favorite children. They work so hard to keep these profs above the rest and you actually complain lol. No real surprise though.

When was the last time your precious “underdog” necromancer found a staff ele to be anything more than a free kill or an annoying tank that runs in circles not damaging anything?
You obviously haven’t tried using a staff ele at all outside of WvW.

Wow, what the kitten? Have they not ALREADY nerfed AoE once, and now they’re doing it again?

Phantom.3548:

Is this guy trolling or what? Because staves are good as they are right now, I mean come on now. And there’s not a lot of players playing with a staff anyway.

I think A-net have more interesting nerfs to do in the moment. Let them work on the important stuff rather than force them to work on the less important stuff, maybe?

Trolling yes. Stating my experience playing a Staff ele. Yes. Because I also played all 7 other classes.

Staff are as good as they are now? You probably have never played a staff ele before or you are those players who are so good that any nerfs is insignificant to you or something like that.

You saying that Arenanet has more interesting nerfs to do at the moment. They did have one. Which they had planned but put off due to complains from the players which is AoE nerfs. They have stated that they don’t want people AoEing downed players in WvW. Or using AoE on single player target and saying AoE is too strong vs single target etc…

Important stuff? Doing SAB, Canach (single room dungeon) are to them important things? How about actually fixing the stuff that players has been complaining in the forum? (not only in the elementalist forum). Note: I like SAB but I felt it was just a gimmicky content rather than actual lore. I like

Festivals like Mad King, Winsterdays, and now Dragon Bash, yes, I am ok with those since it is lore or going to be lore or something.

PinCushion.7390:

He’s absolutely trolling, but has unwittingly started a relatively interesting conversation.

Yes, I will admit to trolling. But I did not start an interesting conversation. I only asked that devs nerf staff now because their RUMOURED planned to nerf AoE will also practically be nerf on staff, in which us staff ele have most skills that is AoE. If you had read what I have wrote, then you would probably understand. Then again, not sure if you are an elitism player or a d/d ele. If you had been playing a staff ele, you would know what is my “trolling” is all about.

Anyways, I will continue to “troll” until we eles do not get the short end of the stick. And don’t tell me to go play other mmos/games, I am dedicated to playing GW2. If I had wanted to move on, I would have done so earlier, instead of wasting time arguing or “troling” here.

More nerfs? Bah, ele survives on aoe, having a cap of 5 targets is enough already. The class itself has been nerfed into oblivion, just because someone can’t hit dodge in pvp they shouldn’t ruin it for anyone else who does pve. The only viable survivable and decent (but not high) dps build is based around the boon/cantrip. Get rid of our ability to do any dps and I’m done with this game. They already nerfed the bunker build and appropriate skills heavily, any further reduction for aoe and the only viable consistant build will be almost useless, thus making the class “junk”.

Maybe it’s time they start looking at how other classes are OP, and not ele. Yes we’re good at condition removal, and being a jack of all trades, but do we put out the most burst dps or sneak up and 2 shot someone? I think it’s time they actually listen to the majority, not the minority when it comes to a classes effectiveness.

I play ele, and yes I’m good at survival, and consistant damage, but not overpowered damage. If I go pure berserker I’m liable to die ridiculously easy because the base hp, base toughness it’s all so low in the class. Frankly, I sacrifice a lot of damage potential JUST to stay on par in survivability (toughness, vitality) with other classes that inherently get much more (can we say warrior, mesmer) all the while my burst dps is terrible, but I do damage consistantly. If I’m stunned or stacked with conditions, vuala, even as bunker-type build you’re dead.

This “nerf” on aoe is not just staff, think of the d/d builds that are based around aoe damage. It’s consistant damage, but it’s low damage compared to all other classes. I sacrified the damage for the survivability, get rid of even further damage and the class will be useless other than as a only support role <—-hey I thought we were trying to avoid tank/healer/dps in this game.