Guild Wars 2

I was deeply cynical about the state of the ele previous to any announced balancing changes, and cautiously optimistic after hearing the patch preview/livestream. Now, I’m quite literally thrilled by what the devs have done to improve our profession.

Let’s not underplay what the devs have accomplished in this patch. It’s quite clear that we received the most love and attention relative to the other professions. A host of new quality of life changes (better skill and player targeting, condition floaters, immobilize stacking, the fix to tornado + lyssa runes, etc), while not directly addressing the ele, will have significant impacts on our ability to play our profession well.

The changes to staff are impressive (a host of increases to our blast radii, bug fixes, tool tip updates, faster projectile velocity, a completely new and very useful skill on earth #4, higher base heal on water blast, new animations, and etc.).

The changes to conjured weapons are profound. I’ve always liked conjures, and unlike some players, have used them successfully in competitive tpvp. Previous to this patch, the majority opinion had been that conjures were cool, but out shined by the relative benefits of other utilities (mainly cantrips). However, with these changes, I think players will receive just enough benefits to finally see the true viability of using a conjure. Ice bow, earth shield, flame axe, and lightning hammer, offer so much utility now that you’d be silly not to seriously consider them in your next build.

And let’s not forget superspeed (especially in a fresh air build)… If this were the only change to the ele in this patch, I’d still be mildly satisfied. I think this is precisely the kind of boost to our combat mobility we’ve been needing to help engage/disengage in those clutch situations. I, for one, will be traiting this skill immediately.

Let it be recognized then, that the devs have listened to our complaints and feedback, and have taken appropriate action by affording us with a unique and interesting set of tools to help us compete. Let’s not act like a bunch of spoiled children and pretend they don’t care about balance, or have some vicious hatred toward eles. Let’s stop the moaning and QQ’ing, for just a little while, and give Arenanet the +1 they deserve for this incredible update.

I REALLY hope this is sarcasm….

I am so confused right now.

hahahah troll, it was just another nerf , as usual.

xiv.7136:

I think my sarcasm meter just broke

Yareon.2835:

I REALLY hope this is sarcasm….

Leuca.5732:

I am so confused right now.

Sanlucifer.1742:

hahahah troll, it was just another nerf , as usual.

Wow. So constructive. And we wonder why the devs never interact with us in this forum. Big surprise here. If you’re gonna whine at least make it constructive whining.

I for one really appreciate the staff changes, as primarily a staff user, and I looooooooveee the conjure weapon buffs. I’ve always wanted more reason to use them. It might be worth it to spec 20 in Fire now for the extra conjured weapons charges and run a non-lightning hammer conjure build in PvE. I would like a bit more trait support for conjures, but I’m very pleased with the skills themselves now.

Supraluminal.7482:

Wow. So constructive. And we wonder why the devs never interact with us in this forum. Big surprise here. If you’re gonna whine at least make it constructive whining.

Dude, I think you got sucked into some sarcasm…can’t blame those guys for 1)Thinking that it is and 2)Being confused by it as you seemingly are.

Many changes to ele, which are all near useless. We are still under in pvp. Not because we are weak, i think the class is pretty good like this, but because ubber class/build didnt get nerfed (war stun lock, ranger spirit, burst condition (and i heard that purge from every class would be increased …. big fake ^^’) and so on …).

Good things done for the overall game (targeting, dps from condi), but very bad balance in my mind.

This update has kicked back to the Elementalist. Conjured weapons limit you to 5 skills. = Death. If they do not change the mechanical (unlimited duration or similar) will remain useless.

And of course, the slow skills of the staff are still unable to compete in pvp.

@Gesamtkunstwerk

AoE spells with a maximum number of targets will now count combatants that block or evade the attack towards that maximum. > Nerf

Evasive Arcana: Normalized the radius to 180 for each spell created. > Nerf

Elemental Attunement: Normalized this trait so that each boon can be applied to up to five allies within a 240 radius. > Nerf

Glyph of Storms > Nerf
Firestorm: Reduced the number of maximum targets per impact from 10 to 5. Added an AoE ring.
Ice Storm: Added an AoE ring.
Lightning Storm: Increased the impact radius from 60 to 90.
Sandstorm: Reduced the number of maximum targets per pulse from 10 to 5. Added an AoE ring.

Supraluminal.7482:

Wow. So constructive. And we wonder why the devs never interact with us in this forum. Big surprise here. If you’re gonna whine at least make it constructive whining.

I for one really appreciate the staff changes, as primarily a staff user, and I looooooooveee the conjure weapon buffs. I’ve always wanted more reason to use them. It might be worth it to spec 20 in Fire now for the extra conjured weapons charges and run a non-lightning hammer conjure build in PvE. I would like a bit more trait support for conjures, but I’m very pleased with the skills themselves now.

I was actually confused because from the context of how much eles actually got, this should have been a sarcastic OP. Staff barely got the surface scratched when it comes to its issues, and conjures are now just a stronger gimmick, nothing more. We got a useless trait buffed without making it useful, and had none of the core problems that will always plague eles no matter how much they buff individual weapons/skills addressed.

I personally thought this was sarcastic as well, considering they didn’t actually do anything to REALLY buff eles.

Conjure buffs are irrelevant b/c conjures aren’t useful. The fact that devs don’t recognize the key, underlying issue with conjures is disappointing (we don’t need more decent skills, we would need actually powerful skills that are vastly different from what we can already do.) The only conjure that does anything different is earth shield, although I doubt it will see use.

AOE nerfs are huge for staff eles. Burning retreat buff is nice, but its kind of pointless. Staff still doesn’t have the tools to go it alone (and it won’t, which is o.k.), so that kind of peel doesn’t do you much good. Especially given that the S/D thief chasing you can stick like clue anyway. The didn’t fix any of the staff air skills (2 and 3, which are still non-existent as far as I’m concerned). The buff to earth 4 is nice, but not all that important as ele is still unviable in pvp, where that skill would see use.

The underlying issues of the class weren’t addressed:
- Hard-counters (S/D thieves, necros, regen warriors) still are hard-counters, and received no meaninful nerfs (the larcenous strike nerf wasn’t what crapped on eles, its the instant port + immob + psuedo-stunbreak on Inf strike).
- Still need 30 arcana, 20 at a minimum just to play the game
- Still don’t do damage proportional to squishiness. Have to take + damage traits just to be on PAR with other classes.
- Still can’t get away from other classes.

One with air is also a joke. An additional 20 u/s by the time it over-writes elemental attunement’s swiftness. If it works well with the LH leap or lava axe leap, it might have a use, but still sorely disappointing.

As I’m likely to discuss the patch and staff ele indepth in the nearby future, I’ll just post my first impressions here:

To be honest, I’m leaning towards liking this patch. It’s far from perfect, but at least we didn’t get any major nerfs. The blocking thing is unfortunate but makes sense, and won’t really change all that much except maybe some WvW zerging. Conjures, which are useful to all weapon sets, got some much needed attention. The staff skills that got buffed are a nice treat, but it does make me wonder that ArenaNet for some reason is afraid that the staff might become too powerful in 1v1 situations and decided to play it safe and buff anything else that won’t affect 1v1 much.

What I’m worried about though, is the added immobilize the thief got.

ThiBash.5634:

What I’m worried about though, is the added immobilize the thief got.

It’s on Pistol mainhand, there’s not a whole lot to worry about.

I still hate the fact that Anet is trying soooo hard to push conjures on us, no matter how hard they buff them i would not give up 20 skills + 1 utility for 5 mostly useless skills.

TL:DR, ANet hates ele’s and I hate Anet. I will never buy another one of their products.

Flame axe = excellent mobility on any weapon set

Frost bow = excellent nuke, that can be shared with a zerker

I’m just glad to have some mobility back.

Only way Anet could possibly convince me to use a conjure is if it acts as a second weapon, switchable with ` and with a switch CD like every other classes, disappear on cd etc etc.

Cinder.2056:

Only way Anet could possibly convince me to use a conjure is if it acts as a second weapon, switchable with ` and with a switch CD like every other classes, disappear on cd etc etc.

I’d like to be constructive and say that this is a good point. At least with Engies you can swap to your kits whenever you like. Until they get rid of the cool down on the conjures or get rid of the timer and get rid of the use stack, it’s just not worth it.

There need to be boons added to when we equip conjures.

The greater issue I believe is that Elementalist needs an overhaul or large rework. They lack an identity.

Relatively certain this is troll.

If devs liked ele, we’d have devs who could do a real informational video on ele. None can.

They might even visit our forums and dispel some of our MANY qualms.

Supraluminal.7482:

Wow. So constructive. And we wonder why the devs never interact with us in this forum.

Because after the second d/d nerf we all called them out over their false promises, and after the third d/d nerf which was completely pointless we all got so kitten ed with them that many ele-mains actually left the game?

Don’t put it on us that we’re all out of constructive criticism to be ignored and kitten all over.

Supraluminal.7482:

I for one really appreciate the staff changes, as primarily a staff user, and I looooooooveee the conjure weapon buffs. I’ve always wanted more reason to use them. It might be worth it to spec 20 in Fire now for the extra conjured weapons charges and run a non-lightning hammer conjure build in PvE. I would like a bit more trait support for conjures, but I’m very pleased with the skills themselves now.

I will concede that the slightly-larger area of effect sizes for the staff are the smallest of babysteps towards reparation to the elementalist community after the ruthless way the devs eviscerated our surivability and damage potential. However, they are a far way off from having given me back the class I fell in love with.