Guild Wars 2

Does anyone else feel like we are still going to be sub-par to other classes after Dec 10 patch? I like the new traits and what not, but we still have a ton of bad traits. Why go ele when you can <insert class name here>. <insert class name here> can just do better condi, better burst/sustain dps, and come on with our survivability compared to a lot of other bursty classes. I just want to know what other ele think about PvP for them. I do have fun with my ele, do not get me wrong. I just realized finally I do not contribute as much as I can compared to other classes, which kind of puts me down.

The only thing that might make a difference is the new Diamond Skin – IF you’re playing a bunker.

You also have to think about the format of the game. The elementalist would do much better in a team death match setting or maybe even a capture the flag one. We can’t hold points because we have to constantly be moving and other classes can get to points quicker and we lose out to the meta. Good thing the meta is shifting to perma immobalize spamming.

Elementalist was quite good in PvP, D/D was great, until heal + mobility nerf occured.
Even staff was usable, until most of our AOE spells lost theirs “initial tick” (you know, like necro AOE still works now, our lava font was the same back then)

Actually, have you guys noticed that we are the ONLY class which have it’s healing nerfed for PvP? That seems quite ridiculous to me when I look on the Guardian healing capabilities…..

But I rather not guess how the situation will be after the 10th Dec, the changes are still not final and a lot of things are gonna change, so let’s not rush any conclusions here.
Still, the mobility and healing nerf is and will be a huge obstacle for the PvP Ele, I can hardly imagine any changes that could compensate for it, apart from reverting that nerf back.

Conclusions are easy to gets earlier if you recall all the former changes.
Lil buff here, annoying nerf there and here; no change in meta.
At the end eles will stand exactly where they are in pvp, underdogs if not hidding inside a wvw zerg.

The state of the elementalist post patch is going to depend more on the nerfs to other classes rather than any buffs to ours. If they get hit hard enough, we may become viable again. If not, we’ll probably still be subpar. Personally, I have zero faith in anet’s internal testers, so anything they’ve said about how eles are looking on their test servers is pretty meaningless. Will just have to see how it shakes out.

When you say pvp, do you mean spvp, wvw solo roaming, wvw zerg running, wvw dueling?

Each class plays quite differently in each of the environments, and in the little enclosed environment of spvp(which I don’t care about), it does sound like the nerfs and restrictions placed on the other classes could make elementalists viable.

Pity it still screws over the elementalist for the other environments. I’m resigned to the fact that as an elementalist in the other environments, we will never get a cookie.

I personally don’t mind us Eles being the underdogs, but that’s mainly due to me being attracted to classes that not many people play. I (personally) wouldn’t want to go into spvp and seing a cluster of eles the way you see warriors or thieves or mesmers now. I agree that we had a time back in the day when D/D was really strong but its not like we don’t have any viable builds anymore ( we just somewhat have to work a bit harder). And I’m looking forward to the changes to see how Diamond Skin changes things ?

STRanger.5120:

Actually, have you guys noticed that we are the ONLY class which have it’s healing nerfed for PvP? That seems quite ridiculous to me when I look on the Guardian healing capabilities…..

Guardian’s roll heal was actually halved I believe in sPvP.

dreztina.4820:

The state of the elementalist post patch is going to depend more on the nerfs to other classes rather than any buffs to ours. If they get hit hard enough, we may become viable again. If not, we’ll probably still be subpar.

This is exactly right. S/D Thief is getting nerfed into the ground (specifically infiltrator’s return), meaning some different ele builds can actually punish it and stand a chance. Toning down warriors, spirit rangers, and engie vigor up-time is enough to already make ele pretty viable (if only necros could get “shaved” a bit more).

Current builds will become more viable comparatively, and there might be some new builds that open up (I think zerker s/f might be really good, with something like 0/30/30/0/10). Lots of fun testing/crafting inc.

offensively built eles (ones that don’t spec into water) are going to be awesome after dec 10

Ryld.1340:

STRanger.5120:

Actually, have you guys noticed that we are the ONLY class which have it’s healing nerfed for PvP? That seems quite ridiculous to me when I look on the Guardian healing capabilities…..

Guardian’s roll heal was actually halved I believe in sPvP.

You’re right, I missed that. Still, in the Guardians case, it’s only a minor Master tier trait, ours is Grandmaster major, kinda difference….. I know that we have more effects available on it, but if EA was a Grandmaster minor, I wouldn’t say a word.
Also we have our healing slot spell nerfed (signet passive), and that’s quite ridiculous when compared to other signet passive effects….

Staff ele

• Very effective team player. Strong snares, CC and ranged AoE can absolutely win team fights. Bad roamer/1v1 choice, but it can still hold its own if played properly (and if your opponent doesn’t have stability up). Strongest at range; melee fights are risky because staff eles have to stay within their own AoEs which can get them killed quickly by other melee classes.
• Hands-down team-fight winner; typically dead meat when out in the open or alone (“back-line wizard” spec)
• Only getting stronger after Dec 10th.

D/D ele

• Surprisingly resilient in combat due to healing potential combined with defensive utilities (Armor of Earth; Arcane Shield). High combat mobility; good balance between damage and CC. Viable roamer; a good combat buddy choice. With stability, it becomes tough to deal with a D/D ele because the player effectively becomes a walking PBAoE with snares thrown into the mix, making quick passes at enemies when he/she can while avoiding damage. Strong in melee; no real ranged options.
• Viable solo roamer; viable option for team-fights (the “balanced” spec)
• Probably getting weaker after Dec 10th.

S/D ele

• Effectively a ranged back-stab. Half of your damage rotation can occur in under 1 second. Extremely strong roamer. Truth be told, it needs a nerf (rotation needs to be stretched out; too compressed as it is). Very strong at ranged and in melee.
• Strong roamer; strong in team-fights if played properly (the “faceroll” spec)
• Not really changing after Dec 10th.

x/F ele

• Scepter is stupid strong, so it works with /F. Very tanky and extremely strong at range. Slightly weaker in melee because a lot of /F utility is meant to keep foes at range, but scepter burst plus invulnerability makes up for it. This merely results in a slightly longer fight.
• Run D/F and just never die because of PBAoE snares and [Burning Speed] for movement; cripples D/ damage output, though.
• Generally irrelevant in pvp except as an eccentric choice for point bunker (the “If you killed me, I did something wrong” spec)
• Not really changing after Dec 10th.

As it stands, I really don’t think that anything is going to change for the ele in pvp outside of maybe more people picking up staff. S/D and Staff are on par with how they can contribute to fights except that while S/D is super-burst nonsense that can just insta-KO a single player from nowhere, Staff can KO or force into retreat multiple people at once when played right, but it takes positioning, timing, a wind-up period and teammates present to distract the enemy. D/D, being the balanced spec with strong burst in[Fire Grab] and [Churning Earth], will probably be hurt by the vigor and water changes since it typically takes a bit of time to work most opponents into the ground when running D/D.