Guild Wars 2

A lot of people have been floating it out there that this trait should be part of the core mechanic. I just wanted to add a supporting argument.

MOST other classes get an EFFECT out of the F1-F4 keys, usually something that damages the opponent. Mesmers have shatter, warriors have adrenaline attacks, etc…

Ranger is probably the worst, and they still get pet skills up there on F2.

What do elementalists get?

Weapon swap…wait, what?

We get get a function up there that everyone else gets anyway, aside from their nifty F1-f4 skills. When viewed from this (I think logical) reference it makes sense to add the elemental attunement functionality as a natural function of, oh yeah, attuning to an element.

This would bring a little more balance to the basic mechanic, and open up a lot of room to diversify builds.

We’ve been asking for this since a loooong time ago, and they have been ignoring us since loooong before that

Elementalists get 10 more skills, more combo fields/blasts, and thus far more options.

How about we compare Ele to Thief? Untraited Steal is just a gap closer with an RNG skill that might be useful.

Warrior just gets an extra skill per weapon.

Engineer gets 4 extra skills based on Utilities.

But hey, the forums are here, so I guess why not ask Anet to break a class?

Please don’t break my ele. I like attunement swapping. The only thing I’d ask is to not have to trait for my attunements to give me different boons. I think the boons we get on swap should be baked in, as well as the lower CD on attunement swapping. It’d be nice to not have to trait for those as they’re pretty core to an Ele playstyle. D/D mostly, but all Ele’s need to attunement dance to some degree.

ammayhem.5962:

Elementalists get 10 more skills, more combo fields/blasts, and thus far more options.

How about we compare Ele to Thief? Untraited Steal is just a gap closer with an RNG skill that might be useful.

Warrior just gets an extra skill per weapon.

Engineer gets 4 extra skills based on Utilities.

But hey, the forums are here, so I guess why not ask Anet to break a class?

Thief has it pretty rough. As a Thief, you pretty much have to trait into steal to make it worth anything aside from a gap closer.

So can Mesmers automatically get boons for using their shatter skills? I shouldn’t have to trait all the way to Grandmaster tier just to get boons for it.

If EA is to get removed from the Arcana line, the boons themselves would still need to be traited - nobody gets boons for free from weapon swapping or profession mechanic (as far as I can think of? Warriors have to hit for GS fury, Thieves have to activate skills they’ve stolen).

The boons would need either split up and added to the 1pt Adept Minor from each attunement, or (rather more powerful, but we could do with some actually good minors in Arcana) merged with Arcane Fury or whatever the Arcana Adept Minor is.

I’d probably be okay with either of these (maybe 3 might stacks from fire if it’s the minor trait there) but it should definitely come with the AoE sharing as part of the Arcana line - probably Master Minor, since Lingering Elements sucks really kitten its own. The new Arcana trait, to replace the old EA, could maybe be something actually useful for glyphs? A different set of boons from Inscription, or some way to improve their effects? Iunno, it’d be mostly for filler anyway, since we could once again consider taking other traits at Master level.

IMO elementalist is missing that special mechanic everyone else has which is just apart of their class. Sure we get four weapon swaps… But a lot of our skills are either low in damage or dysfunctional. Churning Earth won’t land if someone experienced sees it coming, Ice spike and eruption take far too long to land as well, same with shatterstone. This could be the elementalists special perk, a boon per attunement swap. And think about it for a moment, I don’t think it would be op to receive this trait for free. With out points in the arcana line you lose boon duration, and a longer CD on attunements! And even with this boon for free, most eles will still probably pick up 30 into arcana because of EA. It would probably just mean a free slot from the master trait if anything. If they’re playing a build with no point investment into arcana its only going to be ~5 seconds of regen, protection and swiftness… 5 seconds of Protection (The reason this trait is so great) in Earth with dagger off hand doesn’t mean much since your usually knocking your opponent down for your blast finishers during that protection time. Focus off hand has a 3 second immunity in Earth which you’re probably going to use before swapping into air or water, thus making that whole protection duration not as relevant. Staff is either going to immobilize or block off your target in earth and if your target swaps to range you’re probably going to reflect projectiles… Lets not forget to mention 3 classes can steal boons.

Anomaly.7612:

ammayhem.5962:

Elementalists get 10 more skills, more combo fields/blasts, and thus far more options.

How about we compare Ele to Thief? Untreated Steal is just a gap closer with an RNG skill that might be useful.

Warrior just gets an extra skill per weapon.

Engineer gets 4 extra skills based on Utilities.

But hey, the forums are here, so I guess why not ask Anet to break a class?

Thief has it pretty rough. As a Thief, you pretty much have to trait into steal to make it worth anything aside from a gap closer.

Thats just another bogus part about the game though, thief having to trait the heck out of steal just to see it be effective. Its just ridiculous that they have to spend so many trait points just to make it effective. Steal should steal boons passively with out a trait… its called STEAL. It should also deal some damage without the trait mug AND be able to crit.

whine whine whine, ele class mechanic is fine.

Luimes.4281:

whine whine whine, ele class mechanic is fine.

This isn’t about the current potential of the class, its about opening up different build options.

Opening up more build options would requires traits that don’t require you to camp one element to get the benefits.

Grimreaper.5370:

Anomaly.7612:

ammayhem.5962:

Elementalists get 10 more skills, more combo fields/blasts, and thus far more options.

How about we compare Ele to Thief? Untreated Steal is just a gap closer with an RNG skill that might be useful.

Warrior just gets an extra skill per weapon.

Engineer gets 4 extra skills based on Utilities.

But hey, the forums are here, so I guess why not ask Anet to break a class?

Thief has it pretty rough. As a Thief, you pretty much have to trait into steal to make it worth anything aside from a gap closer.

Thats just another bogus part about the game though, thief having to trait the heck out of steal just to see it be effective. Its just ridiculous that they have to spend so many trait points just to make it effective. Steal should steal boons passively with out a trait… its called STEAL. It should also deal some damage without the trait mug AND be able to crit.

I agree. I play a Thief as well, and having to go 6 into Trickery and 2 into Deadly Arts for Mug (it’s a pretty kitten vital trait), doesn’t leave much room for other traits. I thought builds in this game were going to be more diverse and friendly for experimentation across all the professions, but Ele and Thief are pretty pigeon-holed
as far as trait options. Whenever I play a Thief build that isn’t Trickery+Mug, I really feel the lack in damage, boon stealing, and self healing.

I think it’d be cool if the boons attributed to the elements were baked in. I understand that it’s powerful, but the bigger point to take into consideration is that it would diversify build options, and that’s something this game really needs. When I’m leveling my Ele (now 20! Just a babe), I can really feel the lack of boon stacking from attunement dancing.

The lack of diversity is more because the structure of traits is in conflict with the class mechanics.

The point of elemental is constant attunement swapping to take advantage of all the benefits of each unique attunement. However, the traits can now be divided into two categories with the exception of Arcane: traits that boost a single attunement line or traits that boost our utility skills.

Since pigeon holing ourselves into one attunement kills the flexibility of our class, no one wants to build for a single attunement unless its a DPS zerker build attempting to max out their dps by building for fire or lightning. And while some people like that, I find it to be boring.

As a result, most builds I see tend to build around utility skills, because utility skills dont require being in a specific attunement to be used. Building around cantrips is the most popular choice, because signet and arcane skills simply pale in comparison to the benefits of cantrips.

Also, Water and Arcane are popular, because Arcane benefits all the attunements and the healing and condition removal traits from Water don’t require you to remain in water for a sustained period of time to reap the benefits.

I think the trait setup is poor overall now. The fun of an elementalist is constantly switching attunments and using all the abilities. I couldn’t imagine making a build that went deep into either fire, lightning or earth and as a consequence, making a single attunement my primary.

And yeah, I know it’s the same deal with other classes. The majority of their traits boost one particular weapon, but it’s a bit different when you have two weapons to swap between vs four attunments. Given you can max out two trait lines, it’s rather easily to create a build that boosts both your main hand weapons. It’s impossible to do that with four attunements unless you split your points between all four trait lines.