Guild Wars 2

I don’t understand all the QQ from Ele’s about ‘’weakest class’’ or whatever. Maybe it’s time you learn to play your class?

We’re very viable in PvE and WvW. In PvE with the current zerker meta we’re one of the biggest damage dealers because of our lightning hammer spec + FGS elite skill. In WvW a D/D ele is a very good harassment on enemy ranged and a Staff Elementalist, which I play on a high level WvW, is very good at dealing damage. When I use my meteor shower + tornado combo I can hit the enemy melee ball for around 6-8k and I crit 10k or higher on medium/light armored classes. We got so much amazing CC, gust is an exception, which gives good staff Elementalists the mechanics to control the ground warfare. You can make enemy zergs regroup if you hit the right rotation to reach the maximum damage output, you can block them from going somewhere or atleast make them blow their cooldowns of stability and protection so they won’t have it for the next dance when your melee leaps in. We got 3 cantrips of which 2 are stunbreakers and all 3 are very good for surviving. We got very good condition cleanse methods and a kitten ton of CC to keep harassment away from us. Maybe it’s time for people to learn the mechanics of counter classes like thieves, mesmers and warriors so you know what to DODGE and when you gotta use your cantrips wisely? It really annoys me how many players can’t play Elementalist and would like the most ridiculous OP changes. Do you want your full hp replenished when you go into water attunement? 2k extra armor when you go into earth? 25 instant might stacks for 30seconds when you change into fire? Cause it definately seems like some of you, not everyone, needs those changes to be viable on an Elementalist.

I don’t understand all the QQ. Ofc I’d like to see some things change like the cooldown of Armor of Earth, but oh wait, they’re already reducing it from 90s to 75s!

For all the PvPers out there, I DO agree with you. We’re very underpowered in PvP and that’s where the QQ should be about. About PvE and WvW? Hell no.

• For people interested, here’s my staff Elementalist build; http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQFAWhEmmbyR4QlDAkHucCLiCWUeszM2A-jkCBoiAkFA5mFRjtqpIasabYqXCy6XJ1aOwmzZ1gORSBExyI-w *

I sometimes switch in Assassin’s staff for a zerker staff depending on the situation cause I’m well-aware of the scaling on staff and why not to use an Assassin’s staff, but nonetheless it really works out for me.

Please note that I did not even post 20% of the potential Elementalists have in WvW.

no1 said we r bad in pve, we rock in pve

wvw is … ok~ i would say, its not as kittenome r talkin about

in pvp i cant seem to manage d/d weaponset no mather wich build, and i cant even figure why , w scepter /f or s /d its going ok, but u cant beat : example a war

one of the problems in wvw is we cant use smth else besides cantrips and arcan skills (some might disagree , thats my opinion)

we dont have any build diversity, if we wanna survive we gotta invest points in earth or water(tons of points)

in shrt, eles r rly ok to good, but we only got few viable utilitys for wvw

I agree Wyrden, but why would you want other utilities if those 3 cantrips are ridiculously OP and useful to have in WvW? It’s not like any other class uses 20 different utilities for high level WvW. Most classes use a range of 3-6 utilities in a high level WvW, so I also don’t see the point why we’d have to complain about only using arcane skills or cantrips?

Eles are generally weak atm and if there is an aspect that they are decent at they seriously lack build diversity.

PvE: Eles are only decent in dungeons because of lightning hammer and FGS abuse. I wonder what will happen when Anet finally decide to fix FGS, I assure you that the reaction in this forum won’t be pretty.

WvW: Staff Eles are good in Zergs because of group healing/cleansing and Meteor Shower which is getting nerfed btw by getting a red circle. As for roaming Eles are useless, good luck if a thief catches you.

PvP: Worst class in the game, I don’t think this needs any explanation.

So eles are in a bad spot right now because they are only good in WvW zergs assuming they don’t abuse mechanics. If you do abuse mechanics then you are also “decent” in dungeons but a warrior is usually better. Then there is also the lack of build diversity.

Also, you are really overestimating cantrips in your post. If you want real defensive abilities look at warrior stances. And our CC isn’t that useful because the condition meta has forced everyone to spec into cleansing.

Ganathar.4956:

Eles are generally weak atm and if there is an aspect that they are decent at they seriously lack build diversity.

PvE: Eles are only decent in dungeons because of lightning hammer and FGS abuse. I wonder what will happen when Anet finally decide to fix FGS, I assure you that the reaction in this forum won’t be pretty.

WvW: Staff Eles are good in Zergs because of group healing/cleansing and Meteor Shower which is getting nerfed btw by getting a red circle. As for roaming Eles are useless, good luck if a thief catches you.

PvP: Worst class in the game, I don’t think this needs any explanation.

So eles are in a bad spot right now because they are only good in WvW zergs assuming they don’t abuse mechanics. If you do abuse mechanics then you are also “decent” in dungeons but a warrior is usually better. Then there is also the lack of build diversity.

Also, you are really overestimating cantrips in your post. If you want real defensive abilities look at warrior stances. And our CC isn’t that useful because the condition meta has forced everyone to spec into cleansing.

I disagree with alot of things here. It isn’t a nerf that Meteor Shower gets a red circle, because if you and your groups manages to do a succesful CC lock + boon stripping combo ( which organized groups can easily pull off ), you can still bomb the kitten out of them. As for roaming, I disagree again. Your standard roaming weapon sets will probably be S/D or D/D. If you know how to dodge, when to use your aura’s and blind their big attacks you will be okay. There aren’t many good thieves in this game. PvE, sure, but I doubt FGS is considered an abuse and/or will be fixed.

About the condi meta, yes, it forces people to go into cleanse. But only our healing skill Ether Renewal cleanses 8 conditions. If you go deep into water, which is viable anyway for WvW, you get condi cleansen on cantrips ( so you got a controlled regen and vigor meaning a controlled condi cleanse + condi cleanse on dodges if you use XI in arcana aswell ). It’s not hard to counter those meta’s as Elementalist.

GW2 will always remain a meta game, there’s nothing to change about it. I also think the true power of cantrips are underestimated by alot of Elementalists.

Ganathar.4956:

Eles are generally weak atm and if there is an aspect that they are decent at they seriously lack build diversity.

PvE: Eles are only decent in dungeons because of lightning hammer and FGS abuse. I wonder what will happen when Anet finally decide to fix FGS, I assure you that the reaction in this forum won’t be pretty.

WvW: Staff Eles are good in Zergs because of group healing/cleansing and Meteor Shower which is getting nerfed btw by getting a red circle. As for roaming Eles are useless, good luck if a thief catches you.

PvP: Worst class in the game, I don’t think this needs any explanation.

So eles are in a bad spot right now because they are only good in WvW zergs assuming they don’t abuse mechanics. If you do abuse mechanics then you are also “decent” in dungeons but a warrior is usually better. Then there is also the lack of build diversity.

Also, you are really overestimating cantrips in your post. If you want real defensive abilities look at warrior stances. And our CC isn’t that useful because the condition meta has forced everyone to spec into cleansing.

I’m 100% main ele and I want FGS to be fixed.

yayuuu.9420:

Ganathar.4956:

Eles are generally weak atm and if there is an aspect that they are decent at they seriously lack build diversity.

PvE: Eles are only decent in dungeons because of lightning hammer and FGS abuse. I wonder what will happen when Anet finally decide to fix FGS, I assure you that the reaction in this forum won’t be pretty.

WvW: Staff Eles are good in Zergs because of group healing/cleansing and Meteor Shower which is getting nerfed btw by getting a red circle. As for roaming Eles are useless, good luck if a thief catches you.

PvP: Worst class in the game, I don’t think this needs any explanation.

So eles are in a bad spot right now because they are only good in WvW zergs assuming they don’t abuse mechanics. If you do abuse mechanics then you are also “decent” in dungeons but a warrior is usually better. Then there is also the lack of build diversity.

Also, you are really overestimating cantrips in your post. If you want real defensive abilities look at warrior stances. And our CC isn’t that useful because the condition meta has forced everyone to spec into cleansing.

I’m 100% main ele and I want FGS to be fixed.

I also want it to get fixed so we can get balanced properly in PvE.

Elementalist doesn’t need to abuse a thing to be the best class for dungeons… Remove FGS, and they are still stronger then every other class out there.

PvP is still in beta for ele.

Tyldor.9078:

Ganathar.4956:

Eles are generally weak atm and if there is an aspect that they are decent at they seriously lack build diversity.

PvE: Eles are only decent in dungeons because of lightning hammer and FGS abuse. I wonder what will happen when Anet finally decide to fix FGS, I assure you that the reaction in this forum won’t be pretty.

WvW: Staff Eles are good in Zergs because of group healing/cleansing and Meteor Shower which is getting nerfed btw by getting a red circle. As for roaming Eles are useless, good luck if a thief catches you.

PvP: Worst class in the game, I don’t think this needs any explanation.

So eles are in a bad spot right now because they are only good in WvW zergs assuming they don’t abuse mechanics. If you do abuse mechanics then you are also “decent” in dungeons but a warrior is usually better. Then there is also the lack of build diversity.

Also, you are really overestimating cantrips in your post. If you want real defensive abilities look at warrior stances. And our CC isn’t that useful because the condition meta has forced everyone to spec into cleansing.

I disagree with alot of things here. It isn’t a nerf that Meteor Shower gets a red circle, because if you and your groups manages to do a succesful CC lock + boon stripping combo ( which organized groups can easily pull off ), you can still bomb the kitten out of them. As for roaming, I disagree again. Your standard roaming weapon sets will probably be S/D or D/D. If you know how to dodge, when to use your aura’s and blind their big attacks you will be okay. There aren’t many good thieves in this game. PvE, sure, but I doubt FGS is considered an abuse and/or will be fixed.

About the condi meta, yes, it forces people to go into cleanse. But only our healing skill Ether Renewal cleanses 8 conditions. If you go deep into water, which is viable anyway for WvW, you get condi cleansen on cantrips ( so you got a controlled regen and vigor meaning a controlled condi cleanse + condi cleanse on dodges if you use XI in arcana aswell ). It’s not hard to counter those meta’s as Elementalist.

GW2 will always remain a meta game, there’s nothing to change about it. I also think the true power of cantrips are underestimated by alot of Elementalists.

When I was talking about cleansing conditions, I was talking about your opponents having them as a response to the condition meta. This means that when you roam your cc is much less effective because your target is very likely to have good cleanse.

Now in zerking situations the ele can be good no doubt about that since conditions will be flying around a lot and enemies will not be able to reliably cleanse your cc. Also the red circle IS a nerf to staff ele even though I support it and think that it won’t affect ele zerging too much.

As for PvE FGS is being abused, now whether or not it will ever be fixed is another story. What we have to keep in mind though is that the FGS and LH combo severly limit our PvE build diversity.

Also, cantrips are decent and an essential defense for WvW and PvP eles, that is why most people take them so they are not being underestimated. I am just pointing out the irony of Warriors having superior defensive utilities to eles even though eles are the squishiest class.

Molch.2078:

Elementalist doesn’t need to abuse a thing to be the best class for dungeons… Remove FGS, and they are still stronger then every other class out there.

Under optimal conditions eles are the best PvE class but it’s too bad that optimal conditions rarely occur. This means that warriors and guardians are usually better.

Let’s talk about PvE. Basically, Ganathar already mentioned it. The only reason why eles are decent at the moment is the abuse of conjured weapons. The whole class is reduced to conjures because besides that, there is no reason to take an elementalist into dungeons if you have a group of mesmers, warriors, guardians.

You have the potential to deal high amounts of damage with your lightning hammer, but even if you use all your potential, the maximum you can usually achieve is to be at the same level with warriors. But then there are several disadvantages:

- People take your second lightning hammer, which is your main DPS source; have you ever seen someone grabbing a warriors greatsword out of his hands?

- you have to be in melee range as a class with the lowest base stats and hp pool

- the group support you provide with might stacking and fury on fire fields is often neglected because of guardians setting down light fields or mesmers with their chaos fields. No one takes away the banners of warriors, no one cancels a mesmers timewarp, no one removes the stability guardians give you

- the aggro system: if you run zerker gear, you will get focused most of the time. Considering the second point I mentioned, you are downed more often then any other class in dungeons

- your great cc and defensive utilities are useless because two of your three utility slots are occupied with arcane wave and lightning hammer, the third is usually signet of fire

Now consider the effort it takes to master the elementalist compared to a warrior, for example the might stacking combo followed by lightning hammer, which lets you rotate through 3 different attunements within a very short amount of time while they have to place down the banner and press button “2” and “3” with greatsword to deal huge amounts of damage. I have seen videos of warriors dealing 49k crits to the first boss in cof p1 with hundred blades. What’s the point in mastering a class when it’s not rewarded because there are classes that can achieve the same output with lesser effort und less disadvantages? Besides dealing damage, there is no “role” that the elementalist class fullfills in dungeons because 4 warriors can easily stack might and fury for themselves.

Let me conclude with this thought: What would be left if they nerfed conjures? You could basically dump the class.

Under optimal conditions eles are the best PvE class but it’s too bad that optimal conditions rarely occur. This means that warriors and guardians are usually better.

qft

^
Don’t run with pugs, problems solved. Get 4 other people who are at least half decent and you won’t struggle.
And still nobody cares about hundred blades. Damage =/= dps.

I run both Staffele and gs/axe-Warrior with pugs in Arah. I don’t see where you need those optimal conditions. What conditions are you talking about?

Ele doesn’t need any teamsupport and/or conjured weapons to out dps EVERY class in this game.

Perception and feedback. The ele community is split on what our power level is and you also have 3 different game modes.

Each game mode has different roles but PvE is usually just DPS.

WvW – Roaming, Zerging, GvG’s. Roaming depends on your role and if we are talking group or solo.

s/tPvP- 5 roles 8 professions.

Now for s/tPvP how do you make it so that all 8 professions are viable and there is no clearcut 5 best? You also want to keep each classes identity and avoid homogenization.

The undeniable fact is that Ele build diversity is lacking. To get that we have to be “OK” with moving points around.

I’m not dismissing PvE but the 5 roles there are dps you can either pump out the damage or not. The warrior is just easy/safer to run round in full zerker and be effective.

It is weak. It’s like a watered down soft drink. Not saying it isn’t fun to play. Ele has been my main since launch and I love the playstyle but it just doesn’t stack up well against other professions in some areas. In PVE no problem for experienced players, WvW/PVP good luck if you’re not a staff zerg bot. Staff is fun but running with the zerg gets old and can be downright hazardous if your zerg is small and/or your commanders are making bad decisions.

I prefer to skirmish or solo and for that I like s/d or preferably d/d. This argument is so old and I don’t want to write another book. Suffice to say that I don’t feel nearly as effective on my ele as I do on any other class I play (play them all except for ranger). Other classes straight up /laugh at us in WvW. It is just so unbelievably easy to maintain focus and burst an ele.

Cantrip skills are pretty good, but are on long cooldowns, highly telegraphed and are basically a cue for other classes to avoid you for a few seconds. Many don’t even do that because they know you are so weak they will continue the pressure even if it costs them some HP. I seem to continually rotate between a water/arcane build and an air/arcane build because one has more burst while the other has more defenses. Using either leaves me feeling weak in the other.

Am I the best player on the server? Hell no, but I certainly am no scrub either – closing in on 10k WvW kills, ranked general on my ele. It may only be my personal opinion but I do feel that ele is indeed weak. Like a soda left on ice for too long – could be so much more.

Dalanor.5387:

^
Don’t run with pugs, problems solved. Get 4 other people who are at least half decent and you won’t struggle.
And still nobody cares about hundred blades. Damage =/= dps.

Don’t roll an Ele, no problems to begin with.

Ta-da!

Their problem is not being weak.

It’s having a few combinations that are too much, and the rest being not nearly enough.
When the ones that are too much get ‘fixed’ the rest get way worse.

Everyone already agrees that eles are awesome in pve, strong in wvw with a staff from inside a zerg, mediocre but passable with a lot of effort as a s/d or d/d roamer in small scale wvw, and mostly useless in spvp.

So no idea who your post is addressed to. Did you just want to brag that you managed to find the meteor shower button while calling the rest of us bad for not being as smart as you are? Or are you upset that space on the forums is taken up by people talking about spvp buffs while they should be spending their time zerging around in wvw.

Not trying to troll but posts like this are a waste of time and make the whole ele community look bad. If we can do pve and large scale wvw but suck in small scale wvw and spvp then the class is still lacking in 1/2 of the areas of the game, so how is that not a problem.

Elementalists are good in PvE, even without conjures, if only because of their group buffs (namely might and protection) and high potential DPS. In WvW they are only top-tier in zerging (because of MS and fields), everything else there is a better pick for. In PvP there is not a single role that an ele can reliably fill (I say reliably because I do have some success with my staff build, which also just so happens to be the most entertaining thing ever, and some top teams have staff eles I hear).

zerker meta xD you mean condi meta????

Tyldor.9078:

I don’t understand all the QQ from Ele’s about ‘’weakest class’’ or whatever. Maybe it’s time you learn to play your class?

We’re very viable in PvE and WvW. In PvE with the current zerker meta we’re one of the biggest damage dealers because of our lightning hammer spec + FGS elite skill. In WvW a D/D ele is a very good harassment on enemy ranged and a Staff Elementalist, which I play on a high level WvW, is very good at dealing damage. When I use my meteor shower + tornado combo I can hit the enemy melee ball for around 6-8k and I crit 10k or higher on medium/light armored classes. We got so much amazing CC, gust is an exception, which gives good staff Elementalists the mechanics to control the ground warfare. You can make enemy zergs regroup if you hit the right rotation to reach the maximum damage output, you can block them from going somewhere or atleast make them blow their cooldowns of stability and protection so they won’t have it for the next dance when your melee leaps in. We got 3 cantrips of which 2 are stunbreakers and all 3 are very good for surviving. We got very good condition cleanse methods and a kitten ton of CC to keep harassment away from us. Maybe it’s time for people to learn the mechanics of counter classes like thieves, mesmers and warriors so you know what to DODGE and when you gotta use your cantrips wisely? It really annoys me how many players can’t play Elementalist and would like the most ridiculous OP changes. Do you want your full hp replenished when you go into water attunement? 2k extra armor when you go into earth? 25 instant might stacks for 30seconds when you change into fire? Cause it definately seems like some of you, not everyone, needs those changes to be viable on an Elementalist.

I don’t understand all the QQ. Ofc I’d like to see some things change like the cooldown of Armor of Earth, but oh wait, they’re already reducing it from 90s to 75s!

For all the PvPers out there, I DO agree with you. We’re very underpowered in PvP and that’s where the QQ should be about. About PvE and WvW? Hell no.

• For people interested, here’s my staff Elementalist build; http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQFAWhEmmbyR4QlDAkHucCLiCWUeszM2A-jkCBoiAkFA5mFRjtqpIasabYqXCy6XJ1aOwmzZ1gORSBExyI-w *

I sometimes switch in Assassin’s staff for a zerker staff depending on the situation cause I’m well-aware of the scaling on staff and why not to use an Assassin’s staff, but nonetheless it really works out for me.

Please note that I did not even post 20% of the potential Elementalists have in WvW.

But if you look on every other profession’s forum area you will see the same ludicrous suggestions for their profession too. You are getting mad for no reason.

Tyldor, my god! I wasn’t sure to agree with you at first but after reading it again, I have realized that you are totally right.
I did not know for the dodge. It’s really a life saver, thank you so much! And I will now gladly use my cantrip wisely and stop casting mistform before the impact.
Finally, and I think the ele community will agree with me, many thanks for enlightening us with your knowledge!
Also, thank you for avoiding the pvp subject.

Elementalist can use a boost like retro cantrips with 35% cool down increase, stun breakers ohohho and cloaking. Eles are fine but most classes have uber face roll builds. To solve this give us a main hand sword that only attacks one opponent at 600-800 range. The damage should be staff or higher like in guild wars and cloaking every 10 seconds hahahahahahahahaha!

I have over 16k achievement points, rank 41 spvp (over 30k kills), rank 377 in wvw (over 14k kills) mostly from roaming since I like cheese. I live in Borlis Pass, have all professions leveled 80 and exotic/ascended geared. Look me up and we can talk about kitten topics.

Our base HP should be swapped with mesmers who have:

invis
low cd blocks
low cd teleports/evades/invulnerability
1,200 range traited stunbreak
clones
shatter, which doesn’t have to be spec’d 30 illusions to be useful

sorrychief.2563:

Our base HP should be swapped with mesmers who have:

invis
low cd blocks
low cd teleports/evades/invulnerability
1,200 range traited stunbreak
clones
shatter, which doesn’t have to be spec’d 30 illusions to be useful

Why should mesmers be nerfed? We certainly need survivability buffs but not to the expense of a class that is not even op. Besides, I am not sure if increasing base hp of the ele is even the right direction to take. I think ele active defenses should be buffed instead.

Nobody said we have problem in PVE/WvWvW but we suck big time in PVP.

Remove the PVP restrictions from the talents, give back the original healing numbers of Healing Ripple and Evasive Arcana Ele will be fine.

posthumecaver.6473:

Nobody said we have problem in PVE/WvWvW but we suck big time in PVP.

Remove the PVP restrictions from the talents, give back the original healing numbers of Healing Ripple and Evasive Arcana Ele will be fine.

Bringing back the old invincible elementalist is not the solution at all.
Not by a long shot.
It doesn’t fix any problems, it just creates another.

Ganathar.4956:

Eles are generally weak atm and if there is an aspect that they are decent at they seriously lack build diversity.

PvE: Eles are only decent in dungeons because of lightning hammer and FGS abuse. I wonder what will happen when Anet finally decide to fix FGS, I assure you that the reaction in this forum won’t be pretty.

So eles are in a bad spot right now because they are only good in WvW zergs assuming they don’t abuse mechanics. If you do abuse mechanics then you are also “decent” in dungeons but a warrior is usually better. Then there is also the lack of build diversity.

Eles are frequently taken over warriors due to their insane damage from both staff and LH. Even without FGS they are still capable of putting out more damage than a warrior could the attached video proves this statement. In the ’’Meta’’ Speedruns you usually see 2x Ele, 1x Warrior and 2 Wildcards. (Guard/Thief for example)

The only place where eles are lacking are small scale fights, which is where they need some adjustments to get in line with other professions. ANet already said ele is getting a few buffs next patch, so we’ll have to wait that one out first before discussing our position.

Still couldnt kill a single roaming n00bspam thief with a staff.

Pve – We rock !!!!
Pvp – Fancy keybroard , Perfect internet connect ,Piano hand ,ans still die fast with meta if u dont have that 3 .

The problem is you get the eles who chase zergs and just press meteor shower and then cycle through all the cooldowns and do damage and think ‘Wow! i’m so great! Eles are fine!’ Newflash, every class is easy to play in a zerg, it takes 0 skill.

Then you get actual decent players who prefer solo roaming or small scale fights and elementalist weaknesses become very quickly apparent. It’s easy to face roll level ups, or terrible players, that applies to all classes.
But a well played thief/warrior/condition class will just tear you apart due to the fact eles have low health and few defensive skills (and the ones they do have are on long timers and last a short time).

There’s no way to stop someone attacking an ele in a group, there’s no guard function, there’s no way to peel people off someone as everyone has ranged gap closers so all an ele can do is blow defensive skills and run away alot. If mistform/earth isn’t up it’s goodbye ele in <5 seconds.

At times i’ll be fighting a 1v1, a thief will join in on me, and boom, i’m down 11k health in a second with nothing I could do.

Or if I try to escape, lighting flash,then rtl out i expect to be somewhat clear, but no!, that warrior has had no problems keeping up, and look!, you snare/cc has 0 effect as he laughs it off with dogged march/lemongrass food/runes.

For the class with lowest hp/armour in a game with no peels/guard ability and where melee classes have such high damage and gap closers + ranged damage, the ele needs more defensive skills/longer/harder cc abilities.

Anet have made a mage without the benefits granted by being a mage class. Namely zero defense and ranged damage which is only effective if you decide to stand in it.

In reality it should be low hp/low armour high fast ranged damage with cc to compensate.

magic fly.2041:

posthumecaver.6473:

Nobody said we have problem in PVE/WvWvW but we suck big time in PVP.

Remove the PVP restrictions from the talents, give back the original healing numbers of Healing Ripple and Evasive Arcana Ele will be fine.

Bringing back the old invincible elementalist is not the solution at all.
Not by a long shot.
It doesn’t fix any problems, it just creates another.

Even that you give everything that Ele had when he was at the top of the moment, with the current META Ele would be mediocre.

I still don’t believe Ele top situation can go through the sustain of Hambow Warrior with Berserker gear or all the Condi Nukes

phaeris.7604:

The problem is you get the eles who chase zergs and just press meteor shower and then cycle through all the cooldowns and do damage and think ‘Wow! i’m so great! Eles are fine!’ Newflash, every class is easy to play in a zerg, it takes 0 skill.

Then you get actual decent players who prefer solo roaming or small scale fights and elementalist weaknesses become very quickly apparent. It’s easy to face roll level ups, or terrible players, that applies to all classes.
But a well played thief/warrior/condition class will just tear you apart due to the fact eles have low health and few defensive skills (and the ones they do have are on long timers and last a short time).

There’s no way to stop someone attacking an ele in a group, there’s no guard function, there’s no way to peel people off someone as everyone has ranged gap closers so all an ele can do is blow defensive skills and run away alot. If mistform/earth isn’t up it’s goodbye ele in <5 seconds.

At times i’ll be fighting a 1v1, a thief will join in on me, and boom, i’m down 11k health in a second with nothing I could do.

Or if I try to escape, lighting flash,then rtl out i expect to be somewhat clear, but no!, that warrior has had no problems keeping up, and look!, you snare/cc has 0 effect as he laughs it off with dogged march/lemongrass food/runes.

For the class with lowest hp/armour in a game with no peels/guard ability and where melee classes have such high damage and gap closers + ranged damage, the ele needs more defensive skills/longer/harder cc abilities.

Anet have made a mage without the benefits granted by being a mage class. Namely zero defense and ranged damage which is only effective if you decide to stand in it.

In reality it should be low hp/low armour high fast ranged damage with cc to compensate.

I can’t do anything anything to a sword pistol Thief, he just evade everything I make only pressing 4 and funnily never runs out of Initiative or Stealth.

A medium skilled ele will still be worse than the worst thief or hammer warrior.

That’s the problem. Healing signet, knockdowns and spammable high damage skills with built in gap closers will just overwhelm most average players.

As mentioned, even if you’re a good player, only takes one of these guys to come in on a fight and it’s over for you, 3 knockdowns in a row, or spamming 3 heartseekers, 10k damage done with no way to avoid it. Was great of anet to design a class with a high skillcap and mediocre reward, and some classes with low skillcaps with huge rewards.

phaeris.7604:

A medium skilled ele will still be worse than the worst thief or hammer warrior.

That’s the problem. Healing signet, knockdowns and spammable high damage skills with built in gap closers will just overwhelm most average players.

As mentioned, even if you’re a good player, only takes one of these guys to come in on a fight and it’s over for you, 3 knockdowns in a row, or spamming 3 heartseekers, 10k damage done with no way to avoid it. Was great of anet to design a class with a high skillcap and mediocre reward, and some classes with low skillcaps with huge rewards.

You can avoid bursts if you have to with CC/Stunbreaks. A perfect example would be http://youtu.be/3oExK622Hxc?t=3m45s If the ele used Armor of Earth or Mist Form here he’d be fine and i’d be out of burst for another 30 seconds.

While i do agree that ele is underpowered in small scale fights, they aren’t terrible. That, and thieves are supposed to excel in small scale combat whereas elementalists are better in large groups.

A classes potency should never be gauged by its performance in the zerg. Every class can do well in a zerg. I did great on my d/d thief in a zerg, shortbow, cluster bombing for 4k, d/d, finishing off folk.

I know it’s impossible to balance around 1v1, but throughout the many forms of mmos, d&d, tabletop games etc, a class such as the ele could exist because it could either be protected, recieved healing from a cleric type class or some such.

Say you were playing D&D, and the dm said ’ a thief attacks you, you have to roll for initiative. You lose, oh, he did more than your hps. looks like you’re dead.’

‘But i’m far away?, can’t i get in a spell first?’

‘Nope, he can close the gap instantly, and he’s invisible most of the time’.

‘What about my defensive spells?’

‘oh, you used them a while ago, they won’t be up for ages’.

’Can’t i get in one ranged spell?’

‘Oh ok- it does 1/10 of his health, and in the time it took to cast he’kitten you 4 times’.

Mistform…., sure it’s nice for mist stomps/revives, but you can’t outrun anyone, you’re still ticking condi damage, you can’t heal up and people just follow you and then hit you instantly as you pop out……as you did on that second ele for 6k. Also its on a 75 second timer……

I know anet are trying to go against the whole dps/heal/tank setup, but as i’ve said many times before, they created that trinity as soon as they gave classes different hp and armour values at creation but nothing to compensate in terms of damage differences.

So my post makes the Elementalist community look weird and/or weak? I think you guys actually make us look weird. The crying is immense, but if you put dedication and time in your class you will kill the kitten out of people WITHOUT insane buffs you guys request.

Oh and no problem for giving the dodge bar tip, it’s a life saver indeed!

I could personally address people and tell them why they’re wrong, but hey, I’m one of the only ones who think Ele’s are NOT weak if you know how to dodge and if you’re a very good player. I’d suggest all the players who want easymode to indeed reroll to hambow warriors or 2222 thieves. Elementalist has always been a challenging class, apart from the first month(s) where D/D ele’s were undestroyable, and I hope it remains this way. I don’t want to press 3 skills in a row and kill someone.

And about the people who complain about zerging.. I’m talking about guild raids of 20-25 vs blobs of 60+ where they all spread around cause the blobs have no organization. Is that so easy? Go try it out with your guild and try to stay alive against monster blobs with 20-25 guys, even as staff Elementalist, without going full tank or whatever.

The aim for this post was in hope to make atleast 0,01% of the Ele community realize Ele’s arent that bad so we don’t look like little cry babies towards the rest of the GW2 community.

Your post is just saying: stop QQ, l2p. Also, you took the community for a bunch of idiot.

Ele have few design issues but he is not weak, some professions are just over the top.

Yep. I just need play and dodge more and eventually I’ll be able to faceroll other players as easily as they faceroll me. Through hard work come results. For instance, last night I managed my first 1v2 on my ele after over 8 months of daily WvW play. They were both eles.

ghettogenius.9174:

Yep. I just need play and dodge more and eventually I’ll be able to faceroll other players as easily as they faceroll me. Through hard work come results. For instance, last night I managed my first 1v2 on my ele after over 8 months of daily WvW play. They were both eles.

Lol, I was impressed until I realized that you where against eles. Yup, we all just need to learn how to dodge and we will be gods in PvP and roaming. I mean ele players are the only ones who don’t know how to dodge properly so we need to step up our game. /End sarcasm

The OP needs to realize that the dodge mechanic is not an ele exclusive. So what happens if both you and your opponent know how to dodge, huh? Are good eles able to kill other players of the same skill level? Are eles viable in any role in PvP?

The only reason Ele is even considered viable in WvW is because of our water fields. Take that away, and you’ll never see another staff ele in GvG/WvW again.

kusanagi.3150:

Your post is just saying: stop QQ, l2p. Also, you took the community for a bunch of idiot.

I think that summarizes my post pretty well. This is exactly the reason why hardcore guilds have problems finding good Elementalists, we all want easy mode and QQ while we got alot more potential.

If you want easymode go roll a hambow or whatever and kitten stuff by pressing 3 buttons. I prefer to kill easymode builds and be proud, and don’t try to tell me that’s impossible, cause it definately isn’t.

if people think that you rely on conjured weapons to be good as an elementalist you obviously haven’t ran 49 fractals with/as one

Tyldor.9078:

I prefer to kill easymode builds and be proud, and don’t try to tell me that’s impossible, cause it definately isn’t.

On same Skill Level it is.

On my Ele i kill any class, even hambow , MM necro etc.
But not if they are on the same Skill Level.

I have to mention here, that due to the condition meta im running full glass cannon d/d (dont like the feeling of the scepter) for some time now, that has proven the to best counter this for me, hence I dont want to run 0/0/30/30/10 (okay you dont die easily then, but you cant do anything else as well).

Against hambows i usually only win if I literally dodge every single one of their moves, against necros if i manage to bring out every burst i have before they can cast death shroud.
And that is if they dont know how to dodge.
As Ele u have to put in at least twice the effort as anyone else , so yeah I would call that weak.
It makes me rage when i see a warrior, that cant even walk straight, after receiving all bursts still standing there with 500 life healing himself up, just hitting one knockdown and winning the fight with, while I have to hit at least 4 bursts just to be on par with his dmg.

Duran.3196:

Tyldor.9078:

I prefer to kill easymode builds and be proud, and don’t try to tell me that’s impossible, cause it definately isn’t.

As Ele u have to put in at least twice the effort as anyone else , so yeah I would call that weak.
dmg.

Isn’t that where the fun part of Elementalist comes in?

Plus I wouldn’t even call us weak, it’s just that those kind of specs are broken, but still not impossible to kill. Besides, most people who run that kind of ridiculous specs have no idea what they’re doing. Just dodge their pin up, their 3 skill and their hammerstun and you’re fine. In a 1v1 situation you use arcane shield to block their hammer 4 and 5 skills and in the meantime you burst the kitten out of them. Interrupts and dodges at the right timing are vital.

That’s why I discussed dodges in my OP. Alot of Ele’s run 30 in arcana and dodge for the sheer fact of using the Evasive Arcana trait while they basically just got a few condi’s on them and are dodging an auto attack. Ofcourse you will be kitten d if you play like that.

Most complaints involve SPvP I wager (TPvP, SoloQ and Jabba the Huttjoin). PvE and WvW is ok as an ele.

In spvp eles suck horribly. That’s why you’re usually insulted and yelled at if you even dare to go into spvp with an ele because they say you’re gimping thier team by being there. Ele is only good in PvE and if you run around with a zerg in WvW hiding behind other people and dropping meteors on people. But that can be said of pretty much any class. The weakness isnt apparent if you hide behind other people and just spam your strongest attack. Of course it looks like its good if that’s all you do.

Tyldor.9078:

kusanagi.3150:

Your post is just saying: stop QQ, l2p. Also, you took the community for a bunch of idiot.

I think that summarizes my post pretty well. This is exactly the reason why hardcore guilds have problems finding good Elementalists, we all want easy mode and QQ while we got alot more potential.

If you want easymode go roll a hambow or whatever and kitten stuff by pressing 3 buttons. I prefer to kill easymode builds and be proud, and don’t try to tell me that’s impossible, cause it definately isn’t.

I disagree. Warriors and guardians have always formed the nucleus of all WvW zergballs. This has been from day 1, when warriors were considered gimpy with no sustain. The warrior in its gimpy state was considered hard to kill in a zergball then, the same applies to the ele now. You live because you are part of the zerg.

As for recruitment of eles, everyone has their excuse. It still depends on the player wanting to play that ele. If you think eles are strong, surely you should have no trouble asking one of the many warriors or guardians in your guild to swap to playing an ele?

To all those that constantly compare Ele’s performance to Warrior’s performance, please watch this playlist:

That is all.