Guild Wars 2

Howdy folks,

I have been playing a D/D Ele for about two years now and while it was my favorite class in the game, I’m quickly growing frustrated with it and was hoping you all might be able to help me. I should be honest and say that I deleted my Ele once already only to later come back and level her again. She’s also no collecting dust… again. /sigh

My Ele is currently running the “meta” with a celestial set of gear though I have also used a condi based with perplexity at one point. While I “think” I understand the class well, here are the main problems I’m having:

#WvW: Perhaps it’s just how WvW is these days but this was my main roaming character and even used her in group zergs. These days, if I get more than one person on me, I don’t feel like I have much of a chance to survive. I also feel like that most of the time if things really turn south, she has no real way to escape if the FGS is on CD.

#sPvP: I’ll drop this into my experience in sPvP but it also fits in WvW to some extent. My Ele often feels like she’s doing 2-3 times the work for the same level of damage as does any other class I have without much survivability. I had a 1v1 fight against a necro yesterday and he just made me look stupid once he changed forms.

Perhaps I’ve forgotten all the tricks of the class and have just become so disappointed with it that I can’t see my own mistakes. I would really like to be more successful with my Ele but right now, she just doesn’t come close to my Thief, Power Ranger, Medi Guard, etc.

Do you all have some advice or a good video I can watch and hopefully learn from?

Oh, and I almost forgot – that perplexity/condi build I was using was mainly because I was so sick of D/P thieves taking me down in 2-3 hits. The condi build with the human elite would just eat them alive! Outside of roaming though, I didn’t see much benefit to it.

Thanks again!

Hey finalpatriot, the concerns you are having is typical of most people frustrated with the class. that condi build you used to run in wvw (i know because I probably gave you the build) is pretty outdated and I am not sure it would work in the current roaming meta. I primarily only pvp now so I have my fair share of experience with the celestial meta. The recent nerf to might stacking and burn duration brought us down to where it needed to be. You may feel frustrated at the noticable lack of damage dished out since then, as I was as well. The important thing in a pvp setting is not to look at an ele from a 1v1 percpective. The fact of the matter is, d/d cele is going to have long fights that will sometimes end in you losing or being brought to a stalemate. Use your ability to out bunker people to your teams advantage rather then running around trying to kill things. Solo roaming is a bit different. Some celestial is nice, but it is better overall to stack more power. That gives you the advantage of being a little tanky while dishing out good damage (wish we could build like this in pvp but cant with stat allocations). The fact you can’t survive 2v1 for a long time is a good thing. That means it is balanced better than last year. You don’t see many solo roam eles these days because of a number of factors. LB rangers are really annoying to deal with when not 1v1 and its impossible to run from a fight with them. thieves are running sw/d builds and can run away from you at any time. Long story short, ele isnt optimal for roaming now.

My advice if you haven’t found enjoyment in two years is give up or take a break from the game.

FrownyClown.8402:

Hey finalpatriot, the concerns you are having is typical of most people frustrated with the class. that condi build you used to run in wvw (i know because I probably gave you the build) is pretty outdated and I am not sure it would work in the current roaming meta.

Were you the guy that was showing the perplexity build and later changed Orr runes? I used to love this build as it just made other heavy condi classes look stupid. I did have a duel with “Super Wilson” one day on that build and he really made me look foolish.

FrownyClown.8402:

The important thing in a pvp setting is not to look at an ele from a 1v1 percpective.

I guess that’s my problem. I try to compare WvW, sPvP, and PvE as all the same thing and have tried to not only use the same build for each, but play the same way. Guess I’m simple-minded? Being able to simply hold a point in sPvP until my team can back me up is a huge advantage that I didn’t think about.

FrownyClown.8402:

The fact you can’t survive 2v1 for a long time is a good thing.

I always figured it was due to my lack of skill because I’ve seen so many videos (even recently) where other players will take on 2-3 people and win. Granted they have full celestial gear (which I don’t) but it just made me wonder. It’s pretty easy for me to take on 2-3 folks on my thief but most of the time I’m just trolling them while trying to put pressure on the squishy one.

FrownyClown.8402:

LB rangers are really annoying to deal with when not 1v1 and its impossible to run from a fight with them.

That’s actually while I went and created one. I got so sick of LB rangers killing me before I could even close distance with them! The problem with the LB ranger is though that they have sooo many areas where they can be defeated if folks know how to do it.

FrownyClown.8402:

Long story short, ele isnt optimal for roaming now.

That’s actually pretty sad. While I spend most of my time in sPvP now, I do miss roaming around WvW and looking for other roamers.

FrownyClown.8402:

My advice if you haven’t found enjoyment in two years is give up or take a break from the game.

I actually did quit the game for ArcheAge, played DA:I, and eventually came back. GW2 is still the best MMO I’ve ever played but the problem I have, as I’ve had since I started, is trying to find the “prefect” class/build for me. In SWTOR, I played an assassin with a tank build and loved it – in WoW, I played a hybrid demon warlock, and loved it – in GW2, I’m totally lost. /cry!

FinalPatriot.8034:

FrownyClown.8402:

Hey finalpatriot, the concerns you are having is typical of most people frustrated with the class. that condi build you used to run in wvw (i know because I probably gave you the build) is pretty outdated and I am not sure it would work in the current roaming meta.

Were you the guy that was showing the perplexity build and later changed Orr runes? I used to love this build as it just made other heavy condi classes look stupid. I did have a duel with “Super Wilson” one day on that build and he really made me look foolish.

FrownyClown.8402:

The important thing in a pvp setting is not to look at an ele from a 1v1 percpective.

I guess that’s my problem. I try to compare WvW, sPvP, and PvE as all the same thing and have tried to not only use the same build for each, but play the same way. Guess I’m simple-minded? Being able to simply hold a point in sPvP until my team can back me up is a huge advantage that I didn’t think about.

FrownyClown.8402:

The fact you can’t survive 2v1 for a long time is a good thing.

I always figured it was due to my lack of skill because I’ve seen so many videos (even recently) where other players will take on 2-3 people and win. Granted they have full celestial gear (which I don’t) but it just made me wonder. It’s pretty easy for me to take on 2-3 folks on my thief but most of the time I’m just trolling them while trying to put pressure on the squishy one.

FrownyClown.8402:

LB rangers are really annoying to deal with when not 1v1 and its impossible to run from a fight with them.

That’s actually while I went and created one. I got so sick of LB rangers killing me before I could even close distance with them! The problem with the LB ranger is though that they have sooo many areas where they can be defeated if folks know how to do it.

FrownyClown.8402:

Long story short, ele isnt optimal for roaming now.

That’s actually pretty sad. While I spend most of my time in sPvP now, I do miss roaming around WvW and looking for other roamers.

FrownyClown.8402:

My advice if you haven’t found enjoyment in two years is give up or take a break from the game.

I actually did quit the game for ArcheAge, played DA:I, and eventually came back. GW2 is still the best MMO I’ve ever played but the problem I have, as I’ve had since I started, is trying to find the “prefect” class/build for me. In SWTOR, I played an assassin with a tank build and loved it – in WoW, I played a hybrid demon warlock, and loved it – in GW2, I’m totally lost. /cry!

In general what type of build do you like to play. A tank that can support allies with damage and boons/heals or a pure dps. Answer that question and you will have narrowed it down to half the builds out there (I say builds and not classes because dps builds are better on different classes like I probably wouldnt solo roam as a s/f dps ele or I wouldnt try to be a tank on a thief).

D/D is one of the better builds in this game but by far not the best. D/F signet/perplexity ele beats the crap out of D/D. Engineer beats the crap out of D/D. Necro beats the crap out of D/D. Warrior can roll their face on the keyboard 90% of the time and then land 1 evis on you to win the fight, no matter how hard you were working to this point. Of course I’m talking about good ele vs good <insert class>, any “counter” to a certain build can again be countered by its user.

The key to lower your frustration is to lower your expectations.

These days, if I get more than one person on me, I don’t feel like I have much of a chance to survive.

You’re not supposed to survive that for long. You see a second player engage the fight, you immediately gtfo. Or you hope you’re fighting kittens (which will be the case if you see a montage of any class successfully fighting multiple opponents) and stay, but that’s a gamble you cannot expect to win on a regular basis. If you try to get out immediately and haven’t blown your RTL 3 seconds before, you have very good chances to get away.

Just remember that other classes have their counters too. Warrior gets beaten by power necro. PU condition (-cheese) mesmer gets beaten by any necro who runs staff + plague signet. Necro himself doesn’t have the mobility that you have and is committed to every fight. You mentioned rangers give you a hard time. Ragners themselves have hard times against condition classes since they have almost 0 condition remove except they go deep into nature and even then it’s “meh”. Same for thieves.

I suggest you play some other classes to learn their weaknesses and improve your own play. Because sometimes if you “overplay” a class, you tend to lose focus and make mistakes you don’t realize (at least that’s what I noticed for myself).

FrownyClown.8402:

In general what type of build do you like to play. A tank that can support allies with damage and boons/heals or a pure dps. Answer that question and you will have narrowed it down to half the builds out there (I say builds and not classes because dps builds are better on different classes like I probably wouldnt solo roam as a s/f dps ele or I wouldnt try to be a tank on a thief).

Honestly, I love playing a “tanky” class and even spent a good bit of time as a “main” tank back in the days. I had the most fun though as a DPS tank where I might not have the DPS of a glass cannon but I could survive or outlast most other DPS builds. The one problem I have with a “tanky” class here is that so often they have crap for mobility.

So, if there was a “perfect” build for me it would be something tankish (if that’s a word), with enough DPS to put pressure on folks while still having decent mobility.

Any suggestions?

Oh, and thanks for the help!

Not to completely answer my own question but I think I should probably just go with my Guardian as she can pretty much do everything I just listed as a “must.” If I want to change things around a bit, she can also easily front-line tank in WvW and all the time having decent mobility.

I’ve only been playing a Guardian for about a week now and so I’ve got a ton to learn still.