Guild Wars 2

Rolled an Ele 3 days ago and kept him in PvE till I got used to the skills and attunement swapping because I was super reluctant to take him to PvP after reading all the horror stories on these forums. I hate PvE though and last night I got bored enough to throw caution to the wind and give PvP a go. So what happened?

I did NOT get one shotted
I did LOTS of dmg
I did LOTS of healing
I escaped LOTS of bad situations
I actually put up a fight against Mesmers
I actually WON fights against Mesmers

There are definitely some buggy skills and whatnot, but I would expect those to be fixed soon enough. They are definitely squishy as well, but that’s to be expected of a light armored magic caster I think. Could probably use a slight buff on dmg or slight increase in base armor/vitality but not much. Scepter/Dagger is incredibly strong!

All in all, a fun class that seems almost built for PvP. If you’re on the fence about trying the class out I’d say it’s worth it.

My .02, anyways.

Feel free to commence flaming.

You mislead yourself. Nobody is saying it’s unplayable. They say every other class can do everything better and easier.

It basically has nothing it excels at over other classes. With the possible exception of AoE damage(If your enemies are even dumb enough to sit in the AoE; Which if they are you could have simply murdered them under normal circumstances. ) Maybe mobility? But even then it’s arguable that thief can do that easier

Yes you can still win versus people of lesser skill than yourself, and still do well if you try hard.

As for your list, I dont feel like breaking it down but basically under the exact same circumstances every other class would do more, and more efficiently.

just want to double-check… you didn’t fight idiots, right?
i ask because last time i went to PvP, a warrior was charging towards me (i’m standing at waterfall), i throw out a fire elemental and he starts running away before we even fight.

Ele are fine versus run of the mill morons but any class is fine against morons.

Ele arn’t terrible period, but you are definitely required to work a lot harder for the same effect than most other classes.

This is how I felt too!
I absolutely love my little asura elementalist. I’d tried a lot of the classes and I main on a Necromancer. I did fine in PvP with the Necro, but it never captured the fun I had with my Necro/Mesmer in GW1 (what with all kinds of fun DoTs). I casually made my elementalist one night…and now she’s my main. In PvP, I do a lot of support healing and rezing…but also have no problems KO’ing people. My survivability in sPvP is about the same as it is on my other characters and I typically outlast the majority of my World’s zerg in WvWvW, while still contributing. I switch Attunements constantly, and I feel like all the skills and stuff kind of flow naturally together.

Elementalist has been really fun and I agree with the statement “built for PvP”. Though I do see it could be aggravating to play if you like to melee…or just bang your face on the keyboard instead of thinking out what you’re doing. I think the higher skill curve is part of the fun of playing the profession though! The only complaint I have is that…sometimes it seems that the damage I take is HUGE and other times it seems normal, but typically I just attribute that to my doing something wrong in that moment.

@ Intrigued – I disagree completley. I found the Ele to be far more effective than my Engi or Necro, and far more versatile than my Thief.

@ Silver – of course there were some idiots. it was sPvP. A few goods, LOTS of bads. I’m no “Elite” myself, either. I am competitive though and getting better.

Also, to be clear, I didn’t make the post to call out the nay-sayers. Just wanted to throw out my 2 cents to any one that was on the fence about trying the class after reading these forums.

I will repeat it to the dead bore:
Ele is fun to play and stuff.

BUT not-fun things are that:
1. Other classes are simply stronger. It doesnt mean you cannot defeat them, yet still Ele is up. Slightly or badly- that’s discussable.
2. Lots of Elementalist skills are nearly useless. For example tornado (Elite! ) or Frost Aura.