If I could change ele focus

If I could change ele focus

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Posted by: iriyabran.6218

iriyabran.6218

To me this weapon feels like something people won’t even notice if it gets deleted. :/
So I constantly remind myself it exists and think of how it can be better.

I would replace freezing gust with some kind of aoe heal for party support (not a field though maybe something like the traited heal on attuning to water) and replace fire shield with a leap finisher for rtl/burning speed like mobility which you can combo with flame wall if you want the fire shield.

This way you would get what it’s lacking – some party support and some mobility to compete with offhand dagger. Interrupt wise it’s ok. It has daze in water line and knockback in air.

The other thing that haunts me is water autoattack and shatterstone on scepter but that’s a different topic.

(edited by iriyabran.6218)

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Posted by: Zelyhn.8069

Zelyhn.8069

This way you would get what it’s lacking – some party support

Wait…

Zelyhn.8069 [rT]
Retired elementalist theorycrafter

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Posted by: Kodiak.3281

Kodiak.3281

Fire Wall is trash compared to Ring of Fire which is a much bigger combo area to combo out of and vastly higher damage. Fire Grab vs Fire Aura shouldn’t even need to be compared.

Freezing Gust has some merits as a targeted chill but Frost Aura’s 10% reduction in damage taken as well as chilling those who attack you really play into Water being a defensive aura. Comet is basically Dragon’s Tooth on a huge cool down and 1/3rd the damage…but it dazes! I’d still take Cleansing Wave over Comet without hesitation and again fits into that “Water as defense” line of thinking.

Ride the Lightning is going to compete against anything well because it’s great maneuverability can be used in any scenario where as Swirling Winds is pretty situational. Winds isn’t utterly useless but it’s just matched up against a pretty supreme ability. Gale vs Updraft are both fairly competitive with Gale being a ranged knockdown and Updraft being a melee AOE knockback.

Earth is pretty much the only tree where both options are competitive. Earthquake is a blast finishing hard knockdown where as Magnetic Wave is a blast finishing, condition cleansing reflect for 3 seconds (basically a super Magnetic Aura). Churning Earth is a blast finisher with crazy damage, crazy bleed/cripple but also a crazy cast time compared to Obsidian Flesh which is 4 seconds of just pure immunity. Both of the options in each weapon are extremely competitive with one another and each bring their own merits and advantages.

So other than Earth you’re better off going /D which because Earth is good enough to be competitive with one another it becomes a no brainer. This is why you almost never see /Focus being used and why virtually no one cares about it. The /F options aren’t bad in of themselves but rather they just aren’t competitive enough with /D to be used on average.

Kodiak X – Blackgate

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Posted by: iriyabran.6218

iriyabran.6218

Yes swirling winds is situational and on a long cd as well so really can’t compare it with the support of cleansing wave which not only heals but removes conditions as well. I am not comparing skills based on their attunement though, I compare them as a full set. Sure it has room for tweaks of dmg or cd or both but from my personal experience in what way I feel crippled while playing with focus I think it lacks a heal and a mobility skill for chasing down or running away from targets like rtl and burning speed (considering if you play d/d you get both of them) and I base my suggestions on that. The rest you can work with.

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Posted by: Aether McLoud.1975

Aether McLoud.1975

No matter what gale just has a ridiculous cooldown. 50 seconds for a ranged single target knockback with a casttime? LOL. Updraft is instant, AOE, and even gives you swiftness on a 40 seconds cooldown, with the only drawback being melee ranged.

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Posted by: iriyabran.6218

iriyabran.6218

Gale is more like a fire grab variation than updraft. I can only guess focus was a prototype weapon noone went back to fix after dagger was made.

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Posted by: Kodiak.3281

Kodiak.3281

No matter what gale just has a ridiculous cooldown. 50 seconds for a ranged single target knockback with a casttime? LOL. Updraft is instant, AOE, and even gives you swiftness on a 40 seconds cooldown, with the only drawback being melee ranged.

Wait, Aether McLoud thinks something is bad and or terrible? I am so shocked and surprised!

Kodiak X – Blackgate

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Posted by: Aether McLoud.1975

Aether McLoud.1975

No matter what gale just has a ridiculous cooldown. 50 seconds for a ranged single target knockback with a casttime? LOL. Updraft is instant, AOE, and even gives you swiftness on a 40 seconds cooldown, with the only drawback being melee ranged.

Wait, Aether McLoud thinks something is bad and or terrible? I am so shocked and surprised!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Commonly abbreviated as L2discuss.

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Posted by: Kodiak.3281

Kodiak.3281

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Commonly abbreviated as L2discuss.

Haven’t you realized that sometimes who is saying something is more important than what they are saying?

Kodiak X – Blackgate

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Posted by: Aether McLoud.1975

Aether McLoud.1975

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Commonly abbreviated as L2discuss.

Haven’t you realized that sometimes who is saying something is more important than what they are saying?

The message is always more important than the messenger.

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Posted by: Zelyhn.8069

Zelyhn.8069

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Commonly abbreviated as L2discuss.

Haven’t you realized that sometimes who is saying something is more important than what they are saying?

The message is always more important than the messenger.

Except when it’s Kodiak, in which case both are not imporant :p

Zelyhn.8069 [rT]
Retired elementalist theorycrafter

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Posted by: Truebanana.5936

Truebanana.5936

To me everything is ok, exept for the fire skills, they are not completly useless, but almost, mostly the firewall.

Anet should set back the explosion water combo as it was before. That mean that it work while you launch it in the area, because you have almost no chance to find an opening to make it land in the area field of combo while fighting alone.

Truebanana [Opt] Solo roaming D/F Elementalist on Augury Rock
Dolcebanana [Opt] Solo roaming D/F Elementalist twink lvl 60 on Augury Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3xj7suly_U

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Posted by: Alys Florent.1359

Alys Florent.1359

Flamewall needs to have a reduced cast time and apply more burning, Comet should have a much larger AoE, there should be a healing spell instead of Freezing Gust, reduce recharge time for Gale (perhaps at the cost of shorter range), and Fire Shield should be scrapped for a leap finisher (because then you could lay down Flamewall and leap over it to get a Fire Shield anyway). As a kiting/control weapon, Focus is far worse than Staff, and as a damage weapon, it’s far worse than Dagger.

A Dagger/Focus combo should be more viable as an offensive set than it is currently. I can FEEL it.

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Posted by: Kodiak.3281

Kodiak.3281

The message is always more important than the messenger.

Ideally that’s true, but reality is another matter entirely.

Except when it’s Kodiak, in which case both are not imporant :p

Ironically this is exactly what I’m talking about. Thank you Zelyhn for taking a break from figuring out if 0.034 Fury duration is greater DPS than 2 Power. Our community as a whole suffered for this needless distraction from your great work.

Kodiak X – Blackgate

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Posted by: Grove.2835

Grove.2835

Fire shield -applies 5 seconds retaliation
Flamewall- Remove fire field and make it a smoke field. Something like burning embers and it still applies burning to foes who cross it, or make the fire or smoke field be a 50/50 chance.
Water skills- add an aoe effect around the target or have them apply 5 stacks of vulnerability. – or some reworked spells with healing involved.
Gale-reduce cd or increase knockdown, apply vulnerability.

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Posted by: TGSlasher.1458

TGSlasher.1458

I think your missing whats good about the focus … Comet doesn’t get obstructed.

I would like to see the bunker side of Ele pushed towards the focus. No movement skills but at least a healing skill. My several previous suggestions have all be to move Cleansing Wave to the focus, and revert RTL.

Gale is a good spell, due to its animation … there almost isn’t 1. However, its single target vs its recharge time lets it down as all other ele 5 weapon skills in air are AOE and shorter recharge.

Fire Shield needs a change, 40 sec cd on a fire aura … wow .. blast finisher, aoe damage around caster or cleanse burning and chill … but no just a plain old fire aura.

Earth, very strong

Air, Swirling Winds could use a vs melee component. Atm its vs range projectiles only. Could grant swiftness or AOE vulnerability.

My suspicion is they made the dagger as the eles only offhand. Then later on added another one, however, they had already put the good stuff on the dagger.

The focus also lacks a Trait:
My ideas were:
Focus skills last an additional 1 or 2 seconds
or
Focus skills recharge 20% faster (does not stack with any other recharge traits).

Slasher Sladorian – Charr Warrior – [DECM] | Sea of Sorrows
Sophea Sladorian – Charr Ranger – [DECM] | Sea of Sorrows
Sophea Of Elements – Human Elementalist – [DECM] | Sea of Sorrows

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Posted by: Durzlla.6295

Durzlla.6295

@TGS actually the Focus was made first and actually had some skills such as Cleansing Wave, Pheonix, Churning Earth, and Updraft on it way back in alpha, but as you can see, not a single one of those stayed….. Along with a few others I can’t think of…

PS: this was back when Updraft literally launched the enemies into the air AKA freaking forever ago

They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna

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Posted by: zoran.4826

zoran.4826

The focus is perfect if you use it in a hammer ele build. It still lest you blast 5 blast finishers on shorter cool downs than oh dagger and most importantly. Focus is not a weapon so you can put a ruby orb for more power crit and crit damage.

Hope this helps

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Posted by: TGSlasher.1458

TGSlasher.1458

@TGS actually the Focus was made first and actually had some skills such as Cleansing Wave, Pheonix, Churning Earth, and Updraft on it way back in alpha, but as you can see, not a single one of those stayed….. Along with a few others I can’t think of…

PS: this was back when Updraft literally launched the enemies into the air AKA freaking forever ago

PABX or did you get into the alpha / closed beta press release?

Cleansing Wave makes sense for a foucs. Your not going to be in close range so you can actually use the heal to support your group (instead of daggering off into the distance healing yourself). Updraft makes less sense. Of course this would be the other way around if you used D/F, to me that is a nice setup but your lake of RTL will make it easier to be kited.

Slasher Sladorian – Charr Warrior – [DECM] | Sea of Sorrows
Sophea Sladorian – Charr Ranger – [DECM] | Sea of Sorrows
Sophea Of Elements – Human Elementalist – [DECM] | Sea of Sorrows

(edited by TGSlasher.1458)

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Posted by: PinCushion.7390

PinCushion.7390

To me this weapon feels like something people won’t even notice if it gets deleted. :/

That is all ANet really needs to know. Some developer spent time and money (their money) creating a weapon set that is so lackluster that most wouldn’t notice if it was removed from the game. They can either spend more time and money turning it into something notable, or they can chalk the original time and money as wasted and just continue not caring.

My request to ANet. Make Focus not awful.

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Posted by: Durzlla.6295

Durzlla.6295

@TGS actually the Focus was made first and actually had some skills such as Cleansing Wave, Pheonix, Churning Earth, and Updraft on it way back in alpha, but as you can see, not a single one of those stayed….. Along with a few others I can’t think of…

PS: this was back when Updraft literally launched the enemies into the air AKA freaking forever ago

PABX or did you get into the alpha / closed beta press release?

Cleansing Wave makes sense for a foucs. Your not going to be in close range so you can actually use the heal to support your group (instead of daggering off into the distance healing yourself). Updraft makes less sense. Of course this would be the other way around if you used D/F, to me that is a nice setup by your lake of RTL will make it easier to be kited.

It was in the wiki, people updated it after each PAX thing where they played, I just assumed it was correct.

Keep in mind those were alpha versions of the skills, churning earth was still a charge, updraft wasn’t even the same skill.

That being said I agree, cleansing wave would be a good skill for focus, I’d personally also like to see some of the single target focus skills (like gust) to become AoE as well.

They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna

(edited by Durzlla.6295)

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Posted by: BlackBeard.2873

BlackBeard.2873

I really don’t think focus will ever be used in competitive play until a heal is put it. Focus is good in PvE situations vs. ranged, but in WvW/PvP it has neither mobility nor healing. Mobility and healing are the ele’s primary survival mechanism. While the focus has some great “traditional” defensive skills, they simply don’t work on the ele b/c we can’t be tanky. We can only sustain through heals and mobility.

That actually makes the /D a better defensive weapon for us vs everything except range.

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Posted by: Aether McLoud.1975

Aether McLoud.1975

The message is always more important than the messenger.

Ideally that’s true, but reality is another matter entirely.

No it’s not. Not at all. If you want a serious discussion, the ONLY way to defend your position is to attack the opponent’s argument, not the opponent himself.

Except when it’s Kodiak, in which case both are not imporant :p

Ironically this is exactly what I’m talking about. Thank you Zelyhn for taking a break from figuring out if 0.034 Fury duration is greater DPS than 2 Power. Our community as a whole suffered for this needless distraction from your great work.

If you don’t stop insulting people instead of replying to their argument nobody will ever take you seriously. Look up that wikipedia article for “Ad Hominem” again. And then again. And again. Trust me, it’ll help.

P.S. That’s not how Irony works either.

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Posted by: Pyriall.5027

Pyriall.5027

Two people made mention of this in separate posts, but focus could use more combo fields, preferably a water field and a smoke field.

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Posted by: flyingfox.6150

flyingfox.6150

It would be pretty awesome if they made some solid changes to the focus. I actually love some of the Focus skins like “Bloodseeker”. Too lazy to start a Necro to make use of the Focus and I love my Elementalist too much to play another class.

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Posted by: iriyabran.6218

iriyabran.6218

Two people made mention of this in separate posts, but focus could use more combo fields, preferably a water field and a smoke field.

The reason I didn’t suggest a water field on focus is cause scepter has 2 blast finishers coupled with utility blast finishers (and other stuff like evasive arcane and traited attunement switching, boon runes ect.) the healing will be too OP.
I’m assuming for the same reason offhand dagger has a hard heal instead of a field.

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Posted by: Pyriall.5027

Pyriall.5027

Two people made mention of this in separate posts, but focus could use more combo fields, preferably a water field and a smoke field.

The reason I didn’t suggest a water field on focus is cause scepter has 2 blast finishers coupled with utility blast finishers (and other stuff like evasive arcane and traited attunement switching, boon runes ect.) the healing will be too OP.
I’m assuming for the same reason offhand dagger has a hard heal instead of a field.

I think there are ways around making it too strong, such as a low duration combo field on water. I also think that it fits the feel of focus in that it could fill the role of support.

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Posted by: Navzar.2938

Navzar.2938

The message is always more important than the messenger.

If a known pessimist complains about something, people don’t pay it much heed. This is because they’ll think something along the lines “Well of course he’s complaining, he thinks everything is terrible!”.

If a known optimist complains about something, then people will give it more of a look. This is because they’ll think something along the lines of “Wow if even he’s complaining, it must be bad!”.

Many people also have a bad tendency to be influenced by someone’s words or support just because they’re well known, like celebrities, rather than actually paying attention to their credentials (this doesn’t usually apply to online games though, just a general statement about life).

So the messenger is rather important, even if it shouldn’t be.

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Posted by: Alilinke.7690

Alilinke.7690

I use dagger/focus sometimes in dungeons. Off hand earth is probably my favorite skill set, fire is just terrible, same with water. Swirling winds is awesome, especially against lupicus.

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