Guild Wars 2

Hey!

I play a Level 80 Elementalist and run a double dagger condition damage build, or at least try to.
So in order to maximize my condition damage while being sturdy enough to be in melee, I put 20 points into fire for the condition duration, 30 into earth for condition damage and toughness and 10 into Water and Arcane for the added survivability and utility.
So far, so good. But now it makes me question the design of many earth traits. As a condition damage oriented trait line, there are 3 major traits with the “+x% damage” effect, which supposedly has no effect on condition damage at all? Is this a bug, because it isn’t clearly stated in the description? In contrast to this, there is only one major trait which actually increases your damage (longer bleeds).
The biggest offender in this department surely is the trait “Enduring Damage”, which for a 25 point minor trait buffs non-condition damage by 10% while endurance is full. Who puts 25 points to “improve” our bleed-heavy earth skills with a non-condition damage boost? I don’t get it.
The fire trait line also doesn’t really support my build with the major traits as it doesn’t give any condition damage boost aside from a low chance proc which in my opinion isn’t worth stacking precision for (well and 3 secs extra burning for skills that ALREADY ADD burning anyway…)

Second problem is the lack of many stat combinations on gear which include condition damage. With my trait setup and double dagger, I’m looking for maximum condition damage plus survivability for melee combat. I do NOT want precision for reasons i explained earlier nor extra crit damage. The only combination that comes close is condition damage/vitality/power, but where is for example condition damage/vitality/toughness? Never seen that in the game. (Btw: Power/Vitality/Toughness is just all over the place, so the people focusing on direct damage get this combination)

So am I just too focused on condition damage and have to accept that I need a power/condition damage hybrid build to make use of the traits at all? Or is anyone else having the same problems?