Guild Wars 2

For the sake of argument, assume that not every player is willing to accumulate or craft multiple Ascended sets.

PvP isn’t really an issue, thanks to all equipment being normalized.

So my question deals with PvE and WvW. I realize that everyone seems to be on the Zerker bandwagon, as its “meta” and such. But being a dirty casual like I am I’d rather not have to have two different sets of gear for the two game modes.

So is it REALLY all that bad to simply go Celestial with the majority of your gear? I figure having armor be Celestial, with runes of Strength slotted should be fine, go Zerker on the weapons (makes sense for weapons to be offensively focused) and then use multiple types of trinkets to round out what I need, such as Zerker for PvE, and Knight’s or even Nomad’s for WvW.

I figure between Might stacking and trait build, that the above loadout provides a nice base, and is “meta-shift” resistant, so that no matter HOW ANet balances the Elementalist this gear will, while not always optimized, be always effective.

You can play how you want. It is really simple as that. And you seem to have a solid plan right there. Set the right goal and achieve it with your ability. Be caution with joining people who have different mindsets than you. A little respect goes both way and you are golden.

See I’m totally with you Kaleban on just about everything you just said in terms of build design philosophy and have been for years. Back when the meta was 02066 with full tank gear I was “too offensive” and now with the zerkzerkzerk meta I’m “too defensive.”

My first recommendation is get really familiar with the builder at gw2skills.net and play around with stats. This lets you build a base of gear, and then tweak from there. This also lets you play around with things like Consumables. Sure Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup sounds great at first stat wise but after a week you may hate having to gather the mats or paying the cost to get it. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new ideas! Try swapping out a neck of one type for another and see how it affects the over all stats. Mix up the jewelry, runes, etc and really see what you can come up with. Doesn’t have to perfectly match if in the end the over all stats work out pretty great!

I do basically what you describe except I use PVT (Soldier or Ahamid’s) armor with Zerker Jewelry/Weapons and a 06044 spec. For WvW zerg play I swap in Emerald (Knight) jewelry base with Celestial (Charged Quarts Jewels) in them. This cranks my toughness into the near 1600 range and HP over 16000 which is pretty big when you’re running into 40 man zergs dropping piles of AOE onto your head haha. You do lose some crit and crit damage but not enough that matters when it’s 40 v 40 zerg style. Plenty of power with Bloodlust or Guard Killer stacks.

I would also consider Pack runes instead of Strength runes if you aren’t playing S/D or S/F or D/F or D/D all that much because honestly while the extra might duration is pretty awesome you don’t stack that much might as staff (usually about 3 blasts max) where as the rest of the pack bonuses can be more useful for WvW and running around in general.

Have you tried Nomad’s?

Seriously, Nomad’s armor with zerker weapons and zerker trinkets does better damage than you might think (with might stacking of course).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhMMac25wwBd0AdAB5xqvRBlzbnB-TxRBABXp8zY1fuZ/hOeAAooHAgTAgZKBBA-e

Note: I would NOT recommend crafting ascended Nomad’s gear — stick with zerker or whatever for that.

Seems like the main gain with Nomads is you’re trading power for a bit more Toughness and Healing Power.