Guild Wars 2

Making Single Attunement Builds Matter: Introducing an Adrenaline/Energy/Overcharge mechanic.

In short, (TLDR) this suggestion will give the Elementalist the following:

-The option to stay in one attunement without hampering themselves as much or their teammates
-The option to play at more than one range in a fight
-The option to bring cooldown reduction in x attunement and +damage in x attunement traits and have those traits be effective for more than 5 skills
-A slight damage/healing boost as the Elementalist stays in one attunement; regular damage when swapping frequently.
-Additional spell effects that may proc when an ‘overcharge’ bar is active
-Small attachment showing new bar at the bottom of this post

Detailed description:
There are very few builds which currently utilize one attunement for more than 10 seconds at a time. I feel that this suggestion may allow more players to play the class with one, two, three, or all four attunements over a longer period of time.

I have thought and thought of ways to fix some of the lesser used weapons and also fix the issue of skill range and being able to play as a pyromancer/cryomancer/aeromancer/geomancer exclusively, or using two or three attunements and being just as effective as players who max arcana and dance through all four attunements.

The solution I came up with is Arcane Energy: a mix between the Thief’s initiative bar, Warrior’s adrenaline system, and the Necromancer’s death shroud bar. Consider it a soft-initiative/adrenaline system that builds up residual arcane energy as you deal damage and/or stay in one attunement and depletes when you swap attunements. When the Elementalist swaps attunements, this energy bar will deplete by 40% and will not accrue more residual energy for 4 seconds.

Currently, when an Elementalist swaps attunements, they do so through the F1-F4 skills. This change would allow the Elementalist to, when this energy bar is full, activate and overcharge the attunement that they are currently in (F1-F4) and have exclusivity to that attunement only for 20 seconds.

In exchange for only being able to use one attunement, the weapon swap feature will be enabled for the Elementalist at this time and ONLY during this time. If the Elementalist chooses to stay in this attunement, this energy bar will deplete by 5% per second. The Elementalist will have access to only 10 skills. Their stats will be augmented slightly and percentage chances for additional spell effects to activate will be introduced.

The Elementalist will be able to stay in this overcharge state for 20 seconds, during which the bar drains by 5% per second. When the energy bar is spent, they Elementalist loses access to their second weapon set as well as a 10-second cooldown being placed on the energy bar activation (similar to the cooldown when leaving Death Shroud) and the inability to accrue energy for 10 seconds (Exhaustion). The Elementalist may then stay in their current attunement or swap out to another attunement.

For each energy bar level that is full, the Elementalist’s stats will be modified to the following:
Empty – +0 power, +0% critical chance, +0% critical damage, +0 healing power
1 – +15 power, +1% critical chance, +1% critical damage, +15 healing power
2 – +30 power, +2% critical chance, +2% critical damage, +30 healing power
3 – +45 power, +3% critical chance, +3% critical damage, +45 healing power
Full – +60 power, +4% critical chance, +4% critical damage, +60 healing power

>>>These effects are lost when activating overcharge and are instead replaced by:<<<

Single attunement spell effects when Overcharge is active:
Fire attunement: Empowerment: +100 power and +100 condition damage.
Cauterization: 15% chance to remove a condition on weapon skill activation.
Searing Flames: 5% chance to spread burning from target foe to nearby foes on hit.

Air attunement: Turbulence: +5% critical chance and +5% critical damage.
Paralyze: Critical hits have a 15% chance to inflict a 1-second stun (10-second cooldown).
Static: 20% chance to deal damage when struck in melee. (2-second cooldown)

Earth attunement: Calcification: Elementalist and all nearby allies gain 80 toughness.
Ricochet: 20% chance to gain a magnetic aura for 5 seconds when hit by a projectile (20-second cooldown).
Consolidate: 20% chance to gain protection for 5 seconds when struck by a melee attack (20-second cooldown).

Water attunement: Convalesce: +100 healing power and +100 vitality.
Frostbite: Skills that inflict damage on vulnerable or chilled foes have a 20% chance to inflict 3 stacks of bleeding for 5 seconds (3-second cooldown).
Deluge: Non-auto water weapon skills that inflict damage have a 33% chance to activate a blast finisher.

(continued)
In order to keep these changes balanced:
-Energy bar depletes over time out of combat (much like adrenaline).
- Only non-auto attack skills will fill the energy bar. Each time a non-auto (weapon skills 2 through 5) is cast, the Elementalist builds up a quarter of their current level bar (6.25% of total). This would alleviate the issue of players spamming auto attacks and/or using the fastest auto-cast skills to benefit more quickly. For each second the Elementalist stays in a single attunement, the bar fills up at a rate of 8% of the total bar.
- Each time that an Elementalist swaps attunements, they lose 40% of their built up energy and cannot accrue energy for 4 seconds. Frequent swappers will have access to more skills but will be unable to maintain stat bonuses or activate overcharge as frequently.
- Attunement swapping while in overcharge places overcharge on cooldown immediately, empties the energy bar, and induces exhaustion, preventing the Elementalist from gaining residual arcane energy for 10 seconds.

For example:
> Elementalist enters combat in Water attunement.
> Elementalist casts 4 non-auto attack skills in Water attunement. The bar will be filled by 6.25% for each skill cast (total of 25%, Level 1 filled) and naturally fill to level 4 (100%) by staying in Water attunement.
> If the Elementalist stays in water attunement, their stats will be modified by their energy level (at this point being full). [+60 power, +4% critical chance, +4% critical damage, +60 healing power] The Elementalist will most likely only have access to their 1 and 2 skills on their weapon set at this time.
> The Elementalist will then most likely have the opportunity to use their auto attack or their 2nd skill, swap to another attunement, or press F2 again on their attunement bar to activate the overcharge. This will activate the overcharge effects while in water attunement as well as enable weapon swapping.
> At this time, the Elementalist can only use Water skills from two weapon sets.
> If the Elementalist stays in water attunement and activates the overcharge, the option to swap weapons is enabled (5-second cooldown) and the Elementalist will be able to freely swap between weapon sets in that attunement ONLY.
> While in overcharge, if the Elementalist swaps to another attunement, they will lose 100% of their built-up energy bar as well as the ability to go into overcharge and must rebuild that energy (Overcharge goes on a 20-second cooldown, Elementalist suffers from exhaustion and cannot gain energy for 10 seconds).
> When the energy bar is fully depleted at 20 seconds, attunements outside of the current attunement and the overcharge button are placed on a 10 second cooldown. Additionally, the Elementalist is forced back into their main weapon set. The Elementalist will suffer from exhaustion, being unable to accrue energy for 10 seconds.

Closing Remarks:
If the idea of being able to swap weapons sets for 20 seconds in a single attunement is too difficult to implement, perhaps the overcharge could simply activate the single-attunement benefits.

Or, the overcharge could instead give access to a second set of skills usable by any Elementalist regardless of weapon set that has a varied range of skills. This would be differentiated from Death Shroud in that the skills would vary by attunement.

I also thought of conjures possibly being included as the overcharge ability in this suggestion, since they give similar stat boosts and thus would open up more utility slots in the future.

I am open to thoughts, balance ideas, suggestions, and feedback. Thanks for reading.

I like your idea (I like all ideas that encourage single attunements), but doubt Anet will implement it any time soon because of all the balancing and bug fixing issues that will inevitably come with it.

This is an amazing idea, and I would love to see an overcharged fire ele skills (the non-weapon swap variation) morphing into a phoenix, flying up and crash down on your opponents….

I dont know how people come up with this, but its great

A-Net, please ?

No no no no no no no no no no the whole reason why I found the ele so attractive was the intensity and the apm you need to be a good ele. The attunement swapping is what makes the ele special its the primary mechanic.

I like the idea but I feel it adds too much complexity to a class that already has a high learning curve. People whom wish to stick to one or two elements are likely to prefer more simplistic battle mechanics. I would encourage you to keep working on this concept though as it would make an interesting mechanic for, say, a Monk class that switches between fighting styles.

Attunement cool-downs beginning immediately rather than after switching would also be an interesting change, as it could allow an elementalist to trigger attunement switching effects while staying in the same attunement. (eg. all the 15 point minors)

If you can’t handle swapping attunements and all the buttons maybe you shouldn’t be playing an ele. Limiting yourself for ease of play is boring.

NeXeD.3042:

If you can’t handle swapping attunements and all the buttons maybe you shouldn’t be playing an ele. Limiting yourself for ease of play is boring.

Considering that traits exist to encourage staying in a specific attuement I would be in favor of either having those traits changed, or having purist builds actually be viable. This would open up some fresh builds for them.

I have played the Elementalist well over 800 hours. I /love/ switching attunements and frequently stick to x/x/x/x/20+ builds.

One of the main issues that many players encounter with the Elementalist is that the class trait lines contradict each other — you’re encouraged to swap attunements if you go into arcane, but (especially) if you go into the Fire or Air trait lines, many trait options proc in those attunements only.

Earth, Water, and Arcana lines have more traits that benefit the player regardless of attunement.

Currently, there are a few opportunities to make builds that use one attunement and one attunement only (Zerker Staff Fire Attunement/Fire Traits, Lightning Hammer Water Attunement/Water Traits).

The proposed suggestion would still encourage the use of all four attunements.

However, the more that I think about the complexity of this energy system in addition to the Elementalist’s current attunements system, I believe the idea I proposed would be too complex for most players.

I do believe a simpler energy/overcharge system, if one were ever implemented, could be beneficial to the class. In the meantime, I am hoping the next balance/trait update introduces enhancements to some of the Fire and Air traits, and I appreciate everyone for leaving their thoughts and feedback.

It’s a good idea to try to buff one element, but by doing so you destroy anyone who uses (and should be using) multiple elements as to not be kitten, such as losing energy over time?

Anet’s intention is to make an reaction oriented gameplay, and auto-spamming in a single atunement doesnt really fit that role, all other classes have weapon swap, we just have 2 more sets to swap to. Also many ppl stay in an atunement (fire) thinking doing that will yield the highest dps, but actually swapping amoung all atunements with the right traits results in a lot higher damage, just use all but auto-attack and youll be fine.

No. This idea is horrible and I would definitely stop play my ele.

The attractive thing about the ele is how it plays. Anything that changes that should not happen.

I would be happy with viable fire traits

Josh Mitchell.1596:

I have played the Elementalist well over 800 hours. I /love/ switching attunements and frequently stick to x/x/x/x/20+ builds.

One of the main issues that many players encounter with the Elementalist is that the class trait lines contradict each other — you’re encouraged to swap attunements if you go into arcane, but (especially) if you go into the Fire or Air trait lines, many trait options proc in those attunements only.

Earth, Water, and Arcana lines have more traits that benefit the player regardless of attunement.

Currently, there are a few opportunities to make builds that use one attunement and one attunement only (Zerker Staff Fire Attunement/Fire Traits, Lightning Hammer Water Attunement/Water Traits).

The proposed suggestion would still encourage the use of all four attunements.

However, the more that I think about the complexity of this energy system in addition to the Elementalist’s current attunements system, I believe the idea I proposed would be too complex for most players.

I do believe a simpler energy/overcharge system, if one were ever implemented, could be beneficial to the class. In the meantime, I am hoping the next balance/trait update introduces enhancements to some of the Fire and Air traits, and I appreciate everyone for leaving their thoughts and feedback.

It’s like this post read my mind and put it out in words.

The ideal way to to design the class, in my opinion, is so that if one chooses to build for a single attunement you will rely on that attunement for damage, but still need (and be able) to rely on the utility of the remaining three.

So if I spec earth for example, the traits should make my damage in earth high enough to make up the majority of my DPS. But, if I need to apply frost I can switch in to water and use it, then switch back, without my DPS going down like the Hindenburg.

The biggest hurdle to overcome in order to make this work is allowing people to switch out of an attunement without being forced to stay out of it for such a ridiculously large amount of time. And the easiest solution would be to make traits that lower the cooldown of specific attunements.

Conncept.7638:

The ideal way to to design the class, in my opinion, is so that if one chooses to build for a single attunement you will rely on that attunement for damage, but still need (and be able) to rely on the utility of the remaining three.

So if I spec earth for example, the traits should make my damage in earth high enough to make up the majority of my DPS. But, if I need to apply frost I can switch in to water and use it, then switch back, without my DPS going down like the Hindenburg.

The biggest hurdle to overcome in order to make this work is allowing people to switch out of an attunement without being forced to stay out of it for such a ridiculously large amount of time. And the easiest solution would be to make traits that lower the cooldown of specific attunements.

But your DPS would be going down. You are basically doing 0 damage all the time that you aren’t in earth.

10+ seconds you’re doing 0 damage.

Razor.6392:

Conncept.7638:

The ideal way to to design the class, in my opinion, is so that if one chooses to build for a single attunement you will rely on that attunement for damage, but still need (and be able) to rely on the utility of the remaining three.

So if I spec earth for example, the traits should make my damage in earth high enough to make up the majority of my DPS. But, if I need to apply frost I can switch in to water and use it, then switch back, without my DPS going down like the Hindenburg.

The biggest hurdle to overcome in order to make this work is allowing people to switch out of an attunement without being forced to stay out of it for such a ridiculously large amount of time. And the easiest solution would be to make traits that lower the cooldown of specific attunements.

But your DPS would be going down. You are basically doing 0 damage all the time that you aren’t in earth.

10+ seconds you’re doing 0 damage.

That’s why I stated there would need to be adjustments made to the trait trees to allow for attunements that have been invested into more deeply to have more managable cooldowns. The third paragraph, specifically the bolded part.

For example:
I am specced heavily in to earth, and as such have taken a masterwork trait that lowers my earth attunement down to 5 seconds from the normal 15. I can now switch out of earth to use utilities from other attunement and switch back almost immediately.

Razor.6392:

Conncept.7638:

The ideal way to to design the class, in my opinion, is so that if one chooses to build for a single attunement you will rely on that attunement for damage, but still need (and be able) to rely on the utility of the remaining three.

So if I spec earth for example, the traits should make my damage in earth high enough to make up the majority of my DPS. But, if I need to apply frost I can switch in to water and use it, then switch back, without my DPS going down like the Hindenburg.

The biggest hurdle to overcome in order to make this work is allowing people to switch out of an attunement without being forced to stay out of it for such a ridiculously large amount of time. And the easiest solution would be to make traits that lower the cooldown of specific attunements.

But your DPS would be going down. You are basically doing 0 damage all the time that you aren’t in earth.

10+ seconds you’re doing 0 damage.

Oddly this falls into my suggestion early in this thread that the cooldown for swapping attunements beginning immediately when you swapped to an attunement rather than when you swapped away.

This is hideously complicated. Like, just madly so. I really can’t see ANet introducing anything remotely this fussy. I would love being able to play single-Attunement Eles as well as Attunement-swappers but I just don’t see this being a viable way of getting there.

How about this: ANet adds a 10-point trait to each of the 4 Elemental lines. Taking one of these traits automatically locks you into that Element’s Attunement until you change out the Trait, allows for weapon-swaps, and potentially gives other benefits as appropriate. You can’t take more than one of these Traits at a time. No Overcharge to manage, no decay, no time limit on how long you can play the profession your way. Just take the Trait and you’re done.

I still don’t think the Ele would be balanceable around both playstyles, though. You’re essentially squaring the number of situations ANet needs to balance for.

why not have traits that increase the damage you do in a single attunement the longer you’re in that atunement, maxing out at 15/20%.
Adding an intire mechanic to the elementalist profession would only complicate matters. Adding a trait would be easier and people can still build around it.

lol , pls NEVER do it ahahah, how can you request to make the most fun class a pure kitten???

The build that boosts the damage in air attunement is probably the most used at the moment. Look how it plays out: Staying on air attunement is still not efficient. You have to use water and earth for defense and the damage of fire is still not negligible.
This is how this class is intended to be played. You may trait in a way that your burst combo is in air attunement, but there is still greater potential to be exhausted. There are traits that give benefits to single attunements, but I don’t see how these would encourage one to stay in one attunement. One attunement gets benefits; it doesn’t even get necessarily stronger.

On the same note: I thought you get the attunement specific benefits as long as the icon for the attunement is displayed next to your active boons. So, if you traited 10% damage in air attunement for example, you still get the 10% damage, when you swap from air to fire and use a combo, before the air attunement icon vanishes.
I don’t see another reason, why the icon of the last attunement would be displayed a few secods after you swapped out of it.

People dont understand that the Elementalist dps comes by switching between all elements. So i believe the ele need some minor buffs on some traits, but not a rework like OP is suggesting.

I like the idea a lot. I’m fine with the idea of attunement dancing, but sometimes I want to be like my GW1 ele and just go crazy with earth magic! The only pay I question is the passive start boosts on the way up to a full bar. Free crit damage and power and stuff? That’s not really fair. AFAIK no class gets stat bonuses like that for free

XIII.9615:

On the same note: I thought you get the attunement specific benefits as long as the icon for the attunement is displayed next to your active boons. So, if you traited 10% damage in air attunement for example, you still get the 10% damage, when you swap from air to fire and use a combo, before the air attunement icon vanishes.
I don’t see another reason, why the icon of the last attunement would be displayed a few secods after you swapped out of it.

This is sadly incorrect, Lingering Elements only applies to the 5 point minor traits in the Fire (Flame Barrier), Air (Zephyr’s Speed), Earth (Stone Flesh), and Water (Soothing Mist) trait lines and currently nothing else.

On a related note I read somewhere that Lingering Elements used to effect all attunement dependent traits in the beta, but this has been changed as of release.

Attunement swapping needs a 9 second BASE cooldown, and the Arcane bonus needs to be changed.

Essentially attunement specific traits are conditional traits like many traits for other classes. Deal x damage if foe is bleeding, gain might on crit with greatsword, deal +5% damage when striking a foe from the side or back, etc….

If we look at earth for example deal +10% damage while attuned to earth, deal +5% damage when you are with a rang of 50 of foe(its actually 600 units) deal +5% damage to bleeding foes.

So if you went 30 earth you could be looking at +20% damage pretty reliably if you ran say scepter because those conditions are easy to meet on scepter or even the air specific traits also. If you run D/D then those traits wouldn’t benefit you alot but you could reliably get the +5% damage within 50 and 10% attuned to Earth if you really wanted to grab that damage for earth though air is probably better if you really wanted it.

The problem is not so much the traits for a specific attunement but more the skills in those attunements. Combined all 4 attunements are awesome and work well together on their own they aren’t really hot because the best skills have the longest cooldowns as they should.

So if you build all around earth magic and your running say S/D you auto attack, attempt a stomp, churning earth setup. Then? Go back to auto attacking? While Another ele is on to air while you waddle around in earth.

If you build around air magic you auto attack, normal setup 1,2,3 attempt to rtl, updraft combo. Then? air auto? Why would you not want to switch to fire after updraft to try and land DT, phoenix fire grab burst combo?

You build around fire magic your auto attacking causing them to burn. They will close in on assuming you are winning the ranged battle. So you pop dragon tooth ring of fire etc. They dodge about all of it because you have no setup but say you hit with a good fire grab for 6k. Then? Auto attack instead of switching to air, water, or earth to put more sustained pressure on them.

Thats the problem is that you need all the attunements they all compliment each other you can’t really sit in 1 and expect to kill anyone with a brain maybe outside of using staff free casting in the back.

I mean if your suggesting to make it possible you can do it now if you really want but it just isn’t effective at all.

@ op, this is one kitten nice idea. i would love to see this system incorporated. most people come to forums to complain about stuff but never suggest things, however, this is purely genius. i would not only love to see THIS idea put into action, but if it isnt, i would also love to see single attunement builds be viable. i have 1000 hours played on my ele

Juts add cooldown reduction on attunement for each attunement with the trait that cost 25.

ex: fire 25 should be: dammage increase by 5% to burning target, fire attunement cooldown reduce to 4 sec (cooldown cannot be reduce more even with trait in arcana).

same for earth and air only. not water

Thanks for your continued support and comments. I’ve been thinking myself – what about changing this idea into a future elite skill for the class? Of course, it would have to be fine-tuned based on other Elite skills. If it were an optional Elite choice – most likely would be one without the complications of an entire additional mechanic and simply be an “Overcharge and lock into this attunement for 20-30 seconds.” on cooldown button.

This still does not solve the problems with current build setups heavily favoring Water and Arcana trait lines, but I think it would be an interesting addition to the profession in either actual mechanic form or as an Elite.

Would those of you who had issues with the idea before still have issues with it?

I don’t know why the designed our class to almost require all attunements. At most it should require 2.

My reasoning:
The other classes (engineer exception) have 2 weapons sets, but they can work fine with just 1. My warrior has a rifle and a axe / shield, but I don’t switch to rifle unless the enemy is running away, even then I usually take the time to heal up and prepare for round 2. So if our 4 attunes equivalent to 2 weapons, then 2 sets should be the same power as 1 weapon, and 2 other sets a secondary weapon. Instead we dance through all 4 elements.

Josh Mitchell.1596:

Thanks for your continued support and comments. I’ve been thinking myself – what about changing this idea into a future elite skill for the class? Of course, it would have to be fine-tuned based on other Elite skills. If it were an optional Elite choice – most likely would be one without the complications of an entire additional mechanic and simply be an “Overcharge and lock into this attunement for 20-30 seconds.” on cooldown button.

This still does not solve the problems with current build setups heavily favoring Water and Arcana trait lines, but I think it would be an interesting addition to the profession in either actual mechanic form or as an Elite.

Would those of you who had issues with the idea before still have issues with it?

It shouldn’t be for only 20-30 seconds. If the goal of this Elite skill is to facilitate builds that focus on a single attribute rather than swapping attunements like crazy, then a time limit would only serve to make this gimmicky rather than foundational.

It could work as an Elite skill, but it would have to put you into a semi-permanent state. Here’s a basic outline of how it might work:

1. Casting the spell initially takes 2 seconds of channeling in place

2. The effect then persists indefinitely, even through death, map changes, or logging out, much like a boost.

3. While under the effect, you are locked into the Attunement you were in when casting the spell and cannot change Attunements, but you also gain the ability to weapon swap as well as a few other benefits (TBD).

4. Deactivating the effect requires a 5 second channel and then puts your elite skill on a lengthy cooldown.

5. You cannot change your Elite skill while the effect is active.

6. Some of these restrictions would be removed while in the Heart of the Mists to facilitate testing.

7. Ideally, you could somehow pick a different Attunement for your offhand set, so you could (say) have your Staff in Water Attunement but your D/D in Fire if you wanted. I’m not sure how to let that happen without overcomplicating things.

I think that accomplishes most of the desired goals while minimizing potential abuse cases and keeping things relatively simple.

I’ve said over and over again since the start that the biggest problem for the Elementalist is it’s four weapon set design system (1 weapon set, 4 sets of weapon skills one for each Attunement). This doesn’t even take into account the alternative weapon sets we have with Conjures (which Frostbow, Great Sword and Lightning Hammer are all fairly decent).

The reason it’s a problem is that we’re ultimately too heavily penalized as a class for having 4 weapon sets compared to the standard two that most classes get:

1. Our Utility skills/slots are on absurdly huge cool downs compared to other classes. This is a direct result of having 4 weapon sets each with a variety of utility baked into them. Look at something as simple as Mesmer Blink (30s) to our Lightning Flash (40s). Hard to give a class who can pull out all our Auras and other buffs we have throughout our various weapons and attunements even better Utility in the Utility slots. This is directly compared to a Mesmer or Guardian who both have much stronger Utility but are also much more limited on what they can bring through their Weapon Sets (and the utility contained within).

2. The “having 4 weapon sets” creates a self fulfilling prophecy where because we have 4 attunements if we want to truly excel we will end up needing to swap attunements. We essentially have to swap from weapon set to weapon set to blow cool downs in order to get any kind of performance as a result of our abilities being weaker categorically than other classes. Sure Fire Burst does a lot of damage, but a Mesmer can put out similar damage with a single Phantasm (in Phantasm spec) at range and on nearly 1/3rd the cool down without having to swap at all.

3. Any tree focusing on a single attunement is essentially useless as a result. This style works for other classes where they can only focus on one or two weapons but instead since we’re forced to use all of our “weapons” (attunements) anything that doesn’t benefit all ultimately can be regarded as worthless. This is why categorically the Fire tree is “bad” because it only benefits an attunement we will only be spending a fraction of our time in.

4. Arcane tree practically becomes a must for our class simply because swap times are inexcusable without the reduction. Going to and from 20+ Arcane is literally Night and Day play style wise. This ruins any other potential builds like 30/0/30/10/0 which are a shadow of what they could be by lack of the most basic ability to swap attunements in a timely manner.

Another gross inconsistently is our Hit points. When you compare the Light Armor classes to the Medium Armor classes the setup makes no sense. Necros/Engies are the tankier options with a High base HP pool. However from there that’s where things get skewed. Rangers are more bunker style through lots of regen and healing just like the Elementalist where as Thieves are more mitigation through evasion and trickery just like the Mesmer. In addition Thieves and Mesmers are both extremely high burst damage. However where as the Ranger has a medium set of HP to account for this the Elementalist instead gets the low end. This should be changed where the Mesmer should receive the lower base HP pool and the Elementalist raised based on the roles and functions we serve.

The most simplistic solution they could make is make Attunements have reduced Cool Down based on points spent in the tree AND/OR Arcane. This means if you do go 30/0/30/10/0 you would receive a 30% reduced cool down on Fire/Earth attunement and a 10% reduced cool down on Water while none in Air. However if you went 20/0/30/0/20 you would receive a 30% reduced cool down on Earth and 20% reduced cool down in Fire/Air/Water. This would preserve current play styles while opening the path towards focusing on one or two attunements.

From there the most basic method to help breathe life into our traits is to add traits that add rewards based on the amounts spent in each tree. For example with 30 points in a tree certain abilities (not all) gain additional effects. Maybe Eruption with 30 points blows up instantly? Lava Font now also snares for 1 second a tick? Etc.

The only thing I can say for sure is that NONE of this will be addressed in the next few years. It took them literally years and years and years before addressing core elementalist issues in GW1 (mob armor making Ele damage nonexistent).

Kodiak.3281:

The reason it’s a problem is that we’re ultimately too heavily penalized as a class for having 4 weapon sets compared to the standard two that most classes get:

It’s possible that we’re penalized a bit too harshly, but that would be a tuning issue that could be fixed by adjusting numbers here and there. It definitely would NOT be a problem inherent in the 4-attunement design.

I do agree that we could seriously use a bigger HP pool. Cut back some of our healing sources just a little bit to compensate and this would open up our build diversity immensely.

Kodiak.3281:

From there the most basic method to help breathe life into our traits is to add traits that add rewards based on the amounts spent in each tree. For example with 30 points in a tree certain abilities (not all) gain additional effects. Maybe Eruption with 30 points blows up instantly? Lava Font now also snares for 1 second a tick? Etc.

This is another way of saying “better Grandmaster traits for Fire, Air, and Earth.” Those three lines could certainly use some sprucing-up.

Blaine Tog.8304:

It’s possible that we’re penalized a bit too harshly, but that would be a tuning issue that could be fixed by adjusting numbers here and there. It definitely would NOT be a problem inherent in the 4-attunement design.

I disagree. While we have 4 attunements, we will never see the kinds of increases we need to make other specs viable. We don’t need slight tweaks. Slight tweaks won’t change our situation.

Blaine Tog.8304:

I do agree that we could seriously use a bigger HP pool. Cut back some of our healing sources just a little bit to compensate and this would open up our build diversity immensely.

Actually we shouldn’t have to give up an ounce of our healing. What we will end up giving up is some of our mobility and escapability which we already have immensely nerf after nerf.

Blaine Tog.8304:

This is another way of saying “better Grandmaster traits for Fire, Air, and Earth.” Those three lines could certainly use some sprucing-up.

No, that is not what that is saying at all. What that is saying is that without an alternative way to reduce Attunement Swap cool downs Arcane will always become a “mandatory” tree. If we can bypass Arcane tree entirely for that one net benefit we can instead look at alternative builds. Then on top of that, we need better Traits period that reward speccing into those trees.

MasterDeere.3417:

Juts add cooldown reduction on attunement for each attunement with the trait that cost 25.

ex: fire 25 should be: dammage increase by 5% to burning target, fire attunement cooldown reduce to 4 sec (cooldown cannot be reduce more even with trait in arcana).

same for earth and air only. not water

Yep I think something like this would be the simplest approach, and quite effective at addressing the issue. Honestly though I’d take it further and just remove the cooldown for that attunement (so it falls back to the 1s cooldown that all attunements get when swapping), and put ICDs on all the 15pt traits.

Then make the base attunement swap cooldown 10s (i.e. normal weapon swap cooldown) and halve the Arcana bonus.

Interestingly enough I don’t think this would actually be a practical buff, because swapping attunements to access the more powerful skills off cooldown would still be necessary to maximise DPS. But it would enable the people who like the idea of staying in their favourite element to play that way without crippling them.

Why would you want single attunement? The whole point behind the elementalist class IS attunement swapping, it’s why we don’t get a weapon swap.

If you’re seriously not swapping attunements, you’re just being lazy and missing out on a glut of benefits that swapping bestows, and missing out on the more interesting aspects of elementalist play, which is cross attunement combinations. Like Eruption + Lava Font, or Magnetic Grasp + Burning Speed + Fire Grab

Kodiak.3281:

I disagree. While we have 4 attunements, we will never see the kinds of increases we need to make other specs viable. We don’t need slight tweaks. Slight tweaks won’t change our situation.

If the problem is “we’re penalized too harshly,” then the solution to balance us would be as simple as “penalize us a bit less harshly.” You set up the syllogism, I’m just drawing the necessary conclusion therefrom.

Kodiak.3281:

Actually we shouldn’t have to give up an ounce of our healing. What we will end up giving up is some of our mobility and escapability which we already have immensely nerf after nerf.

If we don’t give up a bit of healing, we can’t have an improvement to our base stats because all that would do is make our current 0/10/0/30/30 D/D Cantrip build even more dominating. It would allow us to try other things, but our apex build wouldn’t change and, in fact, would only get a lot better, making us crazy or dumb to use anything else if we were being serious about wanting to win.

Kodiak.3281:

No, that is not what that is saying at all. What that is saying is that without an alternative way to reduce Attunement Swap cool downs Arcane will always become a “mandatory” tree. If we can bypass Arcane tree entirely for that one net benefit we can instead look at alternative builds. Then on top of that, we need better Traits period that reward speccing into those trees.

Yes, I know what you were trying to say, but it’s never going to happen. Riot isn’t going to break their Trait pattern by giving Eles 3 passive stat boosts per point instead of 2. Furthermore, it would (again) only make the 0/10/0/30/30 build even stronger since we could swap into Water even more frequently.

How about, base Attunement cooldown is reduced to 12 seconds and Arcana grants -1% cooldown per point instead of -2%? 30 in Arcana would give you the same benefit you get now, but 0 in Arcana would be much less punishing. The other lines would still need their traits (especially their Grandmaster traits) cleaned up so that going deeply in them would be worth it, but that would help make Arcana less mandatory but still useful, which opens up build diversity.

Devildoc.6721:

Why would you want single attunement? The whole point behind the elementalist class IS attunement swapping, it’s why we don’t get a weapon swap.

If you’re seriously not swapping attunements, you’re just being lazy and missing out on a glut of benefits that swapping bestows, and missing out on the more interesting aspects of elementalist play, which is cross attunement combinations. Like Eruption + Lava Font, or Magnetic Grasp + Burning Speed + Fire Grab

Because some people enjoy the fantasy of playing a Fire Mage or a Lightning Wizard. Specialization can be fun, just like versatility can be fun. Please don’t slander this desire as it’s perfectly legitimate. Everyone is allowed to have fun in different ways.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Devildoc.6721:

Why would you want single attunement? The whole point behind the elementalist class IS attunement swapping, it’s why we don’t get a weapon swap.

If you’re seriously not swapping attunements, you’re just being lazy and missing out on a glut of benefits that swapping bestows, and missing out on the more interesting aspects of elementalist play, which is cross attunement combinations. Like Eruption + Lava Font, or Magnetic Grasp + Burning Speed + Fire Grab

Because some people enjoy the fantasy of playing a Fire Mage or a Lightning Wizard. Specialization can be fun, just like versatility can be fun. Please don’t slander this desire as it’s perfectly legitimate. Everyone is allowed to have fun in different ways.

There’s a game where you can do that, it’s called Guild Wars.

In GW2, elementalist is a different kind of class, attunement swapping is literally the core of the class, asking them to somehow reward single attunement builds is asking them to completely scrap elementalist as a class and start over, it shouldn’t happen, as it is it’d get extremely boring only having 5 weapon skills period since you can’t swap weapons and since you aren’t swapping attunement.

Sounds like you got heared
If I understood correctly, we will get a trait to reset our air attunement.

Devildoc.6721:

There’s a game where you can do that, it’s called Guild Wars.

Oh there are plenty of games where you can fulfill that fantasy and it isn’t the end of the world if GW2 isn’t one of them. Nevertheless, those other games don’t have the dynamic, exciting combat system of GW2. It would be ideal for more people to be able to play the class as they want and not just as they have to. Build diversity is, after all, a stated goal of the devs.

Devildoc.6721:

In GW2, elementalist is a different kind of class, attunement swapping is literally the core of the class, asking them to somehow reward single attunement builds is asking them to completely scrap elementalist as a class and start over, it shouldn’t happen, as it is it’d get extremely boring only having 5 weapon skills period since you can’t swap weapons and since you aren’t swapping attunement.

Hyperbole in its finest form.

No one’s saying we should scrap Attunement swapping. We’re saying it would be cool if a side-system could be implemented somehow to make one-element builds somewhat viable. Or at least I am.

Wow, first Fresh Air and now the Tempest specialization where Ele is getting an overload mechanic 2 years later. Color me surprised.

I like this idea, a lot.

Well, 2 years later, staff is basically the best PvE weapon to use and you just camp fire after the initial mightstack.

@ OP: I like this idea and honestly thought this was some sort of leaked info on the new elite specialization. I was initially excited about the concept of this. Then Anet go to TTH and tell them what they’ve actually done, which I feel is a bit more “noob” (hate that word) friendly, as it’s easier to follow. Your ideas however suit me personally, but I’m not bashing what Anet created either

Thread so old it’s a new necromancer minion.

Kodiak.3281:

Thread so old it’s a new necromancer minion.

Still better than necromancer shouts.

Well, OP did resurrect his own thread, so that’s fitting. Personally, I think OP’s initial ideas about weapon switching during an overcharge and the like just won’t fit the ele since sitting on one single attunement with two weapons just doesn’t sound like something Anet would do to an established profession.

As for the idea of single attunements, currently, cooldowns are balanced on switching so it’ll be interesting to see how Anet deals with that (or not deal with it) in Friday’s preview.

Another way they can implement single attunement builds is if when they are overcharged their skill cooldowns in that attunement are reduced by 33%. They must remain in that attunement for at least 10 seconds to reach overcharged state. Most of the skills are too long of a cooldown to reasonably want to sit in that attunement. you could create a tanky d/f ele with earth attunement, a burn heavy ele with fire attunement or a chill/heal heavy ele with water attunement.