Guild Wars 2

I’m angry.
I don’t know what have u done with the elementalist but i cannot go on this way.
I’m going to delete this lvl 80 ele and make a guardian, ranger or a war to be at the same level as the other classes.

It’s not possible i have lvl 80 exotic armor traited all defensive with water and earth using mistform arcane shield and every kind of protection i can use and stilli die after 3 hits in WvW or PvP.

I played 6 years the original guildwars and i loved my ele every single day, GW2 really pissed me off.

thanks

EDIT: lvl 42 thief with ugly gear is actually more resistant than ele 80 full exotic, guardian lvl 62 with warden armor (tier 2) is about 3 times more resistant -.-" i just have no words

EDIT2: Calle with lvl 62 guardian i can actually manage 2/3 ppl in WvW with ele barely 1 and yes my main is always been ele and i started with it since beta, it’s not a matter or L2P trust me is a matter that after beta ele sucks.

Edit: I wanna thanks all the kind ppl that made constructive suggestions especially Dacromir and Eveningstar! thanks guys! still Ele is totally broken for me, so i’ll probably go for an easy mode guardian until things changes, so i’ll be comfortable managing 3/4 ppl in wvw.

Yeah youre right this ele is kind of a joke in comparison to gw1 ele, this resembles more the paragon than anything.

I still lol so hard at topics like this. “I die therefor the proff must be super broken”. While I agree, a lot of things with Elementalist could be a lot better this issue really is just L2P.

I play Elementalist. Hit 80 like maybe 2 weeks ago. Got 3 exotic parts the rest is Virgil and my weapons are level 75 and lvl 80 green daggers.
I own the shizzel out of people in WvW. I own in Dungeons and I own in sPvP. I never have any issue killing anyone. Most of the time I die in WvW is cuz’ it’s more vs less and I’m on the less part or it’s vs. a theif kitten dem theivesss!!!!).
So quit making topics like “I’m gonna quit cuz’ Elementalist suck” cuz’ it’s not the proff, it’s you.

remove earth, max arcane and water, add wind u.u

Use double dagger….and all will be easier /._./
Unkess you need to hit something over a wall…but ts not your role <.<

Calle, when you are talking about L2P issues for a GW1 player that always sounds funny (at least for me) this game is baby stuff in comparison.

Just chill a bit, dont delete!!!

Everyone has a bad day now and then. Elementalists are more complicated but thats part of the fun. Go back to practicing your combos in pve a bit, then try again. Thats what I do when I cant seem to get my mojo on.

GW1 pvp eles relied on timing their skills right and on kiting so much as this games’ eles, actually. With or without dodge button/ attunement swapping.

That being said, speccing in water and arcane is not = to learning to play.

Actually, now that we’re at it, why must glass cannon elementalist players (aka, NO points in water/ arcane traits) learn to play, and glass cannon thieves not?

“Lol, a noob killed you. Learn to play, noob, or else you can’t kill noobs like you.”

why do i have to force myself go water and or earth whilst guardian and war can just use whatever they like and have fun and be always functional?
there is a very big devide between some classes you cannot deny that.
I don’t understand why should i go for a guardian or war or ranger (easy mode) when i love mages.
The promises said into the arenanet manifesto werejust lies.
Yet i see wars just swang the sword again and again and they win anyway, not much strategy in that.

Sorry for being sincere!

EDIT: and if i just want to go full fire & air traited? I’ll die in 1 hit than? since with water and earth i die with 3 hits

You won’t impress anyone by deleting your character, not only that but you will later on regret it (when you realize that you can own people with Elementalist). You have to combine ALL of your spells to the best extend.

My advice to you is to go visit HotM, then play around with toughness gear. Having more than 2500 toughness will change things. As elementalist you are obliged to mitigate as much of the damage as you can, and with this class you can actually do that.

Some classes will own you but that only happens if you allow it. Most builds revolve around 1 or 2 key skills that you need to counter at the right moment. The tricky thing is that as an Ele you practically don’t have much space for error. If you f* up your timings you will be beaten.

To be honest the class is awesome, while the PvP system is boring. WvWvW is quite pathetic and absolutely isn’t about skill, while the arenas don’t even bring as much as fun as Random Arenas used to in the first game.

I can relate to your uneasiness, as I was a dedicated GW1 player myself and used to love the Ele class there. It’s a shame that so many marvelous mechanics from the first game were thrown away in the garbage bin. This is what happens when you ignore your original fanbase and focus on reaching out to foreign players (WoW, etc.). Now the game is in a state of rapid decline in terms of population.

TL;DR: Don’t give up on your class, unless you are kitten.

No one cares if you want to play a guardian or a warrior. If you want to do so, then do it! More power to you. But coming to the elementalist forums and making a post like the OP did just smells of not even trying. You picked the most complex class in the game, deal with it.

Yes there are bugs. Yes there needs to be some changes, but you can still own it up provided you are skilled enough. If you dont want to put in the effort, then you wont like this class.

Kuthos.9623:

You picked the most complex class in the game, deal with it.

This. Most complex class can’t use all lines of traits. [sarcasm]It makes it more flexible and various.[/sarcasm] So, you admit that Fire and Air lines works as they almost don’t exist in the game?

Aedil.1296:

why do i have to force myself go water and or earth whilst guardian and war can just use whatever they like and have fun and be always functional?

Please, read this again and understand what he really mean, not what you want him to mean to insult him and feel better.

Aedil.1296:

I’m angry.
I don’t know what have u done with the elementalist but i cannot go on this way.
I’m going to delete this lvl 80 ele and make a guardian, ranger or a war to be at the same level as the other classes.

It’s not possible i have lvl 80 exotic armor traited all defensive with water and earth using mistform arcane shield and every kind of protection i can use and stilli die after 3 hits in WvW or PvP.

I played 6 years the original guildwars and i loved my ele every single day, GW2 really pissed me off.

thanks

EDIT: lvl 42 thief with ugly gear is actually more resistant than ele 80 full exotic, guardian lvl 62 with warden armor (tier 2) is about 3 times more resistant -.-" i just have no words

EDIT2: Calle with lvl 62 guardian i can actually manage 2/3 ppl in WvW with ele barely 1 and yes my main is always been ele and i started with it since beta, it’s not a matter or L2P trust me is a matter that after beta ele sucks.

I’m sure the above is a troll. I’m positive he is…but I guess I’ll rise to the bait anyway.

LOL. Seriously, lol.

With that out of the way, I truly do not understand your inability to survive in WvW. I’ve played a Guardian to 80, a Mesmer to 80, a Thief to 60, and now my Elementalist to 80. Is the Elementalist somewhat squishy? Yes. Does he “die in 3 hits” as stated in the OP? Of course not. The only exception to this rule is when a Warrior pops Haste, knockdown, and his thousand blades combo and I’m AFK.

I run with the Power, Toughness, Vitality gear from AC, and have around 28% base crit chance when Fury is not up. I have perma-swiftness, mostly-up Protection, and 10-15 stacks of might at all times. The extra HP, toughness, and protection really goes a long way to making me survivable. I couple that with 10 Air, 30 Water, 30 Arcane, and never have any problems jumping into the middle of the zerg and mixing it up.

Case in point, every fight last night I’d throw myself into the middle of the enemy zerg like a heat-seeking missile with Ride the Lightning into fire combo into earth combo, and then get the hell out of dodge for a few seconds as necessary. Do I get targeted? Heck yes. Does my health drop precipitously? Absolutely. The dozens of hits my character is taking have the potential to drop me like a rock, but they don’t. In our groups, I am almost always the last man standing. Cleansing Flame. Mistform. Stunbreak teleport. Ride the Lightning. Etc… I have so many survivability and escape tools it is laughable when the enemy tries to kill me.

And when not running in a zerg or a group of 5-10 friends? Yeah, my Elementalist is the class I choose to go 1v3, 1v4, 1v5, 1v6, etc… with the full confidence that I can and will win. Again, this is a direct contraction to the OP saying, essentially, “I do not understand GW2’s version of the Elementalist, I am bad at the class, and thus the class sucks.” I’d recommend you taking a long hard look at this thread and learn a few things about how to play the class better: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-elementalist-11-6-12. I went from “meh” on the class to “wow, I can do things with the Ele that I never knew possible” after reading through daphoenix’s guide and watching his videos.

Having success with an Ele isn’t hard…it’s just complicated. Do I want ANet to streamline our playstyle some? Sure. Do I want them to buff our damage a bit? Absolutely. Do I want them to fundamentally change the class around into something that people like the OP would complain less about? Hell no.

Two videos that prove you wrong.

Here is me fighting a D/D Elementalist. Just look at all that self-healing, protection, stability, and mobility.

Here’s a video of an Elementalist fighting a zerg. Yeah, she totally dies in seconds. She definitely doesn’t hold off far greater numbers for a really long time, and even get a few kills.

So what you’re saying is…..use 1 of the maybe 3 available pre-made builds that require you to spec in certain trait tree’s or you’re bad?

Ghertu.7096:

TheWarKeeper.5374:

Calle, when you are talking about L2P issues for a GW1 player that always sounds funny (at least for me) this game is baby stuff in comparison.

[sarcasm]Yeah, GW1 players can teach us wise using of mobility and dodges and swapping attutments in a fight.[/sarcasm]

Nobody said they can teach u about new systems that only makes it easier, not harder, the game overall was alot harder than gw2 and nothing you can say about it changes that, without a very organized and coordinated team you would simply fail the dungeon or mission, if you didnt have the right build you were either suggested to change or kicked right away, in here u can do it with pubs and still win it even if 2 team members in your team are unexperienced, i cant speak for arah or TA but for AC, CM, CoE, CoF i can.

This game is easy compared to GW1 and i do not see why people are complaining that elementalist is the hardest to learn class, thats a bunch of rubbish to make their ego feel high and imo its just pathetic.

Ghertu.7096:

Kuthos.9623:

You picked the most complex class in the game, deal with it.

This. Most complex class can’t use all lines of traits. [sarcasm]It makes it more flexible and various.[/sarcasm] So, you admit that Fire and Air lines works as they almost don’t exist in the game?

Aedil.1296:

why do i have to force myself go water and or earth whilst guardian and war can just use whatever they like and have fun and be always functional?

Please, read this again and understand what he really mean, not what you want him to mean to insult him and feel better.

Every class has broken traits. Elementalist is hardly the only one. OP is complaining about dying in 3 hits. That’s not a class problem, that’s a user problem. If you want to go play warrior or guardian by all means go do it. But don’t come to the elementalist forums and complain about builds that work, or that -you- can’t make the build work.

TheWarKeeper, GW1 system was more difficult only for entry. After you learned all skills and mechanics then created a good build, you can just press buttons in a proper rotation – work for a trained monkey. GW2 mechanics maybe easier to learn, but more difficult to use, because it relies on your own reaction and attentiveness.

sorry mate when you are talking about reaction and attentiveness, thats GW1 talk too, especially “attentiveness” xD but just pressing in the proper rotation like a trained monkey, well since youre pushing it a tad bit, i can say the same about gw2 no? whats the difference again? especially when ure forced to choose their skills from their own lists rather than u putting ur choosen skills in the bar as you please it also makes it less creative and less synergic.

Im not saying gw2 is a bad game, but gw2 beying a hard game? or ele a very difficult to master class? i disagree entirely coming from gw1.

Aedil.1296:

I’m angry.
I don’t know what have u done with the elementalist but i cannot go on this way.
I’m going to delete this lvl 80 ele and make a guardian, ranger or a war to be at the same level as the other classes.

It’s not possible i have lvl 80 exotic armor traited all defensive with water and earth using mistform arcane shield and every kind of protection i can use and stilli die after 3 hits in WvW or PvP.

I played 6 years the original guildwars and i loved my ele every single day, GW2 really pissed me off.

thanks

EDIT: lvl 42 thief with ugly gear is actually more resistant than ele 80 full exotic, guardian lvl 62 with warden armor (tier 2) is about 3 times more resistant -.-" i just have no words

EDIT2: Calle with lvl 62 guardian i can actually manage 2/3 ppl in WvW with ele barely 1 and yes my main is always been ele and i started with it since beta, it’s not a matter or L2P trust me is a matter that after beta ele sucks.

Dear Aedil.

The elementalist is not a profession which rely on passive defense to achieve max levels of survivability, rather the ele is one of the few professions which can stack vigor boon consistently and increase endurance regeneration in general.

Unless you get familiar with the concept of active defense, you will always fail with this profession, it’s as simple as that.

You’ve already got the tools to neutralize the one-hit trick builds from other profession, you just need to learn how to time them right and how to retaliate in all kindness.

Like you I’m a GW1 veteran, an ele player for 6 years, in the end I reached a level where not class was a match, toward the end I started running lightning surge and armour of earth, I was ble to 2-shot professions by timing surge with lightning orb followed by lightning bolt lol.

The same concepts which applied in GW1 can be applied in GW2 for an ele : 1) positioning, 2) knowledge, 3) perseverance. Start by making a char with the profession you lose most to , practice a lot your dodge abilities until you learn to predict the enemy next move.

In all honesty a great ele is my most feared enemy to face because eles….are unpredictable with all their versality, we can adapt on the fly leaving the foe with zero infos about our next move, recently I fought Phantaram in 1vs1 and …man he was a pain in the kitten because eles are the only ones who can counter my builds…ha the irony, not even mesmers come close to level of frustation I get when fightning a great ele.

I fully support your re-rolling to a ranger as an attempt to find a better class. Meanwhile, I’ll be 1v3-ing in WvW.

Aedil.1296:

EDIT2: Calle with lvl 62 guardian i can actually manage 2/3 ppl in WvW with ele barely 1 and yes my main is always been ele and i started with it since beta, it’s not a matter or L2P trust me is a matter that after beta ele sucks.

Lol…just lol. I don’t need to trust you because I know you are wrong. I play an Elementalist myself. I own with it. I often find myself 1v3ing people and dropping them all. There’s NO ONE I face in PvP that I don’t feel I have a chance to beat. If I lose I always put up a good fight.
So no trust me, this is a L2P issue.

Dacromir.6207:

Two videos that prove you wrong.
Here’s a video of an Elementalist fighting a zerg. Yeah, she totally dies in seconds. She definitely doesn’t hold off far greater numbers for a really long time, and even get a few kills.

Bad example… the zerg is a bunch of auto attack noobs, I think they were more concerned with taking the supply point then killing the elementalist by far. Pretty hilarious to see though. Good use of escapes, but the best part is when the ele just turns around and run straight through again for no good reason and barely take damage. Cant say its skill more than lack of skill being demonstrated here.

Calle.8746:

Aedil.1296:

EDIT2: Calle with lvl 62 guardian i can actually manage 2/3 ppl in WvW with ele barely 1 and yes my main is always been ele and i started with it since beta, it’s not a matter or L2P trust me is a matter that after beta ele sucks.

Lol…just lol. I don’t need to trust you because I know you are wrong. I play an Elementalist myself. I own with it. I often find myself 1v3ing people and dropping them all. There’s NO ONE I face in PvP that I don’t feel I have a chance to beat. If I lose I always put up a good fight.
So no trust me, this is a L2P issue.

Might I respectfully submit that both of you are wrong?

I think it’s just a matter of playstyle. Each of the 8 classes has a certain playstyle that’s distinct from the others. Likewise, each player has a different playstyle. It could just be that Calle’s playstyle meshes really well with Elementalist, but Aedil’s playstyle doesn’t? Maybe Aedil is a better match for Guardian.

I’m a thief. I’m a good thief, objectively. I leap into 3v1s and 4v1s in WvW all the time, and frequently come out on top. I have no issues surviving PvE content in melee range, and I can count on one hand the number of people who can consistently (more than 50%) beat me in a 1v1 so far.

I’ve played, at one time or another, Warrior, Necro, Ranger, and Elementalist. With all of them, I could be a decent or even good player. I would never die in solo PvE (except to champions or gross stupidity), and I would do decently in PvP. However, I could never reach the level of skill I can with my Thief. It could be that Thieves are overpowered, but I don’t think so (especially not the way I play it).

There are several people in my guild that are roughly equal in skill to me. We either duel eachother to a standstill (no kill after 5+ minutes of fighting) or have a 40-60% win ratio. They’re all non-thief classes. A couple of them have played Thief before, and none of them were able to get beyond “good” on their thieves. So they had the same success with my class that I had with theirs. Thief is best for me, Warrior/Elementalist/etc is best for them.

I think it’s hard to see this from your point of view. Elementalist does epic things for you, Calle, because it fits you. If you’re making a judgement based only on your experience, it’s a logical conclusion that anyone who cannot play as well as you is not as good of a player. However, they could be an equally skilled player, but with a style of play that doesn’t fit well with Elementalist. This would make them perform far worse than you on an Elementalist, even though you’re of equal skill.

Likewise, Aedil, I don’t think anyone can argue the fact that Elementalists can do awesome things. So if you’re not able to play that well as an Elementalist, then there are basically two reasonable explanations. Either you’re playing badly, or Elementalist isn’t the class for you. You pick which one.

Either way, whining on the forums isn’t helping anything and just makes you look bad.

I’d give some other classes a try if I were you.

Dacromir.6207:

Might I respectfully submit that both of you are wrong?

I think it’s just a matter of playstyle. Each of the 8 classes has a certain playstyle that’s distinct from the others. Likewise, each player has a different playstyle. It could just be that Calle’s playstyle meshes really well with Elementalist, but Aedil’s playstyle doesn’t? Maybe Aedil is a better match for Guardian.

This essentially means L2P, as in, L2P Elementalist. I actually find that your post supports Calle, rather than the opposite. Though you believe each person has a specific playstyle and can’t surpass good outside of it, I, on the other hand, believe that players can adapt to any class, if they take the time to understand it.

Gisei.5749:

Dacromir.6207:

Might I respectfully submit that both of you are wrong?

I think it’s just a matter of playstyle. Each of the 8 classes has a certain playstyle that’s distinct from the others. Likewise, each player has a different playstyle. It could just be that Calle’s playstyle meshes really well with Elementalist, but Aedil’s playstyle doesn’t? Maybe Aedil is a better match for Guardian.

This essentially means L2P, as in, L2P Elementalist. I actually find that your post supports Calle, rather than the opposite. Though you believe each person has a specific playstyle and can’t surpass good outside of it, I, on the other hand, believe that players can adapt to any class, if they take the time to understand it.

Wot? no way, are u trying to tell me that im not the best player in the world for using ele and l2p good with such spaceship (ele) in comparison to a bumper car (other classes)? pfft i dont wanna hear any more of this! ele is hard to master but im good!

Aedil,

Do you have a free character slot? If so, I strongly recommend against deleting. Roll a thief or a guardian if you like (trying out new professions is always a good thing), but you’re much better off retiring your Elementalist and letting it collect dust if you’re not having any fun, than outright deleting it permanently.

ANet does not currently restore deleted characters, and if you change your mind a few months down the road, or if the meta changes and you want to try out the Elementalist again, you’ll regret deleting your character.

Play another character if you want, but don’t delete unless you absolutely have no free slots left.

Kilger.5490:

Dacromir.6207:

Two videos that prove you wrong.
Here’s a video of an Elementalist fighting a zerg. Yeah, she totally dies in seconds. She definitely doesn’t hold off far greater numbers for a really long time, and even get a few kills.

Bad example… the zerg is a bunch of auto attack noobs, I think they were more concerned with taking the supply point then killing the elementalist by far. Pretty hilarious to see though. Good use of escapes, but the best part is when the ele just turns around and run straight through again for no good reason and barely take damage. Cant say its skill more than lack of skill being demonstrated here.

lol, even my ranger can do that.
It’s not hard fighting scrubs that’s not geared right.
For all we know, those were botters as they are plentiful in WvWvW. A lot also sends an invite to a party, then that bot follows player and attacks what the person is attacking. Until disband and dead, the bot goes back to the start area and finds more people to follow. Many do camps over and over for monies.

In the video, that was a lack of a lot of skill. You can see the person takes nearly no damage. Even with a lot of armor, I take a lot more to people who are capable of playing decent.

Certainly, the person who stated he can win them all, even 1v3.4.5.6.7.8. You haven’t faced a RANGER that has acceptable gear that actually knows how to play decently..

Rangers are a free kill no matter what their gear is. I’ve face against really good people of each type of class…..except….

Yup ranger. Because there are no “skilled” rangers yet because they don’t exist. You will get owned in duels as a ranger because the class just isn’t that good right now except to keep people off walls.

While I expect so of the many elementalist bugs to get fixed, I highly doubt they’re just going to throw a huge damage increase our way like many people want. Until they rework the whole elementalist this will remain the high skill cap class (or unless they rework all the others…yeah right). Some people will be good at it. Most people will be really bad at it because it’s 4x more complex than all the other classes.

lol how do u still die in 3hit if ur fully traited and gear for survival. what did u do? go take 3 kill shot in a row without doing anything?. i run full glass cannon(30/30/10/0/0) in WvW and while i can go down on 2hits i rarely every get downed in 2hits, the main threat is really, thieves but even then, not 3 hits not even 5 if u use ur skills right most thieves are just HS spammers arcaneshield easily take care of that burst. theres obviously something wrong with how u play ur ele or u arent geared/traited the way u said u are. of course, if u went and take 3 treb shot in the face and died…. yea sure

They’ll fix the bugs and balance things eventually, don’t worry about it.

Gisei.5749:

This essentially means L2P, as in, L2P Elementalist. I actually find that your post supports Calle, rather than the opposite. Though you believe each person has a specific playstyle and can’t surpass good outside of it, I, on the other hand, believe that players can adapt to any class, if they take the time to understand it.

Adapting to smth and being natural are 2 different things. If you don’t have a talent to draw, working hard might improve your skill enough for you to be able to study architecture. But you’ll never be an artist. Unlike that guy(and we all know one) who can just take a pencil and draw a masterpiece in 5 mins without even thinking about it. I can put as much effort and time as I want in a dps class, but I will always be a better healer. Because that’s what I’m good at.And if you put the effort into smth you already have a talent for, you’ll become exceptional at it. If you focus your effort on smth you suck at to begin with, you’ll be decent at best.

TWMagimay.9057:

Gisei.5749:

This essentially means L2P, as in, L2P Elementalist. I actually find that your post supports Calle, rather than the opposite. Though you believe each person has a specific playstyle and can’t surpass good outside of it, I, on the other hand, believe that players can adapt to any class, if they take the time to understand it.

Adapting to smth and being natural are 2 different things. If you don’t have a talent to draw, working hard might improve your skill enough for you to be able to study architecture. But you’ll never be an artist. Unlike that guy(and we all know one) who can just take a pencil and draw a masterpiece in 5 mins without even thinking about it. I can put as much effort and time as I want in a dps class, but I will always be a better healer. Because that’s what I’m good at.And if you put the effort into smth you already have a talent for, you’ll become exceptional at it. If you focus your effort on smth you suck at to begin with, you’ll be decent at best.

This is quite true.

And i believe the problem lays in GW2 combat system. I am a hardcore warrior player no matter what MMO my main always a warrior. But i was suck in every MMO warrior because the combat system is based on STAT only, you control is only focused on skill bar, you barely need movement, positioning and reflexes. The ideal warrior in my mind is in medium armor, high mobility, high damage and able to gap closing, swing the big weapon and back off without being seriously hit. But all MMO based on STAT once you being targeted, no matter how you run and jump, the hit still connect. Every trinity MMO made warrior into a tank or offtank where you need high def high HP to survive, and they killed all “Dodge tank” build in order to class balance, this is my hate upon trinity MMO.

Here in GW2, my dreams come true, i don’t need to stack defense, i can stack high power and high vit in order to take some hit but survive. I made couple alt: mesmer, guardian, elementalist, ranger to mid – high lv, i’ve got 0 problem on every toon. Every toon died fewer than my warrior and all my alt play style is similar to how i play my warrior: reflexes + movement + positioning

This is the biggest differences GW2 to traditional MMO, and i’ve seen so many mages players they refuse to move and button smash their skill bar hoping to kill the foes before getting hit, this is not a viable option in GW2 imho. Therefore a player’s play style is critical in mix and match with GW2 combat system, this is where L2P issue is.

I have no such rage as OP’s, but I want to explain, what really dissapoints me. Elementalist was developed to be most flexible profession in the game, but when I play ele I feel really bulky and clumsy. It’s embarassing to be only member in a party who can’t switch attack range, speed and area. Tyria is great for exploration, so when I play other profession I feel like Indiana Jones, juping into deep caverns and abandoned temples. Sometimes my current setup isn’t good for encounter which I faced, but even that I can beat it with wit and avaible means. But not when I play ele, because ele needs specific setup and weapon for each encounter.
I don’t mean that ele is to difficult or even unplayeble for me. No. I mean ele is actually flexless. Clumsiest profession in the game.

Lol… Ever heard of evade? Learn it, use it, love it.

Ele > any other class:
- most evade skills
- most usefull utillities
- biggest AoE
- highest damage (15k churning earth is pretty OP)
- most stuns/knockdowns
- best healing
- best support
- best buffer

Really my ele > any other class any day of the week.

I wear full pow/pre/crit dam % in WvW and I hardly die. I can take out small-medium sized zergs within a few seconds. I can capture a supply camp within a minute. I can escape from massive zergs. I can hold down keeps with my staff aoe. etc etc etc

Ghertu.7096:

I have no such rage as OP’s, but I want to explain, what really dissapoints me. Elementalist was developed to be most flexible profession in the game, but when I play ele I feel really bulky and clumsy. It’s embarassing to be only member in a party who can’t switch attack range, speed and area. Tyria is great for explaration, so when I play other profession I feel like Indiana Jones, juping into deep caverns and abandoned temples. Sometimes my current setup isn’t good for encounter which I faced, but even that I can beat it with wit and avaible means. But not when I play ele, because ele needs specific setup and weapon for each encounter.
I don’t mean that ele is to difficult or even unplayeble for me. No. I mean ele is actually flexless. Clumsiest profession in the game.

I understand your concern, just trying to share a small example to one single “limited” situation. This happens mostly on Staff, when foes come into my melee range, i mostly use earth 2 with huge bleeding so that i can move freely while foes bleed to death. Cast earth 2 on foe, and it go through the area happily, i will dodge INTO foe and go into my earth AoE zone, foe will turn around and it got hit by my earth 2, run around and use earth 2 again with the same tactics, pop earth armor or acane shield if needed.

Many players feel earth 2 is hard to hit moving foes, but i use it when solo A LOT, no matter how we positioning ourselves, there are ways to lurk foes into the AoE zone, i don’t always needed to swap element and it is fun to lurk couple foes into the AoE. Remember it is your movement to gain control of your foes, that’s what GW2 PvE combat fun is imho.

Many skills are not as straight forward as you see, many weapon skills require more tactical mind and reflexes to get the most out of it, like chunking earth with lighting flash combo, use your creativity, isn’t that all fantasy story mages are supposed good at? Playing ele straight forward like a warrior thats the reason someone claims warrior is easier to play with.

Crossaber.8934:

And i believe the problem lays in GW2 combat system. I am a hardcore warrior player no matter what MMO my main always a warrior. But i was suck in every MMO warrior because the combat system is based on STAT only, you control is only focused on skill bar, you barely need movement, positioning and reflexes. The ideal warrior in my mind is in medium armor, high mobility, high damage and able to gap closing, swing the big weapon and back off without being seriously hit. But all MMO based on STAT once you being targeted, no matter how you run and jump, the hit still connect. Every trinity MMO made warrior into a tank or offtank where you need high def high HP to survive, and they killed all “Dodge tank” build in order to class balance, this is my hate upon trinity MMO.

Here in GW2, my dreams come true, i don’t need to stack defense, i can stack high power and high vit in order to take some hit but survive. I made couple alt: mesmer, guardian, elementalist, ranger to mid – high lv, i’ve got 0 problem on every toon. Every toon died fewer than my warrior and all my alt play style is similar to how i play my warrior: reflexes + movement + positioning

This is the biggest differences GW2 to traditional MMO, and i’ve seen so many mages players they refuse to move and button smash their skill bar hoping to kill the foes before getting hit, this is not a viable option in GW2 imho. Therefore a player’s play style is critical in mix and match with GW2 combat system, this is where L2P issue is.

I don’t know what MMOs you played…or exactly how lame warriors are in other games…but as a healer, I always had to be aware of skills going off around me, my position, that of my team. You don’t need a big button with “dodge” tag on it to actively avoid dmg(most MMOs feature point-and-click aoes that won’t hit you unless you stand in them and also aoes around the char).

Trinity has nothing to do with how classes work. My last MMO had exactly the class you are describing only called slayer and not warrior. And it is a trinity MMO.

Lastly, GW2 is not really special in class matching. You are either good at smth or you aren’t. How the combat works has nothing to do with it. A bad ranger in any game will still be a bad ranger in GW2.

TWMagimay.9057:

Crossaber.8934:

And i believe the problem lays in GW2 combat system. I am a hardcore warrior player no matter what MMO my main always a warrior. But i was suck in every MMO warrior because the combat system is based on STAT only, you control is only focused on skill bar, you barely need movement, positioning and reflexes. The ideal warrior in my mind is in medium armor, high mobility, high damage and able to gap closing, swing the big weapon and back off without being seriously hit. But all MMO based on STAT once you being targeted, no matter how you run and jump, the hit still connect. Every trinity MMO made warrior into a tank or offtank where you need high def high HP to survive, and they killed all “Dodge tank” build in order to class balance, this is my hate upon trinity MMO.

Here in GW2, my dreams come true, i don’t need to stack defense, i can stack high power and high vit in order to take some hit but survive. I made couple alt: mesmer, guardian, elementalist, ranger to mid – high lv, i’ve got 0 problem on every toon. Every toon died fewer than my warrior and all my alt play style is similar to how i play my warrior: reflexes + movement + positioning

This is the biggest differences GW2 to traditional MMO, and i’ve seen so many mages players they refuse to move and button smash their skill bar hoping to kill the foes before getting hit, this is not a viable option in GW2 imho. Therefore a player’s play style is critical in mix and match with GW2 combat system, this is where L2P issue is.

I don’t know what MMOs you played…or exactly how lame warriors are in other games…but as a healer, I always had to be aware of skills going off around me, my position, that of my team. You don’t need a big button with “dodge” tag on it to actively avoid dmg(most MMOs feature point-and-click aoes that won’t hit you unless you stand in them and also aoes around the char).

Trinity has nothing to do with how classes work. My last MMO had exactly the class you are describing only called slayer and not warrior. And it is a trinity MMO.

Lastly, GW2 is not really special in class matching. You are either good at smth or you aren’t. How the combat works has nothing to do with it. A bad ranger in any game will still be a bad ranger in GW2.

You either don’t read me clear or i am not speaking clearly. I am not objecting your last reply, i am agree with you, where the play style of the player does matters. What i am also telling the combat system played a role in what you say mix and match…

Class play style + Player play style + Game mechanics is what giving the result

My case is: most trinity based MMO makes armored class into tank, they can go melee only and to survive they need high HP and high def to endure the big AoE from bosses, there no matter how my warrior build toward dps, i am dead because i sacrifice def and hp for more damage. I have no option to dodge either… end of my story.

What i am telling, the way i loved to build my warrior is my play style, i can merge into GW2 easily, but to some players they adapted the trinity style where someone tank and someone heal, the ranged dps have a easier life because they can move away from point blank AoE easier but they probably not get used to the lower dps as ranged and need to dodge a lot as healer is not as powerful.

There are a lot of players don’t have dodge in mind and i am quite positive here. My friend got more MMO exp then me and used to tank quite well in a WoW copycat we used to play. But he died a lot more in GW2 as a guardian compare to any of my toons even to my ele. Because he already build up his play style according to trinity play style MMO, fight head on, toe to toe, rely heavily on gear stat and healing to stay alive rather than well positioning, a lot of movements and pop def or interrupt skill at the right timing! A good tank in WoW not necessary a good tank in GW2, i never play as tank like my friend in WoW copycat but i am a better tank in GW2.

Dacromir.6207:

Two videos that prove you wrong.

Here is me fighting a D/D Elementalist. Just look at all that self-healing, protection, stability, and mobility.

Here’s a video of an Elementalist fighting a zerg. Yeah, she totally dies in seconds. She definitely doesn’t hold off far greater numbers for a really long time, and even get a few kills.

This proves what? 2nd video proves that he’s fighting a bunch of keyboard turning clickers with god knows what builds if anything and the ele has a proper build and a working knowledge of his class.

And most of the time anyone is proving how ele is uber awsome crazy class they put defensive D/D or staff spec as “proof” or D/D with 2 arcane utilities and try to sell it as zomg burst (oh great, have to sacrifice utility slots to achieve similar damage to other classes).
———-
Viable build variety, that’s the problem with eles, but god forbid anyone mentions ele is not 100% ok, coz everything is l2p issue it seems. Oh, and judging by the comments the amount of skills a class has obviously makes it automatically uber hard to play and a better class (go play Aion or something, 4+ skillbars of stuff keybinded).

TWMagimay.9057:

Gisei.5749:

This essentially means L2P, as in, L2P Elementalist. I actually find that your post supports Calle, rather than the opposite. Though you believe each person has a specific playstyle and can’t surpass good outside of it, I, on the other hand, believe that players can adapt to any class, if they take the time to understand it.

Adapting to smth and being natural are 2 different things. If you don’t have a talent to draw, working hard might improve your skill enough for you to be able to study architecture. But you’ll never be an artist. Unlike that guy(and we all know one) who can just take a pencil and draw a masterpiece in 5 mins without even thinking about it. I can put as much effort and time as I want in a dps class, but I will always be a better healer. Because that’s what I’m good at.And if you put the effort into smth you already have a talent for, you’ll become exceptional at it. If you focus your effort on smth you suck at to begin with, you’ll be decent at best.

Fair enough, but unlike Art, which is boundless, a Video Game has boundaries. Learning these, combined with practice, can allow anyone to excel at any profession in any area of the game. Art, on the other hand, will always leave room to expand, giving someone with talent a head start that someone without talent may never catch up to. Assuming they both work equally hard at it, the one without talent can reach the level that the one with was at, but the one with talent will have long left that level. In more time, he could again reach the level of the one with talent, but the one with talent has once again gone farther.

I don’t believe that one can be naturally superior at one profession than another. He may go into one with a mindset that is more applicable within that profession’s utilities, giving what could appear as natural talent, but learning another profession’s strengths and adjusting one’s mindset to compliment it, will allow success at another. He could potentially reach the skill cap for multiple professions.

Perhaps I’m just being biased though, personally being able to pick any role of any game, and with time, excelling within it.

Gisei.5749:

Fair enough, but unlike Art, which is boundless, a Video Game has boundaries. Learning these, combined with practice, can allow anyone to excel at any profession in any area of the game. Art, on the other hand, will always leave room to expand, giving someone with talent a head start that someone without talent may never catch up to. Assuming they both work equally hard at it, the one without talent can reach the level that the one with was at, but the one with talent will have long left that level. In more time, he could again reach the level of the one with talent, but the one with talent has once again gone farther.

I don’t believe that one can be naturally superior at one profession than another. He may go into one with a mindset that is more applicable within that profession’s utilities, giving what could appear as natural talent, but learning another profession’s strengths and adjusting one’s mindset to compliment it, will allow success at another. He could potentially reach the skill cap for multiple professions.

Perhaps I’m just being biased though, personally being able to pick any role of any game, and with time, excelling within it.

Let me put it a bit different. Guy A can draw real good. Guy B can sing real good. Sure, guy B can go and put a lot of effort into drawing, but if guy B would put the same effort into singing, guy B could be the next insert famous singer here.

And, yes, there are some people who are simply good at games, they can take any class, any game and play it like a pro. There are also people who are mediocre at everything but think they are pro. But most people excel at one thing only while performing mediocre at another. It might also have smth to do with what people actually enjoy doing. But I have seen enough people playing their mains and their alts… My best example… In my last game my gaming partner started off as a warrior. He was good at it, but not really exceptional. Then he decided to roll a lancer, to see how it goes. By lvl 20 it was already obvious that he’ll be an exceptional tank. He’d never played a tank before(mostly healers and rangers), yet that class just clicked for him. Without putting in any effort whatsoever, he became the single best tank on the server in 1 month. While our awesome archer…he tried to tank…. I healed both of them. The difference in performance was huge. Just like I’m a decent dps, good tank and awesome healer. I always do the research, put in effort. Healing is what I do best. And the more effort I put into it, the better I get. As a dps I eventually hit a wall than I just can’t progress past.

Short version: Working hard at smth can make you better, but it’d never make you as good as you could be if you worked at smth you are already good at. Obviously, OP is not a good ele. In which case rerolling is the logic step. Because once you realise you aren’t good at smth, you stop enjoying it….

Elementalists are clearly underpowered, but it’s not as bad as you’re making it seem. They can still be really good, we just have to work twice as hard for 90% the effect.

Ele4Life!

Blaine Tog.8304:

Elementalists are clearly underpowered, but it’s not as bad as you’re making it seem. They can still be really good, we just have to work twice as hard for 90% the effect.

Ele4Life!

hehe yeah pretty much this , at least from my experience with my 3 lvls 80 , necro/ele/guard.

Well , im not into having extra work to get the same result , so im leaving mine out for now. Still give her pretty equips anyway.

Students, Doll Bludgers, & Nobodies:- Having a try at Philosophy.

The fact that some classes are “easy mode” and others are “hard mode” already shows unbalance imo.

P.S. It’s not really that complicated, I don’t think that’s the issue.

You know this happens in basically every single video game that has multiple classes right? Especially MMOs. There’s always a class that is “hard mode” and one that is “easy mode”.

Kuthos.9623:

You know this happens in basically every single video game that has multiple classes right? Especially MMOs. There’s always a class that is “hard mode” and one that is “easy mode”.

Usually higher difficulty is rewarded in some way though. In previous trinity MMOs it is typically the tanks and healers that are ‘hard-mode’ and they are rewarded by being highly desirable for groups. It’s either that or they are capable of performing better in some way.

The trouble here is everyone is a hybrid. As a result ele’s do not have anything another profession cannot do. This leaves their difficulty unrewarded and inevitably people think it is unfair.

What a lot of people in these threads don’t seem to get is that ANet sold itself on the concept of picking your profession based on aesthetics and play style. A lot of people find the ele play style to be very fun but find they are incapable of matching what other professions can do. Telling them to play another profession when ele is the one they actually like seems a bit thoughtless.

While some of the complaints are overblown, I have to say that compared to Warrior, Ranger or Engineer (the three classes I’ve played to 80 so far) my Elementalist feels pretty underpowered.

I should have named my character Rincewind, since the epic personal storyline consists of me fleeing at top speed from everything under the sun hoping to be saved by heroic NPCs.

I can 2v1 pretty easily. I can 3v1 with some luck and depending on the classes involved.

I can port into the middle of a zerg, unleash aoes in the middle of them, down 4 people and get out. I can rain down aoe from walls. I can heal allies. I have the best mobility in the game. I’m pretty much as tough as a guardian.

Wait….what’s the problem again? I think the difficulty is rewarding me just fine.

I wanted to play a warrior. I almost always play some sort of melee / tank in most MMOS. But it turns out I don’t like the warrior here. Too much of the same 3 buttons over and over. So I switched to elementalist and I love it.

So should I be crying that I don’t like to play my warrior?

Kuthos.9623:

I can 2v1 pretty easily. I can 3v1 with some luck and depending on the classes involved.

I can port into the middle of a zerg, unleash aoes in the middle of them, down 4 people and get out. I can rain down aoe from walls. I can heal allies. I have the best mobility in the game. I’m pretty much as tough as a guardian.

Wait….what’s the problem again? I think the difficulty is rewarding me just fine.

I wanted to play a warrior. I almost always play some sort of melee / tank in most MMOS. But it turns out I don’t like the warrior here. Too much of the same 3 buttons over and over. So I switched to elementalist and I love it.

So should I be crying that I don’t like to play my warrior?

I felt you, I am hardcore warrior player and i do love my warrior. Then i played ele and mesmer, i just found that both classes can do far more and further than my warrior able to.

To my guessing, warrior class player tends to play with reflexes and calculate enemy attack range and seek chance to close gap and hit. The warrior practices applied to ele and mesmer along with their better survival ability, the result is obvious. My ele and mesmer can do some very hard content alone where my warrior can’t. I am not saying they are easier to play but the reward is far better than expected.

I just went through the grawl tunnel in Frostgorge Sound, playing entirely one-handed (i.e. mousing everything), in a 20-10-0-10-30 S/D build, barely dodging or evading at all, and thus benefiting from only 5 of my 7 traits.

I.e., the problems with elementalist in PvE are surmountable.

Unfortunately, scepter doesn’t work in any form of PvP due to the slow hits. But while I play neither D/D, sPvP, or WvWvW, I lean to believing the folks who say that elementalist is a viable class that just needs a lot of bug fixes and probably also a few true buffs after some of the bugs are taken care of.