Guild Wars 2

Hiya.

So, I am currently downloading GW2 after having purchased it earlier today. I’ll just prefice this by saying that I am a veteran gamer that is very competetive.

Usually I enjoy playing a magic user such as a Mage in WoW, Wizard in Diablo 3, Witch in Path of Exile and Sorceress in Diablo 2 (you get the idea). In GW2 the equivalent appears to be the Elementalist. That’s all fine and dandy, but after having read a bit around multiple forums I’ve seen people in general consider Elementalists to be just plain bad in PvE – is this the case? I’ve seen posts stating that they do laughable DPS compared to others, their healing isn’t even close to as good as a Guardians and their tanking potential cannot match heavier armour users. Is all of this true?

As much as I like playing a Mage that utilises the elements to to their bidding, I dislike playing a blatantly underpowered class even more. I need to feel like I’m contributing a great deal to the group by exceling at something vital, such as DPS or healing.

Is it the case that Elementalists are rather bad at the moment, and if not – which aspects of PvE do they outshine other classes at?

Thanks in advance for your insightful answers.

~Kira

Edit: I have gotten PMs which I cannot yet reply to as my account is very new. Rest assured that they are not being ignored – I am taking them to heart. Thank you ever so much.

Also when leveling take in mind that it can be very discouraging. Ele is a class that starts to shine with traits that synergise and your armor. See it as polishing a diamond in the begin it will be rough and ugly but in the end it’ll pay off.

I have had a feeling that it’s just the usual venting of frustration on the forums – those posts I usually ignore. I just read a few posts that seemed to analyze it a bit further and came to the conclusion that Elementalists were quite good in PvP but rather bad in PvE. Either way it’s the class I’ll be picking up. I’d dislike going with another class without at the very least checking if I enjoy the ‘pure’ mage of GW2. :)

Thank you for the answer.

~Kira

Edit: That’s fine, Ptolomy. From other games I’m used to leveling a character without assigning attributes and skill points for many levels in order to make sure it is an optimised character at a later point when they can be better spent. I’m fine with a rough leveling process as long as the end result is good. :)

If you played a mage in warcraft, the closest that an ele` can be resembled to those are as fire mages, but without the high damage & not quite the same quality of cc. Oh, & less survivability
If you`re thinking frost or arcane, the ele` isn`t even close to kitten good as those.

It can be fun, sort of, just necro is probably closer to the real mage class.

The fact is that ele is very strong in every aspect of the game. Playing DD, you can DPS, support and tank very efficiently.
On forum, people only understand “big number” when it comes to DPS, ignoring the buff power which the ele is the best to provide. And when you’ll get the fiery great sword, you’ll see that ele have the highest burst of the game (on a ennemy sticked to a wall, but we’re talking about pve )

Arcane mage….good? 111121111211112…Sounds more like a GS warrior….

Anyway, I’d have to say yes and no on the typical caster thing as an Ele. Ele is much more like an Elemental Shaman (using Scepter), Enhancement Shaman (using Dagger MH), or…yeah…typical mage (using Staff). Its damage isn’t the major focus. We have pretty low stats and eh damage on our own…but we cover that up by stacking the boon called Might.

If you want a more…typical caster experience, I would suggest running a Deathshroud based Necromancer. It does a lot of direct damage and feels more like a caster…but is much more…annoying to level than Elementalist.

One last thing I’ll say is that levelling in GW2 is nowhere near as tedious as other games. Sure you don’t have traits early on, but they’re not as necessary to the game as talent points are in other MMOs. And you also fight a big boss at… I’m just going to let you find that one out.

If PvE is your focus and you want a spellcaster, roll a Guardian. Roll Ele as an alt.

If I may…
I much prefer to play a Magi, Archer other ranged class; and I’m awful at melee; and yet my poor mishandled War is so much more effective than my Mage;

As Magi we are not the DPS bombs we could be in GW1 and other games, because the Devs wanted to get away from the Holy Trinity; but we got to keep having the lowest Armor and HP pool in the game; so we retain all our weaknesses and sacrifice all our traditional strengths and this makes the game better balanced; not.

I’m sorry I don’t believe the Criticisms are all sour grapes; again I should not outperform my favorite class across games, playing a melee class I usually suck with; the Devs simply did not get that balance right. One thing I will say, GW2 is much better played with a Partner than solo as a general rule and doubly soo for the Ele, if you have a freindly war who can soak up some of the Agg for you; the class works a lot better.

Elementalist does not make a good first class, IMHO. If you would like a magey feel try a Mesmer instead. I have some advice on my signature for new players so check those too since you’ve just acquired the game.

The Mesmer’s damage is nothing spectacular but you get to play a lot safer since enemies tend to be distracted by them. It’s a bit like a pet class in the aspect of agro sharing, and if things go bad they can stealth and run away. Plus they are very support heavy and a very welcome class in high level instances.

Elementalist can do great things too (mainly constantly throwing heals and increase the party’s damage even if theirs is not as high as some other classes), but like I said I would recommend something easier to get used to GW2.

Oh I am not at all concerned with the difficulty of playing classes. I’m a rather quick learner and, if I may be a bit bold, a very good player as proven by extremely high world rankings throughout other games.

When people say ‘Oh this class has so many buttons, it’s hard!’ I just think ‘Awesome, that class has more possibilities than others’ – it’s not about difficulty.

It makes me a bit sad to see so many people say that Elementalists aren’t particularly great at damaging though, as DPS and healing are the loves of my MMO-‘life’. In WoW I mained a Mage from 2006-2013 and loved it to bits, main alts were Warlock, Priest and Rogue if that tells you something. In Diablo 2 I played predominantly Paladin and Sorc on multiple ladders into the very high 90s, et cetera.

As far as I’ve understood, the Elementalist is more like the elemental Mage of WoW, while the Mesmer is more of an illusionist (arcane?) typey and the Necromancer is more focused around debuffs, being annoying and is perhaps a bit tankier than the other casters. Would this be a correct statement?

Since it apparently doesn’t take long to level to 80 I’ll do that as an Elementalist first though and see how I like it. If it’s not for me then I’ll try out one of the other two casters.

Thanks again for the responses, looking forward to new ones!

~Kira

With regard to PvE:

Elementalist DPS is actually really high with Lightning Hammer. And its DPS with a more offensive-oritented spec is not terrible.

Given that…. look, I really would suggest Guardian, then Mesmer first. Guardian in particular is just so strong, and it is a very magic-based class, flavor-wise. Mesmer is also a very magical character with tons of utility and some great burst DPS in PvP formats.

Elementalist is… it’s a very hard class to play. And it requires a ton of work to be good, and it’s true, if you can manage to play something like the LH spec, you will indeed do insane DPS. But if you’re hoping to play a ranged caster who sits in the back and casts fireball, you will do absolutely miserable DPS.

With regard to WvW:

Staff Elementalist excels in this format and is very strong, with huge AoEs and great supportive skills that get very strong in zerg fights. If you really have your heart set on playing a casty character doing casty stuff while being an Elementalist, stick to WvW zerging.

If you’re more of a PvE player, try a Guardian or Mesmer first, and roll Ele as an alt. I love Ele, but it’s just very hard for the effort you put into it, and what you get out in return.

Neko.9021:

…Given that…. look, I really would suggest Guardian, then Mesmer first…

…If you’re more of a PvE player, try a Guardian or Mesmer first, and roll Ele as an alt. I love Ele, but it’s just very hard for the effort you put into it, and what you get out in return.

Neko, I have to say that I am SHOCKED to see you steering someone away from the Ele. The sticky-ed Ele guide you wrote is fantastic — well thought out, well researched, and just generally well put together.

At OP:
Don’t be dissuaded by the naysayers on the forums. It is true that Ele’s aren’t the best at any particular thing in the game (the Lightning Hammer Build Neko keeps referring to is really strong in terms of DPS though), but they are usually the second best. At everything.

The pistol in the original Halo is to the other weapons in Halo what the Ele in GW2 is to other professions in GW2. That is to say that most people would agree the pistol in Halo was overpowered because in had no real weakness. The same could be said about the Ele (yes, we have the lowest hitpoints combined with the lowest armor rating but that does not make us inherently weak).

It comes down to situational awareness and knowledge of the tools at your disposal. All of them. To be truly effective as an Ele you even have to consider things like terrain advantages/disadvantages, as well as all of your abilities, combo fields/finishers, what your allies are currently doing, etc…

It sounds to me like you will LOVE the Ele once you wrap your head around GW2’s combat mechanics. : )

DaBeetus