Guild Wars 2

Lets assume that all of our skills actually worked as intended, Do you feel we are balanced?

My opinion from a d/d stand point: I think that we could use a boost to dmg. I see other classes that do burst dmg builds dish out FAR more dmg than we do. Our survivability even as support build is pretty lacking too. But I can get away from any fight extremely easily, which doesn’t do much for me unless there is an unoccupied node to take.

What do you all think?

One thing you need to realize as DD is that not only do you have some of the best mobility in the game, you provide equal parts some of the best burst and best condition damage. I think DD Ele needs some help in the combo fields department, but the play-style is very hectic and hard to pick up in an sPvP environment. It works much better in a 5v5 setting.

No we are not.

D/D = Melee on the most squishy class with near to no survivability in close quarter fight. As well as less DPS then any other melee even tho we have the lowest survivability.
S/D = DPS is extremely delayed, lack luster, slow and no survivability at all.
S/F = DPS is extremely delayed and even worst then S/D but the survivability is what it should be for every ranged weapon.
D/F = DPS is lacking and the survivability abilities are made for ranged and not for melee.
Staff = DPS is absent, spells are extremely slows, extremely delayed and the CC is poor version of other professions CCs due to the near impossibility for it to work unless running away from people in strafe mode (Which will undoubtfully make people catch you as you are slower in strafe mode.)

This being said, only the focus is actually a good weapon. But only if used with the scepter… scepter which pretty much suck.

Staff needs to be made stronger, but everything else is fine.

I think that if they increased d/d air dmg, and adjusted some of the CDs on dagger offhand skills, and fixed all the bugs, then we would be a bit more inline, but as of right now I feel I have to work much harder to keep up with the other classes than they do.

I’d say, Ele is the most balanced/polished class there is atm. It is strong, yet not too strong. Sure, a few minor tweaks could help a few aspects, but they aren’t that important.
Every weapon (maybe exept focus) is viable. And there is a good build for each trait-tree… thats way more than other professions have.

In terms of strengh… Ele doesn’t deal as much dmg as other classes, an Ele can’t be as survivable as other classes. But you can combine all these aspects way better than other classes.
I love elementalist for this versatility… yes it comes at a cost, but it’s totally worth it.

D/D = Melee on the most squishy class with near to no survivability in close quarter fight.

With a good set of traits + amulett you are really survivable with d/d. There are some amazing defensive skills with this setup.

S/D = DPS is extremely delayed, lack luster, slow and no survivability at all.

I don’t understand how you could say that. You’ve got good survivability from the skills(2 heals, 2 aoe kd’s, earth shield, blind, vigor…) and can improve this survivability even further with traits + amulett, depending on the playstyle.

S/F = DPS is extremely delayed and even worst then S/D but the survivability is what it should be for every ranged weapon.

S/F isn’t good for a power build, I agree… but thats because focus lacks good skills in fire attunement. You can run an OK condition build with good survivability and dps, though it isn’t competetive imo, cause other classes fill that roll way better.

Staff = DPS is absent, spells are extremely slows, extremely delayed and the CC is poor version of other professions CCs due to the near impossibility for it to work unless running away from people in strafe mode (Which will undoubtfully make people catch you as you are slower in strafe mode.)

Yep, Staff got somewhat bad damage for sPvP since the staff nerf… but staff still got the option for a strong support specc. Good heal, good conditionremove, AoE damage that helps killing all the nasty phantasms and pets… overall good support.

With a good set of traits + amulett you are really survivable with d/d. There are some amazing defensive skills with this setup.

1. you have 10k base health and 2. you have the lowest toughness in the game which make melee for elementalist like a free kill for anyone. And NO there is NO amazing defensive skills with this setup. Because every single defensive CD for elementalist is a kitteny one. Only mist form is equal to other professions in term of defensive CD for utilities.

I don’t understand how you could say that. You’ve got good survivability from the skills(2 heals, 2 aoe kd’s, earth shield, blind, vigor…) and can improve this survivability even further with traits + amulett, depending on the playstyle.

Which means you have LESS then ANY other professions even with the best build ever made.

S/F isn’t good for a power build, I agree… but thats because focus lacks good skills in fire attunement. You can run an OK condition build with good survivability and dps, though it isn’t competetive imo, cause other classes fill that roll way better.

The Scepter break the set not the focus. The Focus bring the defense an elementalist require.

Yep, Staff got somewhat bad damage for sPvP since the staff nerf… but staff still got the option for a strong support specc. Good heal, good conditionremove, AoE damage that helps killing all the nasty phantasms and pets… overall good support.

Yes staff is a good support but elementalist will still get killed by anyone before you can do any kind of support.

1. you have 10k base health and 2. you have the lowest toughness in the game which make melee for elementalist like a free kill for anyone. And NO there is NO amazing defensive skills with this setup. Because every single defensive CD for elementalist is a kitteny one. Only mist form is equal to other professions in term of defensive CD for utilities.

d/d has one of the best defensive skills there is: Shocking Aura. That skill wins so many fights, in many situations it’s way better than mistform of anything. 2 aoe kd’s are pretty defensive as well and on top of that you’ve got amazing mobility.
And you can solve the low life + armor problem pretty easy with a Soldiers Amulett.

Which means you have LESS then ANY other professions even with the best build ever made.

I don’t know of any build that could prove your statement.

Yes staff is a good support but elementalist will still get killed by anyone before you can do any kind of support.

Never. With a support specc you usually have 30points in water and 30points in arcana that alone gives great survivability… add 1-3 stunbreak utility’s, a defensive amulett and you will bekittenhard to kill and offer great support.

Am i the only one that noticed ele’s are the best finishers/revivers in the game?

Runing mistform and earth armor makes you unstoppable.

Rerroll.9083:

Am i the only one that noticed ele’s are the best finishers/revivers in the game?

Runing mistform and earth armor makes you unstoppable.

Probably. I run 2 cantrips myself. The extra mobility/utility is awesome. More often than not, I see ele’s running around with Arcane Wave and Arcane Blast.

I don’t get arcane blast, personally. Wave is awesome for exploding your combo fields (aoe might or heal is insane from this), but blast is a projectile. Dubious value at best, especially since switching to earth gives you a spammable projectile finisher.

Gelrod.1295:

I’d say, Ele is the most balanced/polished class there is atm. It is strong, yet not too strong. Sure, a few minor tweaks could help a few aspects, but they aren’t that important.
Every weapon (maybe exept focus) is viable. And there is a good build for each trait-tree… thats way more than other professions have.

In terms of strengh… Ele doesn’t deal as much dmg as other classes, an Ele can’t be as survivable as other classes. But you can combine all these aspects way better than other classes.
I love elementalist for this versatility… yes it comes at a cost, but it’s totally worth it.

D/D = Melee on the most squishy class with near to no survivability in close quarter fight.

With a good set of traits + amulett you are really survivable with d/d. There are some amazing defensive skills with this setup.

S/D = DPS is extremely delayed, lack luster, slow and no survivability at all.

I don’t understand how you could say that. You’ve got good survivability from the skills(2 heals, 2 aoe kd’s, earth shield, blind, vigor…) and can improve this survivability even further with traits + amulett, depending on the playstyle.

S/F = DPS is extremely delayed and even worst then S/D but the survivability is what it should be for every ranged weapon.

S/F isn’t good for a power build, I agree… but thats because focus lacks good skills in fire attunement. You can run an OK condition build with good survivability and dps, though it isn’t competetive imo, cause other classes fill that roll way better.

Staff = DPS is absent, spells are extremely slows, extremely delayed and the CC is poor version of other professions CCs due to the near impossibility for it to work unless running away from people in strafe mode (Which will undoubtfully make people catch you as you are slower in strafe mode.)

Yep, Staff got somewhat bad damage for sPvP since the staff nerf… but staff still got the option for a strong support specc. Good heal, good conditionremove, AoE damage that helps killing all the nasty phantasms and pets… overall good support.

I have to agree with pretty much all you posted here, thanks for saving me the time to write it up. I really fail to see where these arguements are based off of. I have not have a problem in sPvP with my ele, sure certain class/build combos can be problematic, but you cant be strong against everything with 1 build. The only not viable spec is S/F because focus just isnt very good right now in pvp. D/D is problematic because of the squishiness of the class in melee range, it can work in some instances but I dont think it is very strong against many class/builds. S/D and Staff are great for spvp.

And I am not sure if the poster was stating these things off of hot join 8v8 pvp matches but that is not a good way to measure how a class performs, those matches are hardly competitive or balanced because all it is a zerg for the most part and anything but organized. I just go in there for some practice on my rotation when waiting for tourneys to come up. tPvP is where you really see how well a class is performing.

Rhoto.8791:

Lets assume that all of our skills actually worked as intended, Do you feel we are balanced?

My opinion from a d/d stand point: I think that we could use a boost to dmg. I see other classes that do burst dmg builds dish out FAR more dmg than we do. Our survivability even as support build is pretty lacking too. But I can get away from any fight extremely easily, which doesn’t do much for me unless there is an unoccupied node to take.

What do you all think?

I think the class is slightly underpowered with respect to some of the others and because of this I expect to see buffs from Anet coming in the future once they’ve had the opportunity to gather enough metrics to make informed decisions. No, I do not think the class is horribly broken as some of the threads on this message board would have you think.

I think we can expect to see slight buffs to our damage, but not too large as the class has too much utility to make us the the undisputed #1 damage dealers (as many here feel we should be). In addition, I think modest bumps to our passive defenses and/or crowd control abilities would help by keeping us alive longer and able to pump out more damage (with or without direct damage buffs).

All-in-all however, I love the class and will not change, buffs or not…

Rhoto.8791:

and adjusted some of the CDs on dagger offhand skills.

This I agree with as well. Generally speaking, the cooldowns on our #4 and #5 skills (regardless of the weapon of choice) are very long, yet these are our most powerful spells. I’m not asking for earthquake, for example, to have a 15 second cooldown (it’s currently 45 seconds), but 35 or 40 seconds wouldn’t be game-breaking either and would go a long way towards making the class play better.

I have played over 200 sPvP games, around 75% pickup and 25% tournament… and I have never even SEEN an elementalist. What does that tell you?

I’m sure they’re out there, but there’s a reason they’re hardly played in Spvp.

Z

Question for D/D players…

How much damage ends up being condition damage? It’s the only weapon set that I haven’t tested extensively as I don’t want to rely heavily on condition damage in sPvP.

I was always under the impression that they are just extremely high skill cap.

Juki

quite a bit of your dmg will be con dmg because fire attunement is where you will be doing the majority of your burst. I have done a con build with d/d and it was actually quite effective, but that build was too squishy.

juki.7539:

Question for D/D players…

How much damage ends up being condition damage? It’s the only weapon set that I haven’t tested extensively as I don’t want to rely heavily on condition damage in sPvP.

I’d estimate, depending on the lenght of the fight, about 6k~10k damage is inflicted by conditions (mostly burning, a bit of bleeding).