ok so the original idea is from this thread https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Temp-Sugg-Combined-aura-effects/first#post5547419 But I feel like it’s much better if this actually applies to the mechanic of overloads.
Basically, the key idea is to separate overload into an F5 mechanic (see pic for illustration). The base mechanic is pretty much the same, meaning you have to stay in an attunement and wait a bit til you can use overloads. This is debatable, you can get rid of the waiting time with this new mechanic, the new global cooldown will put some bottleneck limitation on the overload anyway so that the ele can’t spam overloads. Let’s assume that we get rid of the waiting time.
The difference is that when you hit overload, you will not cast it right away, instead you will slot that overload in the F5 panel. You can play an ele the way you always do, swapping attunement and stuff while collecting overloads along the way. Once you feel like you have all the overloads you need, you press F5 to start casting all those overloads that you have prepared. Once you finished, your F5 is locked on CD. During this time, you can start slotting overloads again to prepare for the next round of overload activation.
Added: In order to balance out the upside and downside potential of prepping overloads, the cooldown of F5 should be dynamic, meaning if you overload just 1 element, the cooldown should be short whereas if you overload 4 elements at once, the cooldown should be longer. I’d say you get 5 sec CD for each element you overload. This way the tempest can have the flexibility choose between going all out elemental explosion or focus on a single overload such as healing or firefield with proper trade-offs. This is debatable of course, it would be cancerous to see ele camping water overload.
Pros.
1. Ele can still have full access to base class mechanic, no longer hindered by the overload waiting time and they can swap to anything they want while prepping overload along the way.
2. Overloads still retain their full function and limitation through global F5 cooldown.
3. Open up an opportunity to create more layers for the mechanic by using overload combos. This includes the base combination e.g. healing while spinning fire field or gaining defiance while casting lightning field AND new additional effects e.g. if you overload Fire and Water together, you gain additional benefit as a trade-off for giving up your time swapping through elements to collect overloads. See drafted combo effects below..
Fire+water-> the overload combo pulses vulnerability
Fire+earth-> pulses weakness
fire+air-> pulses damage
water+air-> pulses slow
water+earth-> pulses immo
Earth+air-> pulses stun
We can cut it here to keep it simple, any additive overloads will just add extra effect based on the new element being added. Say ice+ shock + earth will now pulse slow, immo and stun. Unless you wanna get more layers, then see below
Fire+water+air-> allies get 30% dmg boost
Fire+water+earth-> allies massively regenerate and gain vigor
Fire+air+earth-> allies gain superspeed quickness
water+air+earth-> allies get 30 dmg reduction
Fire+air+water+earth-> allies gain invulnerability
Thoughts? I think this will improve tempest dramatically
