Guild Wars 2

How many of you are feeling it? After getting my ele to 70+, I realize that they are just crap. I’ve tried all the weapons out. I’ve tried going the more toughness route, and I still die quicker than a poor Rabbit.

They don’t even do enough damage to justify how frail they are.

They’re fine, at 80 I can take on 3 level 80+ Orr mobs at once and survive. Make sure your traits make sense for the attunements you favour and I’ve found that arcane skills are very good at giving you the edge.

Are you traited for earth and water for your toughness route? Earth seems very good for big mobs like veterans, especially if they are melee only you can kite, cripple, bleed and kite all day and take zero damage. Less effective on groups of weaker mobs though, but that’s your trade off.

I completely agree. We end up sacrificing so much just struggling to keep up with the other classes. They’re almost worthless in PvP (imo), and PvE becomes exploited fire dps glass cannon hoping to kill before being killed. WvW is an utter pain. It is entirely dominated by thieves, mesmers, and rangers. It just isn’t fun to be an elementalist anymore; once you get past the initial allure, you quickly realize how lackluster it is in comparison to EVERY other class. Every class gets to swap weapons, more health, armor — everything — while elementalists get 3 useless elements and a whole lot of dying. You can’t even counter these poor gameplay mechanics with traits. You just lose. Hell, rangers can nuke harder, and farther. Just make a ranger and save yourself the frustration. Unless you’re like me and can’t give up on the severely underpowered, yet cool looking class.

Basically, WE NEED A BUFF. Make elementalists more balanced or the gameplay will suffer.

/rant

WHOA WHOA WHOA!!!!! HOLD ON THERE! 3 useless elements? worthless in PvP? Fire glass cannon? Who in this game is doing a glass cannon build? That’s the WORST idea EVER!!!!
EVERY attunement is incredibly useful. Both fire and earth have the potential to down enemies like you can’t believe. Air is great for mobility boosts, stuns, blinds, single target damage. Water is all about one of the best conditions in the game…CHILL. Not to mention the heals…
PvE, I completely and utterly destroy everything that crosses my path…as long as it’s not a champion. (but seriously, who the hell can solo a champion? Nobody! That’s who!)
I haven’t done much WvW yet, so I can’t authoritatively speak to that, but I am ALWAYS in the top three players in EVERY sPvP match that I play. From the first match that I played. I’m the top player more often than not. I can pretty easily solo those extra mobs on the Forest of Niflhel. I’ve done it tons of times. I have never lost a 1v1 and I can take 4 people down to 50% or lower, downing at least one, BY MYSELF before they, together, can focus me down. And you know what’s crazy? I barely even use fire attunement!!!
I don’t know how many times I’ve said this or how many times I’m going to have to say this, but this game is all about builds and knowing how you need to play in order to make yours effective. Every build can work. Every weapon set can work. Learn your profession, learn your weapon set, learn your build. Trait it properly, gear it properly, play it properly.
If you want to be able to faceroll, go play gsword warrior and set hundred blades as your auto-attack. But that will only get you so far. If you want to play this game like a Guild Wars player instead of a WoW player, then buckle down and learn your profession!

its the same with necro or mesmer: if you decide to build a glass cannon, you will be extra-squishy and will die a lot no matter how good you are. You will do MUCH more dmg if you think your build through and get at least some survivability, utility and backup plans.

Also known as the “I regret making a character that requires a bit of skill and thought” thread.

Blizzard Frost.1867:

I completely agree. We end up sacrificing so much just struggling to keep up with the other classes. They’re almost worthless in PvP (imo), and PvE becomes exploited fire dps glass cannon hoping to kill before being killed. WvW is an utter pain. It is entirely dominated by thieves, mesmers, and rangers. It just isn’t fun to be an elementalist anymore; once you get past the initial allure, you quickly realize how lackluster it is in comparison to EVERY other class. Every class gets to swap weapons, more health, armor — everything — while elementalists get 3 useless elements and a whole lot of dying. You can’t even counter these poor gameplay mechanics with traits. You just lose. Hell, rangers can nuke harder, and farther. Just make a ranger and save yourself the frustration. Unless you’re like me and can’t give up on the severely underpowered, yet cool looking class.

Basically, WE NEED A BUFF. Make elementalists more balanced or the gameplay will suffer.

/rant

how surreal, this is what i am thinking but the exact opposite.

I agree. While I enjoy playing my elementalist. I just feel dissapointed when I compare her to my thief. It takes me 8-10 seconds to kill a monster unless I use up all my burst and send the skills into long cooldowns whereas my thief kills most monsters in 2-3 skills using lower quality gear.
And this is using full +power+precision+crit damage rare gear and trait points in fire magic.
My survablity is fine if I’m concentrated and kite/use deffensive skills properly but the damage output just doesnt compensate for her poor armor and health.

I really hope Arena Net will take a look at the current state of the elementalist and give us a damage buff or improve out skills/traits

I cant understand people whining about elementalists in PvE. I have both a lvl 80 Ele and an 80 Necro. I had a Way easier time lvling up my ele compared to my necro!

For pvp is must agree necro’s are in a better state right now.

I’m 33 and i couldn’t agree more. The Ele has issue’s.
And yet It’s always the ub3r dewdz telling us scrubs we need to l2play.
Ok noted, but when i can hop on my war or guardian, wade in and smash 4 mobs 2 levels above me while watching tv inkittenmode, then something is up. Meanwhile attempting to do that on my ele will get me killed. Of course this is after running around like timmy thekitten for 5 minutes trying not to go down.

Sure the Ele plays differently, and im all for diversity in classes and gameplay, but as an ele, the word of the day is PULL ONE and kite yourkitten off. Anything more than 2 at a time and you’d better just keep on running to the next waypoint.

In the end, It’s simply not much fun.

Pinkerton.5643:

WHOA WHOA WHOA!!!!! HOLD ON THERE! 3 useless elements? worthless in PvP? Fire glass cannon? Who in this game is doing a glass cannon build? That’s the WORST idea EVER!!!!
EVERY attunement is incredibly useful. Both fire and earth have the potential to down enemies like you can’t believe. Air is great for mobility boosts, stuns, blinds, single target damage. Water is all about one of the best conditions in the game…CHILL. Not to mention the heals…
PvE, I completely and utterly destroy everything that crosses my path…as long as it’s not a champion. (but seriously, who the hell can solo a champion? Nobody! That’s who!)
I haven’t done much WvW yet, so I can’t authoritatively speak to that, but I am ALWAYS in the top three players in EVERY sPvP match that I play. From the first match that I played. I’m the top player more often than not. I can pretty easily solo those extra mobs on the Forest of Niflhel. I’ve done it tons of times. I have never lost a 1v1 and I can take 4 people down to 50% or lower, downing at least one, BY MYSELF before they, together, can focus me down. And you know what’s crazy? I barely even use fire attunement!!!
I don’t know how many times I’ve said this or how many times I’m going to have to say this, but this game is all about builds and knowing how you need to play in order to make yours effective. Every build can work. Every weapon set can work. Learn your profession, learn your weapon set, learn your build. Trait it properly, gear it properly, play it properly.
If you want to be able to faceroll, go play gsword warrior and set hundred blades as your auto-attack. But that will only get you so far. If you want to play this game like a Guild Wars player instead of a WoW player, then buckle down and learn your profession!

You clown almost every person in the game is running glass cannon, except they’re cannons but not made of glass, because for some strange unknown reason they’re able to get insane offensive while still having great defense. cough engineer cough

I can solo a champion, does that make me awesome? No it does not. I’m tired of quoting your crap because you don’t have any idea what you’re saying. You’re in here telling people ‘gtfo get some skill neb’ and then you tell people to roll another class- specifically warrior if they want to roflstomp people. And I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to TELL YOU SPECIFICALLY to stop talking out of your rear, because ele’s cannot run all builds, ele’s can not match anyone, and ele’s certainly ARE UP.

I feel like you’re actually just trollin’ tbh.

I actually want to face you in PvP so I can hand yourkittento you so you can stop with the elitist bullkitten.

Chalky.8540:

They’re fine, at 80 I can take on 3 level 80+ Orr mobs at once and survive. Make sure your traits make sense for the attunements you favour and I’ve found that arcane skills are very good at giving you the edge.

Are you traited for earth and water for your toughness route? Earth seems very good for big mobs like veterans, especially if they are melee only you can kite, cripple, bleed and kite all day and take zero damage. Less effective on groups of weaker mobs though, but that’s your trade off.

Oh, a whole 3 mobs, that’s OP. /sarcasm off

On my 80 warrior I could take 5 of them without breaking a sweat in yellow/green underlevel gear (and I could hit only 3 targets at a time) and on my exotic geared ele…well, in survivability spec, I can survive lots of mobs if they’re melee…but some (imps, flying knights, fire elementals) can still hit for insane damage and taking more than 2-3 of them can be a big pain in thekitten specially coz you must kite a bit more and there’s 5 mobs in every direction just waiting for you to aggro them. And even in full DPS spec you kill slower than some other classes…hell, even the guardian I run with hits for 5k+ and he can just run in mobs and AOE them down, not even dodging.

And not to mention that with d/d setup. Fire n1 skill, even in yo’ face, often 2 fire projectiles miss, n5 skill misses standing still, mob in front of me. Lightning n1 skill…again, miss-o-rama. (I primarily run staff now, cba to change traits all the time for WvW).

One thing ele is awsome for is ninjaing those commune skill points though. Block+mistform=priceless, helped me so much while doing the 100% world thingy

Don’t get me wrong, everything is doable on ele, you have a lot of tools at your disposal, but slacking will get you killed, standing still will get you killed, rezzing downed friend in middle of mobs will get you killed, not using your attunements will get u killed…you get my drift, it’s not a slacking class. And if u spec full tanky build…then it’s borefest…i cycle tru all attunements and mobs still very alive, then I see a geared thief do two hartseekers…meh…WTT tools for damage in PvE.

For sPvP, it’s a different story, there, the tools ele has get to shine more. Imo ofc.

tldr: For solo PvE, ele is worse than a number of other classes imo. In group PvE, usefulness goes up, better use of AOEs, better use of tools in hard encounters. Good class in WvW.

Hahahaha. Go play a necro and see how much you regret THAT decision.

Shredicus.8706:

Hahahaha. Go play a necro and see how much you regret THAT decision.

Did, and loved it. EZ mode. Not as awesome as a guardian or warrior, but still EZ mode.

In all honestly:
I too had my issues leveling but once i figured it out, it worked a clock.
If you think u’d been off better with mesmer / necro, please try – because you are likly to get even more frustrated. Just research your profession more – there are tools – but its your decision if you want to play said profession. No one is forcing you to.

While i have to say that elementalists perform inferiour compared to other professions and need tweaking they are not broken. You can still level smoothly and pull 3/4 mobs – just dont expect beeing able to do this with every build.

got 80 ele max gear tank and dps sets.. and i am in the progress of rerolling necro….

FU anet l2design a ele -_-

meteor storm is the best example 3 sec casting time 2-5k dmg if the target stays within the aoe area for the full 10seconds -_- great dps ironi

well its just kitten and hate that the other classes are so op in comparising to the ele… sigh… so much wanted to play a ele

Seeker.1453:

In all honestly:
I too had my issues leveling but once i figured it out, it worked a clock.
If you think u’d been off better with mesmer / necro, please try – because you are likly to get even more frustrated. Just research your profession more – there are tools – but its your decision if you want to play said profession. No one is forcing you to.
.

bs made a worriar easy as kitten to do everything.
made a necro and can fight groups of mobs 7-9lvls over my own -_-

with the ele i had serious issues just fighting 2 ranged 2 melee mobs my own or higher lvl in some area’s o.O

and at endgame area’s soloing those groups of spellcaster, ranged and cc mobs is stupidly hard with my ele even at max geared -_- while any other class any of the friends made (ranger, worriar, guardian, mesm at 80) can just easy mode it -_-

Erebus.7568:

got 80 ele max gear tank and dps sets.. and i am in the progress of rerolling necro….

FU anet l2design a ele -_-

meteor storm is the best example 3 sec casting time 2-5k dmg if the target stays within the aoe area for the full 10seconds -_- great dps ironi

well its just kitten and hate that the other classes are so op in comparising to the ele… sigh… so much wanted to play a ele

When I first reached 80 on my ele I decided that my best bet for first specialization would be survivability/bleed spec.

I got a set of exotic carrion gear and was running about 1700 CD.

Mobs in Orr would die from the bleeds I could apply in about 3 seconds. I would stack bleed up to 12 secs, hit tab and stack the next guy.

I could run into the middle of 10 mobs, break out the earth ele and basically 1shot the group as they attacked him.

My fire signet applied a dot that did in excess of 10k damage.

I did not feel underpowered at all.

In WvW I would stay on the periphery of big fights and kill players easily and quickly.

I just don’t see where people think we are so weak that they have to reroll just to enjoy the game.

I think the ELE is fine in terms of damage and squishyness except against multiple mobs where it really could do with some crowd control skills like a 30 second stun, similar to a loremaster in lotro.

Whilst levelling Ive put all my trait points into earth and water for toughness and health, but I still die a lot is I accidentally pull a second mob.

I even tried running with the 2 elemetal pets out at the same time (normal & elite skills) so I felt a bit like a necro with these 2 pets running behind me but I tended to find that they inadvertently pulled extra mobs too.

The 3 second stun that the ELE has is not long enough.

parrk.4690:

I just don’t see where people think we are so weak that they have to reroll just to enjoy the game.

Its quite easy to see parrk. Its the people who when rerolling will see another class can do better and reroll to that one. They simply follow what is the fotm.
They simply play how they now to and/or how they enjoy. It is not wrong just let them.

GW1 ele main from day 1 – now gw2 ele main from day 1 – to whenever they kick me out.

I just don’t see it. I guess your play style doesn’t fit with the elementalist. IMO they feel overpowered most of the time.

If you want EZmode where you don’t have to worry about getting hit, then maybe try a heavy armor class.

I would trade my 80 Elementalist for any other class in a heartheat.

Jnaathra.6549:

I would trade my 80 Elementalist for any other class in a heartheat.

I would like to acquire this heartheat.

I played a necro in beta, they are pretty ineffectual damage wise but, my god, do they survive like no other (well, before the nerfs).

Grass is always greener.

Switch to Necro for some pvp, you will be back on your Ele in no time.

LOL Elementalists are soooo good and overpowered! They’re so good that I have no money because whatever little money I do get, I have to use it to repair my gear because I die to everything I pull!

Why would I bother to put skill and thought into a class when I can play a necro, guardian, warrior or thief? Baffles me :S

Razarei.2809:

Shredicus.8706:

Hahahaha. Go play a necro and see how much you regret THAT decision.

Did, and loved it. EZ mode. Not as awesome as a guardian or warrior, but still EZ mode.

Same, tired of people saying but I have no problems doing mobs “my level”. Even I can solo a champion on my elem after probably 10 mins using cc and bleeds. Leveling faster than a necro, lol some one didn’t level a necro right then.

I am 100% glad I rolled an elementalist. Who else can clear an entire wall of enemies with a single rotation in WvW?

Tuco.2419:

I am 100% glad I rolled an elementalist. Who else can clear an entire wall of enemies with a single rotation in WvW?

Yeah you can likely clear it for a few seconds, but rarey will you actually kill anyone. Over the past few days I am seeing more and more retaliation, often multiple classes pulling it off. I have nuked a door full of people a few times only to watch my HP flatline in just a few seconds, as mass retaliation hits me inside of the keep.

My first and only major toon has been as Ele… sure it hasnt been all face roll.. and it requires some thought… and on occasion I have had guild mates help on quests… and yet I still stick with my cute lil Elemenalist, because I feel that it is the best fit for my style of play

I’ve more or less soloed or duo’d to 69 on my elementalist and I can’t say I found it the struggle people keep saying it is. That said, I do feel there’s room for improvement. Elementalists need better inherit damage mitigation and could use a small damage boost overall. In situations where I can kite, I have few problems fighting even five or six enemies at a time. Boxed in some stupid mine tunnel or inside a house? It gets a little more interesting. Reminds me of my EQ wizard and quad-kiting the birds.

I personally don’t regret playing an elementalist. I was incredibly underwhelmed with the necromancer and I’m still forming an opinion about my mesmer, but I don’t think I would trade in my elementalist for one.

I guess it all boils down to what suits your playstyle the best.
Personally I’m loving my ELE, she’s level 57 and rarely ever dies, unless I get overzealous.
I use D/D and S/D depending on my mood, but finding that S/D is more fun for me.
Building the Ele and having the correct gear stats for your build is key, because if they don’t jive, you’re going to have issues.

I love my Elementalist, but if I didn’t like the concept of the class so much (master of the elements, more classic mage-y powers) I would have chosen a different scholar profession as my first/main.

Of course, a skilled player will be able to play any class well, and of course, there will be people that really enjoy a more complicated play style. But IMHO, considering how fragile we are, and how many buttons we have to make use of to play effectively, we just don’t do enough damage to make it rewarding when you also consider the damage and/or survivability that other professions have.

My Ele feels like a glass musket, not a glass cannon. xD He can be fun to play, but having tried other classes he just seems so weak (except for AOE’ing DE’s, Ele is pretty awesome at that).

Recently I made a Necromancer, and my goodness, I love her! I am already amazed by how much easier it is to survive and kill things, and she has some pretty flashy tricks too. She probably won’t be promoted to my “main”, though I can see myself playing her more than my Elementalist as they get up there in level.

My 2 bronze…

The issue seems to me that the effort I put into my Elementalist doesn’t jive with the outcome I get. For far less effort I often get better results on all my other characters. I don’t mind that I have to dynamically attune elements or stance-dance, as it were (WoW Warriors will know that one). What I do mind is that it’s very easy to do that wrong. Even when I do it right, I am working far harder than I do on other characters for the same results. And there is zero margin for error: I am either a hero like everyone else or I am trying to stuff my intestines back in.

I get that as Elementalists, we can generate our own combo fields and that capability exists supposedly to help our weak points. But in all honesty, I don’t see the payoff in play, only on paper.

However…I get a lot more drops and DE XP with my Elementalist than with my other characters. I suppose there’s that. Oh, and I only notice Elementalist problems solo. Add in even one more person and my problems seem to melt away.

Well, I don’t know what all the arguing is about but my experience with the elementalist was very different. I run two daggers and use crowed control powers when NPC’s crowd me. I kill them quickly by constantly switching elements and keep kitting. It keeps me alive (mostly). That’s how I have fun.

When I’m in groups I use a staff and just hang back and have fun dropping fire balls on my enemies and rain on my allies. A ton of fun. No complaints.

I also think the elementalist, (like the Mesmer) was more meant to work in groups. But it doesn’t have to.

Digging my ele. Wouldn’t switch it out for any other class as my main. I’m pumped to get some better gear so I have more than, like, 12k hp (still wearing a few, like, ~30ish pieces of gear at 80 >.> Whoops) so I can switch back to daggers and worry a little less about getting two shot haha.

But staff works for now.

Razarei.2809:

You clown almost every person in the game is running glass cannon, except they’re cannons but not made of glass, because for some strange unknown reason they’re able to get insane offensive while still having great defense. cough engineer cough

I can solo a champion, does that make me awesome? No it does not. I’m tired of quoting your crap because you don’t have any idea what you’re saying. You’re in here telling people ‘gtfo get some skill neb’ and then you tell people to roll another class- specifically warrior if they want to roflstomp people. And I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to TELL YOU SPECIFICALLY to stop talking out of your rear, because ele’s cannot run all builds, ele’s can not match anyone, and ele’s certainly ARE UP.

I feel like you’re actually just trollin’ tbh.

I actually want to face you in PvP so I can hand yourkittento you so you can stop with the elitist bullkitten.

1. The comment about nobody doing glass cannons was hyperbole and more of an opinion comment. Because I hate playing glass cannon.
2. Even a fire/air ele has plenty of defensive capability if you use the right utility skills and swap attunements at the right times.
3. You might be able to solo some of the wussy champions, But I was referring to the real ones. Like the champions who regen health faster than any class can do damage (yes, there are some).
4. I don’t know why you put that “gtfo…” comment in quotes. I didn’t say that and I don’t talk like that. I told people to pay more attention to their builds than just going “look, power!” And I told them to go play warrior if they want to kill stuff without thinking a little. A class being harder to play well doesn’t make it underpowered. It makes it interesting.
5. I don’t troll
6. I’m not an elitist, I just get really annoyed when people give up so easily and start immediately whining about how their lives are hard.
7. And I’m the one who ends up handing people kittens

I love my elementalist but not because they are a good class; they are just fun. To anyone who is forming an opinion prior to at least lvl 70, you don’t know the half of it. Before level 60 I was just having a blast being a semi-skilled ele dodging attacks and burning my foes. But once I got to level 60 I started hitting walls of difficulty and finally at lvl 70 I just couldn’t keep going on my own. You eventually start running into enemies at ever turn who respawn in a very short amount of time and you will probably aggro every enemy within a mile by dodging attacks in dense jungle vegetation. Also, about half of those enemies have some super speed buff that doesn’t go away and makes kiting them with 1 cc (S/D) incredibly hard. And of course you can’t forget about the many skills we have that are so bugged that they don’t work or the traits that don’t function correctly. Just look at Ride The Lightning. About 80% of the time (that is NOT an exaggeration, seriously.) Ride The Lightning fails in some way or another. Either I’m blasted to the side of the enemy and completely miss, I don’t go anywhere and just sit there…. which is practically like stunning myself, or even combining them by moving up next to them and being stuck in RTL form for about 4 seconds.

I’m also broke from armor repairs.

And I’m kinda skilled. Not amazing but I’m ok. You can’t ask every player to be a master of that profession just to have fun.

I have Ele 80, warrior, necro.

Warrior is definitely the faceroll one of the trio, I tried all weapons but all I ever needed is greatsword for 1k blades spam and a shotgun.

Necro used to be very OP in beta, now it’s quite tamed but really survivable.
I also played hunter in beta and it’s possibly a more easy mode class than warrior.

Ele is OK but I like fire spells. But the much, much needed thoughness and wounds sit on earth and water. ATM I am trying not to give up fire completely but it’s hard. Earth is way too good, since it gets the nasty DoTs and the thoughness and some awesome traits. So fire gets the backburner.
For now I am 20 fire 20 earth 20 water (I really love those, not going to give it up) and 10 arcana, but I feel I’d do better going 30 earth and deleting fire.
Which is a shame, because fire is what I wanted to do. But in PvP DD specs are way too easily countered and can’t get the required thoughness (else melee auto-win).

Basically what I miss of Ele is not damage but real freedom to spec and still be very competitive (instead of going the FOTM Earth) and the lack of thoughness unless you go deep in FOTM Earth.

PvE doesn’t really matter, mobs can be stupidly kited even 6-7 forever and slowly chipped at (on my warrior this involves pressing “2” and then “3” mwahaha!) but in PvP thoughness is really needed and only having it on Earth removes a lot of choices.

Agreed, i get sad when someone lands 2-3 k + damage on me and i can’t even hit back for that much, and specced for full damage too

I think ele really needs to be looked at. I have an 80 ele with full exotic gear carrion gear and while I can solo pretty much anything it requires way more effort than my thief who is also 80 but is in a mix of rare and green gear. It is true that the game after level 70 becomes much more demanding. In orr kiting will likely kill you just as much as keep you alive. The zone is just that densely packed with mobs the more you kite the more you pull and the respawn rate is very quick.

At this point after playing with MANY builds it seems that condition build is pretty much the only option as you need a lot of toughness unless you want to find yourself sent to a way point often. This of course is much less of an issue in any sort of public grouping but if you want to solo farm you need to be able to take a hit.

Dungeons it’s pretty much staff and that’s that, you try and go into melee range on an ele in 80 explorer mode dungeons with a pug and you will be dead 80% of the time. It might work out much better in a dedicated group that has planned out tactics but in a random it is a terrible idea.

As an ele you can do what everyone else can do, you just have to build pretty much one way and you will do it slower and with more effort. This to me isn’t balanced, if nothing else just get rid of the slow missile speed and all the delayed effects of out abilities and that itself would make a massive difference.