Guild Wars 2

Ever since tabletop D&D, before Diablo 1 even released, I’ve always played the mage type character. Into other games like Diablo, UO, EQ, AoC, Anarchy Online etc… I’ve always played a Wizard/Sorcerer/Spellcaster type, or here what would be the Elementalist.

So why don’t I play one?

When you imagine a Wizardy hero you think of a few things.

1) Ranged

2) High damage output

3) Kinda squishy, with some defensive spells (arcane shield, summoned armor etc..)

When I played the Elementalist on release and saw that the Staff, being the longest range, was the most pathetic damage of all the weapons I instantly deleted it. I’m shocked it was still the same upon coming back to the game.

I mean Arenanet took what in almost any game, movie, book, story, or anything ever in the history of fantasy… the ranged deadly Wizard… and made him a kitten of all KITTENS as far as damage goes from far range.

Don’t think anything will change, just thought I’d get that one off my chest.

Sorry to ruin your rant, but Staff Ele is still the king of AoE damage (and has been for a long time). Not too bad for a class that originally is a “jack of all trades, master of none”, I guess.

Patty.3268:

Sorry to ruin your rant, but Staff Ele is still the king of AoE damage (and has been for a long time). Not too bad for a class that originally is a “jack of all trades, master of none”, I guess.

PVE Yes, but not even close to the same definition in PvP/WvW. It used once to be a threat in WvW with the Tordano/Metero Shower combo, but it was long time ago.

Scepter is good in WvW I feel. For roaming that is. and Staff is king in pve, yeah.

Well, you can still play with Scepter if you prefer range weapon but don’t like Staff: higher dmg, lower survivability, 900 range instead of 1200.

But you are right: this game is indeed a melee oriented game: melee weapons in most cases do more dmg than range weapons.
But some range weapons can really hurt: Rev hammer, Ranger’s LB, Mesmer’s GS, Thief P/P … But i really have no idea why Staves are the worst ranged dps weapons in the game for PVP and WvW. Anet hates Staff as a dps range weapon, no matter what profession you play. Thief and Revenant can do some nice dmg with their MELEE staves, but there is no ranged Staff in GW2 which can be used as a main dmg weapon in PvP and WvW.

1. Elementalist Staff: only good for pve with super boring rotation. In PvP it is used as healing/support only weapon.
2. Necromancer Staff: Utility only weapon with super low dmg.
3. Mesmer Staff, low dmg, not that bad with condi stats, but still low.
4. Guardian staff: is this useless thing still in game?
5. Druid Staff: healing weapon.

So if Long Bows, Guns and Hammers can do some nice burst and sustain from 1200 range, i have no idea why Staff is an exception here?

I agree that staff isnt really viable for PvP or even WvW Roaming, but it still is viable in WvW for any larger group play. Sure, this more due to the utility and support it brings. But for a weapon not meant to be a top dps weapon, it deals fair amount of damage, especially when Ele is also not meant to be #1 dps class. So the damage is far from being pathetic.

Because staff 20 skills are all AoE/multihit (except stoning, but it’s a finisher) so they balanced damage accordingly. They forgot ennemies in pvp dont sit on them.
More skills + More AoE => Less Damage + Longer CDs/animations/aftercasts + More pianoing (balance team logic)

Still, it is the best support weapon when your teammates don’t run away from your AoEs.

Staff was a dmg wepon but it had it had its legs cut out from under it as they added in tempest. What ended up happening is tempest did to much dmg with its class effect so Anet cut back on staff dmg but buffed its support effects. Right now staff is still an odd in-between dmg / support wepon with some skills that do nothing but dmg and other skills that are much more support aimed.

What needs to happen is a re-look at the pure dmg skills on staff and make them more support aimed or add in condi dmg to them at some level. Scepter should be the end all be all ranged power wepon and sword we hope will be the dmg melee wepon. Dagger main will fall into that def wepon all though its lacking in blocks effects. I am hoping one day they add in a siege ranged wepon for the ele class the roll that staff use to fill.

Sifu.9745:

1. Elementalist Staff: only good for pve with super boring rotation. In PvP it is used as healing/support only weapon.
2. Necromancer Staff: Utility only weapon with super low dmg.
3. Mesmer Staff, low dmg, not that bad with condi stats, but still low.

Ele Staff – in fact not that bad in WvW or even low sPvP. Very strong fire autoattack, good fire AOE for zerg fights. Just stay with friends and dps.

Necro Staff – the best weapon in game for ground control and attacking the wall defenders. Has fear (shines with a fear/shout builds). All condi necros (so 80% of them) prefer to use it.

Mesmer Staff – shines for condi builds, good protection. Very underrated in fact – at this moment much better than greatsword for non-glass cannon burst builds.

Staff Ele is fantastic and this game has made the second best mage I’ve ever played. Fable dual wielding Elements was the best and guess what GW2 Ele is getting? Dual wielding Elements.

Looking at your list of expectations for mage differs from mine, I’ve always preferred “battle mages” so up close and personal with D/D is my favourite playstyle.

Staff can output a huge amount of DPS even in WvW/PvP with the right build and skill but Elementalist isn’t designed as a Warrior to just press buttons and kill stuff, you need timing, knowledge of your combo’s and effects (because Ele requires some skill) and to use all utilities available to you such as soft and hard CC. Need to learn how to kite most of all, while you can play a Paladin build, Ele base stats are super low which means you can’t facetank like a warrior either.

You must not be playing Staff Ele correctly then. I used to roam with Staff in WvW a while back and I would destroy in 1v1’s and team fights. I’m not the only one either, I’ve seen plenty of really skilled Staff Elementalists on youtube who are amazing at dropping those aoes at just the right time in just the right spot.

Gotta git gud, son. Also maybe look up some of their videos too.

Rain.9213:

You must not be playing Staff Ele correctly then. I used to roam with Staff in WvW a while back and I would destroy in 1v1’s and team fights. I’m not the only one either, I’ve seen plenty of really skilled Staff Elementalists on youtube who are amazing at dropping those aoes at just the right time in just the right spot.

Gotta git gud, son. Also maybe look up some of their videos too.

Why you talk right out of your kitten

Staff ele roaming “destroying 1vs1 and team fights”?

Are they afk or something for you to destroy them?

Show me 1 video of ele staff roaming solo and destroying 1vs1 and team fights.

Mesmer come – u are dead
kitten , a thief feel bad when he kill a staff ele coz it is unfair (according to many players)

What aoe exactly u drop ? A meteor? BAM – u are interupted! U are tempest and u start to overload? BAM u are interrupted. What aoe exactly u drop in the right time?

Come on give us a video of roaming staff ele.

Oh and at the end u said to op “git gud”? Lets see how gud u are. I will come with my thief and try to duel me with a staff ele. OH if u want I will come with my mesmer? YOUR CHOICE REALLY !!!

bOTEB.1573:

Why you talk right out of your kitten

Staff ele roaming “destroying 1vs1 and team fights”?

Are they afk or something for you to destroy them?

Show me 1 video of ele staff roaming solo and destroying 1vs1 and team fights.

Mesmer come – u are dead
kitten , a thief feel bad when he kill a staff ele coz it is unfair (according to many players)

What aoe exactly u drop ? A meteor? BAM – u are interupted! U are tempest and u start to overload? BAM u are interrupted. What aoe exactly u drop in the right time?

Come on give us a video of roaming staff ele.

Oh and at the end u said to op “git gud”? Lets see how gud u are. I will come with my thief and try to duel me with a staff ele. OH if u want I will come with my mesmer? YOUR CHOICE REALLY !!!

https://youtu.be/KaW1b1-wks8
Here’s a guide so you understand how to use staff ele in 1v1’s

And here’s another youtuber with WvW staff ele videos.

https://youtu.be/XXnZJ_73jRw

https://youtu.be/2qYeY5NOSdI

Haha sure I’d like to duel you but I havent used staff ele in over a year since I only recently got back into Ele and have been practicing with Daggers to prepare for melee range on Weaver. If you give me some time to practice though, I can probably take you on in a duel and beat your mesmer.

I can do it too with my Staff, IF i play healing/support build Mender amulet, Earth, Water, Arcane or Tempest and i am unkillable 1 on 1 vs most builds. But neither i can kill them or it takes for about 3 + minutes to take someone down with this build, if they don’t just run away from me.
In my hand Staff only works as healing/support weapon.

Edit: I hope that with Weaver inc Staff will get back its offensive uses.

Captain Obvious.6951:

When I played the Elementalist on release and saw that the Staff, being the longest range, was the most pathetic damage of all the weapons I instantly deleted it. I’m shocked it was still the same upon coming back to the game.

Since you are talking about D&D, you are probably talking about PVE here and not PVP. Staff on Elementalists is one of the highest dps weapons in the game… so not sure what you are on about here.

It’s kinda sad staff dps only works on stationnary large hitboxes and packed mob crowds. Sure it can do some damage in pvp, but it is too spread out to be really menacing. What staff lacks is single target reliable damage. Maybe other weapons too. The good thing is most people don’t really bother dodging staff skills, which helps you do some damage here and there.

staff is mostly a teamfight weapon while its supporting option doesnt need u to sacrifice a lot of dps as it is mostly a trait and food switch.

solowise in 1v1 staff ele is tough as nails to play correctly vs anybody who knows what they up against but for those liking the challenge its possible to a certain degree.

https://youtu.be/8UKfgTcrTac?t=81

Rain.9213:

bOTEB.1573:

Why you talk right out of your kitten

Staff ele roaming “destroying 1vs1 and team fights”?

Are they afk or something for you to destroy them?

Show me 1 video of ele staff roaming solo and destroying 1vs1 and team fights.

Mesmer come – u are dead
kitten , a thief feel bad when he kill a staff ele coz it is unfair (according to many players)

What aoe exactly u drop ? A meteor? BAM – u are interupted! U are tempest and u start to overload? BAM u are interrupted. What aoe exactly u drop in the right time?

Come on give us a video of roaming staff ele.

Oh and at the end u said to op “git gud”? Lets see how gud u are. I will come with my thief and try to duel me with a staff ele. OH if u want I will come with my mesmer? YOUR CHOICE REALLY !!!

https://youtu.be/KaW1b1-wks8
Here’s a guide so you understand how to use staff ele in 1v1’s

And here’s another youtuber with WvW staff ele videos.

https://youtu.be/XXnZJ_73jRw

https://youtu.be/2qYeY5NOSdI

Haha sure I’d like to duel you but I havent used staff ele in over a year since I only recently got back into Ele and have been practicing with Daggers to prepare for melee range on Weaver. If you give me some time to practice though, I can probably take you on in a duel and beat your mesmer.

Absolutely trash videos.

1st and most important these are from January, June and October 2016.

2nd These doesn’t show any real footage. Especially the asura ele. Tell me where you see a fight there? I see some random noobs meeting the ele and running from it and the ele chasing them.

There was 1 video in PVP..

However, you cant mix gear there and is point attack/defense based gameplay, aka the ele can concentrate his power on this point and be a little more effective than roaming WvW, which we were talking about.

Let me show you a real, up to date, footage of real ROAMING ele, which is not staff as it is complete trash vs any player with hands and not pressed the num lock auto run and afk. You can see in this video the difference between his opponents and these in your video, from before 1-2 years.

WvW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PnePkyoht8

PvP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avhWI1dGABo&t=28s

You may try to search for staff ele roaming from 2017 but you won’t find, gues why?

y seven and i were in the same guild and i do roam on staff too. seven points also out the skill lvl of his oponents btw ^^
you jump between pvp and roaming at your will fully ignoring the fact that thiefs have a very special purpose in pvp and the fact that there arnt any power mesmers and staff eles on higher lvls. when it comes to roaming. do whatever you enjoy. its not that ele is top of the ladder by any means.

no point in arguing with you anyway. feels like a discussion over colours with a blind man.

<3

bOTEB.1573:

Absolutely trash videos.

1st and most important these are from January, June and October 2016.

2nd These doesn’t show any real footage. Especially the asura ele. Tell me where you see a fight there? I see some random noobs meeting the ele and running from it and the ele chasing them.

There was 1 video in PVP..

However, you cant mix gear there and is point attack/defense based gameplay, aka the ele can concentrate his power on this point and be a little more effective than roaming WvW, which we were talking about.

Let me show you a real, up to date, footage of real ROAMING ele, which is not staff as it is complete trash vs any player with hands and not pressed the num lock auto run and afk. You can see in this video the difference between his opponents and these in your video, from before 1-2 years.

WvW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PnePkyoht8

PvP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avhWI1dGABo&t=28s

You may try to search for staff ele roaming from 2017 but you won’t find, gues why?

It seems to me like you just don’t want to admit that staff roaming is possible if you’re good enough. I’ve done it. Others have done it.

Sure it might not be the most effective weapon to win 1v1’s with as it is a weapon designed for zerg fights (which proves my other point that it’s good in team fighting especially if you position yourself behind melee teammates) but it’s not impossible if you time your cc’s and aoes right. But believe whatever you want to, I guess.

Lol that euro kitten. I’d be running fire meta in 2013 and they say it was invented in 2017. You can run staff and I kill you in 1 min in North America. You run scepter and I kill you in 1 min. If you stand in wvw my d/d fire core ele will mow you done in 6-7 hits. IF if you play glass fire ele or tempest I will mow you down in even less time. LOL EU stay Eu don’t troll me. We debate about the skill, builds and armor spec difference long time ago. PFFFT roll over. Come to NA watch me melt from 1v3 condi or 1v7 and see me sometimes burst 3-4 guys for no reason at all. But yeah those have limited and cotrolled viable outcomes. GO d/d ele and fight S/D condi thief, a chorno condi, a Stun D/p thief semi bunker stack burst and a condi engi pp scrapper. Survive the and do a black flip.

LOL Do you know I play a main hand sowrd thief and nothing else and i can still kill players in wvw, I aslo Play a mace guard with focus and mow down 1v2 glass or condi players since they lack sustain. It’s call reading players and welcome to NA! You kittens. Also tempest are easily stun just use semi bunk pogo thieves with d/p easy. Or a good core d/d ele can easily burst them down if they don’t flee!

Ele needs some buffs as tiny damage increase or new conditions like add 1 stack of poison to Ring of Earth or increase Frozen Burst damage by like 300%! Wait there is more, add 2 seconds of super speed to Ride the Lightning, Magnetic Leap adds 2 stacks of torment for 7 seconds, and Conjure Fiery Greatsword should become a large steak sandwich you can beat people with. I’m serious do it anet! Cough cough you like Rabbit mounts from bomber man! Bring back South Island ecto bikini and thong armor skin set via gem store, you promise me that last year!

Rain.9213:

bOTEB.1573:

Why you talk right out of your kitten

Staff ele roaming “destroying 1vs1 and team fights”?

Are they afk or something for you to destroy them?

Show me 1 video of ele staff roaming solo and destroying 1vs1 and team fights.

Mesmer come – u are dead
kitten , a thief feel bad when he kill a staff ele coz it is unfair (according to many players)

What aoe exactly u drop ? A meteor? BAM – u are interupted! U are tempest and u start to overload? BAM u are interrupted. What aoe exactly u drop in the right time?

Come on give us a video of roaming staff ele.

Oh and at the end u said to op “git gud”? Lets see how gud u are. I will come with my thief and try to duel me with a staff ele. OH if u want I will come with my mesmer? YOUR CHOICE REALLY !!!

https://youtu.be/KaW1b1-wks8
Here’s a guide so you understand how to use staff ele in 1v1’s

And here’s another youtuber with WvW staff ele videos.

https://youtu.be/XXnZJ_73jRw

https://youtu.be/2qYeY5NOSdI

Haha sure I’d like to duel you but I havent used staff ele in over a year since I only recently got back into Ele and have been practicing with Daggers to prepare for melee range on Weaver. If you give me some time to practice though, I can probably take you on in a duel and beat your mesmer.

o7 Hello fellow staff Ele….!!!

I find most people don’t bother with staff due to the steep learning curve involved and most are too focused on “ERMAGHRD BIG NUMBERS” instead of controlling the fight with soft/hard CC and sustain.

If they can’t play staff Ele too, then it means you can’t either because what’s impossible for them must be impossible for everyone else too.

sephiroth.4217:

Rain.9213:

bOTEB.1573:

Why you talk right out of your kitten

Staff ele roaming “destroying 1vs1 and team fights”?

Are they afk or something for you to destroy them?

Show me 1 video of ele staff roaming solo and destroying 1vs1 and team fights.

Mesmer come – u are dead
kitten , a thief feel bad when he kill a staff ele coz it is unfair (according to many players)

What aoe exactly u drop ? A meteor? BAM – u are interupted! U are tempest and u start to overload? BAM u are interrupted. What aoe exactly u drop in the right time?

Come on give us a video of roaming staff ele.

Oh and at the end u said to op “git gud”? Lets see how gud u are. I will come with my thief and try to duel me with a staff ele. OH if u want I will come with my mesmer? YOUR CHOICE REALLY !!!

https://youtu.be/KaW1b1-wks8
Here’s a guide so you understand how to use staff ele in 1v1’s

And here’s another youtuber with WvW staff ele videos.

https://youtu.be/XXnZJ_73jRw

https://youtu.be/2qYeY5NOSdI

Haha sure I’d like to duel you but I havent used staff ele in over a year since I only recently got back into Ele and have been practicing with Daggers to prepare for melee range on Weaver. If you give me some time to practice though, I can probably take you on in a duel and beat your mesmer.

o7 Hello fellow staff Ele….!!!

I find most people don’t bother with staff due to the steep learning curve involved and most are too focused on “ERMAGHRD BIG NUMBERS” instead of controlling the fight with soft/hard CC and sustain.

If they can’t play staff Ele too, then it means you can’t either because what’s impossible for them must be impossible for everyone else too.

I should really get back into using it too. It was always funny seeing people in WvW get triggered because they lost to a staff ele solo roamer xD Though who knows how the PoF meta will affect Staff ele. :o