Guild Wars 2

Didn’t have the time to thanks the devs for the latest patch as I was busy with exams.

Personally I think this is the best patch ever since August and I really hope the next patches will display the same level of quality, every single weapon is viable , finally viable, I can work something out with all of them, well I’d like to see few changes on same focus skills ( fire shield/freezing gust) and staff skills ( unsteady ground ) but nothing really to write a whole paragraph about.

I love the new phoenix and the new healing rain, really amazing changes, both staff and scepter now feel as smooth as dagger MH/OH and the reduction in casting time for gale now allows me to create some nasty combo using the new Tempest Defense trait

What about the rest?..once I read “CD reduction on cleansing fire”..the rest wasn’t important anymore, 10s off my favorite utility ( life saver against immobilize spikes and condition spikes) ty!

Personally got no complain on anything, I adore the new ele, everything click when and how I want, everything so fluid..beatiful

Ty again for the great patch

The devs did a fine thing for us (elementalist). Not everybody would agree, but as someone how despised the d/d bunker, I am happy somewhat.

Love the changes, there’s so many things to experiment with as an elementalist player.

Yup, a great patch for eles (and for the AOE loot btw :P)

Now that JohnathanSharp is here, when exactly (and how) do you plan to make non-bunker D/D eles viable? You even nerfed bunker this patch but didn’t make non-bunkers any better…

JonathanSharp.7094:

Glad you’re enjoying it!

Jonathan while for the most part I think the Ele changes were for teh positive and for my personal skill usage as a staff elementalist who already used signet of air just for the run speed, I got substantially buffed, there are a few things that really just baffle me.

1. Making glyph of elemental power a stun breaker. It creates a dilemma in use for the skill. While I think making the glyph instant cast may make some people consider using the skill as I think everyone will agree its underused, it is a skill that for its effect, you want to precast so that you can spread conditions… but as a stunbreaker, you’d want to hold onto it to break stuns, which means it’s not being used to spread conditions. It’s just a very odd skill to me. One of the arcane skills probably would make more sense, particularly arcane shield, as it’s something someone might already utilize as defense during a stun (you can cast it and it can protect you while stunned already). I suppose the trait given arcane shield would have to not break stuns, unless you’d be okay with an auto stun break at 25% health. No idea there.

2. Lightning flash.. while I can grasp that it loses its stun breaking effect, I just don’t see people using it for damage. Lowering the cooldown is great, but to only 40s and adding damage as the other form of compensation for the loss of stunbreak doesn’t seem like a lot of people will continue to use the skill. Had the cooldown just dropped to 30s, I think a lot of people would continue to use the skill just for mobility.

and just another question only semi on topic.. would it be possible to make shockwave behave like gust? I like that gust will pass completely through regardless of who’s targetted. Shockwave ends at the targetted mob so you have to be sure to target the furthest one away (even if the’re out of range)

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

And Lightning Hammer is only good if you have a good group comp with competent players. I would never take that into a pug group.

I would disagree that it is the only good PVE build. There are a few new Fresh Air builds that work very well in PvE as well that I took into a 42 fractal earlier today. And certainly work well for the new dungeon and the old dungeons too. They might not do as much damage as the LH build true, but it can be used in pugs, which I don’t think that LH can be.

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Might stacking build for example?

Aether McLoud.1975:

First Dev post on the ele forum since january. It’s a “Thanks” post for the 1 positive thread amongst the sea of justified criticism posts. Go figure. This shows how much anet simply loves to spit on the ele community.

JonathanSharp.7094:

Glad you’re enjoying it!

He’s the only one. Stop nerfing my class 12 feet under the ground and calling it a “diversity” patch.

So, I come back to GW2 after 8 month hiatus because I was sick and tired of getting nerfed like a godkitten kitten every single patch. Next day, ele gets nerfed like a godkitten kitten. kitten you anet, kitten you.

Guys guys.. I did really think the patch was verry bad at first too, but it opened up allot of doors. Its just that you cannot play the cleansing fire, LF, MF D/D build anymore. Just swap CF for the arcana shield/signet of air/AoE and you should be fine.

This patch actually made burst eles useful.

Noyz.6430:

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Might stacking build for example?

You are not needed for might stacking and your garbage sustained damage is better substituted by a guardian or warrior.

I wish DPS meters were available so it was less easy for people to stop spreading this misinformation.

If you don’t run lightning hammer, your damage compared to thief/guardian/warrior is horrendous.

This patch did a lot more for pvp ele than pve, just the plain truth.

I would be nice if Fiery Greatsword could be cast while moving. I mean, the others can , and this on is an Elite.

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Lightning Hammer ele is only really all that big of a deal for solo pve content, for group pve content including events, staff fields and d/d auramancer support builds are both viable and valuable. Staff got a lot of small boosts to cast times and aftercast that really add up for dps.

Devildoc.6721:

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Lightning Hammer ele is only really all that big of a deal for solo pve content, for group pve content including events, staff fields and d/d auramancer support builds are both viable and valuable. Staff got a lot of small boosts to cast times and aftercast that really add up for dps.

What a load of crap. Lightning Hammer’s DPS is unmatched in dungeons.

If you mean to treat DE’s as some sort of serious PvE, knock yourself out with staff. But in dungeons, nothing touches LH. Not even close.

Nobody needs an auramancer in dungeons — you need damage and reflection — that is all. Guardians cover reflection and might, while warriors cover might and banners and they bring an ele for just his LH DPS.

Your utility is redundant and unnecessary in organized PvE.

Zenith.7301:

Devildoc.6721:

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Lightning Hammer ele is only really all that big of a deal for solo pve content, for group pve content including events, staff fields and d/d auramancer support builds are both viable and valuable. Staff got a lot of small boosts to cast times and aftercast that really add up for dps.

What a load of crap. Lightning Hammer’s DPS is unmatched in dungeons.

If you mean to treat DE’s as some sort of serious PvE, knock yourself out with staff. But in dungeons, nothing touches LH. Not even close.

Nobody needs an auramancer in dungeons — you need damage and reflection — that is all. Guardians cover reflection and might, while warriors cover might and banners and they bring an ele for just his LH DPS.

Your utility is redundant and unnecessary in organized PvE.

Because DPS is the only thing that matters in dungeons. spewing out boons and fields and auras doesn’t help at all, right?

Honestly though I’m really not seeing how lightning hammer is supposedly the highest dps in the game. a Thief’s sword chain does near 10k damage if it all crits, the full lightning hammer chain does maybe 8-9k and is slower (I suppose it can get to 10-11k damage full chain if you go full zerker 30/30/10/0/0 and spec stone shards and be in fire attunement for the extra 20% damage). The knockback doesn’t do all that much damage and the leap does maybe 2k on a crit, and the storm is unreliable (often times it doesn’t hit at all). It’s decent damage but it’s certainly not ‘unmatched’

Aether McLoud.1975:

First Dev post on the ele forum since january. It’s a “Thanks” post for the 1 positive thread amongst the sea of justified criticism posts. Go figure. This shows how much anet simply loves to spit on the ele community.

qft

Don’t thank the devs yet. Don’t forget, they can nerf the buffs in the next patch because whiners can’t keybind their dodge key even if their life depended on it.
Also, some whiners still think this is any normal MMO where you fight while standing still and facing your enemies!

So, thank the devs only when the devs stop nerfing and actually balanced all professions properly.

Talindra.4958:

we can cast glyph of storm while moving tho i think.. which is pretty cool.

We could always do that.

Healing Rain while moving is a sweet buff though.

sorrychief.2563:

we use to have a 12 second RTL that was pretty cool.

Why can I +1 this only once..

Devildoc.6721:

Zenith.7301:

Devildoc.6721:

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Lightning Hammer ele is only really all that big of a deal for solo pve content, for group pve content including events, staff fields and d/d auramancer support builds are both viable and valuable. Staff got a lot of small boosts to cast times and aftercast that really add up for dps.

What a load of crap. Lightning Hammer’s DPS is unmatched in dungeons.

If you mean to treat DE’s as some sort of serious PvE, knock yourself out with staff. But in dungeons, nothing touches LH. Not even close.

Nobody needs an auramancer in dungeons — you need damage and reflection — that is all. Guardians cover reflection and might, while warriors cover might and banners and they bring an ele for just his LH DPS.

Your utility is redundant and unnecessary in organized PvE.

Because DPS is the only thing that matters in dungeons. spewing out boons and fields and auras doesn’t help at all, right?

Honestly though I’m really not seeing how lightning hammer is supposedly the highest dps in the game. a Thief’s sword chain does near 10k damage if it all crits, the full lightning hammer chain does maybe 8-9k and is slower (I suppose it can get to 10-11k damage full chain if you go full zerker 30/30/10/0/0 and spec stone shards and be in fire attunement for the extra 20% damage). The knockback doesn’t do all that much damage and the leap does maybe 2k on a crit, and the storm is unreliable (often times it doesn’t hit at all). It’s decent damage but it’s certainly not ‘unmatched’

the hammer chain in 12k min can over 20k in normal dungeon and my record in coe vs the destroyer boss is 38k

the build is 30/20/0/20/0 you have to stay perma water attunement and is always all crit because wich the hammer i have 102% crit chance

Yes, the changes are great, and did add build diversity, which is awesome.

JonathanSharp.7094:

Glad you’re enjoying it!

Pls dev can you decrease the cooldown in Focus – Air #5 ability?

Gale currently has 50 seconds cooldown, while updraft has 40 seconds.

Updraft is an aoe knockback, provides swiftness, has lower cooldown and is also a free dodge. While the only thing going for Gale is the fact that it’s ranged.

30 Air cooldown reset is pure genious. Altho from enemy pov can be abit annoying/imba that the scepter Air&arcane bursts can come without any warning from range.

SoliSnake.9457:

the hammer chain in 12k min can over 20k in normal dungeon and my record in coe vs the destroyer boss is 38k

the build is 30/20/0/20/0 you have to stay perma water attunement and is always all crit because wich the hammer i have 102% crit chance

that is interesting, can you please say about it a bit more? what are those traits (assuming in fire there is the one for more hits with LH), utilities… and how it actually work. I never tried LH in pve as a main source of damage … thanks in advance

signet of air+ FGS lets you stay up close to your target while doing decent pbaoe damage with your auto attack. (lightning flash-3&4 combo is sweet too). Did 7k dmg with the FGS 1 in wvw couple days ago. Took just 3 attacks to take him down. Add to that the chill, cripple, immobilize with a hammer-warior… 8 fights-8wins in wvw.

Zenith.7301:

Devildoc.6721:

Zenith.7301:

Shiyo.3578:

I don’t think they made any new ele builds viable in SPVP. Guardians also did not gain a viable build, overall, this patch added a bunch of new PVE builds but almost no PVP ones for most classes(probably almost all?).

What pve builds did they add? Everything outside lightning hammer ele is bad for PvE, so please take your spvp martyr complex somewhere else.

Lightning Hammer ele is only really all that big of a deal for solo pve content, for group pve content including events, staff fields and d/d auramancer support builds are both viable and valuable. Staff got a lot of small boosts to cast times and aftercast that really add up for dps.

What a load of crap. Lightning Hammer’s DPS is unmatched in dungeons.

If you mean to treat DE’s as some sort of serious PvE, knock yourself out with staff. But in dungeons, nothing touches LH. Not even close.

Nobody needs an auramancer in dungeons — you need damage and reflection — that is all. Guardians cover reflection and might, while warriors cover might and banners and they bring an ele for just his LH DPS.

Your utility is redundant and unnecessary in organized PvE.

Min-Maxing DPS for current PVE Content is redundant and unnecessary.

I don’t think the changes listed will change much:

• 20+ arcane is still required for playability
• 15+ water is still required for survivability
• glyphs still suck (cast too slow, elemental is weak)
• conjures still suck (terrible, just terrible)
• EA is still a fair bit better than any of the GM traits
• staff still has 19/20 AOE skills
• sceptre still laden with crappy skills: DT, SS, fire #1, water #1

I can see S/D and signets being a little better, but survivability will be an issue.

Re-distributing the stun breakers is good and overdue, but the glyph ought to be instant or it’s useless. Also, GoEH is typically cast before an encounter not during.

More than anything, I would’ve expected to see trait changes that reduced the dependence of Ele on attunement CD reduction from arcane and dependence on 15+ water for sustain and condition removal, eg: Earth 30 = reset fire and earth attunements on using a signet, Air 30 = reset air and water attunements on using a glyph.

Reboco.7309:

SoliSnake.9457:

the hammer chain in 12k min can over 20k in normal dungeon and my record in coe vs the destroyer boss is 38k

the build is 30/20/0/20/0 you have to stay perma water attunement and is always all crit because wich the hammer i have 102% crit chance

that is interesting, can you please say about it a bit more? what are those traits (assuming in fire there is the one for more hits with LH), utilities… and how it actually work. I never tried LH in pve as a main source of damage … thanks in advance

i using this http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/elementalist/?1.0|8.1p.h3.8.1p.h4|0.0.0.0.0.0|1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e.1g.7e|311.0.211.0.311.0.2s.0.3s.0.2v.0|u38b.k67.0.k64.0|39.7|1m.26.1r.1z.0|e but if you want can go full zerker

Aether McLoud.1975:

So, I come back to GW2 after 8 month hiatus because I was sick and tired of getting nerfed like a godkitten kitten every single patch. Next day, ele gets nerfed like a godkitten kitten. kitten you anet, kitten you.

LAWL @ this!

What’s funny about this thread is that months ago I started one with “anet” word in the title and got instantly removed cause “you can’t use anet, ncsoft, etc on your thread titles” but now even Jonathan comes in and reply. lol.
I didn’t even got a chance to save my text and repost it (it was pretty huge) cause it got removed and it wasn’t about rant just some opinions about the Blacklion Company and how it affects collectors that came from guild wars 1 back then. I’m amazed by the rule sets.

mjharrison.3209:

I don’t think the changes listed will change much:

• 20+ arcane is still required for playability
• 15+ water is still required for survivability
• glyphs still suck (cast too slow, elemental is weak)
• conjures still suck (terrible, just terrible)
• EA is still a fair bit better than any of the GM traits
• staff still has 19/20 AOE skills
• sceptre still laden with crappy skills: DT, SS, fire #1, water #1

I can see S/D and signets being a little better, but survivability will be an issue.

Re-distributing the stun breakers is good and overdue, but the glyph ought to be instant or it’s useless. Also, GoEH is typically cast before an encounter not during.

More than anything, I would’ve expected to see trait changes that reduced the dependence of Ele on attunement CD reduction from arcane and dependence on 15+ water for sustain and condition removal, eg: Earth 30 = reset fire and earth attunements on using a signet, Air 30 = reset air and water attunements on using a glyph.

Just wanted to let you know that the stunbreak glyph is instant, so double bonus for the people already using it.

Swim.6830:

Just wanted to let you know that the stunbreak glyph is instant, so double bonus for the people already using it.

GoeP is never used for the stun break. The ability should be used pretty much on cool down and thus the stun break goes wasted.

covenn.7165:

Swim.6830:

Just wanted to let you know that the stunbreak glyph is instant, so double bonus for the people already using it.

GoeP is never used for the stun break. The ability should be used pretty much on cool down and thus the stun break goes wasted.

Agreed, though I think making the glyph instant is nice. I still think the effect is too weak to warrant a utility skill slot though. The basic concept of the effects is great, but at a 25% chance to proc it’s just not reliable.

I think an arcane spell would be a better target for a stunbreak than any of our current glyphs.. unless you brought in a skill from GW1 called “Glyph of Concentration” that would have a stability effect as well as stun break, though, you’d have to find a way to differentiate it from Armor of Earth, obviously not having protection is one way,

I dont get why you are all so happy..I for one realised that 15 water and evasive arcana should be like the base for ele survivability..Not even something like fresh air can outweight the fact that ele base defence SUCKS..
This patch achieved nothing..It only forced EVERYONE in max cond removal only now we have our water line nerfed..Not even stability and 20 in earth is worth it with the necro plague.
Thx anet..but unless you really fix the arcana problem and the base ele defence nobody gonna use air/fire/earth grandmaster traits in serious pvp..
Thats my opinion of course

I’m having a blast with my Conditimentalist in all aspects of play.

Defies all the standard conventions and is a ton of fun to play

Pretty survivable too even in large scale WvW.

covenn.7165:

Swim.6830:

Just wanted to let you know that the stunbreak glyph is instant, so double bonus for the people already using it.

GoeP is never used for the stun break. The ability should be used pretty much on cool down and thus the stun break goes wasted.

Yeah, but at least now people dont have to waste 1.5 seconds to cast it midfight

Gotta admit it – you made more possible non-sucky builds. GJ.
Now, about those elites…

So moral of this thread. Good Ele’s realize the buffs we got, bad eles complain and can’t get over the fact that their D/D build got changed up a bit. Stop being halfway sheep, just go full on sheep and go re-roll thief. This class clearly isn’t meant for you.

Ele’s still need some work certainly. But this patch was a buff, and a big step in the right direction. If you can’t see that, then you have zero understanding of the class. And no ones going to write a huge thread so you can all mindlessly follow it.

JonathanSharp.7094:

Glad you’re enjoying it!

Of all the things to reply to it’s this? Really?

You’re not going to do anything to fix the class which has a bucket list of QoL issues such as:

-Having to trait 20 into water to survive.
-Having to trait 15-30 in arcane for utility.
-Useless passive traits on things such as fire .
-So many spells are way to slow and have this draggy feeling towards them.
-Scepter spells requiring way to much time to dish out damage.
-Staff hitting only 5 people.
-Dagger being pathetically useless unless you try bunker (despite admitting close up professions will receive damage and defence bonuses)
-Ride the lightning silly CD mechanic, its silly long CD even when you hit someone with it.
-Ride the lightning freezing you for a split second at the end of it every so often
-Fire grab requiring a re-occurrence of the Big Bang to happen to land it on someone who moves an inch.
-Churning earth having a silly long cast time for such little damage output.

And these are VERY few examples of the problems with ele, But I guess this won’t get replied to because you think your balancing theories of elementalist’s are immune to criticism.

But thanks I guess right?….

I agree with OP. I’ve always played a Staff ele and it feels just that bit more responsive now so thanks!

People should make it clear how they play game when complaining about or praising this update. I haven’t played spvp in quite some time, but I can see how this update would be well received by spvp players. I can see how glass staff eles that follow a zerg in wvw would love this update. Anyone using a damage scepter build that relied on air attunement is happy.

I mostly play wvw in solo and small group (usually 5 people at the most) settings, and this update didn’t really do anything for me. I use a typical bunker D/D build. It got some very minor nerfs, but I’m still immortal while dealing decent damage. No real change, and it was arguably a net buff because lightning flash and cleansing fire have reduced cooldowns. It’s nice that when I use a staff to destroy siege or be lazy in pve I’ll feel like I have permanent quickness. Too bad players will still just walk out of the damage skills if I tried to use a staff in actual combat. I’m just underwhelmed and indifferent to this update.

If the spvp crowd is mostly happy now, how about the next update focuses on wvw and pve? Anet, you can start by doing something to make staff and scepter damage more reliable against enemies that don’t have to stand in spvp control points to win.

Aether McLoud.1975:

First Dev post on the ele forum since january. It’s a “Thanks” post for the 1 positive thread amongst the sea of justified criticism posts. Go figure. This shows how much anet simply loves to spit on the ele community.

I feel like the spit part is overly dramatic, but I’m glad somebody said this.

kostbabis.8791:

I dont get why you are all so happy..I for one realised that 15 water and evasive arcana should be like the base for ele survivability..Not even something like fresh air can outweight the fact that ele base defence SUCKS..
This patch achieved nothing..It only forced EVERYONE in max cond removal only now we have our water line nerfed..Not even stability and 20 in earth is worth it with the necro plague.
Thx anet..but unless you really fix the arcana problem and the base ele defence nobody gonna use air/fire/earth grandmaster traits in serious pvp..
Thats my opinion of course

It’s kind of a problem that anet decided to give classes basically the same dps, but gave classes different health and armor. Thieves and Elementalists who spec full damage get 1 shot by boss attacks if they ever get hit, warriors can survive it while specced full dps.

the result is thieves and eles have to spec into surviving rather than damage.

Devildoc.6721:

kostbabis.8791:

I dont get why you are all so happy..I for one realised that 15 water and evasive arcana should be like the base for ele survivability..Not even something like fresh air can outweight the fact that ele base defence SUCKS..
This patch achieved nothing..It only forced EVERYONE in max cond removal only now we have our water line nerfed..Not even stability and 20 in earth is worth it with the necro plague.
Thx anet..but unless you really fix the arcana problem and the base ele defence nobody gonna use air/fire/earth grandmaster traits in serious pvp..
Thats my opinion of course

It’s kind of a problem that anet decided to give classes basically the same dps, but gave classes different health and armor. Thieves and Elementalists who spec full damage get 1 shot by boss attacks if they ever get hit, warriors can survive it while specced full dps.

the result is thieves and eles have to spec into surviving rather than damage.

Pretty much. Obviously if you’re like me and play a Staff ele who is spec’d into Earth and Water then the patch is great. I can understand why others aren’t so happy. I originally played as a fire ele, but you very quickly realise it isn’t viable when you’ve used your dodges and get hit by a boss and die >.>

At least thieves have the ability to completely hide and are pretty much the worst profession ever -_- kill them all!