Guild Wars 2

I’ve been playing ele since head start. I haven’t pve much (till lvl 41) . SInce then i’ve been pvping alot. I check the forums daily and read all pvp and ele forums. I see a lot of whining topics. I’ve been wondering who are happy with their ele? And i would like to see their opinion of current meta game and current ele. What build they are run and what makes them to keep playing ele.

I’m 80 and happy with it. Sure, the class could use improvements, but that doesn’t make it any less fun in WvW.

in before the qq.

I have been playing ele likewise since the headstart, and the bwe´s before it, and i´m happy with it. Unlike you though, i´ve been focusing more on the pve side of the things.

In pve setting, ele is not weak. It just simply is not. I can take on every and each situation any other profession could, and i can perform if not as good, then atleast nearly as good as them. We don´t lack firepower(mainly because mobs are too stupid to dodge), nor survivability.
Even i who runs support staff build can take down mobs very efficiently, even in the dreaded cursed shores where general opinion is that ele can´t take on a single grub. It might be harder than spamming your attack skills, but it´s not all that much slower, especialy since because of aoes, eles can take five enemies down as fast as one enemy.

Pvp side is debatable ofcourse,but when woudn´t it be.

Thing that keeps me playing ele though is that it´s just that much fun.

pretty satisfied myself, but certain things just HAVE to be fixed, and anet has to undo certain nerfs. hell, even increase our damage overall a little.

I’m playing just pve (level 80) from headstart, and I’m happy with my ele. I don’t want to play another class. I’m using two daggers and staff in dungeons and my current build ( I changed 4 times already) has 10 fire, 20 earth, 20 water and 20 arcane.

You know, it’s a difficult class, which needs thinking and exercise. And I know that I need much more time to defeat the same mobs as my guardian partner, but I AM able to win and I like the way I have to switch attunements and give everything for ever mob. I can imagine, that the other classes are pretty boring in comparison.

But I didn’t play pvp so far and I won’t try it with my ele… I guess I would be pretty dissapointed.

I’m happy, so far. Lvl 45 tho, so maybe ppl whine about their end game experience, but for now i have absolutely no idea what’s all this QQing about. I run d/d (20/10/0/0/0) most of the time, sometimes staff (mostly in dungeons), I very rarely die, i can take 3+ mobs easily, damage is just epic. Only thing i can complain about for now is downed state skills. But it’s not a big deal since i have to screw up 1st, before i get downed.

Since i am more into pvp scene of the ele i do not have much to say about pve. However,
i believe our damage is fine. My only concern regarding pvp is our downed state and that has to be fixed ASAP. I mean it has to be fixed with the next patch. That is the only thing i do not like about my class. Other than that we are very good in general and it will get much better as other will figure out the class.

Niji believe me you won’t be disappointed. I tried every other profession with almost all build types but there is something special with ele that makes me keep playing. That was the whole reason i created this topic. What makes me (us) to come back to our ele after trying all other classes and builds?

I’m level 80, play PvE and am happy with my Elementalist.

I’m happy with Elementalists so far (lv 80), though I do wish the bugs would be fixed.
Mainly doing PvE and WvW contents, used to roll Staff semi support build 20 fire 20 air 30 arcane with Evasive Arcana (love this trait). Could solo champions in Cursed Shore (though exhausting and time consuming, around 12 mins) and all of the Skill Points, except the underwater ones.

With the Blasting Staff trait in WvW, it is absolutely devastating, I feel like a walking siege engine.
Only major complain (though not related) is the legendary staff, no particle modifiers for attack and spells T.T

I’m happy with pve ele but that’s it really. They are fun to mess around with in sPvp because you see a lot of people who don’t know what they are doing. I am a skilled player, my elementalist is powerful in pvp. I use D/D but in tPvp there really is no place for me. The current meta is about bunker builds. It will change, it use to be thieves/mesmers burst, but right now its bunker builds. In my experience a elementalist cannot bunker better than a guardian or necromancer and cannot take down a guardian or necromancer faster than other classes so there really is no place for a elementalist in competitive tPvp.

As you said, meta will change. This is a new game guys come on. How long has it been since released? 1-2 months? Everybody is trying with different builds and different aspects of their classes. We should give it a time. I totally disagree that there is no place for eles in tpvp. Yes i have not been to competitive scene but believe me eles are the game changing class in tpvp.

Level 80 pve and my staff elementalist plays like a dream. I can kill faster then my level 80 ranger.

Can you back that statement up with any facts at all? What are elementalist game changing at? What sort of hint makes them the new meta? Can they remove the conditions the fastest? No necromancer beats them to that? Can they survive the longest? No necromancer and guardian beat them at that. Can they do consistent good damage while taking a beating? No warrior, mesmer, guardian and necromancer beat them at that. Can they spike really high? Lol.
You get my point? I’m not trying to be rude, but to make a outrageous claim like that with no evidence to back it up is rather pointless.

Wulfrim.4793:

Can you back that statement up with any facts at all? What are elementalist game changing at? What sort of hint makes them the new meta? Can they remove the conditions the fastest? No necromancer beats them to that? Can they survive the longest? No necromancer and guardian beat them at that. Can they do consistent good damage while taking a beating? No warrior, mesmer, guardian and necromancer beat them at that. Can they spike really high? Lol.
You get my point? I’m not trying to be rude, but to make a outrageous claim like that with no evidence to back it up is rather pointless.

It’s actually kind of funny but your answer is in your questioning.

They can do all of the above. Trying to pidgeonhole an ele is where people are going wrong.

As i said i am not a competitive player and i am giving my opinions about my perspective of the game. If you have been to competitive scene or that equivalent player, I am eager to listen your advice/criticism.
In my opinion, we can remove conditions(i did not understand what you meant by "the fastest’). Yes we might not move conditions like necros but hey they are necros for a reason. No we connot survive the longest but we can for a decent of time. Who does a good damage while taking dmg besides necros? I did not understand what you meant by saying if they can spike really high?(Sorry for my English(i’m not a native speaker) i did not understand it. If you could clarify it for me I would really appreciateit.)
No, you are not being rude. There is a reason for this topic to be opened and that is for a discussion. You stated your opinion and i really appreciate that even though i did not agree with some points. However, you maybe a better player than me and i was just giving my opinions about the game.
Thanks for your response.

I’m a newly minted 80 Elementalist in PvE and haven’t really touched sPvP yet due to time. My alts are mostly of a low level (2-17 currently with every profession represented except Necro so far). I feel like the Elementalist has the most potential to be high skill ceiling and rewarding once all the balancing settles itself out. I relied on a Lightning Hammer build for a good chunk of 40-70 and have settled with the D/D Elementalist build that daphoenix notes a few threads down (at least the thread is at this moment.)

I think between all the attunement swapping and the weapon choices to be made, along with the potential of conjured weapons, I love the flexibility of this profession. Tons more work for a player to do, and it really takes an understanding of auras/boons/combos/etc that other professions do not require, but I still really enjoy the playstyle.

Alright I’ll clarify a bit.
In Tournament pvp you want a team with at least one bunker build, sometimes two. The current meta of pvp is all about the bunker builds. A bunker build is someone who can stay on a point while people just attack them and they will keep the enemy off the point, so they can’t cap it and stay alive. Yes a elementalist can do alot of things at once, but so can every class. That’s how this game was designed. Every class can do alot of things at once. Currently the widely believed best bunker build out there comes from the Guardian. I disagree. I believe necromancer is the best bunker out there and soon will be the new meta of bunkers. A elementalist can build tanky, but doesn’t last anywhere near as long as a necromancer or a guardian and can’t push people off points near as well as necromancers or guardians. So why would I take a elementalist for a bunker position?
Then there is spike damage. Mesmers and thieves hold the top position for spike damage. They can do a massive amount of damage in a very short amount of time. They travel with groups to remove bunkers and other players. If a elementalist can’t do spike damage as well as a mesmer or thief why would I take one to a competitive enviornment?
Then there are roamers, roamers are very good at 1v1. They pick people off as they are spawning, grab people inbetween points, kill the chieftain and svanir, kill the guild lord. Currently the best roamers are rangers, engineers, necromancers and thieves. Elementalist are good at 1v1 but not as good as the classes mentioned above. A elementalist also has a big weakness to thieves, which is this meta’s most common roamer. If a elementalist gets jumped by a thief they only have seconds to react before its too late. Why would I take elementalist when other classes do those things better?
Also you need a 2 person team. This is the duo that goes to take points, usually one is a spiker (read above) and the other has good synergy with the spiker. Engineers offer good team support, thieves are a must with their stealth/revive ability, rangers are good for the AoE damage on traps. If there is anyone reason to bring a elementalist it would be here, but they don’t have very good synergy with other players. They work better alone. They can remove conditions with water attunement from allies, but if you put a necromancer in this spot the allies wont get the conditions to begin with. They can heal allies with water attunement but if you bring a engineer you can have even more boons than a elementalist can offer on allies.
My point is yes a elementalist can do a lot of things, but so can every other class. The biggest problem is in a competitive enviornment other classes do the things people need better.

Edit: Please note sPvp is very different from tPvP. sPvp is mostly a bunch of chickens running around with their head cut off farming points.
Also note that warriors are just as unwanted in tPvp as elementalist but warriors are considered OP in sPvp. It just goes to show you how much things are different in organized pvp.

I am happy !

YEAH , Elementalist is the best class , isn ’ t class for no brain !

Lvl 80 here, still learning the class :-)
But pretty much happy, waiting for bugfixes to be satisfied, and for complete happiness I´m just missing the above things + some trait/skill adjustments (some traits are really a slap in the face compared to other classes and point requirements).

Wulfrim i ’ am ok with you but , all team isn t the same , with a elementalist you can vs all team , but you cannot but all team vs other class .

now you tell a thief kill elementalist ….

but i am elementalist and 1 vs 1 i kill all thiefs .
a thiefs cannot one shoot a tanky elementalist ! and if thief cannot kill a elementalist in 5 seconde maximum . it s a thiefs dead

Semprenaviguare.2936:

Wulfrim i ’ am ok with you but , all team isn t the same , with a elementalist you can vs all team , but you cannot but all team vs other class .

now you tell a thief kill elementalist ….

but i am elementalist and 1 vs 1 i kill all thiefs .
a thiefs cannot one shoot a tanky elementalist ! and if thief cannot kill a elementalist in 5 seconde maximum . it s a thiefs dead

You must be foreign haha.
Yes all teams are different. My point wasn’t that a team should have this class, this class and this class. My point is a team needs this position, this position, this position. If you don’t have a bunker build, at least ONE bunker build on your team I’m sorry but you just aren’t going to win. If your one bunker is a elementalist then I’m afraid you aren’t going to win because a guardian can just knock him off the point, place a wall to neutralize it and outlast the elementalist. They heal for more, have more toughness, roughly the same amount of health, better condition removal, longer boons, more damage. They excel in everyway compared to a bunker elementalist. Yes a thief vs a bunker elementalist would probably lose, but thieves job isn’t to take down a bunker. That’s what the group of two is for. If a bunker elementalist is roaming then hes not really supporting his team at all.

What makes the guardian bunker so appealing is he can maintain retaliation and protection for a very long time AND heal himself several different times with enough crowd control(walls and knockdowns/knockbacks) to neutralize a captured point. He also has a downed state that can delay an opponent from finishing him off, buying his team time to recapture the point or help.
-Elementalist can only keep protection up for a long time, the other boons he can keep up are purely offensive. Elementalist has no useful downed state ability. In fact if they go into mist form while downed it gives the opponent FIVE extra points. A bug that desperately needs fixed.
What makes a necromancer a good bunker is he can keep protection and retaliation up. He has two life bars, life force if used properly pretty much makes it so you have to kill the necromancer three different times. He can turn opponents boons into conditions making him very effective for removing bunker guardians (the most common bunker) he can then transfer his conditions to his enemies (the most common bunker counter). He also has fears to remove and neutralize points and chill is just plain annoying. Not to mention the over 20 stacks of vulnerability one necromancer can apply to a opponent.

i am elementalist bunker and i can get a postion 2 minutes Vs 2 ppl .
i can eject a bunker gardian of position and keep the position .

i have 10 skills cc + ultime stabilité tornado and blind and 20 secondes he cannot keep the position ..
one vs one vs good guardian bunker .
he keep position , i keep position he keep position i keep position ect…
i ve already fight position 5 minutes vs 1 guardian + and war and i ve kill the war 3 times and guardian one time .
i ve alreakittenep position vs 2 thiefs 10 minutes and i ve kill 5 x each thiefs …

i play only pick up team because i ve not team , and with pick up team i ve already win a tournement vs a structured team ==> 3 Guardian bunker + 1 mesmer + 1 engienier
we : 3 elementaliste ( all bunker ) +1 war burst + 1 mesmer )

a good elementalist can all make , and it s a very good roamer .

and first card , i can speed run et flash on boss + ultime tornado and i steel boss other team vs 3 ppl .

I’m kinda happy, but the jumpskills like RTL, Magnetic Field etc need to be fixed urgently, You can simply not count on those very important skills

And the ’ harder’ work you do compared to other classes, could be rewarded just a little more in terms of CD, or damage, or survivability..

Buuuut, I’m not complaining

That is impressive and I recommend making a video.
A few notes: It is possible you weren’t up against a real competitive team. In the current tpvp the majority of match ups are really bad pugs and maybe 2 out of 20 matches are really good ones. The only problem is by the time you reach a ‘good match’ your team is so use to messing around and still winning you aren’t prepared and may lose. I recommend joining a pvp server and a tpvp guild and synchronizing your queuing so you go up against each other.
Also Tornado cooldown is 180 seconds with a duration of 15 seconds and a cast time of 1 second. I’m assuming you are either spamming the knockback or the blind on the tornado. A guardian can have 8 seconds of stability on a 30 second cooldown, making the knockback only work for 7 of the 15 seconds. A necromancer can have 3 seconds of stability every 6 seconds, allowing him to apply it twice during the tornado, negating 6 seconds of the actual tornado knockback. The damage from tornado can pretty much be ignored but you are also completely exposed during the tornado with no way to defend yourself from ranged classes. Thieves? Yes. Condition necromancers, Rangers, Mesmers, Rifle Warriors, Engineers? No.

I am only level 31 in PvE, but play SPvP mainly. The class in itself is fun and I intended on playing it before I even tried the game. That is also why I am reluctant to play another caster class, like necromancer or mesmer, although they look a bit appealing.

Now I am just being stubborn and refuse to change, even though their bugs and lack of burst damage annoys me. Like other players, I try to find builds that will let me play it in SPvP with a chance of survival and the ability to kill someone before I get killed, and I refuse to play those no/low-damage bunker builds.

GW2 “Elementalists are multi-faceted spellcasters that channel elemental forces, making fire, air, earth, and water do their bidding. What they lack in physical toughness, they make up in versatility and the ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack”.

Yes, some of that text rings true, but even if you spec for the ultimate spike damage, you sadly still fall (far) behind quite a few of the other classes. The only way to do reasonable damage, is when you use offensive arcane spells in a combo. Even with that, the class fails to perform high damage, which one would think they could do when reading the class/profession description. The spells that deal reasonable burst damage take a long time to cast and is easily evaded. I do feel the need to compare their damage to what I have seen other classes do, to have a frame of reference. Their defenses are alright if you know how to use them, but considering their low HP their offensive capabilities are lacking greatly. They can’t vanish like several other classes can, and deal less damage. Yet, they are still fun to play, because it is challenging, even though you get your kitten kicked often and occasionally die in around 0.5 seconds.

Yes, the bugs are annoying and surely frustrates a lot of people, and the downed state is horrendous. Reducing the wait/CD on Vapor Form to 3 seconds wouldn’t hurt.

The builds I had most success with are 10/30/0/20/10 D/F glyph/arcane, 20/30/0/10/10 glyph/arcane D/D (almost pure offensive) and 20/10/30/0/10 signet D/D alround damage focus. Tried a staff build as well, which is neat if you know how to avoid too much contact and can aid your team on capture points with heavy artillery, CC and healing. Quite fun.

Basically I love the class despite the lack of damage and/or survival utilities a squishy class needs. The bugs needs to be fixed before any balancing occurs. Despite that I believe they still need a significant damage boost to be more compatible. That or improvement in the defense department.

Wulfrim.4793:

Semprenaviguare.2936:

Wulfrim i ’ am ok with you but , all team isn t the same , with a elementalist you can vs all team , but you cannot but all team vs other class .

now you tell a thief kill elementalist ….

but i am elementalist and 1 vs 1 i kill all thiefs .
a thiefs cannot one shoot a tanky elementalist ! and if thief cannot kill a elementalist in 5 seconde maximum . it s a thiefs dead

You must be foreign haha.
Yes all teams are different. My point wasn’t that a team should have this class, this class and this class. My point is a team needs this position, this position, this position. If you don’t have a bunker build, at least ONE bunker build on your team I’m sorry but you just aren’t going to win. If your one bunker is a elementalist then I’m afraid you aren’t going to win because a guardian can just knock him off the point, place a wall to neutralize it and outlast the elementalist. They heal for more, have more toughness, roughly the same amount of health, better condition removal, longer boons, more damage. They excel in everyway compared to a bunker elementalist. Yes a thief vs a bunker elementalist would probably lose, but thieves job isn’t to take down a bunker. That’s what the group of two is for. If a bunker elementalist is roaming then hes not really supporting his team at all.

What makes the guardian bunker so appealing is he can maintain retaliation and protection for a very long time AND heal himself several different times with enough crowd control(walls and knockdowns/knockbacks) to neutralize a captured point. He also has a downed state that can delay an opponent from finishing him off, buying his team time to recapture the point or help.
-Elementalist can only keep protection up for a long time, the other boons he can keep up are purely offensive. Elementalist has no useful downed state ability. In fact if they go into mist form while downed it gives the opponent FIVE extra points. A bug that desperately needs fixed.
What makes a necromancer a good bunker is he can keep protection and retaliation up. He has two life bars, life force if used properly pretty much makes it so you have to kill the necromancer three different times. He can turn opponents boons into conditions making him very effective for removing bunker guardians (the most common bunker) he can then transfer his conditions to his enemies (the most common bunker counter). He also has fears to remove and neutralize points and chill is just plain annoying. Not to mention the over 20 stacks of vulnerability one necromancer can apply to a opponent.

This guy knows what he’s talking about. This post and his one prior to this should end this thread tbh. This is why elementalists aren’t up to scratch, and why they aren’t sought after.

I’m sorry, but that is the sad truth. I however enjoy playing weaker classes to master them and make people jaw-drop so yes, I enjoy my elementalist.

I am happy with my ele!

Well For me No and Yes, Ive been leveling my ele since the start up to lvl80 and yes i like the class but no they are not on par damage wise at 80 dont care what anyone say

Ive got full exotic crafted gear and exotic staff and i find the cursed shore hell. Im sorry but he person who said you can take 5 mobs there as a staff ele and wack them down quicker than any other class talks total bollocks in my oppinion (until proven otherwise).

I struggle to barely stay alive with one mob. unless you guessed it the mob happens to be a rissen wizard which uses the same skills as a ele. You can basically just stand there and knock em down

very happy. GW1 ele BWE’s ele and ele right now.:D I just love/hate seeing other ele’s suck. Love cuz it makes me feel like a good player bad cuz I dont want them to be bad players

Osculim.2983:

Well For me No and Yes, Ive been leveling my ele since the start up to lvl80 and yes i like the class but no they are not on par damage wise at 80 dont care what anyone say

Ive got full exotic crafted gear and exotic staff and i find the cursed shore hell. Im sorry but he person who said you can take 5 mobs there as a staff ele and wack them down quicker than any other class talks total bollocks in my oppinion (until proven otherwise).

I struggle to barely stay alive with one mob. unless you guessed it the mob happens to be a rissen wizard which uses the same skills as a ele. You can basically just stand there and knock em down

Try D/D, building 30 points into water and at least 10 into earth and at least 10 into arcane. I can tank for a very very long time and the damage isn’t that much lower than a power/precision build. I was in Orr at the melandru avatar and I had to have at least 6 guys including 2 veterans on me and I came out on top. Using the elite elemental in water attunement virtually makes you invincible and he doesn’t die very fast either with the dagger water skills.

Razarei.2809:

This guy knows what he’s talking about. This post and his one prior to this should end this thread tbh. This is why elementalists aren’t up to scratch, and why they aren’t sought after.

I’m sorry, but that is the sad truth. I however enjoy playing weaker classes to master them and make people jaw-drop so yes, I enjoy my elementalist.

You kinda missed the point of the thread on first paragraph, it´s about asking who are happy with elementalist and why. Not about how elementalist compares to others. So there´s really no end to this unless we run out of people.

I am very very happy with my Ele. You have to focus and stay engaged to really excell with him. He takes more attention than any other class. You have to know all of your abilities and feel comfortable using them in a split second’s notice. You need anticipate, stay active and keep moving. You need to dodge and dodge well. You need to think and adapt to your opponent. The Ele has the tools to do practically anything. The trick is knowing what to do when.

I can understand why others don’t like to play him, he’s tough to utilize. Perhaps too tough for anyone who can’t take the time to invest in really getting to know him. I play my Ele almost everyday for a good 2 hours at least. Every game mode can help improve your muscle memory and get you more comfortable with the Ele, so just play the game and do what you enjoy.

Ele is not like riding a bike. He’s more like jogging. If you don’t keep practicing, you will get rusty. Ele does not make a good alt. Heck, I’d go so far as to say Ele isn’t a good main for anyone who likes to alt. You need to keep with him to really maximize your potential.

Wulfrim.4793:

Osculim.2983:

Well For me No and Yes, Ive been leveling my ele since the start up to lvl80 and yes i like the class but no they are not on par damage wise at 80 dont care what anyone say

Ive got full exotic crafted gear and exotic staff and i find the cursed shore hell. Im sorry but he person who said you can take 5 mobs there as a staff ele and wack them down quicker than any other class talks total bollocks in my oppinion (until proven otherwise).

I struggle to barely stay alive with one mob. unless you guessed it the mob happens to be a rissen wizard which uses the same skills as a ele. You can basically just stand there and knock em down

Try D/D, building 30 points into water and at least 10 into earth and at least 10 into arcane. I can tank for a very very long time and the damage isn’t that much lower than a power/precision build. I was in Orr at the melandru avatar and I had to have at least 6 guys including 2 veterans on me and I came out on top. Using the elite elemental in water attunement virtually makes you invincible and he doesn’t die very fast either with the dagger water skills.

Thanks ill have a look at that build and see how it goes.

if we get to swap weapons in combat i’d be happy

Dal.6801:

if we get to swap weapons in combat i’d be happy

Sorry to dissapoint you, but we won´t. It just doesn´t make sense, we already have twice the weapon skills compared to other classes, you want to have four times than others?
But that would be some challenge to play efficiently, that´s for sure

Very happy. I play Pve mostly. I find it’s alot of fun to get myself into jams and then get out again lol. I find Ele to be a subtle class with alot of fine points that when put together give a very satisfying result. Pulling, attunement swaping, agro awareness, combo fields and finishers, weapon selection for differnet purposes, boons and conditions and their removal, healing, aoe, damage over time, burst dps, crits, evasion, kiting, dodging, group play vs. individual play dynamics, etc. There’s alot there to get the hang of and I like it.

I’ve been playing 0/10/15/15/30 since I could first afford to buy grandmaster traits lol. I know that there are so many trait builds that will change all the strats I have used that I will essentially be playing an entirely different character. That appeals to me too. alot! Although, I would surely miss 30 in arcane thats for sure. That might have to stay.

I am not at all concerned about what many see as greener grass on the other side of the fence.

very happy with the dagger/dagger melee setup, such a beast in terms of play style. However I think they could use a lot more damage considering how squishy they are.

STRanger.5120:

Dal.6801:

if we get to swap weapons in combat i’d be happy

Sorry to dissapoint you, but we won´t. It just doesn´t make sense, we already have twice the weapon skills compared to other classes, you want to have four times than others?
But that would be some challenge to play efficiently, that´s for sure

agreed. Don’t ever see it happening. Even with the weapon swap cooldown, being able to play the best skills of two weapon sets would be OP. Currently we gain dps with shorter range weapons. Gain dps, lose alot of cool defense with focus. Gain dps, lose lots of aoe and nice aoe fields with staff. Gain short range dps with main hand dagger, etc. Each weapon set has its own strats, disadantages, and advantages in other words with different play styles and strats.

Take that away and the class will become easier to play and much more cookie cutter. We will use fewer skills, not more. Many skills will become unused and therefore useless. I would say the same potential exists for some attunements. Some will be unused and therefore useless too.

Besides the simple fact that the skill sequences that become available would be OP. Lol. Short term thinking, making a short term design change in a profession that would require a long term nerf. That’s self defeating. Anyway, the result would indeed be an entirely different profession. That doesn’t mean in future releases Anet won’t introduce new professions that will meet the designs some players are looking for. I have no doubt they already exist. Anet said sometime ago they had the next two years of the game already laid out.

I absolutely love my current Lvl 64 Ele. I’ve played an Ele in GW1 and didn’t care at all for any of the other classes other than perhaps ranger. I’m usually having scepter/dagger or staff, and I have my own trait build. I’d like to say that I’m really good with my Ele, I have my own personal play style that works and can last for quite a while whether I’m focusing on damage or support. I don’t do PvP at all really so I also don’t know how I compare with other Ele’s. Versatility and the satisfaction of being able to master my class make the Elementalist very enjoyable for me. It’d be nice if we had more damage output and such, but for me that isn’t a huge problem. Personally, I think it’d be quite interesting to be able to dual-wield Scepters. Makes more sense than dual-weilding Daggers. Ele’s are casters…not melee. On that point, that’s the only thing I hate about our class. We aren’t meant to fight up close. Our job is to hang back and AoE, heal, etc.

As for other classes, I enjoy the Ranger and Mesmer, but haven’t played them a lot except for the BWEs with a Ranger.

All classes must have melee options to fulfill the dynamic combat system Guild Wars 2 offers…

Swords are actually common weapons for wizardly mages, I’m surprised we have daggers instead. I always thought daggers fit more with classes like Witchdoctors, Shamans, Warlocks and Necromancers, etc.

I started with Ranger, and Thief. Dabbled in Mesmer, Guardian, and Warrior before rolling my Ele about 2 weeks after release or so. Never looked back.

The playstyle is amazing. Lots of versatility, lots of team support, and AoE damage. We can 1v1 and win just about any encounter, or stalemate it at least. I do feel like my skill level plays a role in my effectiveness. I feel rewarded for having a high APM, knowing how to attunement dance, and utilize my CC and combo effectively. On my Thief, it was basically spam 2, or 3 if I ran conditions, and dodge around. Pop stealth if things got hairy. Not really a multi-dimensional, versatile class. But yeah, I could kill people effectively – that’s all I could do.

Current meta is more about bunkering than anything. I can play an Ele bunker pretty well, and there are very few 1v2 comps I’ll die against, but it still takes them a long time. Of course, we have limited stability and knockback options, so point control isn’t much compared to Guardian or Engineer, but I can stay on it for long periods.

We suck against bunkers. Any good bunker player won’t even be scratched in a 1v1. He won’t kill me either, but he’ll never die to me. I bring backup, maybe ANet sees bunkering as being too strong and will nerf it, or perhaps they’ll buff our damage. But for now, bring backup since you won’t be killing them. And unless you’re a bunker on your team, you’ll have problems vs triple or quad bunker teams.

More balanced teams, though, we can be extremely potent. Any teamfight we can lay on AoE might, regen, condition removal, heals depending on your weapon, and AoE damage which makes a significant impact. Eles make great roamers in this regard, and for backcapping.

And no, please don’t give us weapon swap. That’ll be the excuse to nerf every skill’s individual damage again because we’d have to many damaging abilities to lay down. Never mind the support potential. That’s 4 conditions removed, perma regen, and if you run staff/scepter/dagger? Water Trident, Geyser, Healing Rain. Blatantly OP. Stop asking for weapon swap. Out of combat only for quality of life.

I like the complexity of the ele and various play styles.
But i am pretty certain that other classes are just easier in spvp.

In pve i like the ele.
I think i like the warrior more.

I’M happy with it.
Does it need some minor work done— yes. what classes wouldnt in a 2 month old mmo.

But for me, i always have enjoyed the mage n auromancer classes the best. And I also like the complexity of it.

The class certainly isnt broken to the point to where i just wont play it in pve or pvp. it needs a bit of work, and it was really hard for me to get the hang of the class, but i like it.

Love the graphics and spell effects. And I also like grouping and we are great in groups with combo fields, debuffs, buffs, and cc and heals.

I better stop before this turns into just antoher wall of text

I have an 80 warrior, guardian, but I still love my first one best: my ele.

I love playing mages in MMOs and the Ele has a lot of unique character and abilities, and with the right spec and playstyle can fill many roles. I think most people that play it and think it sucks just put like 0 points in arcane and never change attunements and think they are ‘fire spec’ or whatever.

lvl 57 now, very happy with it.

I have a lvl 80 Engi and that one hit the wall at lvl 65, so let’s see how the Ele will do.
I enjoy the class because I like the stance dancing, I use D/D and sometimes a staff. I enjoy it because of it’s complexity.
I use it only for PvE still, I WvW a little with my Engi (yes, I got him sorted out in the end) and I don’t really do sPvP or tourneys.
And my Norn female Ele is haaawwwt

I’m very happy with my Elementalist. Quite a while since I’ve played such a fun class, in any MMORPG.
Having twenty-five skills, each one of them useful in at least one right situation – and being actually expected by the game to make use of this – makes this a very rewarding and interesting class to play. I would get easily bored with a class that has few skills and don’t really need to use all of their potential.

It’s really too bad. A lot of people just stopped caring. I really enjoyed this game for a few weeks but then I realized that they were just going to keep nerfing a class that was already weaker than the others. Some people still don’t get that no class should be any less accessible than another. The very idea that you have to play many hours after level 80 just to compete with fresh level 80s from other classes just goes to show you how weak this class is. Oh well though. I gave up a few weeks ago. This game had a lot of potential but thanks to a few issues, it ended up catering to a select few instead of the majority.

Love my elementalist. Started out as a warrior, wasn’t too bad. Made it to level 65, got really boring hitting 3 buttons over and over.

Switched to elementalist and have never looked back. Such a fun class. Found a great build online and love it. D/D is so much fun both in pve and pvp. Haven’t done any tournament pvp but in WvW its a blast.

I’m always playing tanks and melee, its been a loooong time since I’ve played a caster the most. Almost since Everquest, but it’s a lot of fun.

Play elem since beta, 400h for now. Found d/d balnaced+aura+1X might build to be most effective in pve.
Got bored with any other classes, except maybe for engineer which may be very intresting as well if there was a trait like “turets follow character” without it its mobility is non existent compared to elem.

Reassuming – I am extremely happy with my elem and dont see any resonable alternative for this class.

ps. Ofc elem needs a lot more prectice than any other class and can’t be played well using default key bindings (1-5 + F1-F4).