Guild Wars 2

Creslin.1758:

The problem I have isn’t that I disagree with the “Ele sucks, go play warrior” answer, the problem is that it is well…wrong.

Yes, I totally agree. However, I also understand that this may not be everyone’s experience. What I was responding to however, was the previous poster stating that some people aren’t allowed to state their opinion.

Because to be honest, I totally agree with you. The elementalist is both amazing and fun. But I also realize that, in my guild, I’m probably one of the few, if not the only one who can actually play the profession well. That’s not to boost my own ego. But it does make me wonder wheter a more casual player may end up getting more fun out of other, less complex professions.

So in a nutshell, this thread should tell everyone how amazing we are, but warn them for the added complexity and learning curve. And a mix of both posts types, provided they argument their opinions, does that imho.

I think that is the most salient point.

Elementalists are great and possibly the best class in the game, but only if you can use them properly.

Which most people can’t.

I would warn off bad/clumsy players from playing an elementalist.

I would invite, nay, urge hardcore/skilled players to play an elementalist, it was made for them to really show what they can do.

TheGuy.3568:

Torafugu.1087:

I dare ANY elementalist to solo my Mesmer. I don’t care how good you are or what you do. the Mesmer wins.

I dare your Mesmer to tank a champion and kill his adds, kill ten mobs at once, run faster than us, have 20 skills just for weapons, blah blah.

Good ele vs good mesmer if you wont lose I would leave its as simple s that. No good ele is going to fall victim to a class with very weak cc (beside a strong range on gs). It would likely be a draw.

Also what you do in PvP is inline with the strongest PvP class for ease of use and mechanics. While that is all well and good its not an I win button. We don’t have many duels and if we did mesmer would likely be a champion class at it. However if we were to list everything your class sucks at I doubt it would be worth winning 1 on 1.

Please exit our forums you have your own use them. Or you could go to SPvP everyone their knows for a fact their the best player in the world.

I have a level 80 Elementalist. I am merely pointing out the fact Mesmers don’t die while dead elementalists are fashionable battlefield decorations.

Elementalists do can run away amazingly fast as you pointed out

Right now, no. Maybe when they get around to fixing the severe flaws in our class mechanic… in a few years or so with how fast ANet works…

xiv.7136:

I think that is the most salient point.

Elementalists are great and possibly the best class in the game, but only if you can use them properly.

Which most people can’t.

I would warn off bad/clumsy players from playing an elementalist.

I would invite, nay, urge hardcore/skilled players to play an elementalist, it was made for them to really show what they can do.

I’m betting you use D/D, part of the problem is that D/D is the only way to viably use ele outside of a group setting. D/D is great, doing anything else makes you simply under par. You still achieve results, but for 5x the work of another class.
Each individual element needs to be able to work as a stand-alone build, if someone wants to be a lightning mage, fire mage, earth mage, or even a dps ice mage then don’t force them to change atunement to not be out-dps’d by a ranger rolling his face on the keyboard.

I love my ele, but combat feels less like “never gets dull” and more like a chore. I still enjoy he amount of options we have in combat, but I want to not be reliant on them.

Zaviel.1245:

xiv.7136:

I think that is the most salient point.

Elementalists are great and possibly the best class in the game, but only if you can use them properly.

Which most people can’t.

I would warn off bad/clumsy players from playing an elementalist.

I would invite, nay, urge hardcore/skilled players to play an elementalist, it was made for them to really show what they can do.

I’m betting you use D/D, part of the problem is that D/D is the only way to viably use ele outside of a group setting. D/D is great, doing anything else makes you simply under par. You still achieve results, but for 5x the work of another class.
Each individual element needs to be able to work as a stand-alone build, if someone wants to be a lightning mage, fire mage, earth mage, or even a dps ice mage then don’t force them to change atunement to not be out-dps’d by a ranger rolling his face on the keyboard.

I totally agree, i think having to attunement “dance” to get results is a BAD idea. We should be allowed to be element we want to use and not be forced into changing atunment every 10seconds to be of any use.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

I totally agree, i think having to attunement “dance” to get results is a BAD idea. We should be allowed to be element we want to use and not be forced into changing atunment every 10seconds to be of any use.

Exactly, if someone likes the “dance” playstyle then they should feel free to do exactly that, but anyone who doesn’t shouldn’t be given the “play another class” treatment.
Changing atunements for a needed role change is one thing, being forced to have it in your rotation is another.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Zaviel.1245:

xiv.7136:

I think that is the most salient point.

Elementalists are great and possibly the best class in the game, but only if you can use them properly.

Which most people can’t.

I would warn off bad/clumsy players from playing an elementalist.

I would invite, nay, urge hardcore/skilled players to play an elementalist, it was made for them to really show what they can do.

I’m betting you use D/D, part of the problem is that D/D is the only way to viably use ele outside of a group setting. D/D is great, doing anything else makes you simply under par. You still achieve results, but for 5x the work of another class.
Each individual element needs to be able to work as a stand-alone build, if someone wants to be a lightning mage, fire mage, earth mage, or even a dps ice mage then don’t force them to change atunement to not be out-dps’d by a ranger rolling his face on the keyboard.

I totally agree, i think having to attunement “dance” to get results is a BAD idea. We should be allowed to be element we want to use and not be forced into changing atunment every 10seconds to be of any use.

Disagree.

Refusing to use more than one attunement is like playing the game with one hand tied behind your back: your results will not be as good as those of someone who does not handicap themselves.

If you insist that a single-attunement playstyle should be made just as viable as any playstyle in any other profession, this would make a multi-attunement playstyle GREATLY overpowered. And you would STILL complain that you feel forced to “attunement dance” to be most effective.

Other classes have weapon swaps, elementalists have attunements. Attunements give roughly twice as many skills to elementalists than what other professions have. For that reason, every individual elementalist skillbar needs to be slightly weaker than comparable skillbars on other professions.
(This is mostly done through skill cooldowns, and giving all skills on the same weapon a similar range, i.e. staff is bad at melee range across all attunements, daggers are most effective in melee range across all attunements.)

The only way how your suggestion could work and be balanced, is by removing the “Elementalist” profession and replacing it with 4 separate professions: “Fire Elementalist”, “Water Elementalist”, “Air Elementalist” and “Earth Elementalist”. And that’s a BAD IDEA, because every attunement has a very narrow playstyle, and players would be pigeon-holed into this.

Apparently, you want to be pigeon-holed. My suggestion to you is to play another class, because the elementalist is a combination of four playstyles.

I would prefer to weapon swap and be able to have one or two elemental specializes. I just dont think attunement dancing is that rewarding. Or make it so you have swap and change faster. I mean after all we wont be changing from range to melee or anything like those that can swap weapons can do and considering the abilities have cool downs on abilities mean it wouldnt be that over powered or anything

Sure we have more abilities BUT for example D/D we lack range if we were fighting a Melee – one press of a button bang they are a range and we would be at a disadvantage thanks to the fact that we have very little Range abilities/Range CC when using D/D

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

I would prefer to weapon swap and be able to have one or two elemental specializes. I just dont think attunement dancing is that rewarding. Or make it so you have swap and change faster. I mean after all we wont be changing from range to melee or anything like those that can swap weapons can do and considering the abilities have cool downs on abilities mean it wouldnt be that over powered or anything

I disagree again.
Frankly, it is never fun to give a player a class (consisting of four attunements) and then telling them to choose 1 or 2 attunements to keep, and then taking the rest away.

And if you want to specialize in one or two attunements, you can already do so by selecting major traits. EACH of the four elemental traitlines has a trait that reduces the cooldown of weapon skills for that element, as well as a trait that increases the damage of weapon skills for that element.
This way, you can use the skills from these elements more often and for more damage, increasing the viability of relying on fewer attunements.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Sure we have more abilities BUT for example D/D we lack range if we were fighting a Melee – one press of a button bang they are a range and we would be at a disadvantage thanks to the fact that we have very little Range abilities/Range CC when using D/D

You have three gap closers in D/D: Fire #3, Air #4 and Earth #3 (which also immobilizes them). Add to this the cripples, chills and knockdowns in Water, Air and Earth, which ensure that enemies have a hard time getting away from you.
This does not give D/D real range advantage, but it does give a dagger elementalist a fair chance against ranged attackers.

Jornophelanthas.1475:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

I would prefer to weapon swap and be able to have one or two elemental specializes. I just dont think attunement dancing is that rewarding. Or make it so you have swap and change faster. I mean after all we wont be changing from range to melee or anything like those that can swap weapons can do and considering the abilities have cool downs on abilities mean it wouldnt be that over powered or anything

I disagree again.
Frankly, it is never fun to give a player a class (consisting of four attunements) and then telling them to choose 1 or 2 attunements to keep, and then taking the rest away.

And if you want to specialize in one or two attunements, you can already do so by selecting major traits. EACH of the four elemental traitlines has a trait that reduces the cooldown of weapon skills for that element, as well as a trait that increases the damage of weapon skills for that element.
This way, you can use the skills from these elements more often and for more damage, increasing the viability of relying on fewer attunements.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Sure we have more abilities BUT for example D/D we lack range if we were fighting a Melee – one press of a button bang they are a range and we would be at a disadvantage thanks to the fact that we have very little Range abilities/Range CC when using D/D

You have three gap closers in D/D: Fire #3, Air #4 and Earth #3 (which also immobilizes them). Add to this the cripples, chills and knockdowns in Water, Air and Earth, which ensure that enemies have a hard time getting away from you.
This does not give D/D real range advantage, but it does give a dagger elementalist a fair chance against ranged attackers.

Nothing wrong with allowing them to specialize in one rather then being forced into atunement dancing. The difference is while you can “specialize” one in the current system you STILL have to atunement dance in order to make the most of the class

and again gap closers which FORCE us into atunement dancing. Plus you are ignoring the fact that BOTH the Air and Earth ones are STILL bugged – Air one either doesnt move you and explodes or goes THROUGH and past the target and explodes both making it VERY annoying when being a Melee role. Earth one bugs out as well.

I’ve told you that your playstyle of “elemental specialization” is actually possible in the actual game, and it’s apparently not good enough. So just “dance” between two attunements, and pretend it’s a weapon swap. Switching back to the attunement you just left has a 15-second cooldown anyway (without traits).

I personally find your argumentation incoherent. It’s like a warrior complaining that he has no long-range skills on his mace, and that he refuses to use weapon swap to switch to a ranged weapon because “I’m a mace warrior, not a ranger”. And then suggesting it would be a better idea to remove weapon swaps, and to put a lot of extra ranged skills on the mace skillbar, or to redesign the rifle to be a “ranged mace”.
Just because you want something, this doesn’t mean that everyone else thinks it is a good idea. Opinions are not facts.

(And the bugs you describe only occur some of the time, and will hopefully be fixed at some point, because they are not intended. It doesn’t stop me from using these skills, and they work fine more often than not. Besides, class redesign and bug fixes are two very separate topics. Don’t muddle them up.)

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Jornophelanthas.1475:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

I would prefer to weapon swap and be able to have one or two elemental specializes. I just dont think attunement dancing is that rewarding. Or make it so you have swap and change faster. I mean after all we wont be changing from range to melee or anything like those that can swap weapons can do and considering the abilities have cool downs on abilities mean it wouldnt be that over powered or anything

I disagree again.
Frankly, it is never fun to give a player a class (consisting of four attunements) and then telling them to choose 1 or 2 attunements to keep, and then taking the rest away.

And if you want to specialize in one or two attunements, you can already do so by selecting major traits. EACH of the four elemental traitlines has a trait that reduces the cooldown of weapon skills for that element, as well as a trait that increases the damage of weapon skills for that element.
This way, you can use the skills from these elements more often and for more damage, increasing the viability of relying on fewer attunements.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Sure we have more abilities BUT for example D/D we lack range if we were fighting a Melee – one press of a button bang they are a range and we would be at a disadvantage thanks to the fact that we have very little Range abilities/Range CC when using D/D

You have three gap closers in D/D: Fire #3, Air #4 and Earth #3 (which also immobilizes them). Add to this the cripples, chills and knockdowns in Water, Air and Earth, which ensure that enemies have a hard time getting away from you.
This does not give D/D real range advantage, but it does give a dagger elementalist a fair chance against ranged attackers.

Nothing wrong with allowing them to specialize in one rather then being forced into atunement dancing. The difference is while you can “specialize” one in the current system you STILL have to atunement dance in order to make the most of the class

and again gap closers which FORCE us into atunement dancing. Plus you are ignoring the fact that BOTH the Air and Earth ones are STILL bugged – Air one either doesnt move you and explodes or goes THROUGH and past the target and explodes both making it VERY annoying when being a Melee role. Earth one bugs out as well.

Good point, now i do wish warrior can use 1h sword without offhand and be viable… oh and i also want to be viable with scepter without offhand… I am sure if I ask around the forum using main hand only without offhand viable or not, everyone will call me nut… why? Because the game was designed to combine main hand and off hand. An elementalist is given 4 attunements by game designer, this is intended and you are welcome to use single attunement but you will only kitten yourself, it is so simple.

I believe only the best elementalist able to make use of all elements.

Torafugu.1087:

TheGuy.3568:

Torafugu.1087:

I dare ANY elementalist to solo my Mesmer. I don’t care how good you are or what you do. the Mesmer wins.

I dare your Mesmer to tank a champion and kill his adds, kill ten mobs at once, run faster than us, have 20 skills just for weapons, blah blah.

Good ele vs good mesmer if you wont lose I would leave its as simple s that. No good ele is going to fall victim to a class with very weak cc (beside a strong range on gs). It would likely be a draw.

Also what you do in PvP is inline with the strongest PvP class for ease of use and mechanics. While that is all well and good its not an I win button. We don’t have many duels and if we did mesmer would likely be a champion class at it. However if we were to list everything your class sucks at I doubt it would be worth winning 1 on 1.

Please exit our forums you have your own use them. Or you could go to SPvP everyone their knows for a fact their the best player in the world.

I have a level 80 Elementalist. I am merely pointing out the fact Mesmers don’t die while dead elementalists are fashionable battlefield decorations.

Elementalists do can run away amazingly fast as you pointed out

Than either you or the eles you play with aren’t very good or think they are supposed to win every 2 v1 and never need to kite. Fact is ele is very good in PvP in the hands of someone who knows what the hell they are doing. A memer wiped some guardian came after me and the scenario played out like that shatter evade into the mesmers you cant catch me. I simply walked away healed twice and waved adieu. The fail part of mesmer is for all the cc they have thy are near useless everywhere else. Beside the occasional portal and ether field what else does it bring to the table?

We all know mesmers are easy to play and rank up there with thieves infact my first toon was a mesmer is scrapped it I actually like a challenge. Half of the eles here realize the upper threshold of this class put just about every other to shame. So play a mesmer but don’t troll here you have your advantages I admit that but at the end of the day 1 ele is 10 times more useful overall.

The problem is elementalists are dead all over the place no matter who plays them. If I am on my Mesmer I kill them on sight. If I am on my elementalist I run around sniping an enemy here and there and hopefully get away before anyone realize what’s going on.

Mesmers are powerful defensive units and are worth their weight in gold during set piece battles. sure an elementalist can run away from a mesmer at speed of light but at the end of the fight the mesmer is holding the CP.

The argument that elementalist have high ceiling is a sunken cost fallacy. We haven’t seen any evidence that they are superior, so we convince ourselves that they must be better because they are so hard to play.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Elementalists buffed significantly.

Torafugu.1087:

The problem is elementalists are dead all over the place no matter who plays them. If I am on my Mesmer I kill them on sight. If I am on my elementalist I run around sniping an enemy here and there and hopefully get away before anyone realize what’s going on.

Mesmers are powerful defensive units and are worth their weight in gold during set piece battles. sure an elementalist can run away from a mesmer at speed of light but at the end of the fight the mesmer is holding the CP.

The argument that elementalist have high ceiling is a sunken cost fallacy. We haven’t seen any evidence that they are superior, so we convince ourselves that they must be better because they are so hard to play.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Elementalists buffed significantly.

I agree here, as when i am not playing my elementalist i too go for them as the easy target. Heck, even when i am playing my ele, i will attack another ele and they almost always run off, its so ingrained into the playstyle.

The active defences are only effective if the enemy is clueless. A player who knows the ele class and who recognises the defences will easily overcome them. Time and experience are therefore not on the elementalist players side as when the enemy gets wise, the ele gets dead.

Elementalist the best profession? Doubt it. But it does seem to take a lot more skill and effort to keep up with other classes though. So when you finally DO master that, you do get a slight edge over people who buttonmash their warriors.

Elementalists are still op in the right hands. I would expect even more nerfs.

The problem with buffing the elementalist, so that for example players can power-up a chosen element so that they don’t have to dance… good players will do that AND dance and be totally unstoppable.

Elementalist is a complex, difficult to play class, in a game filled with simple, easy to play ones. Hence much frustration when people compare what they have to do “just to keep up”. The only solution involves major game redesign, something which will not happen; either the elementalist is simplified to the level of other professions, which frankly would suck all the fun out of the class, or every other class is made just as complicated to play as the elementalist, so that warriors have stances which they need to change all the time, thieves perhaps have overt/covert actions they need to combo to be effective and so on.

That would actually be real nice in my opinion, but I can imagine the absolute cacophony of wailing on the forums if something like that ever happened.

So basically, you roll an ele if you want some actual challenge in the game. Yeah, you will work twice as hard to achieve same results as other classes. You will have to play that kitten keyboard like a piano. That’s the point.

Because man, when everything slots into place and you’re in the “zone”… now that’s awesome. I wouldn’t trade that for EZ-Mode ever.

Ele don’t need to be buffed to unstoppable levels, but some buff would be good.
In PvP a profession that is hard to play for the sake of being hard to play serves same purpose as an expensive product for the sake of being expensive – No sane person would buy it.

This is a game, not something you evaluate for practicality. Do you like chess? Some don’t. Some do.

The problem with elementalists is that you have a LOT of players who are not very good at playing them, and then you have a minority of players who will stop entire zergs singlehandedly, precisely because it’s such a versatile class. There is a huge disparity in effectiveness and skill in the player base and it’s really hard to balance a class around that when you need to put it in the context of a game where most classes don’t really follow the same template.

So if you buff it, you will then make the majority of poor players do OK with the class, and also transform that minority into walking gods. Much complaining will ensue from everyone else then.

What this game needs is a redesign of classes to make them all equally complex. Don’t know why they made the elementalist so engaging and warriors so simplistic… well actually I do, they want to cater to all types of players and that makes sense I guess… at the price of eternal complaints.

I rather like that the Elementalist is at least more complex to play than most other professions, and may be the most complex, it’s hard for me to say as I am quite biased.

Ele has a fairly high skill floor IMO, I came to it after Necro and I must say I got owned hard for the first week or so of playing in PvP, and almost gave up I was so frustrated. Once I found my rhythm though and really got the hang of it, I can now handle almost any 1v1, and even quite a few 1v2s and 1v3s. I never could do that on my Necro, as 1v2 usually meant death.

So in answer to OP, yes make one if you haven’t. They are a blast and still quite viable.

So if you buff it, you will then make the majority of poor players do OK with the class, and also transform that minority into walking gods. Much complaining will ensue from everyone else then.

I don’t think Pro Elementalist will become Kamis any more than Pro Mesmer or Pro Thief even with a moderate buff to Currently underused traits and skills. Because even if All those things become useful, it’s still as easy, if not easier to die a horrible death by making a mistake while dancing.

Say if Arcane Lightning damage bonus is increased to 10 times the current values – to 30%. It’d be useful then. but then it’s still necessary for pro elementalist to time it correctly. And if they mess up, they are already dead. Another option doesn’t make them walking gods – it make it easier to everyone else to play their prefered style.

To the OP:
I never regret making my Elementalist. Super fun.

Try it out and see if it’s for you. =)

I can do you a huge favor here and tell you absolutely not. No way. It took me 400 hours of tinkering, hundreds of dungeon runs, and hundreds of fights in PvP to realize it is not worth it in any facet whatsoever. The only appealing qualities the elementalist has are the “caster aesthetic” and the (incorrect) belief that because the class is twice as hard to play as any other class, the potential ceiling must be higher.

It’s not.

This class is an exercise in frustration. No matter how you place your traits you will feel like you are shooting yourself in the foot. You will never be able to match the DPS of easier, more reliable options. You will play considerably better than opponents or teammates only to get worse results. Don’t waste your time.

MrButtermancer.1624:

I can do you a huge favor here and tell you absolutely not. No way. It took me 400 hours of tinkering, hundreds of dungeon runs, and hundreds of fights in PvP to realize it is not worth it in any facet whatsoever. The only appealing qualities the elementalist has are the “caster aesthetic” and the (incorrect) belief that because the class is twice as hard to play as any other class, the potential ceiling must be higher.

It’s not.

This class is an exercise in frustration. No matter how you place your traits you will feel like you are shooting yourself in the foot. You will never be able to match the DPS of easier, more reliable options. You will play considerably better than opponents or teammates only to get worse results. Don’t waste your time.

Don’t listen to guys like this…

I don’t think I have ever lost a 1v1 with my d/d ele…and I have fought plenty. Ele is a great class…up there with Mesmer as best dueling class in the game IMO.

Seriously, what game are you guys playing? Elementalist is one of the strongest professions in PvP at the moment with three viable weaponsets. The durable supportive staff builds, and the devastating area burst with sustain roamer D/D & S/D builds. D/D is also one of the strongest duelist sets in the game, with a host of control options and survive-ability.

What many of consider a liability(the attunement swapping), is most fun aspects of the class and differentiates it from all the other classes. Have you considered playing other classes if you don’t enjoy its integral mechanic?

There are certainly problems with the class. Some traitlines are weak(Earth&Fire), and quite a few of our grandmaster traits are subpar but most classes have to deal with this. I’d rather them focus on ranger right now bringing it up to speed.

Those who wish to persistently use only one attunement (i.e. don’t want to “attunement dance”) should go play another class.

There is a reason why there are four types of attunements:

Fire – power
Air – movement
Water – healing
Earth – defense

When you decide to presistently use one of the above you should really focus on the role it will serve. During soloing you can use all 4 but usualy FIre is enough. The emphasis on using an Elementalist is in comabt where it involves more then 1v1. In PvE you can pull may mobs at once if you use all 4 elements, while in WvW you can spam the entire field with attacks to cause havoc for the enemies.

Furthermore, the playstyle changes with respect to what setup you use (i.e. weapons and traits). So really there are tons of ways to play an elementalist – people just don’t like to use all of its abilities…pitty.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

Those who wish to persistently use only one attunement (i.e. don’t want to “attunement dance”) should go play another class.

There is a reason why there are four types of attunements:

Fire – power
Air – movement
Water – healing
Earth – defense

When you decide to presistently use one of the above you should really focus on the role it will serve. During soloing you can use all 4 but usualy FIre is enough. The emphasis on using an Elementalist is in comabt where it involves more then 1v1. In PvE you can pull may mobs at once if you use all 4 elements, while in WvW you can spam the entire field with attacks to cause havoc for the enemies.

Furthermore, the playstyle changes with respect to what setup you use (i.e. weapons and traits). So really there are tons of ways to play an elementalist – people just don’t like to use all of its abilities…pitty.

Totally disagree – You dont NEED to attunement dance. I have done well i am either in Air or Earth, rarely ever in Water and only go Fire if i am a bit bored. People need to stop this talk about if you dont attunement dance then you suck or are weak simply coz you dont attunement dance

No, you don’t need to attunement dance, but if you do your effectiveness rises dramatically. Don’t believe me? Try to drop just a single PvE mob with only one attunement. Then do the same by using all four. See the difference?

Gaudrath.6725:

No, you don’t need to attunement dance, but if you do your effectiveness rises dramatically. Don’t believe me? Try to drop just a single PvE mob with only one attunement. Then do the same by using all four. See the difference?

I do that at the moment, i pretty much stay Air when facing Mobs, if i am facing groups or tougher ones i MIGHT go Earth, dont touch Water and rarely ever use fire i dont see the need.

That could change when facing players for one reason Computer AI cant compare to Humans, they will ALWAYS do something different, something you dont expect so in that case it COULD be argued that it MIGHT make things easier – doesnt mean that its requirement

@Death Reincarnated.3570
I never said its a requirement. To be more effective in battle it is a good idea to sawp between elements. To get the most out of an elementalist, in certain scenarions, it would be wise to make uses of all of the elements. Simple – otherwise might as well go warrior and spam DPS.

@ArmageddonAsh, I didn’t say it’s a requirement, I said that I can solo champions + adds when using all 4 elements, and good luck with that if you stick only with Air. With regular mobs, the difference is that you finish fights before they even started when using all 4 elements, while you will always have an uphill struggle when using only one or two.

For example with staff, you can literally drop single mobs before they ever have a chance to hit you, without even moving. IF you use all you available skills. If you use only 25% of your available skills I imagine the results are comparatively slower/weaker.

However, the main point is that people have the right to choose how they want to play – but if they choose to play with a quarter of their chosen class skillset, they should not be complaining that the class is weak and underpowered.

Gaudrath.6725:

The main point is that people have the right to choose how they want to play – but if they choose to play with a quarter of their chosen class skillset, they should not be complaining that the class is weak and underpowered.

Indeed. To name but a simple example, wouldn’t a Meteor Shower be more powerful if you cast a Frozen Ground right after it?

Gaudrath.6725:

@ArmageddonAsh, I didn’t say it’s a requirement, I said that I can solo champions + adds when using all 4 elements, and good luck with that if you stick only with Air. With regular mobs, the difference is that you finish fights before they even started when using all 4 elements, while you will always have an uphill struggle when using only one or two.

For example with staff, you can literally drop single mobs before they ever have a chance to hit you, without even moving. IF you use all you available skills. If you use only 25% of your available skills I imagine the results are comparatively slower/weaker.

However, the main point is that people have the right to choose how they want to play – but if they choose to play with a quarter of their chosen class skillset, they should not be complaining that the class is weak and underpowered.

Air is fine, with a Hugh crit chance and damage build (like mine) i rarely ever need to change, the only time i will is if i am bored. I only use staff in WvW and thats only when attacking/defending bases – using Earth #2 on doors can be killer when loads of melee are all bunched up against it

I am not saying the class is Underpowered or anything – the game was meant to be play how YOU want, yet that doesnt seem to be the case in pretty much every class. GW2 should take a look at Rift, might not be the best of games but boy that game has an AMAZING talent system. One that REALLY allows you to build and play a character the way YOU want to without the need for gimmick class mechanics (Steal, Adrenaline, Shatters, Attunements, ect)

I can do just fine in D/DF Earth, LF and Churning Earth is a solid combo when used right. I Mainly stick to Earth and Air. Their ISNT a need to attunement dance to do well, just like there isnt a need to use Arcane trait line at all to be good.

Gaudrath.6725:

@ArmageddonAsh, I didn’t say it’s a requirement, I said that I can solo champions + adds when using all 4 elements, and good luck with that if you stick only with Air. With regular mobs, the difference is that you finish fights before they even started when using all 4 elements, while you will always have an uphill struggle when using only one or two.

For example with staff, you can literally drop single mobs before they ever have a chance to hit you, without even moving. IF you use all you available skills. If you use only 25% of your available skills I imagine the results are comparatively slower/weaker.

However, the main point is that people have the right to choose how they want to play – but if they choose to play with a quarter of their chosen class skillset, they should not be complaining that the class is weak and underpowered.

I keep saying this and for some reason it fall on deaf ears…

There is a reason an elementalist has 4 elements to wield…

In general case its fine, however, there will alwyas be situations where one will need to use the entire arsenal.

Quite frankly, the entire DPS/condition damage is split up between the elements, whereas it would basically equal (if not be more) than for a warrior or ranger.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

Maybe thats coz people keep spouting how is a requirement or needed to do well, which is not true. Its all based on play style. I Crit for about 1500-2000 on auto attack which is quite often with my high crit chance and with Arcane Power and Static Aura. Fire isnt a requirement to do good damage.

As i said i dont stick ONLY to Air, i will go Earth when needing to go a bit more defensive but thats about it. I rarely touch Fire or Water. Sure for some play styles and builds fire will be better – that doesnt make it true for every build.

I am sure you can have a build which allows you solid damage on Air, but I am curious how do you tackle some of the more challenging content out there, for example champions? You HAVE to kite those, because they can drop an elementalist in a few hits. And without using all 4 elements, you essentially strip yourself of the ability to CC and heal, ergo no kiting and no healing for those times when you do get hit.

Basically, you can do OK with sticking to only one or two attunement. But if you want to mop the floor with everything, well, you gotta use everything you got.

Gaudrath.6725:

I am sure you can have a build which allows you solid damage on Air, but I am curious how do you tackle some of the more challenging content out there, for example champions? You HAVE to kite those, because they can drop an elementalist in a few hits. And without using all 4 elements, you essentially strip yourself of the ability to CC and heal, ergo no kiting and no healing for those times when you do get hit.

Basically, you can do OK with sticking to only one or two attunement. But if you want to mop the floor with everything, well, you gotta use everything you got.

I use a mixture of Air and Earth. Near constant swiftness up. High Toughness dont just stand there and let them hit you, use dodges at the right time, use Static Aura to stun them as well.

Sure Water is an option if everything gos down the crapper but fire isnt.

zombyturtle.5980:

Kneemin.4235:

Nautika.5376:

To me the risk vs reward is nice, but the time vs reward sucks. My Warrior can kill 6+ mobs in a fraction of the time my Ele can and not even break a sweat. It is really kind of sad…

You’re obviously doing it wrong. I can drop way more mobs than any of my other toons on my elementalist.

PvE-wise, I’d say they are definitely worth it. There is a steep learning curve, but once you master it, as said above, you can easily become a very versatile machine.

Would you be able to explain how you manage to drop mobs faster than a warrior in Orr? I play D/D and find I am killing very slowly. Im a new level 80 and advice would be great.

This way is one way to do it.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Death Reincarnated.3570:

Maybe thats coz people keep spouting how is a requirement or needed to do well, which is not true. Its all based on play style. I Crit for about 1500-2000 on auto attack which is quite often with my high crit chance and with Arcane Power and Static Aura. Fire isnt a requirement to do good damage.

As i said i dont stick ONLY to Air, i will go Earth when needing to go a bit more defensive but thats about it. I rarely touch Fire or Water. Sure for some play styles and builds fire will be better – that doesnt make it true for every build.

Armageddon, I have to say that I am a bit confused how you stay in air for the majority of a fight in D/D. I’ve always seen air as more of a mobility/CC attunement without much direct damage capability. I mean, RTL is your most damaging ability in air and it’s on a 12s recharge…do you just lightning whip over and over?

It just seems like air is an odd choice to stay in if you are going to pick one attunement to make dominant.

Chipster.6713:

zombyturtle.5980:

Kneemin.4235:

Nautika.5376:

To me the risk vs reward is nice, but the time vs reward sucks. My Warrior can kill 6+ mobs in a fraction of the time my Ele can and not even break a sweat. It is really kind of sad…

You’re obviously doing it wrong. I can drop way more mobs than any of my other toons on my elementalist.

PvE-wise, I’d say they are definitely worth it. There is a steep learning curve, but once you master it, as said above, you can easily become a very versatile machine.

Would you be able to explain how you manage to drop mobs faster than a warrior in Orr? I play D/D and find I am killing very slowly. Im a new level 80 and advice would be great.

This way is one way to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgREXEk2kD0

Looks nice but what happens if you aggro 4-5 mobs at the same time (which is no problem for a Guardian/Warrior at all) or maybe 2 Veterans

Don’t make a ele if you mind pressing a million keys a second. All ppl do is get it nerfed cause they cant not play their other classes good enough. I have one and tried every single build suggested cause I got killed in WvW a lot. But you have to press so many buttons for a good combo and other classes just press one skill to get the same dmg output. In the long run it’s a awesome class, but it’s really life or death with this class nothing in between

Drozac.4268:

Don’t make a ele if you mind pressing a million keys a second. All ppl do is get it nerfed cause they cant not play their other classes good enough. I have one and tried every single build suggested cause I got killed in WvW a lot. But you have to press so many buttons for a good combo and other classes just press one skill to get the same dmg output. In the long run it’s a awesome class, but it’s really life or death with this class nothing in between

Engineers are coughing uncontrollably right now and turning bright red trying to suppress laughter.

Elementalist is not a low APM class, but some Engineer builds will easily exceed it due to the fast cooldowns and instant nature of their toolbelt mechanic in addition to needing to rapidly swap kits for desired effects.

Ele shines best in a group situation. If you do a lot of group activities and play with friends frequently, Ele is a great profession.

Outside of that it can go quickly downhill, especially if you don’t know what to do.

Not many good builds to choose from. And a good build can be severly kittened if you don’t buy the right gear to support it. I feel they suffer much more than this than any other professions.

Still, if you are an experienced MMO player you’ll probably love the profession once you get your head around it, so go for it!