Guild Wars 2

level 65 atm playing at sparkfly fen and im getting my butt whooped pretty bad
i leveled up my warrior to 25 and he easily takes out mobs 2x as fast as my dagger/dagger ele
shoudl i just play warrior maybe and wait for ele buff patch?

The advantage of trying to master an underpowered profession, is that once they get a buff, you’ll feel like a god.

If you really like the elementalist, keep learning how to play it best. They have some pretty strong tricks and combos that make PvE much easier, even if those combos require more effort and are less rewarding than spamming a few skills from other professions.

IT’S NOT UNDERPOWERED! You’re either building it or playing it wrong. My D/D ele kills all kinds of things very fast. Especially when they surround me!
It’s not a matter of mastering an underpowered profession, it’s a matter of mastering a profession that takes more than the intellect of an ape to master. If we get a buff, I won’t just feel like a god…I will BE a god. As cool as that would be, I don’t want that to happen because more people would figure out the class over time, people would start complaining that Eles are overpowered, as they absolutely would be, and then we risk being nerfed into oblivion and ACTUALLY being underpowered, as opposed to just intricate.

DiogoSilva.7089:

The advantage of trying to master an underpowered profession, is that once they get a buff, you’ll feel like a god.

If you really like the elementalist, keep learning how to play it best. They have some pretty strong tricks and combos that make PvE much easier, even if those combos require more effort and are less rewarding than spamming a few skills from other professions.

This, being underwpowered (and yes it is underpowered relative to other classes), will lead you to knowing the class much better.

Perhaps you should try other weapon combos. I used scepter/dagger last night for the first time since about level 10 (now at 66) and quite enjoyed it, I had the mobility of d/d but the greater range enhanced my survivability.

Pinkerton.5643:

IT’S NOT UNDERPOWERED! You’re either building it or playing it wrong. My D/D ele kills all kinds of things very fast. Especially when they surround me!
It’s not a matter of mastering an underpowered profession, it’s a matter of mastering a profession that takes more than the intellect of an ape to master. If we get a buff, I won’t just feel like a god…I will BE a god. As cool as that would be, I don’t want that to happen because more people would figure out the class over time, people would start complaining that Eles are overpowered, as they absolutely would be, and then we risk being nerfed into oblivion and ACTUALLY being underpowered, as opposed to just intricate.

“No! Someday someone will master this profession and prove you’re all wrong!!!1” kind of post again.

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the elementalist is not the only profession that is hard to master. Let’s not forget that there’s more than warriors, guardians and elementalists in this game.

Also,
Most of the time, PvE is easy. It has its challenging moments, but general questing/ exploration is fairly easy. It just happens that an Elementalist player has the idea that PvE requires a lot of effort. For that reason, when a few pro players come here claiming how a well played elementalist can kill fast enough and survive well enough by pressing 237140845 buttons at the same time and with the right timing, they’re unaware that an average player from other professions can achieve the same results for less effort, and without being half the pros they are.

Pinker, since you’re apparently the only one that can actually play an Elementalist and be as good as other classes, why don’t you show us? Educate us lesser beings on how to properly play an Ele. Not by telling us to “get earth traits!!” but by actually showing us how you play. Make a few vids of you being awesome in PvP so we see what we’re doing wrong.

Freakiie.8940:

Pinker, since you’re apparently the only one that can actually play an Elementalist and be as good as other classes, why don’t you show us? Educate us lesser beings on how to properly play an Ele. Not by telling us to “get earth traits!!” but by actually showing us how you play. Make a few vids of you being awesome in PvP so we see what we’re doing wrong.

I’m not the only one. There are others who think the whole “Ele is UP” thing is crap. I’m just probably the most vocal. And I would…I tried, actually, but my computer isn’t powerful enough to fraps this game. My fps drops to like 5.

DiogoSilva.7089:

“No! Someday someone will master this profession and prove you’re all wrong!!!1”_ kind of post again.

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the elementalist is not the only profession that is hard to master. Let’s not forget that there’s more than warriors, guardians and elementalists in this game.

Also,
Most of the time, PvE is easy. It has its challenging moments, but general questing/ exploration is fairly easy. It just happens that an Elementalist player has the idea that PvE requires a lot of effort. For that reason, when a few pro players come here claiming how a well played elementalist can kill fast enough and survive well enough by pressing 237140845 buttons at the same time and with the right timing, they’re unaware that an average player from other professions can achieve the same results for less effort, and without being half the pros they are.

I know there are more than those three professions, but everybody always talks about how guardians and warriors can faceroll. It’s not even necessarily an issue of being hard to master as it is an issue of the class not meshing with most peoples’ playstyles. I did great with the elementalist from day one. The profession fit my playstyle naturally and I’ve been able to keep up with the best of them. On the other hand, when I played guardian or warrior, I felt extremely underpowered. Not that they are UP, but they didn’t fit my playstyle.
Also, those average players from other professions can’t accomplish the same thing. I know because I beat them all the time. EVERY profession is difficult to really master. The difference with Ele is that it’s not very effective until you’re VERY good with it. There’s a tipping point past which your effectiveness skyrockets.

The elementalist’s traits and elites are lacking. Their damage isn’t as high as other professions, or when it is, it comes at a much greater sacrifice. Attunement dancing makes elementalists hard to play, but it doesn’t offers them any inherit advantage over other professions. Yes, it’s a requirement for you to not suck, but that’s it. It’s even hard to argue that elementalists are more versatile, because elementalist’s skills have high recharges, are simpler than other professions’ skills, and the profession is stuck into one range.

There’s a reason for why the elementalists with the most success are all Staff support. A lot of CC and combo fields there, enough distance, no need to rely on their lacking damage.

I don’t think elementalists need drastic changes, but they’re clearly lacking in many aspects. When you create the profession with the worst passive defense in the game, giving it skills so you can be as defensive as any other profession won’t be enough. Elementalists are currently jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Pinkerton.5643:

Also, those average players from other professions can’t accomplish the same thing. I know because I beat them all the time. EVERY profession is difficult to really master. The difference with Ele is that it’s not very effective until you’re VERY good with it. There’s a tipping point past which your effectiveness skyrockets.

The fact that you can be effective with it as it stands doesn’t mean it isn’t underpowered.
It just makes you a skillful player.

If you can’t make a video then tell us what makes you so much better than us. I’m not an ele god (unlike you) but I’m ok… probably in higher percentileish…. and I can’t get the ele to output enough to make up for the extreme amount of effort that I put into it.

Tell us your build, your strategies, and everything else that just flat out makes you the best elementalist in all of Tyria. Please enlighten the majority.

DiogoSilva.7089:

The elementalist’s traits and elites are lacking. Their damage isn’t as high as other professions, or when it is, it comes at a much greater sacrifice. Attunement dancing makes elementalists hard to play, but it doesn’t offers them any inherit advantage over other professions. Yes, it’s a requirement for you to not suck, but that’s it. It’s even hard to argue that elementalists are more versatile, because elementalist’s skills have high recharges, are simpler than other professions’ skills, and the profession is stuck into one range.

There’s a reason for why the elementalists with the most success are all Staff support. A lot of CC and combo fields there, enough distance, no need to rely on their lacking damage.

I don’t think elementalists need drastic changes, but they’re clearly lacking in many aspects. When you create the profession with the worst passive defense in the game, giving it skills so you can be as defensive as any other profession won’t be enough. Elementalists are currently jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Traits aren’t lacking. 3 stacks of might on cantrip is awesome with the right utility skills. armor of earth at 50% health is great. remove condition on water attunement is invaluable. maintain signet passives while on cd is the greatest thing ever, as far as I’m concerned. Elites work great if you know how to use them. I do comparable damage and sacrifice nothing (I have over 2k toughness). And dagger dagger has so many gap closers it’s not even funny. Who cares if you’re stuck at close range? When they’re fighting you, SO ARE THEY!

If you are using cantrips to gain stacks of might, you are doing it wrong. They have long cooldowns and shouldn’t be used like that.

The difference between me fighting at close range and anybody else fighting at close range is that they are wearing armor made of mithril (or w/e, i’m no crafting expert) and mine is made of someones old cloth straps that I fashioned to cover myself.

Just because a select few people excel at a class deosnt mean its fine. In every MMO there is a massive gap from the top tiered skilled people to the guys at the bottom. The problem is why should the guys at the bottom suffer if they enjoy the class and be forced to suck as long as they play?

So they buff the class and now every other class QQs that they are having elementalist solo 4 people at a time. But they fail to mention that guy played one in all Betas and has mastered the class. Anyone with enough skill can take the worst class in any game ever made and make them look like the OP fotm class. Classes SHOULD NOT be balanced around the top 1% of players who have no problems going in and out of attunments and owning everything no matter what build or weapons they are using. If games balanced around the best players in the World everyone would quit becuase every class would be next to impossible to play and definitely not fun other than to a handful of people.

DaedalusDragon.3754:

If you are using cantrips to gain stacks of might, you are doing it wrong. They have long cooldowns and shouldn’t be used like that.

The difference between me fighting at close range and anybody else fighting at close range is that they are wearing armor made of mithril (or w/e, i’m no crafting expert) and mine is made of someones old cloth straps that I fashioned to cover myself.

No, you don’t use cantrips for the sole purpose of gaining might stacks. I’m not talking about a might stacking build. But every time I hit 50% health, I get stability, protection, AND 3 stacks of might. how is that not awesome? Or every time somebody tries to run away from my churning earth, I appear right next to them again with 3 stacks of might…and then….BOOM. Or if I get loaded down with conditions, I burn everyone in the area, lose three of them, and gain 3 stacks of might.

And armor value isn’t that important. The main advantage that some of them have over you is a bigger health pool (and that’s not all of them). You have to use your defensive skills at the right times and you have to get good at dodging. That’s true for ever profession. And it works just as well for elementalist.

@Dabrixmpg: The issue with only a small number of people being good at elementalist has to do with the overall design of the class. In order to make the complainers happy, Anet would either have to buff the class to godmode status or overhaul the entire thing so playing isn’t even recognizable. It has a weird skill curve. So what? Ride the curve or don’t. If you do, you’ll eventually figure it out and then you’ll forget about all this underpowered nonsense.

Pinkerton.5643:

DaedalusDragon.3754:

If you are using cantrips to gain stacks of might, you are doing it wrong. They have long cooldowns and shouldn’t be used like that.

The difference between me fighting at close range and anybody else fighting at close range is that they are wearing armor made of mithril (or w/e, i’m no crafting expert) and mine is made of someones old cloth straps that I fashioned to cover myself.

No, you don’t use cantrips for the sole purpose of gaining might stacks. I’m not talking about a might stacking build. But every time I hit 50% health, I get stability, protection, AND 3 stacks of might. how is that not awesome? Or every time somebody tries to run away from my churning earth, I appear right next to them again with 3 stacks of might…and then….BOOM. Or if I get loaded down with conditions, I burn everyone in the area, lose three of them, and gain 3 stacks of might.

And armor value isn’t that important. The main advantage that some of them have over you is a bigger health pool (and that’s not all of them). You have to use your defensive skills at the right times and you have to get good at dodging. That’s true for ever profession. And it works just as well for elementalist.

Sounds to me we got the exact same build. ‘cept I don’t focus on Toughness and rather went all out precision and power with a tad vitality snuck in, ofcourse this makes me squishy, but I still do less damage in a burst than what any “melee” class does. Toughness might be something to try out.

I’m loving the cantrip thing btw, imo there really aren’t any other signets that compare.
I still get facerolled by guardians though.

Pinkerton.5643:

IT’S NOT UNDERPOWERED! You’re either building it or playing it wrong. My D/D ele kills all kinds of things very fast. Especially when they surround me!
It’s not a matter of mastering an underpowered profession, it’s a matter of mastering a profession that takes more than the intellect of an ape to master. If we get a buff, I won’t just feel like a god…I will BE a god. As cool as that would be, I don’t want that to happen because more people would figure out the class over time, people would start complaining that Eles are overpowered, as they absolutely would be, and then we risk being nerfed into oblivion and ACTUALLY being underpowered, as opposed to just intricate.

lol what? Are you dense?

MystiQ.9648:

Pinkerton.5643:

DaedalusDragon.3754:

If you are using cantrips to gain stacks of might, you are doing it wrong. They have long cooldowns and shouldn’t be used like that.

The difference between me fighting at close range and anybody else fighting at close range is that they are wearing armor made of mithril (or w/e, i’m no crafting expert) and mine is made of someones old cloth straps that I fashioned to cover myself.

No, you don’t use cantrips for the sole purpose of gaining might stacks. I’m not talking about a might stacking build. But every time I hit 50% health, I get stability, protection, AND 3 stacks of might. how is that not awesome? Or every time somebody tries to run away from my churning earth, I appear right next to them again with 3 stacks of might…and then….BOOM. Or if I get loaded down with conditions, I burn everyone in the area, lose three of them, and gain 3 stacks of might.

And armor value isn’t that important. The main advantage that some of them have over you is a bigger health pool (and that’s not all of them). You have to use your defensive skills at the right times and you have to get good at dodging. That’s true for ever profession. And it works just as well for elementalist.

Sounds to me we got the exact same build. ‘cept I don’t focus on Toughness and rather went all out precision and power with a tad vitality snuck in, ofcourse this makes me squishy, but I still do less damage in a burst than what any “melee” class does. Toughness might be something to try out.

I’m loving the cantrip thing btw, imo there really aren’t any other signets that compare.
I still get facerolled by guardians though.

Really? I don’t really have problems with guardians. The thing I have the most trouble with is hundred blades from gsword warriors. It’s high damage and there’s not much warning. It’s tough to see it coming.

Id say find some people to play with so you dont have to solo. Elemental seems great in a group.

Pinkerton.5643:

Freakiie.8940:

Pinker, since you’re apparently the only one that can actually play an Elementalist and be as good as other classes, why don’t you show us? Educate us lesser beings on how to properly play an Ele. Not by telling us to “get earth traits!!” but by actually showing us how you play. Make a few vids of you being awesome in PvP so we see what we’re doing wrong.

I’m not the only one. There are others who think the whole “Ele is UP” thing is crap. I’m just probably the most vocal. And I would…I tried, actually, but my computer isn’t powerful enough to fraps this game. My fps drops to like 5.

No offense Pinkerton, but in almost every elementalist thread where about 99% of the people are stating legitimate claims about how the elementalist is a bit lacking, you seem to be the main one claiming that the elementalist is not only not lacking, but seems a bit OP.

And when we’d like to see you show and prove, then suddenly your computer is not “powerful” enough to capture videos. I’m not trying to call you out or anything but it would be better to see a good illustration of how effective the elementalist is, in its current state.

At the least, could you gives us your in game name and one of us can join you in PVP?

DiogoSilva.7089:

the profession is stuck into one range.

True statement for non-scepter/dagger weapon sets, and even running scepter dagger inclined to stay in closer range when dealing your heavy damage then back off until fire recharges, making the heavy damage very telegraphed.

It’d be nice to see some more things to overcome being very “one ranged”.

Shockwave.1230:

DiogoSilva.7089:

the profession is stuck into one range.

True statement for non-scepter/dagger weapon sets, and even running scepter dagger inclined to stay in closer range when dealing your heavy damage then back off until fire recharges, making the heavy damage very telegraphed.

It’d be nice to see some more things to overcome being very “one ranged”.

+1

That’s exactly what I was saying in another thread

I am the 99%. lol

Anet just has to make it so the average player can do well in it and compete against the other classes. If every person who wants to be an elementalist has to master the class then nobody will play elementalist. And remember, our goal isn’t to make it a scarce class. I would love to see what ele groups could do with different builds.

I understand that it is a more complicated class. I really do. But it has to be playable just like every other class. It’s like having two salesman come up to you. One offers you a chocolate bar (you love chocolate) and the other one offers you a hershey kiss (smaller, not as good). The first salesman says “Mine costs 5 gahoogyfats” and the other says “mine costs 10 gahoogyfats”. Are you going to take the better chocolate for less money? or are you going to spend more and get less? Right now it is just a novelty class. It is certainly the only reason I have stuck with it (besides only figuring this out after level 60).

DaedalusDragon.3754:

I am the 99%. lol

Anet just has to make it so the average player can do well in it and compete against the other classes. If every person who wants to be an elementalist has to master the class then nobody will play elementalist. And remember, our goal isn’t to make it a scarce class. I would love to see what ele groups could do with different builds.

I understand that it is a more complicated class. I really do. But it has to be playable just like every other class. It’s like having two salesman come up to you. One offers you a chocolate bar (you love chocolate) and the other one offers you a hershey kiss (smaller, not as good). The first salesman says “Mine costs 5 gahoogyfats” and the other says “mine costs 10 gahoogyfats”. Are you going to take the better chocolate for less money? or are you going to spend more and get less? Right now it is just a novelty class. It is certainly the only reason I have stuck with it (besides only figuring this out after level 60).

Very nice post DaedalusDragon

And that’s the main thing. It shouldn’t take someone to be a “master” of the elementalist just to compete with average button mashing players of other classes. That in itself is not only insulting but absurd.

You pair an average elementalist with a below average theif, guardian, etc, then 9/10 times, the elementalist loses.

I think i’m pretty decent and I actually play with the more unusual style of using dagger/focus and i’m still very competitive. But the issue is that even while I can be good, I know that I could do less amount of work with another class and can be better. That saddens me because I truly enjoy playing the elementalist

Exactly. And to anyone who thinks that if the ele gets a buff then the already “good” players will have an outstanding advantage, you. are. wrong. Every player will have an outstanding advantage if they are highly skilled with their class, but it does NOT mean that nobody else should be capable of playing it. If someone is worried about this then there mustn’t be any pro theives, or guardians, or rangers yet because all of those classes are great for non-pros and pros alike.

I’m facing the same dilemma. Every other class can do what the ele does but they can do it at LEAST as well and with less than half of the effort.

Pinkerton.5643:

@Dabrixmpg: The issue with only a small number of people being good at elementalist has to do with the overall design of the class. In order to make the complainers happy, Anet would either have to buff the class to godmode status or overhaul the entire thing so playing isn’t even recognizable. It has a weird skill curve. So what? Ride the curve or don’t. If you do, you’ll eventually figure it out and then you’ll forget about all this underpowered nonsense.

There’s an issue with this reasonment.
Even if I don’t have issues on my elementalist (besides being forced to spec earth or die), once a class gets the stigma of being BAD, then the other classes start not wanting them in their teams.

See I also played other “odd” classes in the past (i.e. PvP feral druid in WoW in 2007…), I recall entire teams (both PvE and PvP) refusing to invite even on farm mode content, because that class was seen as worthless.

I had spent 4 years to prove I was “worth taking” and in the end there were all of 2 feral druids (me being one) on the whole server accepted in competitive teams.

Now, I like challenge but I hate stigma, I’d really despise having to spend 4 years again just to prove I am not “the average elementalist that sucks” every time I have to try and join a new team.

DaedalusDragon.3754:

Exactly. And to anyone who thinks that if the ele gets a buff then the already “good” players will have an outstanding advantage, you. are. wrong. Every player will have an outstanding advantage if they are highly skilled with their class, but it does NOT mean that nobody else should be capable of playing it.

I think this.

While it is true highly skilled players have an advantage over less skilled players that does not mean buffing the ele so that the average player using an ele is on par with the average player using a warrior wouldn’t give skilled players using elementalists and even greater advantage than skill players not using an elementalist.

What the average player is seeking from the elementalist is simplification (so it’s more on par with other professions), but its class mechanics are not simple. Buffing does allow players to use the ele in a more simplified manner, because they don’t have to swap attunements as much to be effective. That is a solution, but that alone is not the right solution because of the imbalance it would likely create at higher degrees of skilled play. The other solution would be to change the profession mechanic and simplify it, but I don’t want to see that.

There’s another option, and that’s for players to use the class as designed and frequently swap attunements. A slight buff in some cases would be nice, but more importantly I feel it’s necessary to educate players on how to play the profession, which is a big reason I’m posting so much in the Ele sub-forum.

Pinkerton.5643:

MystiQ.9648:

Pinkerton.5643:

DaedalusDragon.3754:

If you are using cantrips to gain stacks of might, you are doing it wrong. They have long cooldowns and shouldn’t be used like that.

The difference between me fighting at close range and anybody else fighting at close range is that they are wearing armor made of mithril (or w/e, i’m no crafting expert) and mine is made of someones old cloth straps that I fashioned to cover myself.

No, you don’t use cantrips for the sole purpose of gaining might stacks. I’m not talking about a might stacking build. But every time I hit 50% health, I get stability, protection, AND 3 stacks of might. how is that not awesome? Or every time somebody tries to run away from my churning earth, I appear right next to them again with 3 stacks of might…and then….BOOM. Or if I get loaded down with conditions, I burn everyone in the area, lose three of them, and gain 3 stacks of might.

And armor value isn’t that important. The main advantage that some of them have over you is a bigger health pool (and that’s not all of them). You have to use your defensive skills at the right times and you have to get good at dodging. That’s true for ever profession. And it works just as well for elementalist.

Sounds to me we got the exact same build. ‘cept I don’t focus on Toughness and rather went all out precision and power with a tad vitality snuck in, ofcourse this makes me squishy, but I still do less damage in a burst than what any “melee” class does. Toughness might be something to try out.

I’m loving the cantrip thing btw, imo there really aren’t any other signets that compare.
I still get facerolled by guardians though.

Really? I don’t really have problems with guardians. The thing I have the most trouble with is hundred blades from gsword warriors. It’s high damage and there’s not much warning. It’s tough to see it coming.

Well, the Guardian Fights are usually long and I tend to be the one ending up dead. Hence why I find them to be problematic.

When facing Greatsword Warriors that blade thing isn’t really a problem, as I’d be dead. You don’t worry when you’re dead.

Basicly, I really can’t take down anything else than other Elementalists solo, and the occasional Necro, Ranger and non greatsword wielding Warrior.
I haven’t PvP’d much though as this whole ordeal is abit disheartening and I still got Zones to do. But might give the toughness stack a shot.

If past behavior can predict future behavior, Arenanet won’t just straight buff a class.

They will buff a skill here or there and nerf other skills into the ground.

piitb.7635:

If past behavior can predict future behavior, Arenanet won’t just straight buff a class.

They will buff a skill here or there and nerf other skills into the ground.

Idk. Remember the Ritualist, Assassin, Necro, Elementalist, Mesmer and Dervish from Guild Wars?

If dagger/dagger is so great, then what’s incentive to also making the other weapons playable?

Small things like making Eruption activate a bit faster (even at lower damage) would be rather useful.

So far it always seems like they try and help but then, in an effort to balance what they just tried to balance…. before they even tested it, they supahnerf twice as many skills as they buffed.

@ThiBash
The other weapons are so great because they add variety to the fights. If you know you have to fight 10 enemies I hope you don’t dash in there with D/D. Stay on the outside the best you can and hit them with staff skills. The weapons are situational… which is a problem when you are forced into one range (one weapon set) for the entire length of combat.

Pinkerton.5643:

MystiQ.9648:

Pinkerton.5643:

DaedalusDragon.3754:

If you are using cantrips to gain stacks of might, you are doing it wrong. They have long cooldowns and shouldn’t be used like that.

The difference between me fighting at close range and anybody else fighting at close range is that they are wearing armor made of mithril (or w/e, i’m no crafting expert) and mine is made of someones old cloth straps that I fashioned to cover myself.

No, you don’t use cantrips for the sole purpose of gaining might stacks. I’m not talking about a might stacking build. But every time I hit 50% health, I get stability, protection, AND 3 stacks of might. how is that not awesome? Or every time somebody tries to run away from my churning earth, I appear right next to them again with 3 stacks of might…and then….BOOM. Or if I get loaded down with conditions, I burn everyone in the area, lose three of them, and gain 3 stacks of might.

And armor value isn’t that important. The main advantage that some of them have over you is a bigger health pool (and that’s not all of them). You have to use your defensive skills at the right times and you have to get good at dodging. That’s true for ever profession. And it works just as well for elementalist.

Sounds to me we got the exact same build. ‘cept I don’t focus on Toughness and rather went all out precision and power with a tad vitality snuck in, ofcourse this makes me squishy, but I still do less damage in a burst than what any “melee” class does. Toughness might be something to try out.

I’m loving the cantrip thing btw, imo there really aren’t any other signets that compare.
I still get facerolled by guardians though.

Really? I don’t really have problems with guardians. The thing I have the most trouble with is hundred blades from gsword warriors. It’s high damage and there’s not much warning. It’s tough to see it coming.

Pinkerton

Do you mind sharing your build and equipment stats where you focus on?

I do think Eles are alright. They only need the downed state fix to be in fair compared to the other classes and a slight HP bump

Cyferion.4061:

Pinkerton.5643:

MystiQ.9648:

Pinkerton.5643:

DaedalusDragon.3754:

If you are using cantrips to gain stacks of might, you are doing it wrong. They have long cooldowns and shouldn’t be used like that.

The difference between me fighting at close range and anybody else fighting at close range is that they are wearing armor made of mithril (or w/e, i’m no crafting expert) and mine is made of someones old cloth straps that I fashioned to cover myself.

No, you don’t use cantrips for the sole purpose of gaining might stacks. I’m not talking about a might stacking build. But every time I hit 50% health, I get stability, protection, AND 3 stacks of might. how is that not awesome? Or every time somebody tries to run away from my churning earth, I appear right next to them again with 3 stacks of might…and then….BOOM. Or if I get loaded down with conditions, I burn everyone in the area, lose three of them, and gain 3 stacks of might.

And armor value isn’t that important. The main advantage that some of them have over you is a bigger health pool (and that’s not all of them). You have to use your defensive skills at the right times and you have to get good at dodging. That’s true for ever profession. And it works just as well for elementalist.

Sounds to me we got the exact same build. ‘cept I don’t focus on Toughness and rather went all out precision and power with a tad vitality snuck in, ofcourse this makes me squishy, but I still do less damage in a burst than what any “melee” class does. Toughness might be something to try out.

I’m loving the cantrip thing btw, imo there really aren’t any other signets that compare.
I still get facerolled by guardians though.

Really? I don’t really have problems with guardians. The thing I have the most trouble with is hundred blades from gsword warriors. It’s high damage and there’s not much warning. It’s tough to see it coming.

Pinkerton

Do you mind sharing your build and equipment stats where you focus on?

I do think Eles are alright. They only need the downed state fix to be in fair compared to the other classes and a slight HP bump

He’s shared his build already, and I’ve tested it, and it is pants compared to what I was rolling before.

I now pretty much ignore everything coming out of his mouth, because he is obviously trolling, and probably playing with random newbs who don’t even realise they have a skillbar.

@Pinkerton, I’m still waiting for you to come online so I can PvP you and see your super-awesome-untouchable elementalist completely destroy me because you’re awesome and everyone else is a scrub.

To think Anet nerfed arcane wave and fire grab. Sometimes you wonder what they’re thinking.

SeraVerte.2640:

To think Anet nerfed arcane wave and fire grab. Sometimes you wonder what they’re thinking.

They were thinking that nobody would be able to dodge/block firegrab every 45s, they though Firegrab does too much dmg…thaat’s why they’ve introduced Heatseeker, so thieves cal deal 17k dmg in 6 hits within 3-4s , indeed it’s much easier to dodge a stealthed rougue than a close range clothed ele…

The hope of a buff is all that’s keeping me to cling to my ele. Otherwise I’d drop it in a heartbeat and reroll

Ele is everything but underpowered…i run a dagger/dagger ele and kill EVERYTHING in no time…you just need to be skilled with dodging and have the right traits and utility skills to survive (arcane shield is especially helpful at high level)

IIFeanorII.8601:

Ele is everything but underpowered…i run a dagger/dagger ele and kill EVERYTHING in no time…

So because the dagger build rocks, it means that the staff build isn’t underpowered either?

Great logic.

Razarei.2809 vs Pinkerton.5643 – This is a fight I’m interested in seeing.

I’ve started with an ele and got it to lvl 50. tried with staff scepter/focus and d/d. I thought it worked rather well the game just gets harder in the higher areas. my main problem was only having two hands. constantly moving, attacking and swapping attunements is a real challenge even with a mouse with 12 thumb-buttons.
then I tried warrior. I’m now 71, have only signets equipped (at least in pve) and only have to worry about activating the 5 weapon skills and I just run through the game. Normal mobs do less damage than I heal with the regeneration. The dmg output is quite good, and I normally just pull 3-5 mobs and finish them – I only use the skill 2-5 because its a bit faster than without, but the difference is minimal.
with the ele I had to 1v1 or get killed quickly. when doing heart quests, I always went for the non-fighting option, because its so much faster than trying to kill enough enemies.

Yes, there is an extreme amount of potential in the ele if you use all your skills and attunements correctly and I guess for pvp he might be more or less balanced. but for pve players it’s just a joke. you constantly have to play your best or you die immediately, even against simple mobs.

I love the ele, inluding his self-combos and the large amount of useful situational skills, but for me it’s just to hard to play in a casual/fun matter. which forces me to play the class I usually never want to play (warrior). maybe I’ll give necro a go, but I still think the ele needs to be changed so a casual player can have fun in pve (without destroying pvp/wvw balance ofc).

i dont have enough tme to read everything but let me tell you something, if ele get buffed a little bit more than now, we gonna be Super Saiyan. i feel my ele whit the correct build very strong. im the last one to die in every dungeon and in WVW everyone fear me and my meteor shower

Some things on quite a few of the classes need buffs, some things on them need tweaks and others need flat nerfs. In open betas they’re more concerned about flattening out the major problems and server stability issues than they are making the vast majority of class balances that will be needed. Now i’m only level 17 with my Elementalist so i can’t really say much on it but at that level i’m 1 shotting packs of mobs in short bursts using d/d, not to say they’re u/p or o/p though. Looking at my level 80 necro when he was leveling up, this already requires substantial amounts of greater effort to accomplish and Necromancer forums filled with nothing about crying of how underpowered they are. Taking a look at the problem is pretty focused around the very class mechanics that make the elementalist what it is, it has the most complicated and intricate class mechanic out of every class in the game which is by nature going to make it the most difficult class to play and master (which has been said before, but it’s true.) So in order to make the class easy for anybody to play well they’d have to redo the class mechanic entirely from scratch to make it easier, something as simple as adding a second equip set for weapons to the elementalist with it’s current mechanics would be enough to throw the balance completely out and make them entirely too powerful, simply rotating the weapons/attunements for their biggest spells while avoiding the hefty cooldowns.

You also all need to stop comparing classes to Warriors, they’re currently overpowered, nobody denies that. Buffing every class to the same status as Warrior would in turn make everything but sPvP pointless, Warriors need more nerfs than other classes while some of the classes need buffs..once again and Elementalists are going to be the hardest to find that sweet spot with their array of some odd 60 unique weapon skills and the some odd 100 possible different combinations of weapon skills. That’s also while excluding Conjured weapons though those are easier to balance out than the others and are currently our only way of altering the range of our abilities. In short try to be patient and just keep trying out new things/practicing your button mashing strategy till the balance changes arrive. If your problem is the class mechanic just reroll now because something like that will take a great deal longer for them to change vs simple balance changes.

It seems that every person who claims the Elementalist is overpowered, recommends a dagger build.

That in itself should say something to the more intelligent out there…

I have read the whole thread. I won’t get into details, but I just want to remind something to our self-proclaimed pr0-Elems. The issue is “average elem vs average any other prof”, not “pr0 elem vs terrible any other prof”.

Shockwave.1230:

I think this.

While it is true highly skilled players have an advantage over less skilled players that does not mean buffing the ele so that the average player using an ele is on par with the average player using a warrior wouldn’t give skilled players using elementalists and even greater advantage than skill players not using an elementalist.

What the average player is seeking from the elementalist is simplification (so it’s more on par with other professions), but its class mechanics are not simple. Buffing does allow players to use the ele in a more simplified manner, because they don’t have to swap attunements as much to be effective. That is a solution, but that alone is not the right solution because of the imbalance it would likely create at higher degrees of skilled play. The other solution would be to change the profession mechanic and simplify it, but I don’t want to see that.

There’s another option, and that’s for players to use the class as designed and frequently swap attunements. A slight buff in some cases would be nice, but more importantly I feel it’s necessary to educate players on how to play the profession, which is a big reason I’m posting so much in the Ele sub-forum.

But you’re saying this under the assumption that at high level gameplay (spvp especially), pro elementalist players see a lot of play. If that was true, then the solution shouldn’t be buffs, for sure. But it isn’t true. Elementalists are scarce everywhere, and they’re the only profession that is starting to get rejected in dungeons and spvp teams. I must remind that they are not the only profession that is hard to master in this game.

Mesmer is possibly as hard to master as the Elementalist, it’s harder to start playing with for newbies (due to it being more indirect and abstract, while a newbie can spam their 20+ elemental skills and win low-level content), there’s clearly a lot less people seen experimenting with it in PvE, yet it’s a profession that is being proven time and again how highly dangerous it is at the hands of a good player. I’m talking about simply good player, not “oh so awesome godlike elementalist player that no one has seen it yet” myth.

If Mesmers, Necromancers, Engineers (which do have their own form of attunement system), and even non-heartseeker thieves are really strong at the hands of good players, and are getting good results everywhere, then the excuse that “no one is good enough for the elementalist” feels completely like a myth.

There ARE a lot of people that have 60+ levels worth of experience to grasp the concept of attunement changing, of timing your own defensive skills and of making the correct burst chains. The idea that we all suck and spend our whole lives stuck in the fire attunement is ridiculous, too.

Elementalists are harder to master, but even a new player can learn how to master it if they know where to start from. Tell them the importance of attunement dancing, bursts and reliance on active defenses, and by level 60-70, I’m sure they’ll have a good grasp of it, even if not perfect. A lot of us went to play GW2 already expecting the difficulty behind the elementalist. A lot of us made the conscious decision to learn a hard profession, much like our Mesmer or Necromancer buddies. But while they’re starting to get results, we aren’t.

Our damage is lower than other professions for double the effort. Our passive-defense is non-existant, and we rely on countless active defensive skills. Out traits offer little synergy or are highly conditional or redudant due to the nature of the attunement system. Our elites go from crap to average when well-used. Elementalists used to be stronger pre-release, because we used to deal more damage. We were glass cannons by then, where we dealt more damage in exhange of less defense. But the devs didn’t like how we could kill people in 2-3 seconds, and nerfed our damage, and now we can’t do anything at all outside of staff support. After we have gotten our damage nerf, we’ve been crippled, and need to be compensated somewhere else. If dealing more damage than other professions = killing so fast it’s unhealthy for the game, and if our profession was designed around that, then by not having it, we’ll have to be compensated somewhere else. Maybe more sustained damage, or stronger defenses or more meaningul diversity.

kishter.9578:

i dont have enough tme to read everything but let me tell you something, if ele get buffed a little bit more than now, we gonna be Super Saiyan. i feel my ele whit the correct build very strong. im the last one to die in every dungeon and in WVW everyone fear me and my meteor shower

name of helmet skin pls?

is the http://www.gw2db.com/recipes/7770-berserkers-exalted-masque transmute whit the http://www.gw2db.com/items/57826-berserkers-winged-headpiece. since the exotic level 80 is a crappy (bad design of anet for a end armor skin) i better xmute to the so far best looking and less ugly light hat.

DiogoSilva.7089:

The elementalist’s traits and elites are lacking. Their damage isn’t as high as other professions, or when it is, it comes at a much greater sacrifice. Attunement dancing makes elementalists hard to play, but it doesn’t offers them any inherit advantage over other professions. Yes, it’s a requirement for you to not suck, but that’s it. It’s even hard to argue that elementalists are more versatile, because elementalist’s skills have high recharges, are simpler than other professions’ skills, and the profession is stuck into one range.

There’s a reason for why the elementalists with the most success are all Staff support. A lot of CC and combo fields there, enough distance, no need to rely on their lacking damage.

I don’t think elementalists need drastic changes, but they’re clearly lacking in many aspects. When you create the profession with the worst passive defense in the game, giving it skills so you can be as defensive as any other profession won’t be enough. Elementalists are currently jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

This is all completely right. Right now the only thing Ele offers that other classes don’t do better is staff support because staff ele is the only weapon that offers anywhere near that number of combo fields. I enjoy my staff support ele a lot but there should be other viable options and right now there really arn’t for harder (dungeon, PVP) content.

A lot of the problem is that scepter/dagger, while powerful in general PVE, relies much too much on ground targeted skills with delays. This makes the spec vastly harder to use in situations where the margin for error is very low.

The other big problem is being locked into one range makes D/D borderline suicidal for harder content. The risk of going D/D is vastly higher than the risk for any other class of going melee range, but the rewards arn’t any higher than other classes.