Guild Wars 2

In my opinion, the fact that staff has only one sigil is a major problem compare to two sigils on other weapons.

Many of your suggestions would be a major increase in the burst potential of the staff. While nice, I don’t believe that is the intent of the weapon; among the classes able to use it, the staff appears to be a weapon of utility. Attention should be given to those suggestions related to burning retreat, gust, and unsteady ground with some moderate adjustments/fixes to damaging spells.

While wielding the staff weakness comes not from lack of damage, but rather the inability to escape when compared with other builds. As an Elementalist, our survivability is directly related to evasion and supplemental healing; tweaking the defensive abilities of the staff would be a significant and welcomed equalizer.

In regard to fireball project speed, see Necromancer staff 1 xD

Free Beer, my issue with the current set-up is that, we’re casters. The stereotypical caster is a ranged spell slinger, with a staff. A danger to you, unless you can close on him. As things stand right now, if I want to ability to kill anything, I have to build for S/D or D/D and play at melee.

I can live with the thought that if something closes on me, I’m toast. What I can’t live with is the simple truth that you can’t kill things (General overworld PvE aside) with a staff before they close on you. It’s the slowness of the skills, coupled with a few truly useless ones (mostly the gap creators, the ones you agreed with) that cause this.

The ideal mentality of someone facing a staff user shouldn’t be “oh, good – free kill.” it should be “close. gotta close. gotta close NOW, or I’m toast.”

EDIT: With regards to the necromancer staff skills, remember, the marks are instant AoE pain. Any AoE we have takes ages to actually do damage – to the point that the only reason someone get’s hit by them is that they’re AFK.

Personally, i don’t have much of a problem running staff. I agree with the faster projectiles speeds for fire1 and air1. I think they should reduce the cooldown for air2, that would definitely help single target dps.

However, i think you’re crazy if you think earth2 needs a faster animation. I use earth 2 to set up all my combos. If it was any faster it wouldnt work.

If someone closes in on you, start spamming AoEs over yourself and make them regret being close now I run a bunker build with PVT gear, so i just dodge/tank in my own AoEs and that usually does the trick.

“Earthquake – Far, far too slow. The animation should be no more than one second, max.”…

Do you even play staff?

Nevermind that it’s called Eruption and not Earthquake, but you do realize that shortening the animation/execution time on this ability would literally decrease a Staff Elementalist’s effectiveness by no less than 1/3rd, right?

I’m not even going to say why. Think about it. If you can’t figure it out than I’m happy to tell you that you’ve been playing Staff Ele wrong this whole time and that once you unlock this mystery, you will instantly become a way better Elementalist.

Have a great day!

(Edit: Scrambles gets it)

Scrambles, while I agree with the point about Earth skill 2, to a degree, I want our second hardest hitting attack to be useful for something other than setting up heal field combos or area might. Like, you know, actually hitting an enemy with that (purely theoretical) stack of pain.

For the rest of your post, if that’s how you play staff, you’d be better, far better, to roll D/D or S/D. Waiting till they’re on top of you to be able to do damage is pretty much the opposite of what I’d like to see from a staff ele.

Michael, yes, I do play staff. However, I’m eternally frustrated by how kitten the damage output is compared to the S/D combo. Damage – at range. NOT pure support, not a buff machine for the rest of my team, but damage.

I’m aware of why you feel that way about it, not being totally dim. (kind of insulting tone, eh?) My point is that combo fields, to put boons on your team (if you’re at range with a staff, you will personally NEVER benefit from those boons) are far less personally satisfying to me than actually killing things.

Also, fwiw – “all your combos” amount to “area might” or “area heal/frost armor” or “area swiftness.” no “area burning” no “area weakness” no “area blind”. Not a single offensive combo to be found. Earth skill 2 is, theoretically, area bleed, on it’s own. It still won’t hit anyone who’s not afk though.

Reducing the combo to a buff situation. (If you’re already casting the fields, your allies skills will trigger combos.)

“Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL.” And I started jumpin up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL,” and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL.”

Stale, okay… yeah, it was a bit condescending. My bad. It seems you are aware that Earth 2 is essential to set up blast finishers on your combos. Surely you can understand how I would think otherwise based on your suggestion? You may not agree that Area Healing / Area Frost Armor / Area Might / Area Swiftness is far superior than a bit of extra base damage/animation speed would be… But I would disagree. With Eruption, Arcane Blast and Evasive Arcana I can get 10+ stacks of might on myself in about 2 seconds, effectively increasing my damage output on ALL skills. So I would definitely NOT change Earth 2 because it is perfect as-is.

Carry on…

stale.9785:

Scrambles, while I agree with the point about Earth skill 2, to a degree, I want our second hardest hitting attack to be useful for something other than setting up heal field combos or area might. Like, you know, actually hitting an enemy with that (purely theoretical) stack of pain.

For the rest of your post, if that’s how you play staff, you’d be better, far better, to roll D/D or S/D. Waiting till they’re on top of you to be able to do damage is pretty much the opposite of what I’d like to see from a staff ele.

If i have a choice, in most small scale/1v1 situations i WILL be using d/d or s/d. If i want to go balls-out damage i will go d/d. But most situations in WvW, i will already have staff equipped. If you’re caught in combat you have to make due with what you have, which with staff means learning to swim around in your AoEs.

if you want to rely on earth2 to be a major source of damage, you just gotta learn to place it better :P

Yeah man – comes down to a difference in what we want the play style to be on Staff. To get that combo, you’re setting things off at your feet – my desire is to set them off “way off over there” and hit the baddy before he’s at my feet. That given, leave earth 2, give me an AoE boom that I can use way off over there, and even, to preserve balance, let it not be a blast finisher.

EDIT: hey – thought. make earth 2 (Eruption – going to edit that now, my bad. not playing atm.) work like so: 1¾cast 6 second recharge; Shake the ground until it erupts and damages foes. -> press 2 again for instant finish.
This allows you to use it as your combo set-up, and me to use it as a burst of damage.

going to edit the OP to include the change – could make this the overall: “what i’d like from my staff” post.

stale.9785:

Yeah man – comes down to a difference in what we want the play style to be on Staff. To get that combo, you’re setting things off at your feet – my desire is to set them off “way off over there” and hit the baddy before he’s at my feet. That given, leave earth 2, give me an AoE boom that I can use way off over there, and even, to preserve balance, let it not be a blast finisher.

EDIT: hey – thought. make earth 2 (Eruption – going to edit that now, my bad. not playing atm.) work like so: 1¾cast 6 second recharge; Shake the ground until it erupts and damages foes. -> press 2 again for instant finish.
This allows you to use it as your combo set-up, and me to use it as a burst of damage.

going to edit the OP to include the change – could make this the overall: “what i’d like from my staff” post.

By the time you need to trigger it, you wont be attuned to earth anymore :/

stale.9785:

hey – thought. make earth 2 (Eruption – going to edit that now, my bad. not playing atm.) work like so: 1¾cast 6 second recharge; Shake the ground until it erupts and damages foes. —-> press 2 again for instant finish.

This allows you to use it as your combo set-up, and me to use it as a burst of damage.

Good idea, but I’ll have switched attunements before needing to detonate. Not sure how it would work. Solid idea though.

I agree with most suggestions, but not all of them because then it would be imbalanced.

It’s like you said, why the F is Air so slow? It’s supposed to be lightning dafug is this? :P

I would agree for most of these changes, only my problem with buffing air 1’s damage is that if it has the same damage as fire 1, why not stay in air more often? It is an aoe for a reason, it should do less damage.

Also, a side note, elementalists are not Gandalf, staff guardians are gandalf, as they can use both a sword [which he notably uses] and uses the staff more for support, and you know, the obvious line of warding. If we are anyone from LotR, we would be the bad kitten chick from the first movie that saves Frodos life and sends the water shooting out, which sadly her name is at a lost to me right now

I agree with some (not all) of OP’s proposed changes.

There is no viable Staff build in tpvp, everyone knows it. The question is how to we fix it without breaking Staff in wvw? Frankly, idgaf about wvw, and I wish we didn’t have to consider it, but we do.

Fire
Fireball – I have no real problem with this, except for it’s projectile speed. A slight increase, maybe 20% faster.
Lava Font – This should do damage immediately on cast, not wait for it to “ping” it’s target.
Flame Burst – Fine as is.
Burning Retreat – This should toss you back the full 1200 range. Ranged battle, our escape should reflect this.
Meteor Shower – Fine as is.

I agree with everything here, Fire is our strongest source of pure damage. The ramp up on Lava Font is stupid, and has always been stupid.

Water
Water Blast – Needs either a serious buff to it’s healing (and radius) or it’s damage. Not sure which.
Ice Spike – See Earth skill 2. The animation is far, far too slow. It should be 1 second, max.
Geyser – Fine as is.
Frozen Ground – I would LOVE the chill to last longer, but I’m uncertain at what point that would become OP. Personal suggestion is 5-8 seconds, given the cooldown.
Healing Rain – Fine as is.

Water Blast needs one of two things; it either needs to heal for more, or have its speed increased. Damage is fine, you shouldn’t be auto attacking in Water attunement anyways.

Agree 100% on Ice Spike

Frozen Ground needs to pulse freezing for 1s every 1s, not a flat debuff.

Air
Chain Lightning – The damage on this is sad. Also, the projectile speed, for LIGHTNING, kitten me, is far too slow. I suggest upping the damage to match Fire 1, and make it instant cast.
Lightning Surge – The animation for this is too slow. Otherwise it’s fine, but it should work faster. Suggest reduce the animation time 50%.
Gust – I have NEVER had this connect. It should be wave form, like the guardian’s staff 1 attack. I would prefer it also throw the opponent back the full 1200 range.
Windborne Speed – Fine as is.
Static Field – Fine as is, though I would prefer it to have some built in damage for when someone is inside the field.

Auto attack needs something, either more damage or increased speed, but not as much damage as Fire 1. As someone mentioned before, why would we use Fire 1?

Lightning Surge is FAR too slow. If they intend to keep it that way, then make the effect chain onto 2-3 more people.

Gust is a freaking joke, it only lands on people who are totally oblivious and standing totally still. Remove the projectile aspect from it, or increase the speed and/or wave radius.

Windborne Speed and Static Field are good as is.

Earth
Stoning – Fine as is. I would like a damage buff, but it doesn’t need it.
Eruption – Same function as now, with added → press 2 again for instant finish. Allows combo set-up or burst damage, as needed.
Magnetic Aura – Fine as is. (I want it to last longer, or recharge faster, but either one would be OP)
Unsteady Ground – The cripple from this should be longer. Far longer. Say, 5-8 seconds. I’d also prefer a round field, instead of a strip. Say, about the size of the Water 4 field.
Shockwave – Fine as is.

Stoning is fine.

I think Eruption is far too slow, though I get the reasoning behind people wanting it left alone. Cut the ramp up in half, and add a few seconds to the CD.

Magnetic Aura is fine as is.

Unsteady Ground should be traited to root, or make it a circlular field.

Shockwave is ok.

Hammerheart.1426:

I agree with some (not all) of OP’s proposed changes.

There is no viable Staff build in tpvp, everyone knows it. The question is how to we fix it without breaking Staff in wvw? Frankly, idgaf about wvw, and I wish we didn’t have to consider it, but we do.

Ok. Hadn’t even considered PvP. I’m into W3 or PvE dungeons. Glad to know that the proposed changes sit ok with you too. Leaves some hope we may see buffs to the staff.

For those asking why we would use Fireball, if Chain Lightning got a buff. Fireball IS AoE (not a great one, about 80 range, iirc) and can smack the clump of 5 things standing together. Since I’m coming at this from a WvWvW or dungeon perspective, clumping (frigging zergballs) is common, to the point of being ubiquitous.

Hammerheart.1426:

I think Eruption is far too slow, though I get the reasoning behind people wanting it left alone. Cut the ramp up in half, and add a few seconds to the CD.

Cutting the ramp up would render it useless. The ramp up is exactly what makes it an effective set-up skill.

Keeping too much AoE across the atunements.

even if lava font whould hit on landing. its low dmg and your autoattack whould do more.

The idea of having alot of AoE to “control” a battle field is great.
But, that only looks good on paper. not when you actually play it. sadly.

kinda of like hindenburg. Hydrogen sounds and looks good on paper…
strange how they went on to Helium instead. not strange you say ? hmm…

raining AoE meteors on a place is fun.
But, a serious wvw guild will just dodge straight thru and stomp you.
Dodging avoids all kind of dmg. even aoe.

And if meteor shower is that “bad”.
lava font is even worse. smaller, and alot less dmg if you hit anything.

imo, its better if they keep 2 elements as Direct dmg attacks.
and 2 elements of AoE.
that way you can decide yourself how you want to play.

instead of as it is now. your weak all over, and specializing only make you moderate.

how ever. letting a player decide how he want to play his character and class,
seems to be a very very very terrible and awefull idea at A-net.

(iam seriously starting to wonder if A-net test their classes pvp aspects against the golems in the mists, because people need to stand still for AoE to work. but once on the field, people tend to never stand still… wtf…..).

I just tested something fun.

Blasting Staff. All AoE atttacks are larger on staff.
(arcane tree. 20 points. a must have for the moment).

BUT. not meteor shower. it doesnt increase in AoE size. (or the other nr5)

I heard that ANet is looking into eles and mesmers at the moment on a sPvP thread but it was a thief thread, were….guess what; they were whinning about thieves being UNDERPOWERED and how Anet was looking into making them “viable” in high lvl tournaments, he said something along the lines that they tend to be too powerful on low lvl but highliy uneffective in high lvl, my guess is they were talking about D/D, meaning more nerfs to it, while staff remains the same…..goes to tell you which classes are Anet’s favorites……

ANyways, though I do agree staff DESPERATELY needs help im sure Anets view hasnt changed ever since that one video they said eles were the masters of the game and their versatility was borderline OP, when we know well that they were probably refering to D/D…… it has been 8 months since release (or around that) and the only thing I have sen since Beta are nerfs…. remember guys, only 2 devs working on balance, it is bound to have a lot of some human bias against certain classes.

if you are a designer. you are not allowed to have a special class more liked than any other..
IF you have. you should be kicked. very simple.
(or you will start to see some real imbalance).

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t a shorter delay on Eruption be better for combo fields as well? I mean, it’s not like you can use a blast finisher on more than one field, so wouldn’t it be better to cast the combo field and then switch to the earth attunement for Eruption and Evasive Arcana’s blast finisher? After all, that way I could cast Lava Font and then switch to earth for an Eruption/Evasive Arcana (Churning Earth) combo, which I can’t do currently.

Maxtofunator.5976:

Also, a side note, elementalists are not Gandalf, staff guardians are gandalf, as they can use both a sword… (and a staff.)

This is half the reason I want to see scepter/dagger get better ranged capability. (The other half is that ranged-melee hybrid is my favorite playstyle.)

Bump this post.
Again the main issues with the staff: the 1’st skill need a bit of speed (and damage or healing at water 1); also some boost or fix need air 2,3, earth 2,5. Developers make us a surprise next month not with only 2 lines of changes like the past few months.

Michael.3279:

Hammerheart.1426:

I think Eruption is far too slow, though I get the reasoning behind people wanting it left alone. Cut the ramp up in half, and add a few seconds to the CD.

Cutting the ramp up would render it useless. The ramp up is exactly what makes it an effective set-up skill.

I think it would depend on how much you cut the ramp up. If you don’t cut it drastically you would still be able to cast eruption then whatever field you want.

But if you lower the ramp up you could do things like cast static field, lava font, and then cast an eruption on top of it. Instead of it having to be the other way around. So if done correctly you can be even better at combo fields / finishers.

Imagine being able to blast finish say static field or lava font . Cast some other earth skills, and then blast finish into another. It could be very effective

Also eldain stenlund.4306 wrote

“even if lava font whould hit on landing. its low dmg and your autoattack whould do more.”

This is not true what so ever. Lava Font damage is higher than Fireball. It also has a 1/4 second cast time, as opposed to 1 second.

If Lava Font did damage as soon as it was applied I would cream my pants irl.

lava font have delay missing target. = zero dmg.

fireball longer to cast but its auto aiming on moving targets to hit = some dmg.

fireball wins :P

A fix to lava font just popped in my head.
Why dont they have it this way:

you cast lava font on person. Dmg at cast.
person stands still in lava font. no dmg.
person moves. it ticks dmg every step.

eldain stenlund.4306:

lava font have delay missing target. = zero dmg.

fireball longer to cast but its auto aiming on moving targets to hit = some dmg.

fireball wins :P

A fix to lava font just popped in my head.
Why dont they have it this way:

you cast lava font on person. Dmg at cast.
person stands still in lava font. no dmg.
person moves. it ticks dmg every step.

yah, it is only fair they at least have to burn a dodge i mean….cmon, you can literary walk out of it and back inside before it does the first tick…

Bumping this, ‘cause I’d like it on the first page where maybe a Dev will see it, and where it can collect more feedback.

Chaosky.5276:

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t a shorter delay on Eruption be better for combo fields as well? I mean, it’s not like you can use a blast finisher on more than one field, so wouldn’t it be better to cast the combo field and then switch to the earth attunement for Eruption and Evasive Arcana’s blast finisher? After all, that way I could cast Lava Font and then switch to earth for an Eruption/Evasive Arcana (Churning Earth) combo, which I can’t do currently.

IMO, it’s better set up the finisher first. What is important is the attunement you end up in after you get your boons.

For instance, if your setting up might for dps, you could drop fire 2 and switch to earth 2 and trigger might, but then you’re locked out of fire for at least 8 secs.

The way it currently is, you start with earth 2, switch to fire 2, gain might, and continue fire dps (meteor shower). By the time you’ve used up your fire cds, you can go back to earth and set up another finisher.

edit; I think the ramp up time is perfect. I have JUST enough time to cast Earth 2>Earth 5> Fire 2 and still get might. Being able to squeeze in the cc to lock them in your AoE is crucial.

Personally I think the problem with the staff is being forced to swap attunements to maximize its potential. The way I see it, every attunement should have fields AND finishers! In this way, the cast times for finishers can be lowered substantially and eles will still be combo crazy! It also would promote more builds as staying in one element most of the time wouldn’t be detrimental. Plus enemies would take staff eles a lot more seriously if they could spam finishers in fields. Auto-attacks are projectiles already. They should be finishers. I really see no point in having the downside of projectiles (they can be reflected) without the good side of combos.

Also, imagine arcane wave being turned into a mantra and then having the charges spammed in a fire field. Due to its speed and auto-crit, I can’t imagine any opponent wanting to get near that field. With such a mentality, it could also be used for defensive zoning and it would truly make staff wielders feel powerful.

Scrambles.2604:

Chaosky.5276:

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t a shorter delay on Eruption be better for combo fields as well? I mean, it’s not like you can use a blast finisher on more than one field, so wouldn’t it be better to cast the combo field and then switch to the earth attunement for Eruption and Evasive Arcana’s blast finisher? After all, that way I could cast Lava Font and then switch to earth for an Eruption/Evasive Arcana (Churning Earth) combo, which I can’t do currently.

IMO, it’s better set up the finisher first. What is important is the attunement you end up in after you get your boons.

For instance, if your setting up might for dps, you could drop fire 2 and switch to earth 2 and trigger might, but then you’re locked out of fire for at least 8 secs.

The way it currently is, you start with earth 2, switch to fire 2, gain might, and continue fire dps (meteor shower). By the time you’ve used up your fire cds, you can go back to earth and set up another finisher.

edit; I think the ramp up time is perfect. I have JUST enough time to cast Earth 2>Earth 5> Fire 2 and still get might. Being able to squeeze in the cc to lock them in your AoE is crucial.

I get where you’re coming from – it’s how anyone plays staff right now. However, to set that combo up, you’re either not getting might on yourself, or you’re in the thick of battle, setting combos at your feet.

All the changes I’ve suggested for staff are based on making us dangerous from a distance. If you’re specced for damage (which nobody does right now, water and arcane attunement being what they are) you should be extraordinarily dangerous from a distance, and a pushover up close.

The way you’ve described your combos, you’re playing something along the lines of 0/10/0/30/30 and setting them off at your feet, or supporting your team.

What I’d like to see is some viability for staff as ranged damage. Say, 20/20/0/10/20, with PVT gear, zerker trinkets, and runes of the elementalist on. Which should result in big damage numbers, some team combo buffing, and minimal melee range defense. What we get instead with a spec like that is below mediocre damage, and a free kill for anyone who sneezes on us.

My goal is to make ranged nuking viable without breaking the support role. (Yeah, yeah, I’m a broken record.)

Also worth noting for anyone who’s been watching the thread, I’ve edited the OP a bunch since I first posted. Making Fire more AoE, Water more support/heal, Earth less all around lousy, and Air single target damage. More feedback is always welcome.

Also hoping for a red post. (In the ele forum. Yeah, I’m delusional.)

Crossplay.2067:

Personally I think the problem with the staff is being forced to swap attunements to maximize its potential. The way I see it, every attunement should have fields AND finishers! In this way, the cast times for finishers can be lowered substantially and eles will still be combo crazy! It also would promote more builds as staying in one element most of the time wouldn’t be detrimental. Plus enemies would take staff eles a lot more seriously if they could spam finishers in fields. Auto-attacks are projectiles already. They should be finishers. I really see no point in having the downside of projectiles (they can be reflected) without the good side of combos.

Also, imagine arcane wave being turned into a mantra and then having the charges spammed in a fire field. Due to its speed and auto-crit, I can’t imagine any opponent wanting to get near that field. With such a mentality, it could also be used for defensive zoning and it would truly make staff wielders feel powerful.

Its not unique for staff, but all weapons have maximized effeciency with attunement swaping. Its not a problem, thats how the class was designed. Although i like your idea with fields and finnishers on swap, maybe it could be added as a talent, but theres a chance for it to turn into a bit op.

paleeshi.1924:

Its not unique for staff, but all weapons have maximized effeciency with attunement swaping. Its not a problem, thats how the class was designed. Although i like your idea with fields and finnishers on swap, maybe it could be added as a talent, but theres a chance for it to turn into a bit op.

But that’s the beauty of it! As long as enemies aren’t close enough to the combo field, they won’t take damage from combos. I have yet to meet anyone whom actively tries to get in one unless they are taking advantage of the 5 target limit. Even if, by some miracle, anet decides to remove that, it would only be a great thing! If zergs could be taken down by one combo crazy staff ele then it would drastically shake up the meta. There would be less mindless zerging and more tactical strikes! WvW would actually be INTERESTING!

You could have 1 dmg / tick in AoE.
ppl whould still avoid it.

“whoa.. AoE. iam not going in that”.

Its normal human reaction. (even in games).
If it hurts you, you avoid it. unless you have absolutely no other way.

Crossplay.2067:

But that’s the beauty of it! As long as enemies aren’t close enough to the combo field, they won’t take damage from combos. I have yet to meet anyone whom actively tries to get in one unless they are taking advantage of the 5 target limit. Even if, by some miracle, anet decides to remove that, it would only be a great thing! If zergs could be taken down by one combo crazy staff ele then it would drastically shake up the meta. There would be less mindless zerging and more tactical strikes! WvW would actually be INTERESTING!

The things it.. They can’t put it just on staff, unless they put as a staff trait only… But all the other on attunement swap traits are not weapon specific, so… Because then D/D else would also benefit from the combo/finisher on attunement swap, and they have a much closer range.

Bumping again, to keep on front page – more feedback (even, you suck, kitten off and die) is always welcome!

Ahh! This is the only class I want to play and yet I am not happy with it. I tired a half tank gear build then the damage suxs. I am shifting to pure glass build and now starting to hate this class.

Been playing it for a few months and I can tell you that the great sword warrior is far better to the point that I am getting really upset over this. my best dmg is about 8k dmg over 5 secs. While the warrior with a greatsword has 30k dmg in the same time!

Even more, great sword skins are really good, staff skins are nothing compared to them. The skin of a single legendary greatsword has as much work put into it as every single staff in the game combined. There are 3 legendary greatswords and only 1 staff legendary….

If this is not a hint to a bias then then I don’t know what is. ANet is either holding back or outright neglecting this area.

With the upcoming nerfs, we need range options more than ever – bumping this for more feedback, and to keep people thinking of what staves should have been.

1200 range burning retreat would be pretty snazzy.

Something else to throw out there: Fury from attune switch (5 arcane) should last longer when using a staff. Have it be 3s base instead of 2s at least, takes longer to get the staff stuff out there.

Just curious, but what about a trait option for: 20% crit chance increase when using staff?

Just curious, but what about a trait option for: 20% crit chance increase when using staff?

Exchange it with the current staff trait and make the fields 20% bigger by default, also the fire trait for longer fire field duration should be applied to all fields and buffed to like 50-100% longer.

Fire:
Lava tomb should work like Necro skills. So the duration should start as soon as something walks into it.

Earth:
Turn eruption into 2 spells. At first it is a cripple field for 10-15 seconds. (field, not crippleduration) While it is active the skills turns into an ability to manually trigger the explosion.

Unsteady ground should be a circle around the player like guardian hammer 5.

Shockwave should be like a ranger trap instead of a projectile.

Air:
Make the AA faster. THAT IS LIGHTNING! It’s supposed to be instant hit.
Remove the cast time from Air 2.
Turn Air 3 into a Copy of Mesmer GS 5.

Water:
2 should fall faster.
Replacce 3 with a low cooldown direct damage projectile, which causes vulnerability and chill.

Galrond.5972:

Just curious, but what about a trait option for: 20% crit chance increase when using staff?

Exchange it with the current staff trait and make the fields 20% bigger by default, also the fire trait for longer fire field duration should be applied to all fields and buffed to like 50-100% longer.

Fire:
Lava tomb should work like Necro skills. So the duration should start as soon as something walks into it.

Earth:
Turn eruption into 2 spells. At first it is a cripple field for 10-15 seconds. (field, not crippleduration) While it is active the skills turns into an ability to manually trigger the explosion.

Unsteady ground should be a circle around the player like guardian hammer 5.

Shockwave should be like a ranger trap instead of a projectile.

Air:
Make the AA faster. THAT IS LIGHTNING! It’s supposed to be instant hit.
Remove the cast time from Air 2.
Turn Air 3 into a Copy of Mesmer GS 5.

Water:
2 should fall faster.
Replacce 3 with a low cooldown direct damage projectile, which causes vulnerability and chill.

I had that for the earth skill, and everyone who’s used to playing support started crying about their ability to trigger healing fields. The idea to cast the field first, and then the trigger was met with so much disapproval I gave it up.

Everything else you posted is actually in my original post, aside from changing water 3. (If they’re neutering water field healing, and they are, I see no reason not to change the water skills to all be either CC or offense based.)

1200 range knockback on gust would be extremely op. I would be fine with it as is, just make it easier to land.

Thor Rising.7850:

1200 range knockback on gust would be extremely op. I would be fine with it as is, just make it easier to land.

Giving the squishiest class in game a range maker that actually forces the enemy out to max range is OP?

Remember, ele’s can’t weapon swap in combat, and have no melee utility on staff.

Or possibly you’re still content with the idea of rolling full bunker, and dropping all your AoE at your feet, then running away. My goal is to make ranged combat viable for one of the two classes that ought to be good at it, but aren’t.

Good thread thus far! I’m in complete agreement, we staff Ele’s need more.

I firmly believe there is an immense bias in the game. Not necessarily against Ele’s per say but, against ranged combat. Everything I see and hear is about making this more and more into “Melee Wars 2”

If that be the case, how about one decent short range skill on staff? Let’s make Earth 5 a whirl attack. Something along the lines of a blend between Warrior Axe #5 and Guardian Hammer #4. Ele grab’s the base of the staff and swings it around knocking back anyone with 200 radius. Well, I’m full height Norn so it’s right for my size character

This skill could also act as a replacement for the widely unused Tornado Elite. Which, maybe it’s just me but, that elite should have an invulnerability or huge reduction from physical attacks, right?

btw… how about conjures? I rarely see them used. Heck, just this afternoon while waiting for Jormag, I loaded them all up and was using them as toys to amuse everyone standing around. No Moa’s were left standing in the area I can tell you!

I’ve got nothing for conjures – the only ones i use are FGS for movement, and frost bow, for AC. Otherwise, there are far more valuable things to put onto my bar.

When a conjure is summoned, you should be able to switch out to normal stuff and come back to it.

Just that alone would really be all conjures need. They can even keep the charges.

Kinda like engineer kits, but still need to be “cast” to be summoned and they still have charges. And they still can have a duration.