Guild Wars 2

So, play an elementalist.

Voodoo Tina.4180:

So, play an elementalist.

Having played both classes to high level (Mesmer 80, Elementalist 74 currently) and both in sPvP quite a lot, your post is either just a troll or simply misinformed. First off, you mention elementalist weaponswap. There is no such thing.

Even so they do still have more skills available in combat than other classes due to attunement-swaping making the class more complex (which is one of the fun parts about elementalists).

The earth elemental you mention actually have quite a long recast. The greater elementals are good, but it’s not that special.

Pure dmg on the elementalist is actually prettykittenlow compared to other classes, which might seem a bit weird. Elementalists in current form can do great in a support role in the hands of a skilled player, but an ele going glasscannon will do less dmg with less survival than other classes. The exception to this is WvW situations where you can AOE somewhat safely as staff-aoe can be great.

I enjoy both classes very much, but there is no question in my mind that mesmer is the stronger class for most situations currently.

Elementalists can’t swap weapons. You’d know that if you bothered to play one at all, since it’s apparent even on level ones; hence, your evidence is either falsified or you are extraordinarily unobservant (not meant as an attack, just truth).

Attunement cooldowns are, in general, longer than weapon cooldowns.

The PvP Mesmer nerfs were needed; they had excellent control, and burst, and survivability through misdirection. Sorry, but it’s true.

Elementalists cannot change weapons in combat.

Since their weapon choice dramatically impacts their pacing and range, Elementalists are locked into a role once combat begins. For example, if an Elementalist has a mainhand dagger equipped and the encounter ramps into a large-scale poking engagement occurring at ranges in excess of 600 yards then the Elementalist cannot contribute unless they can get out of combat to swap weapons.

This is actually the reason that I don’t like the Elementalist. I don’t like being locked into a range and playstyle like they are by being unable to switch weapons in combat.

D/D is powerful, but it is bursty and leaves you with a long cooldown period where can not do anything. On top of that being in melee range and so squishy is a risk we have to take to do any real damage. The damage done at range with staff is pretty pitiful. The AoEs are ok, but far from powerful. Also even though elementalists have 20 skills many of those skills are very situational and are not used 90% of the time you are fighting and many times when needed are locked out of that attunement.

You mentioned that stuff died very quickly as an elementalist. If you were to play elementalist at level 80 you would find this not to be the case. We scratch mobs at level 80, thats an overstatement, we tickle them. I am forced to play D/D now because its the only spec I have found to do large amounts of damage, but it takes an extreme amount of effort in comparison to any class with any other weapon system.

Mesmers are weak, I 100% agree with you there. Both classes have the right to QQ because the state of both are pretty pitiful PVE.

Poor choice of words actually sorry,i didnt mean in combat weapon swap just that they have decent amount of weapon skill choices as well as 4 times that in switching attunement which is in combat.I dont have a high level elementalist but i’d still say mesmers are hit the hardest especially with the recent nerf.

The main reason i dont play an elementalist is mainly because there are so many of them.And i’m sorry if my comments angered anyone,just love the idea of the mesmer class and how it plays right now makes leveling a bit of a chore.

Well if you haven’t played elementalist at high level (not sure if you’ve played mesmer at high levels either) then you shouldn’t have made this post I’d say. Mesmer starts out worse than ele, but gets better and better as you level up. Ele starts out nicely but gets “worse” as you level up.

I think you’re trying to compare the Mesmer you play to a class which you don’t really know much.

For example, you say Elementalists have so many more skills.
Do they really? They have 2x as many abilities in combat due to stance swapping (and mine you, they have very few weapons available to them compared to the other classes as a result, also compare Engineers and their Kits for the same system). But that’s only 10 extra, and they’re clearly split in 4×5 according to focus (making it easier to read what the Elementalist is doing right now).

That’s not a whole lot, considering this is their primary class mechanic.
In fact, one reason I didn’t roll an Elementalist is because without weapon swapping I felt they’re being shortchanged (after damage got nerfed per-release). Even non-Asuras.

Another problem you mention is supposed to be damage.
But then, the primary complaint of Elementalists is how pitiful their damage is. In fact, AbA only has 2 active Elementalists right now, after a bunch of them in beta. Reason always the same, made it to lvl15-30 or so, and decided the damage was too pitiful for such a glass cannon class.

Mind you, Elementalists are strong.
So are we.

I wouldn’t say one of the two is better, though I will say this:

1. Elementalists are much better laid out. Their 30 utility skills are very clearly separated into types of abilities, 4 each. Their elites mesh well with their utility skills, extending from the pet / arcane power / summonable concepts.
2. Their traits are again much better sorted, and their sorting actually makes sense. Each line focuses around the key aspect of a single stance, both using it to augment that stance further, and adding the beneficial effects to other, non-stance-related, abilities. A few classes have this (Necros, Rangers), while a few others (Engineers in part, but mostly us with our utter random chaos of traits) have basically no order at all to their traits.
3. As a result of this, yes, we feel not done in many areas. It’s not that our individual mechanics don’t work well, or that we don’t have power, but it’s all an unsorted mess of stuff thrown together. It works, and it’s a ton of fun to play, but it could use a restructuring to make more sense. That’d also get rid of the excess entry barrier.

Mesmers are more survivable than elementalists in PvE.
Elementalists are far from weak, just dont go over to their subforum and say this

I currently play an 80 mesmer. If you think the mesmer is weak in pvp or pve you’re likely doing it wrong. Yes, the mesmer grows through a rough patch early on, but once you start opening up trait lines you’ll find the class pretty much never ever dies in pve and can solo almost any content (obviously not dungeons or high powered mobs).

Outside of dungeons, and large/group scale mobs there is not a single (pve) thing the mesmer cannot solo. I pretty sure few other classes can claim that ability and not with the consistency of the mesmer.

Are you really whining about elementalist… as a kitten mesmer?!
Elementalists are probably the weakest class for PvE and sPvP right now.
Everything an ele can do, the other classes can do better.
100blades, lol nuff said.
HEARTSEEKER HEARTSEEKER HEARTSEEKER HEARTSEEKER DEAD
rangers with their pets are pretty much invulnerable.
guardians are op too…

If you feel weak as a mesmer, you’re either low level or not playing it right.

Rewian.9174:

Elementalists are probably the weakest class for PvE and sPvP right now.
Everything an ele can do, the other classes can do better.

See, and now you lost me again.
If you want to cry, go to your class forum.

Elementalists are weak ? What??? I play both and a guardian! Quite honestly Elementalists have something we don’t and they do it it well, Massive AoEs (especially with Staff).

I do notice a great number going Water and Air and few going Earth and Fire… (Personally I went Arcana/Earth/Air), I’ve noticed a lot don’t Attune Dance either…

Mesmers have it in the bag for being able to pull the poo into a shine, much like a Guardian (I love both of mine!). They are designed to do this though…

As has been said many times: mesmer and elementalist have a steep learning curve. Mesmer is fine, the only thing holding it back are the annoying bugs, once those are dealt with, the class as a whole will be balanced. Some people consider it op in pvp, but whilst powerful in 1 vs 1, anything above 2 vs 2 and we becomes significantly less effective. Elementalist is weaker in 1 vs 1 but becomes increasingly powerful as the number goes up. Well.. generally speaking, i’ve seen dagger dagger specs quite effective at 1 vs 1.

Mesmer clones don’t die in one hit unless you’re low level which is a scaling issue, at 80 with a phantasm spec, my clones and phantasms can take a few hits each and do a great job tanking for me. I’d like to see a more creative shatter mechanic and maybe some more creative status effects to open up a more control oriented spec that is viable, but as it stands, mesmer has the ability to do some decent control and good dps.

HEARTSEEKER HEARTSEEKER HEARTSEEKER HEARTSEEKER DEAD

This tactic only works against bad players, as every class has the ability to block it in some way IN ADDITION to being dodgeable. Specifically for Elementalist, I’d suggest having Mist Form on utility – it really is incredibly powerful, especially since you can heal in it. Time it well and you can mitigate like 80% of that damage.

Mind you, Elementalists are strong.
So are we.

As Carighan put it

That’s nice that you watched videos and looked at people’s builds. Here’s an idea: Why don’t you try playing the classes that you’re going to complain about. You can even scale them up to 80, get free gear, and pvp with them with all skills unlocked. I find the amount of misinformation in this thread disturbing.

Calling elementalists spoiled fat kids does wonders for your credibility.

andybmcc.8751:

That’s nice that you watched videos and looked at people’s builds. Here’s an idea: Why don’t you try playing the classes that you’re going to complain about. You can even scale them up to 80, get free gear, and pvp with them with all skills unlocked. I find the amount of misinformation in this thread disturbing.

That’s sort of my current take on Rangers.
I hate getting ganked by them (plus they always seem to come in pairs or more :P ), but while I have my GF playing one (and also stomping people left and right and centre), I don’t really feel I can judge them well until I tried it myself.

Get past lvl 30. That’s all I can say. Everything you’re saying feels about right until you hit about 30 and then try soloing veterans. For Mesmers it becomes a complete cakewalk. Between stealth, clones and the ability to punish the kitten out of the Mob AI. For Elementalists things just get harder and harder. Even “easy” tasks need a huge amount of caution when you go in as an elementalist. I now have an 80 mesmer and a lvl 30 elementalist and I have to switch to my mesmer sometimes just to relieve the frustration of trying to solo skill points or certain other tasks that most other classes do with half the difficulty.

Well, not only veterans, somedays ago i went with my mesmer to AC story mode alone and i was surprised to find i can solo mobs there if they come 1 by 1. Of course, once i opened the door and i saw 2 mobs and the traps i walked away, idk maybe i could had kiled them, but i would sure had died 20 times tryng for little to no rewards.
Next ill try a champion, but im guessing with enough room to kite mesmers can bring them down quite easy also.
On elems well, i canot say much, didnt played any over lvl 12 XP
But after some time dancing through classes im starting to think ANet cut dmg in classes with high versatility (and elems seem to have it in theory at least).
So if you can addapt and succed youll deal less dmg but youll succed. Make a pure dps char with no options other than dmg and youll get nuked before you dish it all out