Guild Wars 2

Anet,

We experienced considerable lag at the moment. Reviewed my LAN and ISP, and the problem is definately not at my end.

Please review your server. IP address: 206.127.159.120:0

Perhaps others can report any lag issues in this thread.

Thanks

Candar

Ralkuth.1456:

Dodge through Shatter if you can… If you can’t, pop invuln or Magnetic Wave and wait for Blurred Frenzy to end (likely to decoy) or when they are casting something like Mirror Blade (invuln into burst before they daze), and unload all your arcane skills, phoenix and lightning flash into air attunement burst. If successful you will get them to pop all their defensive CDs including Decoy and Distortion.

This is interesting, but what are visual tells in order to “dodge through the Shatter”. How long are they in “Blurred Frenzy” for and again, what are the visual tells for this?

I am considering running a shatter mesmer myself to gain an insight into their abilities. Is it easy to learn? Does it have an equal level of skill cap as the elementalist?

Many thanks for the constructive comments in thread, guys.

Candar

I have had many successes against mesmers, but I have to admit, they are my nemesis. Shatter mesmers in particular can be a real problem.

I am a zerker s/f elementalist, which I love above all other elementlist specs. Question is simple: how does one deal with shatter mesmers?

I am not interested in “I trample/own all mesmers as a <insert class/spec>”, that is not helpful or even remotely insightful. Let’s have some reasonable strategies or ideas.

Regards

Candar

Server: 206.127.159.224:0
Date: 14/09/2014, 08:17 BST

Severe lag problems and disconnected altogether

Regards

Candar

I have experienced this too

206.127.159.250:0

Quite frankly, I would not support the idea of making Dragon Tooth and Comet work with ground targeting. I think it simply gets in the way of the battle fluidity of the scepter/focus and scepter/dagger eles. We already have enough spells that require ground targeting.

If anything, I would like to see the Dragon Tooth cool down reduced, perhaps by 2 seconds. It is way too easy for oppenents to avoid. Furthermore, I would like to the Focus spells improved — it has remained unchanged for so long now, especially when Gail has a 50s cooldown

Indeed I acknowledge some improvements to the Elementalist in the past few months, but the Focus weapon has been sidelined for a long time. The scepter/focus or dagger/focus elementalist is more concerned about CCing the opponent. Why? Because they have less mobility with these weapon sets. So let’s see some “love” offered to the Focus weapon.

My point about targeting the opponents with AI “adds/equipment” still stands. If you have problems targeting your opponent because the “adds/equipment” are selected first, (1) it’s a DPS loss; (2) it can be certain death. There are ways to minimise this problem, but quite simply, the targeting design can be considerably improved.

ArenaNet: “The balance team has given the ranger a lot of love during this balance update”

I watched the Ready UP 20 video with the view to see what changes have been to the elementalist in the wake of Rangers “love”.

I was hoping to see whether the Focus weapon will be addressed but was dutifully disappointed.

So I want to get my concerns on table:-

• Gale — 50 seconds cooldown
This is too long especially when Updraft on the dagger is 40 seconds. I suggest to reduce to 40 seconds.

• Flamewall — consider making this a ranged Ring of Flames, of course change the name. I find it somewhat inaccurate when placing the wall, which seem to be affected badly by ones angle to the opponent and/or elevation of the ground. Besides it is much easier to surround the foes with a ring of flames.

I was also hoping you guys would look at some other issues that I and many others have been calling for.

• Ride-the-lightning — why penalise when elementalist misses the target, especially when the target suddenly goes invisible?

Here is some lifestyle ideas that would benefit all classes:-

Targeting
• When cycling through targets with Foe-Nearest or Foe-Next, provide an option that will ignore the foe’s “adds/equipment”, unless selected with the cursor. Of course, this does not apply to mesmers.

• How about prioritising targets by class? In other words, a list of classes indicating priority will be applied when cycling through targets.

Still thinkinga about other ideas because I care.

Regards

Candar

When talking about elementalists’ armor/build etc, we cannot ignore that there are several types: d/d, s/d, s/f and even d/f…All of which are played differently and respond differently to builds and armor. For example, as d/d zerker, you gain more healing with 30 in water, than you do with s/f zerker.

It’s important that community stop assuming d/d when talking about this class.

Vargamonth.2047:

It’s always possible to complete at least 5 daily achievements through sPvP.
On top of the 2 sPvP-only achievements (matches played and captures/kills), things like evader, condition applier and condition remover are almost automatically done, while leveler and recycler are attained easily through reward tracks.
A few achievements are, however, arguably tough to be compelted in sPvP and may be required to complete the daily. Daily kills and, specially, reviver often require a large amount of games. So does “skill point acumulator” if not saving scrolls/tomes for the day it pops.
I would probably reduce “daily reviver” to no more than 5 and merge the “daily mist invasion defender” and “daily player kills” achievements, making “daily captures” always available.

Yep, we need to make it easier for pure sPvPers to do their dailies and monthlies without the need to enter the PvE environment. I suspect the problem is that when they combined all the dailies from both environments together, they suddenly realised that not all the achiviements can visually fit on one page.

ArenaNet, please revisit this issue and think of us poor old sPvPers, as I mention in my original post.

ArenaNet,

Although, I respect that you are trying to encourage PvErs to do more sPvPing and vica-versa, and it is something I have no problem with at all.

However, there are significant PvPers who simply do not want to engage with PvE content at all, myself included. I noticed that PvP dailies and monthlies have been merged with PvE, but still there isn’t enough PvP dailies to do. All too often I find myself, two or three dailies short of the requirement amount.

My question: is there any plans to rectify this problem? Because at the moment, you are short-changing pure PvPers.

Please look into this issue and respond accordingly.

Hoping to hear from you,

Candar.

Developers

Many thanks for your hard work over past few months in delivering this patch.

I appreciate that you are trying to leverage the synergies between PvE and PvP, but I have found that one of the things I enjoyed about PvP is that I can do my dailies quickly. I have no problem with you unifying both PvE and PvP aspects, but it would be far more reasonable for people who wish to PvP exclusively to ensure there is at least 4 PvP oriented achievements for both monthly and daily tasks. At the moment, this is not the case, and PvP players are encouraged into PvE environments to complete them.

Regards and thanks,

Candar

Developers/ArenaNet

We had the GW2 Ready Up Skill and Balance Developer Livestream on January 17th, and it’s now nearly a month since.

Any chance of publishing a draft of the release notes? I appreciate that you may not even have a release date for go-live, but at least provide a draft for our perusal.

Regards

Candar

Lachanche.6859:

Or it could mean that i have a very low opinion of your rating.

So in regards to your orignal comment: “being CC’d to oblivion”… How does that relate to my rating, considering you have no clue to any of the past SoloQ games that I have been involved in? Just because I disagree with your point of view, you decided to make this personal now?! Pathetic!

Lachanche.6859:

I am strongly positive that you have been cc’d to lesser extents than what i am referring to.

That makes no sense, since you have no historical access to any of my past games! Which means you do have a very high opinion of yourself!

Which is fun since that’s what you just did.

The art of irony is lost on you.

Locuz.2651:

Candar.8140:

I believe that there is an anti-Skyahmmer community that are inadvertantly demonising it as result of months of frustration that really lies elsewhere in the game.

One of the main reasons why GW2 pvp flopped is lack of combat depth. A lot of classes lack proper rotations for example. Or single abbilities have such an enormous impact that those rotations arent required to be succesfull. To name an example: if i play on condi warrior i can kill ppl with two ranged poorly telegraphed instants.

This isnt the type of gameplay that will attract a good long term pvp playerbase.

Skyhammer adds extra mechanics like this. Its synonymous to GW2 flopping as pvp game.

Candar.8140:

• Is the number of voters is representative of the player base. If so, which regions or is this a global phenomenon? 337 (arbitrary number) out of player base of tens of thousands is not representative,

300 votes after a day in community that is as small as GW2s pvp community is a really substantial number.

On the issue of playerbase sample, my point exactly!

Lachanche.6859:

I wish I could play a match in skyhammer against you, let’s see how entusiast you are about adapting after a whole match being cc’d to oblivion.

I have indeed been CC’d to oblivion on many occassions not only on Skyhammer but many other maps, and I have managed to handle those situations fairly well, but I get the impression you feel that enthusiasm for the adaptation would diminish somewhat if were to play against you? Well, you have an incredibly high opinion of yourself…That doesn’t even deserve a response.

garethh.3518:

@Candar.8140

Ok slow down, you’ve just jumping away from the whole argument of the thread to details on a solution.
(that’s kinda backwards)

So do you still strongly think skyhammer should be in the mandatory soloQ? or that we need a better grasp of proportions (is it really a small angry mob or more) before we can decide?

I have not changed my position on my original argument. However, I believe that there is an anti-Skyahmmer community that are inadvertantly demonising it as result of months of frustration that really lies elsewhere in the game.

As regards to me going “backwards”, I was replying to the comment “You are saying, you won’t accept polls as a show of anything and that there is literally nothing in favor of you being right… so you take that as a show of your point being in the right of things???”

I was simply proposing a solution for a more accurate poll — that is all.

Locuz —- I am not trolling at all, and can choose to believe that or not sigh.

garethh.3518:

@Candar.8140

Ok, I’m gonna try to put this as lightly as possible.

You are saying, you won’t accept polls as a show of anything and that there is literally nothing in favor of you being right… so you take that as a show of your point being in the right of things???

I mean, ugh.
At best you can squeeze a ‘we need more of a legitimate sampling to see if skyhammer should go or not’ out of that but not… no way in hell a ‘skyhammer should stay’.

The whole ‘interesting+ challenging players’ deal.
Challenging players… i mean there is nothing wrong with that… but you don’t force players into challenges they don’t enjoy and never will enjoy or rise to face.

People have been forced into skyhammer for months now, and are they finding once hidden joys in the map? are they finding the challenge of skyhammer more and more worth facing??

There has to be some end goal something beneficial in the equation and so far forcing skyhammer on everyone has been very controversial and caused, in all likelihood, many kittened off players. Keeping things as is won’t change that… so I mean, at best I guess you can say ‘people could be loving the map’ and sure, they could, but you have no idea if that is the case, literally none at all… I have seen mass amounts of QQ left and right and polls voting majorly against the map… nothing in favor…

So how can you say that there is a reason strong enough to keep it required in the soloQ queue?

“Ok, I’m gonna try to put this as lightly as possible.”

I am not sure what you mean by this, but quite frankly, it is of little consequence to me whether you are harsh or not, but let’s both hope you are not trying to be patronising.

Straw polls can be beneficial, but many of the ones I have seen already on the forums are highly questionable. Here are the problems:

• Not all players use the forums

• You have to pose the questions in such a way as to not to mislead or skew the results.

• Is the number of voters is representative of the player base. If so, which regions or is this a global phenomenon? 337 (arbitrary number) out of player base of tens of thousands is not representative, but on a forum thread, it could appear to be “most” people, which is a false impression.

• Furthermore, it is possible for those who do not vote at all may indeed like the map and may believe it is not worth voting because they are already satisified. This can also mislead interpretation of the poll.

And given some of flaws I have highlighted above, I put it to you that all you have is a perception of an angry mob that may not be representative due to a half-baked, unscientific poll put together by the angry mob in the first place.

So what would be a good idea is offer a compulsary, neutral poll in-game, just before the game starts, to help gaurantee good sample of players that could be representative of peoples’ opinion.

Setting up such fair polls is not as easy as some are lead to believe.

garethh.3518:

Candar.8140:

dimyzuka.7051:

Candar.8140:

Skyhammer is clearly unique for many reasons

Yes, unique because whether you win or lose, you leave raging.

Nonsense! Makes no sense, provide evidence for your assertion.

Games are played for fun.
Allot of people don’t find skyhammer fun.
Sure it is something different, but so is making clothes out of sandpaper.
Unique isn’t the same thing as good.

I mean, you like the map, you like it’s specific change of pace, which is fine, but that’s not an argument as to why it should stay in the rotation.
The only argument is net enjoyment, if the vast majority of people who are playing the game enjoy the map… then it’s fine… it can be in the mandatory queue rotation.

If not… then it is doing more harm than good.

“I mean, you like the map, you like it’s specific change of pace, which is fine, but that’s not an argument as to why it should stay in the rotation.”

Of course it is. It is a perfectly good reason to keep it in rotation, because it challenges players from a totally different perspective when compared to other maps. But to remove it from rotation because people complaining about being shunted off the edge is definately a weak position to hold in favour of removing it. One person has already used the word “overpowered” in reference to some classes being able utilitise CC and thus leveraging the map’s hazards; however, someone else has offered techniques to minimise risk of being shunted off, but using the map to his advantage. Just because the map encourages people to think differently about the game play, doesn’t mean it should be removed from rotation. In fact, thinking outside the box is what this game is all about, surely!

Moving onto popularity, what is required is real emperical evidence that indicates that the map is unworthy. I am not talking about some straw pole on the forums, but real scientific evidence to prove the Skyhammer should be removed from the game due to lack of popularity.

In anycase, I and others still feel it is great map with some interesting qualities.

Qaelyn.7612:

You’re lecturing people on how to avoid getting knocked off the map, when nobody here is saying they don’t know how to avoid getting knocked of the map. They are saying they don’t enjoy playing a map oriented around either knocking people off the map or avoiding same.

The same goes for the ridiculously overpowered “if you control this one thing you win the game because you can spam-destroy any and all capture points” hammer. I want to play against other players, not have them nuke me by remote-control, or have me do it to them.

I was simply defending my position when challenged, which is what most people do. It is okay when somebody do not agree, I do not have an issue with that.

I simply disagree with you and continue to do so as you will disagree with me, let’s agree on that, if possible. I will no longer engage with you because I fail to see what else you can offer to the debate other than attempting to have the last word.

Qaelyn.7612:

Candar.8140:

However, you are in danger of sounding like a scrub.

So your response to the people who say they don’t like the style of the map because of how much the ledges/hammer impact gameplay is to insult them all with generic “l2p nub” nonsense.

Hint: I think this may be why some are accusing you of being a troll. You aren’t actually engaging people who disagree with you and making an effort to understand their objections. You’re just being obnoxious.

Ok, I suggest you reread my quote that you posted: “You are in danger of sounding like a scrub”…I did “NOT” call you a scrub, there is a big difference!

I have defended my position on this issue, I will continue to do so. Quite frankly I do not care if you find me obnoxious. I vehemently disagree with you and let’s agree to disagree — that is all!

Wolf.5816:

Don’t fight against the map, let the Map fight with you and you will enjoy it.

This is by far the most intelligent comment thus far, and from somebody who truly understands the art of adaptation.

Qaelyn.7612:

Candar.8140:

I only ever make truthful assertions, believe what you may, it doesn’t change my mind or position.

Anyone else here routinely play a full Skyhammer match and have nobody fall off the map?

Candar.8140:

Ok, you’re point is simply illogical…In every single map in the game, you will find that the map plays a vital role in all engagements!!! Why should Skyhammer be any different?

It shouldn’t be any different. That’s the problem: it is. The environment has far more of an impact on Skyhammer than any other map. The result is that the game becomes more about who matches up best with holding the hammer and very little about actual PvP.

Brew Pinch: If an overwhelming percentage of my customers thought poorly of my product, personally, “satisfaction” is not the emotion I’d be left with.

“Anyone else here routinely play a full Skyhammer match and have nobody fall off the map?”

I said “I have just finished playing Skyhammer”, meaning in that particular game, nobody fell off the edge, which is a mathmatical possibility and not beyond anyones imagination. What you have done is cherry picked my comment to suit your ends, which is ridiculous!!!!

“It shouldn’t be any different. That’s the problem: it is. The environment has far more of an impact on Skyhammer than any other map.”

Well at least you agree with me in that the map does have a role and an impact in combat. However, you are in danger of sounding like a scrub. All maps are different, they have to be! You’re right in that Skyhammer has a hazzard: falling/pushed off into the abyss. So, are you going to increase the possibility of that happening by standing near the edge? If you are, then you really don’t get the point of the original comments. We, the players, do not write/rewrite the rules, and nor should we! When your opponent is standing in front of a glass floor, waiting to pull you onto it, will you consider using stability or repositioning yourself to counter the pull? These are the things I am talking about, you simply have to start thinking about counters, and guess what? Start being clever! This is how the meta evolves, only through adaptation.

I am hoping for more innovative maps like Skyhammer where the players really have to start using their nouse to win matches, and not zerging aroung the place like mindless zombies.

Qaelyn.7612:

Candar.8140:

But are you missing the point?!!! I think you are…Learn to adapt, that’s all!

No, actually, you are missing the point. Several people have already replied to you directly: we want to play against other players — not the map.

It’s like I have a group of people who play poker regularly and one day we show up and the host says “today, instead of poker, we will all play Scrabble!” I can “adapt” and play Scrabble, certainly, but guess what? I want to play poker, that’s why I went there in the first place.

Candar.8140:

I have just finished playing and won Skyhammer a few moments ago, and I can tell you that nobody fell into the abyss.

I flat out do not believe you. I have literally never played a full match of Skyhammer without multiple people falling off the map.

I only ever make truthful assertions, believe what you may, it doesn’t change my mind or position.

“No, actually, you are missing the point. Several people have already replied to you directly: we want to play against other players — not the map.”

Ok, you’re point is simply illogical…In every single map in the game, you will find that the map plays a vital role in all engagements!!! Why should Skyhammer be any different? In fact, it is impossible for the environment not to have an affect during combat! You make no sense at all!This is why I said you need to adapt to your opponent as well as the environment.

Lukin.4061:

Don’t feed the trolls, skyhammer always was and always will be (I HOPE) the worst thing that happened to soloq.

I have never been more serious; I no troll!!!!

Just because I am taking a controversial position, doesn’t mean I am trolling, but more importantly, it doesn’t mean I am wrong!!!!

I stand by assertions.

Locuz.2651:

What about guys who played the map 100+ times, adapted and know exactly how to play it….and still hate it with a passion?

I had skyhammer games where i had 18-20 knockbacks and i still didnt enjoy it one bit. I am forced to cheese or get cheesed.

Qaelyn.7612:

Skyhammer is like two teams of martial artists trying to see who can throw each other down a flight of stairs. There may be strategy and skill involved in both cases, but the latter is not what I (nor most people) are looking for in a game like this one.

Its more like being a boxer or martial artist who finds out they changed the rules; guns are allowed in the ring all of a sudden. So what will the guys who are favour tell them?

“Well, quite simply it is time to stop this nonsense. If you’re not already aware of the one all important quality that is expected of every good martial artist, then let me enlighten you: adaptation!”

“Using guns in the ring is clearly unique for many reasons and it is important for those who feel that they are at a slight disadvantage to find ways to maximise their skills when faced with an opponent who has the abbilitie to blow you away with one single shot.”

But what if we dont want to use guns in the ring? What if we want to keep our martial arts hand to hand combat only? What if we want simple good old pvp combat without one shots? You ever thought of that mister OP?

Candar.8140:

The very best PvP players are very good at adapting to their opponent(s) and to the map— simple!

The very best pvpers have one other thing in common. They all hate this map with a passion even if they adapted. Feel free to ask any of the top tier guys.

“As you think, so shall you become.” —- Bruce Lee.

Start thinking outside the box, consider your build and style of play. I read on another forum that one reason why people hate Skyhammer is that they feel outside their comfort zone. Well, learn to get comfortable outside it!

As regards to top PvPer’s, for every one who hates Skyhammer, I will find one who likes it!

It is very easy to follow those who “seem” to be talking sense, those who “appear” to have the authority on what’s right! And at the moment, they appear to be anti-Skyhammer players, but are they representative of the player base? I am not sure they are.

Skyhammer is here to stay, I am cheering for it!!!

dimyzuka.7051:

Candar.8140:

Skyhammer is clearly unique for many reasons

Yes, unique because whether you win or lose, you leave raging.

Nonsense! Makes no sense, provide evidence for your assertion.

Qaelyn.7612:

Well, Arenanet showed how much they take into account the anti-Skyhammer feedback by creating a new WvW map that’s basically an overgrown Skyhammer hotjoin.

I’ll use the same analogy I used in my post there: PvP is like two teams of martial artists sparring to see who can beat the other — Skyhammer is like two teams of martial artists trying to see who can throw each other down a flight of stairs. There may be strategy and skill involved in both cases, but the latter is not what I (nor most people) are looking for in a game like this one.

But are you missing the point?!!! I think you are…Learn to adapt, that’s all!

I have just finished playing and won Skyhammer a few moments ago, and I can tell you that nobody fell into the abyss. You simply have to start thinking positively and stop following the negative consensus…I am beginning to believe that people are directing their furstration rooted in other issues in the game towards Skyhammer.

Personally, I like Skyhammer very much. Zerging is less effective thanks the to annoying Canon user and jumping pads, and thus encourages teams to come up with alternative strategies.

I am well aware of a community of players (not all players), who are anti-Skyhammer in SoloQ. Well, quite simply it is time to stop this nonsense. If you’re not already aware of the one all important quality that is expected of every good player in PvP, then let me enlighten you: adaptation!

The very best PvP players are very good at adapting to their opponent(s) and to the map— simple!

Skyhammer is clearly unique for many reasons and it is important for those who feel that they are at a slight disadvantage to find ways to maximise their skills when faced with an opponent who has the ability shunt you off into the abyss. Arenanet has already listened to some of your concerns and have implemented barriers on the edges in strategic locations. Therefore, it is time to allow your mind and skills to mature, but they can only do that through adaptation to both the environment and your opponent(s).

Consider this, I am sure that ArenaNet will invent more “controversial” conquest maps, but I am looking forward to adapt to them.

Regards and have fun.

Candar

I have said so many times only the more intelligent and/or experienced players will find a way counter for this trait. Guys, 10% is really not a lot on a squishy profession.

The game requires innovative, creative players, and I would say that the elementalist, amongst others are some of the most innovative players. Simply because they had to be to play a class that continues to be the underdog when compared to others. So find a way to beat the Diamond-Skinned Elementalist, be innovative, creative, clever and stop whining.

Let’s not forget that engineers have a trait that protects from conditions when their HP reaches a certain threshold.

Many thanks for the changes thus far, but we still have a way to go.

I am a D/D elementalist.

The Good (what you liked about the patch)
I am going to say Diamond Skin. There’s seems to be a lot of negative feedback on this trait, but it certainly improves elementalist’s survability when faced with a condition-based foe: it does what says on the tin. Do not review this trait, allow more time for the meta to shift: the more intelligent/experienced players will find a way to counter this.

Really appreciate moving the Cantrips Mastery to the Adept tier in Water.

Earning “money” for tournaments is a great way to maintain both your PvP/PvE characters, and I hope will you introduce additional mechanisms in PvP for this.

The Bad (things about the patch you disliked)
If you really want the D/D elementalist to consider alternative trait trees without the need to go too deep into Arcane, then introduce some additional survability features. Perhaps address this by increasing the base HP slightly which will offer genuine trait tree alternatives. At the moment, I am encouraged to put at least 20 points in Arcane for Elemental Attunement; 20 points in Water for HP and healing. The remaining points I use for the Earth trait line, sadly this leaves me with just 12,805 HP with Valkyrie amulet. I would really like to put some points in eaither Fire or Air for some raw power, but as a D/D elementalist, this could be too costly on survability. Perhaps reducing the attunement swapping base cooldown yet further will automatically improve survivability as well as open up alternative trait choices. Unless you address this, the power D/D elementalist is not going to materialise just yet.

The Missing (things you expected from the patch that weren’t there)
Ride-the-lightning is still a problem. Why should the elementalist be penalised (cooldown doubled) when his foe goes invisible after invoking this spell? Consider reducing the cooldown for increased mobility, which is much needed for survability as well as going on the offense.

We should be able to take our PvP gear into PvE. It is perfectly reasonable for skins earned in PvP to be freely transmuted to PvE.

Thanks for listening.

Please stop complaining!

The GW2 software is developed using an incremental process, where tasks are prioritized, addressed bundled for each release. Give the developers a chance to address the glory problems!

Stop being so kitten selfish and be grateful for a change!

JonathanSharp.7094:

jsu.4370:

I’ll be rocking a d/d ele next patch.

+ s/d thief nerfed
+ stun warrior nerfed
+ Tempest Defense 60 cd to 25 cd
+ 5% to 10% increase dmg fire line
+ 16 attunement cd to 13 w/ no arcane traitline

30/30/10/0/0

Nods. We’ve actually seen some pretty interesting Ele builds crop up internally, based on the changes we’re trying.

My I first of all commend your team on reducing the attunement cooldowns. I am really looking forward to the changes on December 10th.

I am a dedicated dagger/dagger elementalist and I have been running a very unusual condition build for several months: 30,0,30,10,0 with cantrips and carrion amulet. I am consistently successful at holding points and surprising thieves and warriors with my skill and setup. Therefore, nobody more than me is excited at the prospect of the upcoming faster attunement swapping thanks to you guys. Having said that, there are some notable failings even with this setup in respect to utilities and survivability.

1) Is there any plans to look at utility cooldowns? In particular, “Armor of Earth” (90s cooldown), Cleansing Fire (40s) and Lightning Flash (40s). Of course, traits can shorten cooldowns by 20%, but what I recommend is to reduce by 20% by default and remove/replace the trait with something else.

2) Alternative to the above, how about increasing the base HP, perhaps to match a mesmer’s base HP?

Either of the above will introduce yet further viable permutations for dagger/dagger elementalist as well as for other disciplines.

3) Finally, the current Ride-The-Lightning (RTL) ability is flawed and is considered a buff to certain classes. If a thief goes invisible at exactly the same time RTL is invoked, the elementalist is immediately penalised in that the cooldown is instantly doubled. What plans, if any do you have for this problem?

Many thanks for reading this and I look forward to your response.

Kind regards
Candar
[Earth/Fire Elementalist]

My I first of all commend your team on reducing the attunement cooldowns. I am really looking forward to the changes on December 10th.

I am a dedicated dagger/dagger elementalist and I have been running a very unusual condition build for several months: 30,0,30,10,0 with cantrips and carrion amulet. I am consistently successful at holding points and surprising thieves and warriors with my skill and setup. Therefore, nobody more than me is excited at the prospect of the upcoming faster attunement swapping thanks to you guys. Having said that, there are some notable failings even with this setup in respect to utilities and survivability.

1) Is there any plans to look at utility cooldowns? In particular, “Armor of Earth” (90s cooldown), Cleansing Fire (40s) and Lightning Flash (40s). Of course, traits can shorten cooldowns by 20%, but what I recommend is to reduce by 20% by default and remove/replace the trait with something else.

2) Alternative to the above, how about increasing the base HP, perhaps to match a mesmer’s base HP?

Either of the above will introduce yet further viable permutations for dagger/dagger elementalist as well as for other disciplines.

3) Finally, the current Ride-The-Lightning (RTL) ability is flawed and is considered a buff to certain classes. If a thief goes invisible at exactly the same time RTL is invoked, the elementalist is immediately penalised in that the cooldown is instantly doubled. What plans, if any do you have for this problem?

Many thanks for reading this and I look forward to your response.

Kind regards
Candar
[Earth/Fire Elementalist]

Decided to bump for any possible feedback on this.

I’d like to see the ability to use skins earned in sPvP/tPvP abvailable for use in WvW and/or Karma earned in tournaments. Understandably, Anet would be concerned about stat balance for sPvP skins. This is resolved simply by adopting the basic exotic stats already found in armor from various Karma vendors.

More info here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Discussion-Skins-earned-in-PvP-usable-in-WvW/first#post3082836

I really like the development team to consider, design and implement the ability of allowing dedicated sPvPers to use their skins in WvW.

The stats would be the standard armor stats already found in PvE environments available from various karma vendors around the world, but essentially only PvPers who have grinded for skins will exclusively be allowed to use them in WvW.

This amongst other ideas already mentioned will further drive forward the synergy between sPvP and WvW.

The reason for this, I suspect there are many sPvPers who simply not as enthusiastic in PvE dungeons as others are.

What are your thoughts?

Arheundel.6451:

I’d like to ask the Devs to rethink about this decision, players should not be able to cap points while invulnerable.

It’s an extremely bad decision seen as eles will start now using the conjure earth shield along with the focus, with such a build an ele can achieve a total of 11s invulnerability( add mist form) + other defensive mechanisms.

Unscrupulous team/players will start abusing the ele in such a way, the last thing I want is a return of the FOTM players..and for obvious reasons

This new invulnerability capping mechanic should be revoked as soon as possible, pls, I’m asking this in the name of the whole current ele population, not before long
the nerf cries threads will start appearing on the forum and given the changes history of the ele….my concerns are quite valid.

Capping pts while invulnerable : Bad mechanic, pls revoke your decision

Well, we’ve been crying out for survivability for a while now!

Cheri Wolf.3056:

Without further adieu, here is my highlight clip of all the best
moments Guild Wars 2 PvP Conquest Mode has to offer.

NA Top 200 sPvP Highlights

Not to worry, because ArenaNet is going to “shave” the current meta rather than take a more serious stance on this problem in the game. I have nothing but 100% faith in the designers and developers :-

October 15th release notes: “We’ve made a balance pass on existing skills and traits with a focus on improving support builds in all parts of the game for all professions.”

Oh yes, 100% faith in those guys at ArenaNet.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/october-15-2013/#features

AtoBoss.2906:

Basically the title.

Not trying to being a kitten, but honestly, if you’re something like rank 3 or you’ve never won a 1v1 or you’re a pver going for the daily or you dont know what class you’re even playing or you don’t even know the fundamental rules of the game or if you’re retrded.. stay out of tpvp please.

Tpvp is not like pve or hotjoins where you can carry the one or two newbs through a dungeon/match. Every single player plays a role and one mistake may lead to losing the match, let alone an afk or a trash that dies every 2 seconds.

Well, it is my opinion that you lost the argument the moment you said "if you don’t even know the fundamental rules of the game or if you’re retrded.. stay out of tpvp ".

That statement is not only rude but also arrogant. I think you need to lighten up!! I can understand that you are frustrated, but the game is such that sometimes you will have inexperienced people in your team. So you got to ask yourself what are you doing as the most seasoned, god-lilke player. How about leading the team by getting the best out of them, boosting their confidence, etc? That’s the mark of a true leader rather than simply denegrading, throwing insults and stamping your feet in a pathetic tantrum.

BlinkTwice.7932:

Doesnt mean, to me, that it should go. It should be more punishable if it fails. ie: Shield block/blind miss/dodge. maybe make them fall down or pull all skills on cooldown idc but Dont get rid of it. It changes too much in the game.

Oh come on! The OP is clearly being too excitable and reactionary. No way should stuns be removed, because that’s beyond ridiculous, but it certainly needs to be reviewed in terms of risk versus reward.

Ask any elementalist who uses “Armor of Earth” with a 90s cooldown, 72s traited. A warrior with powerful regeneration and a stun abilities with “low” cooldowns is a problem for a d/d elementalist who is mindful of his dodge management and timely use of “Armor of Earth”.

There is a case for a stun review.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Excellent feedback! I’ll pass this on to the team.

Thanks for the effort!

Original poster requires a commendation for his well thoughtout comments, along with others who has warmed/agreed with his idea.

As a die-hard d/d elementalist, I would welcome some of the OP suggestions/ideas and after Allie’s comments, I feel there’s hope yet for this game yet.

Regards

Candar

Arheundel.6451:

Given the kitten CD and the non-outstanding dmg ( with average crit dmg 30-40% ) I believe it’s not unreasonable to ask for a bigger fire angle, as it stands now you need to literally sit on the opponent to have any chance to land it, also you need to stay face to face with him.

They could make it like “Drakes Breath”: automatically lock on target.

katniss.6735:

IMO, this is how we want to play:

In order of enjoyment

WvW: D/D, then Staff, then S/D, then S/F.
Spvp: D/D, S/D, Staff, S/F
PVE: Staff, S/D, D/D, S/F

Right now I’m playing D/D in WvW and Spvp still. WvW = full celestial + perplexity, knights weapons. In spvp: full soldiers with grove runes. Both are 0/0/10/30/30. Ether Renewal, CFlame, Mist Form, LFlash for both. Only use armor of earth for special situations where I need the stab. I have a secondary knights set with travelers. I carry 3 daggers, a staff, a scepter, and a focus at all times. I use: FGS, then greater elem, then tornado (staff, or extra stab, or knockback). I solo roam at least 75% of the time I play.

Most of the patch listed above is meaningless to me. It will not alter my playstyle at all. I really don’t know why anet is making changes to things nobody wants to use in pvp at all. I see maybe 1 ele in 100 matches that has a frostbow in use. I see very few eles in spvp overall. If I want to play fresh air, or fire line, I have to hide behind other people with staff or s/d as glass for it to be worthwhile.

I second that.

I found myself using a very unsual build as d/d elementalist, but it is effective for the most part: 20,0,30,20,0 with a condition amulet. It provides viability in terms of staying alive against thieves, but unless I land my bleeds with “Churning Earth” and “Ring of Earth”, followed by fire combos against a thief’s HeartSeeker and Shadow Step, i’m toast.

There is something unjust and not quite balanced when channelling “Churning Earth”, a 3.5 second spell, with “Armor of Earth”, only for it to be switched off by a thief. That amongst other things is wrong with a d/d elementalist and really needs to be addressed.

I will stop playing the game if I feel that Jonathon Sharp and his team are failing me as a d/d elementalist.

Alexios.2896:

This map is really leaving a bad taste in my mouth with PVP and GW2 in general. PVP is about the fight not a shoving match on who can get who over the edge. I wreck this warrior in the room and he bolts out. I get on the cannon then next thing I know I’m falling. All I can do is laugh at how utterly ridiculous it is. Until this map is overhauled or scrapped I won’t buy anymore gems to support this game. That’s my opinion take it or leave it.

I and many others will disagree with you on this one — Skyhammer is quite innovative and refreshing in some ways. If you are afraid of being shoved of the edge, then you’re missing some of the fundamental points of PVP and the game overall. I am sure you have various anti-fear, anti-knockdowns spells/utilities you can use, not to mention avoiding defending or attacking near the edge. Despite the game’s flaws and balancing problems, it is about adapting offense/defense styles and strategy.

Don’t be surprised if you do not get many votes for this one, my friend.

Hi Jonathon, Fortus.6175 makes some very good points.

I solely play D/D Elementalist. I have spent 30 points in earth, 20 points in fire and 20 points in water, which concurs with Fortus’ assessments.

Although I have found this condition build effective, it’s not my preferred build, but it’s one of more viable builds in order to stay alive long enough to make a contribution in my SPVP team. I cannot go all out beserker as d/d Elementalist simply because my burst potential is underwhelming when compared to a thief or warrior and I would certainly run the risk of being one-shotted in no time.

With the current earth build mentioned earlier, these are my findings:

• When faced with a warrior my stun-breaker “Armor of Earth” has 90s cooldown (72s traited), and the moment it’s over then warrior’s stun abilities can be a real problem. Despite timing my dodges and my careful use of “Armor of Earth”, coupled with warrior’s huge HP and toughness, this can be a long fight for an d/d elementalist with limited stun-breaking abilities. I have considered using “Arcane Shield” but with a 75s cooldown and no stability, I decided against it.

• Channelling “Churning Earth” with “Armor of Earth” for stability, 3.5 seconds is a long time; when faced with a thief, he knows my “Armor of Earth” can be stolen. I have lost count the number of times, my long-casting, devastating spell with stability had been cut short by a thief.

• Fire Grab: it’s about time that this very important spell, which often forms part of our burst kitten nal hits our target. Consider making this like “Drake’s Breath”: automatically locks on target.

• Ride-the-lightning: your team should’ve given this more thought. In this regard, you inadvertently buffed the thief. For example: thief is targeted, elementalist executes the ride-the-lightning spell, he goes invisible, hits the wall. Now, fair play on the thief’s part for countering the RTL spell, but to penalise the elementalist by doubling the spell cooldown as well?

To sum up on the above, would like to see base HP increased; cooldowns for “Armor of Earth”, “Fire Grab”, “Arcane Shield”, “Ride-the-lightning” reviewed.

Very well out thought response to something that I have been experiencing for sometime, a truly dedicated elementalist since release.

I am somehwat disillussioned with the game right now. I mentioned in one of earlier posts that I rolled a thief for the first time, just to gain an insight into the profession’s strengths and weaknesses and was shocked at what I was able to achieve in hours with minimum effort, slashing and shredding elementalists of all disciplines with ease, leaving them for dead in my wake.

MonMalthias.4763:

Whilst I agree that Ele burst is probably one of the better balanced burst builds out there – its reliance on long cooldowns for initiation through CC and use of utilities to compete for slots otherwise reserved for condition management and stunbreak – I don’t believe that the core concept of burst Ele is what the game should use as a benchmark for so called “balanced” burst builds.

Fresh Air Ele is predicated around the use of instant cast or proc-on-attune effects to deliver its damage. In addition, the damage that is delivered via Fresh Air is largely undodgeable – there are no projectiles for the Lightning Strike proc to dodge, and it comes out without telegraphing.

This is not to say that Fresh Air is OP, rather, the way that it delivers the damage offers little chance to counterplay. Instead, players fighting the spec need to dodge predictively (difficult) ; or just spam dodges as soon as they stunbreak the Earthquake (easy).

It once again plays into the “metagame” that GW2 is played around of having spammy damage, spammy dodges, and spamming cooldowns to come out on top of a Mexican standoff – and kill the other guy before he kills you. There’s no baiting out cooldowns, key dodges of key skillshots, or phases of initiation, burst, followup and disengage. It becomes a matter of executing your input combination (or using a macro, if you’re cheap) in as short a timeframe as possible and hoping that the other guy falls over.

@MrBig:
Your response to eles “spamming” AOE is facetious at best and does not reflect an understanding of why Eles die so easily to Thieves. Elementalists cannot “spam AOE” unlike a Necro or Engineer, because their only AOE autoattack is D/x Lightning Whip. Everything else is on longer cooldowns, doesn’t deal enough pressure, or too telegraphed for Smart thieves to let hit like Dragon’s Tooth. Arcane Shield is also of little use because of its 75 second cooldown and 3 second duration. When popped, the thief can simply disengage, wait out a mere 3 seconds, and come back; having had some initiative recharged in that time.

Thieves playing with Stealth and/or Refuge do not only have these tools for breaking contact, disengaging, then re-engaging either. Shadow steps through Infiltrator’s Signet, or Infiltrator’s arrow are also excellent tools to step in and out of fights.

Compare and contrast this with the Burst ele where once Ele commits, it’s stuck there. Even if the Ele holds the RtL in reserve for escape, you know exactly where they go (kinda hard to miss that bright ball of lightning). In addition, there’s no Z-axis component to play around because Ele escapes don’t have that – aside from Lightning Flash, which will often be burned to engage not disengage .

Previously Elementalists had the tools to stay engaged thanks to the admittedly overpowered Signet of Restoration, the overwhelming defensive power of Cantrips, and boon-based DPS and survivability. Now that Boon Hate is very prevalent, Signet of Restoration not only had its bug fixed but its healing nerfed, Cantrip stunbreakers shifted, the flaws of the Ele staying engaged are now very very obvious now that the tool to disengage (RtL) has been so strongly changed.

RtL still retains the bug where if blocked it goes on full cooldown of 40 seconds, by the way. Even though Arenanet promised that it would be on a short CD if blocked – as long as it “hit” it would be the short CD – this is not the case.

I believe that one of the solutions here is to maybe look at making RtL unblockable (easy); or fixing the bug (harder). The full cooldown could maybe be looked at – 30-35 seconds if no target is struck would be highly appreciated by PvE or WvW; and in PvP, some of Elementalist’s escapability returns.

In addition, Elementalist’s Focus really needs a rework to turn it into a tool that can be used to stay engaged. I was honestly hoping that the changes to make Elementalists less able to escape would have come hand in hand with changes to Elementalists being able to stay engaged with x/Focus, but sadly this is not the case.

Without as strong CC of x/Dagger (Comet/Gale vs Updraft/Earthquake), or its spike damage (Magnetic Wave vs Ring of Fire/Fire Grab/RtL/Churning Earth), x/Focus needs a skillset that differentiates it from x/Dagger and offer stronger sustained DPS/CC/Chase and bunker potential than x/Dagger.

I think the OP comments are well thougt out and I agree with his reasonings.

I have played d/d elementalist for months and am very comfortable with the profession’s capabiltites.

Often there is a sequence of keys to land the bursts and to ensure combos are sequenced correctly for maximum effect, but the problem is that by the time you have executed entire sequence which will involve switching attunements, potentially much damage to yourself would’ve been absorbed or worse still rendered you dead.

So I did a little experiment: rolled a thief, entered some random trait values, tested the character with NCPs for about 2 hours, then entered some tournaments.

These are my findings: targeted some d/d elementalists, mesmers and warriors. I absolutely destroyed elementalists and mesmers with ease; warriors were a little more tricky, but got the hang of them in no time. I managed to do this with generally double strike, wild strike, lotus strike and backstab; heartseeker

What I intend to do next is to gather some emperical evidence to back up my claims, but my early findings are that the learning curve to play the thief is shallow, compared to d/d elementalists, which suggests that something is clearly wrong.

This doesn’t mean I am now devoted to a thief, I’m not. Dagger/dagger elementalist is the one for me for all sorts of reasons, but it is clear either other classes need to be brought into line with my profession or it should be buffed.