Guild Wars 2

A good write-up. Some points I agree with (less Risen please), whilst others I do not, however that’s your opinion. But I would like to address your point on “Building your Hero”. Having every profession do everything exactly the same, which is what you seem to want, will end up homogenising them. Thus playing alts would become boring. I like the fact that my Ele can stack bleeds the fastest, while a Necro will take a bit longer to stack them but will stack other conditions whilst doing so.

Also in any RPG if you put points into specific stats (e.g. Power, Toughness, Healing Power), you should know full well that you are doing so, sacrificing your other stats.

Hardware Spec:
In my signature
Nvidia Driver 306.23

Game setting
Display Resolution: 1600×900
Graphic Settings: All maxed except shadows & reflections

FPS Value
PVE: 40 – 80 (avg.60)
Cities: 40 – 65 (avg.55)
PVP: 60 – 90 (avg.70)
WvWvW: 30 – 60 (avg.40)

GW2 build# 15,977

My system is fairly similar to the OP’s, however I got the standard GTX660. I have found there in a lot of game’s there’s barely a difference in performance between the standard 660 & the Ti version. Also I like that my 660 runs fairly cool on full load (moreso than the Ti) & can handle large WvW battles at 30+ fps. So if you want to save a bit of cash, the standard GTX660 is still an option.

As for my i5-3570k, I got the Zalman CNPS 9900max cooler and have overclocked it to 4.2Ghz. Sure I could go higher if I want but I don’t see the need to at the mo and having the CPU cores run below 60c on full load is quite ideal for me.

Nvidia GTX 660 (DX11 support). Maintain 60fps in Lion’s Arch, on maxed settings (expect reflections & shadows).

That laptop looks like it will barely run the game. I can see you having huge fps issues in the City’s alone, let alone when tons of players are on-screen.

Keep in mind michaeljhuman that the OP seems to be on a fairly strict budget and a lot of what you mentioned are just extras that the OP really doesn’t even need to consider, until after sorting out the mobo, CPU, RAM & graphics card.

Griim says pretty much what I was trying to say, but I was too lazy to put all that down.

Well as you can see from my sig, you are getting pretty much the same parts that I got in the PC I recently built and the performance I was getting last night was something like this:
– Open world – 60-100fps
– Dungeon – 50-70fps
– Lion Arch – 50-60fps
– WvW – 40-60fps

Everything was set to max except the shadows, post processing & reflections and it ran pretty smoothly, with no overclocking done to it so far. So you should do well with your choices so far.

Your 500W PSU is okay for now but once you get a new graphics card it is best that you just get a new 650-850W PSU, otherwise playing games will put a strain on your PSU when it’s on full load.

That’s really not possible because there are just far too many variables (different hardware & software combinations) that the values people would gather may be construed the wrong way.

What I’ve heard is that the i5-3570k is a superior CPU from 4.8Ghz downwards, however the i5-2500k can be overclocked way beyond that to net greater performance. But in the end both CPUs perform fairly similar.

I’ve recently built a new PC, which I’ve out-lined in my sig.

Just played GW2 yesterday and was getting around 60fps roaming in WvW, which dropped to about 40fps in a huge battle. Open world PvE I get 60-100fps and dungeons around 50-80fps. So it’s a great system for this game. Maybe you could get the mobo & CPU.

Well if you want to notice a huge difference right away, then getting a new graphics card and PSU will have the biggest impact, however chances are that your motherboard doesn’t have a PCI-express 3.0 slot. If so, then you best get a new mobo 1st.

I’m building a new PC (1st time builder) and have learnt so much these past 3 weeks, whilst planning how I want to go about building it. Got a Asus P8Z77-V LX. It’s cheap and seems to lack some things its big brothers have (like 6 channel audio), but if you don’t care much for just little features and extreme overclocking, get it with the Intel i5 3570k. If you want to overclock like crazy then get the better Asus P8Z77 mobo (Pro, Deluxe, whatever), with an Intel i5 2500k. Also you might as well get fan+heatsink. If you want one for the performance then get a Noctua NH-D14. If you want one for the looks and performs fairly well (one I just got today) then get the Zalman CNPS 9900 Max.

Oh and get two low-profile 4gb RAM sticks. They are cheap. I got the Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB kit (2 × 4GB), DDR3 1600MHz RAM, in blue.

Next up a graphics card & PSU. You need both cause the graphics card uses the most power in the average gaming system (about 100-400watts on full load) and your current one may not be upto par. I got myself a MSI Geforce GTX 660 and a OCZ ZS 650W 80+ PSU.

Keep in mind that I’ve yet to build the PC (waiting on the 1tb HD), so I’m not sure how the standard 660 fairs with GW2. But I know the slightly better 660Ti plays the game near max (people tend to lower shadows & reflections). If you have the extra cash then just get the 660Ti. If you have more then get the 670.

I’m actually building a PC myself and surprisingly it’s close to what Kalec has outlined. Here are the parts I currently have lying around:

- CiT Venus blue case … (it’s cheap but looks alright)
– Asus P8Z77-V LX Motherboard
– Intel i5 3570k
– MSI Geforce GTX 660 … (I know the Ti is slightly better but I managed to find this for £70 cheaper)
– Corsair Vengeance Blue 8gb (2×4gb kit) 1600mhz DDR3 RAM
– Zalman CNPS 9900 Max Blue
– OCZ ZS 650 Watt PSU
– Pioneer DVD-RW/CD-RW
– Multi-Media Internal Drive

Final product should look pretty sexy, with the blue LED fans and the shiny blue RAM sticks. Still waiting for my WD Cavair Black 1tb HD, so that I can start building. Total cost came to around £700, so I think you’ll be able to afford something like this. And if you can afford something better then simply get the superior Geforce GTX 670. The 660 Ti is good but doesn’t seem like that big of an upgrade from the 660.

I’ve done a 7k crit on a Warrior in PvP and I’m not even running a crit build, but instead I high Power, Toughness, Healing Power build.

What I’ve found is that the Healing Power stat is only good on players with High Toughness and a low health pool. Which is why I can PvP with my 12,800hp Elementalist and still be hard to kill. This means you will end up taking less damage overall, yet you can heal more of the damage. The High Healing & Toughness stat build also means that you can take the Signet Self-Heal and keep yourself alive in dire situations, without even actively using that Self-Heal.

To put things into perspective, these are the heals that I can produce on my Scepter/Dagger Elementalist for the group. It has about 600+ Healing Power and 20pts in Water, 10 in Arcana…

Switching to Water Attunement – 1,600hp
Regeneration – 1,600hp (over 6 secs)
Soothing Mist – 1000hp (over 9 secs)
Water Trident – 2,000hp
Cleansing Wave – 1,800hp

You can possible get more out of the Staff, but I prefer my playstyle.

Also what I’ve found is that you only really need 15pts in Water and 10pts in Arcana, to be a good support with the Elementalist. Sure you can put more if you like, but those 25pts are what give you the AOE burst heal, 2 AOE HoTs, and AOE buffs on switching attunements. You should only go deeper into those trees if there is Major Trait in there that you truly want and not for the stat bonuses (which can easily be supplemented with gear). However I just don’t think it’s worth going 30pts in Water.

So go 10 in Earth & Arcana, 15 in Water and put the rest of your points wherever you want. I put 10 more in Arcana and 25 in Air.

I second this and you should post this on their new suggestions sub-forum.

Well if you’re a level 30 Ele and have yet to spend any trait points. Then get 10 pts in Water (for the conditon removal) and 10 pts in Arcane (for boons on attunement swap). Then go as DPS oriented or support oriented as you want, from then on.

My Elementalist looks kinda sexy.

Here’s my Level 70 Elementalist, Zyra. Finally rid of the dreadful dress she had on before.

What personal story quest are you up to? Because the only ones I’ve had trouble with are the ones that strip me off all my weapon skills and give me a stupid sword or whatever. The Glyph of Storms utility isn’t really a must, but it certainly makes it possible for an Ele to pull a ridiculous amount of mobs and kill them all with ease. If it’s just 2 or 3 then I don’t even bother, because the CCs any ele has on their weapon skills is usually enough.

Here is the build I’m currently running at level 70.

My gear is focused more on Power/Toughness/Healing Power (though my toughness is below what I ideally want, due to itemization) and I switch attunements constantly. The high Healing Power, along with my passive heals and the healing weapon skills means that I almost never use the no.6 Heal skill. I’ve gone entire dungeon runs without using it, because of the high sustain my build has. So if you really are having a lot of issues, use my build and if you prefer fire over air traits, then feel free to change that too. Because I literally don’t have any survivability issues, when I have all my skills available.

Fede.9143:

Title says all.. i just saw some elementalists that can get high stacks of might channeling some spells.. can you tell me how they do?

Combos my friend. Combos.

Like I can easily generate 4 to 7 stacks of might on my Scepter/Dagger build, by switching to Fire (1-might) and using Ring of Fire with a skill that has Blast Finisher in the tooltips (3-might). Heck, some Eles when get the utility skill Arcane Blast, just to stack even more might.

I have that 15 pt trait in Air and yet I don’t have the same issues other people have. But then again that’s because I don’t have the “auto targeting” option check and I don’t click on random mobs when I’m traversing the world.

Just put 15 points in Water & 10 in Arcane and you’ll see why. Even if the rest of your points is put into Fire & Air, you see that the Elementalist can have a lot of sustain.

Yeah this skill really disappointed me once I got it. They either need to reduce the cast time to 1 second and just make it work on downed players, or keep the cast time and make it work on defeated players as well. As well as fixing the bugs.

Pinkerton.5643:

1. toughness is more important than vitality for non-staff Eles
2. get better at dodging, kiting, and all around avoiding damage (earth and air attunements are the bomb)
3. several of the story quests are very difficult no matter what profession you are. The battle for Claw Island, for example, is tough to do anything but run from objective to objective fighting as little as possible.
4. even so, glyph of storms in earth attunement is your best friend. Get to know it. buy it lunch. You’ll grow to love each other.
5. Oh, and glyph of elementals in earth is awesome, too

This so much. It amazes me how many Elementalist struggle with PvE content, saying how we are so squishy and such, yet never think to take the skill Glyph of Storms. Quite frankly that skill is OP in PvE. With it any Elementalist can pull a half a dozen mobs, and AOE them down before you take any damage.

The most I’ve been able to pull was Destiny’s Edge, the final encounter in Twilight Arbor (story). Eir who would usually one shot anyone in the group (too close to her), could then be face tanked with the rest of them and burned down, before the Storm lifted up.

Try turning off the auto-targeting option, in the user-interface options and stop clicking on random mobs you don’t want to fight. I spec 30 in Air and never has this issue.

SammyIAm.1726:

I would love to have switchable weapon sets for my elementalist. Even with a much, much longer cool-down than the other professions. I understand why they weren’t implemented in the first place (elementalists already have 20 weapon skills to switch between), but I’m still carrying around two sets of weapons with me (scepter/dagger and a staff) and having to switch manually.

This is especially tough in WvW because I can’t be anywhere near combat if I want to switch, and keep having to run far away to make the change.

And that is the trade off for the Elementalist. With all the versatility the Ele has with it’s active skill set, there needs to be a downside and that’s why we are limited to a single weapon set (in-combat). Allowing us to switch weapon sets in-combat, even if it’s on a 1 min CD, would throw the Ele way out of balance. If they implemented your proposed change, then they may as well allow everyone else to carry 4 weapon sets and the Engineer two.

I just made a thread out this but I’ll say it here for further recognition. Quick Glyphs Trait doesn’t work with Glyph of Elementals (Elite Skill).

There’s a trait, 10 points in the Air tree, that makes Glyphs recharge faster by 20%. However I’ve noticed that even though the tooltip changes appropriately for the Elite skill “Glyph of Elementals”, it will still go on cooldown for the full 120 seconds instead of 96 seconds (once the Elemental is dead). The lesser Utility skill works fine, just the Elite.

I only go focus for certain dungeons (e.g. Sorrow’s Embrace) and maybe sometimes in WvW. But the Scepter/Dagger combo is simply a lot more fun.

There’s a trait, 10 points in the Air tree, that makes Glyphs recharge faster by 20%, which is perfect for my Ele build, with 2 or 3 Glyph skills on my bar. However I’ve noticed that even though the tooltip changes appropriately for the Elite skill “Glyph of Elementals”, it will still go on cooldown for the full 120 seconds instead of 96 seconds.

Please fix this ArenaNet.

I only die when I’m AFK, fall from a jumping puzzle or in a dungeon. I’ve currently built 10 earth / 15 Water / 10 Arcane. The rest in Air and my gear is focused on Power/Toughness/Healing Power. Even though it seems like stats are all over the place, it actually works with Scepter/Dagger.

I play a Scepter/Dagger Elementalist and survive just fine, because I put points in Earth/Water/Arcane. Even just putting the minimal 10pts in those trees will boost your survivability tremendously.

To expand upon what Bsquared, I feel that every Elementalist should also put 10pts into Water to get “Soothing Mist” (health regen that stacks) and condition removal. Even if you are built pure damage beyond those 10pts in Water & Arcane, you will notice a survivability increase. Also get Glyph of Storms utility skill. Even if you’re not specced into Glyph recharge, because using that skill in Earth attunement has allowed me to pull as many mobs as I possible can, and not die.