Guild Wars 2

Not to derail, but is Scepter acceptable for power/support builds? I’m 0-20-0-20-30 using some phantasmal healing. My primary damage comes from GS, I love it, and my secondary set is Scepter/Pistol. This setup provides continuous regen for melee and ranged, when appropriately swapped and kept up on. This style of regen supply is not for shatter builds unless you’re wanting to quick-dip regen prior to shattering. It sounds funky in theory but pays off quite a large bit especially in wvw and fractals. Need some regen on yourself? Swap Pistol4, Scepter2-3, Pistol5, shatter if appropriate-swap continue dps and provide healing for melee (iZerker).

Just after launch I got my Ranger to 50.. After discovering that I loathe how poorly the profession operates and how absolutely boring it was I rerolled. I chose Mesmer as my next main, enjoy it but kept an Ele around to give me a break from the Mesmer so as not to burn out. Mesmer hit 80 and I dropped it, was fun to wvw with and easy to win spvp if played smartly but dungeons overall got boring. Rerolled Thief while keeping my tempo on Ele. Thief was 80 in about 3-4 days. Loved the survival/support/damage that came with my build on the Thief, modified Backstab build to provide multiple sources of blinds and heals for the group and less attention given to raw Backstab damage. Then my ele hit 80 and my world changed. Having no interests in leveling another alt I just chose the character I had the most fun on, which seemed to always be the Ele. It’s fast paced react or die playstyle fit me like butter on toast. Now I have only 2 more gear pieces to craft and 2 trinkets to buy in order to be decked in exotics. I can provide higher than adequate damage to my team while benefiting them with heals and various other buffs. I’m a true damage/support player with both having equal footing. The Backstab playstyle of a miss=death isn’t missed and I can play much more tactfully on my Ele which is a HUGE win in my book. I picked up a Staff for those “just in case” situations but find myself always in D/D as I’m not a big fan of any of the other offered weapons.

P.S.
Earth Grab is STILL BUGGED, but thanks for making that leap finisher actually work as intended now.

Staff is a flavor. Just like Scepter and D/D. Tastes vary. If you enjoy it now, chances are you’ll be good with it later and as you level you’ll gain more skill with it.

D/D just fits my tastes better, Staff is there for support and certain situations in wvw. Scepter and I don’t get along. All three are exceptional weapons however and a skillful player can take any of them and roast enemies with.

Ele has modifiably high damage. Doesn’t last long (exception some/most bunker builds which are highly used and work quite well). Necro does mediocre damage, won’t win any nuke fights, but has some the best aoe and survival in the game. Depends on your playstyle as they are worlds apart, imo. D/D Ele is quick, scrappy and brutal. D/D Necro is SLOW with great aoe and super sustainable. Ele is ~95-100% dodging, Necro can have a high enough HP pool (/w toughness) to soak up the dmg of facetankers.

Caedmon.6798:

Hell no.this is like the worst idea ive read so far,sorry to say.

Worst idea I’ve seen was to allow the Total Makeover Kit able to gender change sans any option to name change. Oh well, as many have said.. “at least it’s free”.

If any dance needs to be redone it’s the Norn racial dance. I mean really, WTF happened during development that lead to such a trainwreck for a dance shared by a race? I refuse to /dance on any of the Norns I have made simply because their dance is grotesque.

Kaimick.5109:

Waffler.1257:

Kaimick.5109:

And you realize one of the profession QQ’ed about the most in GW1 was the assassins. Here is the thing no matter what is done someone will cry OP and then want a nerf.

This particular QQ is about stealth and the assassin didn’t have stealth. It also shows that the thief doesn’t need stealth to be effective (as the assassin was very effective), which is contrary to the people who will defend thieves to the death and say the class will be completely useless without stealth. The whole mentality that you need to have a stealth class in an RPG for it to be complete is stupid.

Waffer your not getting the point are you. OK we remove stealth from the game and essentially make them just like Sin’s form GW. Now you and all your friends are going to be making threads sayign NERF the THIEVE he does to much damage and he is OP. Cause that is all we heard in GW about the Sin’s.

And yes you remove stealth from the thieve as it stands now they are useless, if you remove stealth and increase their damage they are not but the QQing continues. Trust me, you obviously never played against a sin in GW, the thieve is way more balanced than the Sin’s ever were.

The whole mentality that you need to have a stealth class in an RPG for it to be complete is stupid.

This is your opinion not everyone’s and obviously form the retort your getting on this thread alone the majority do not have a problem with the mechanic. Let me give you an example of how these threads usually start
Playing in Spvp:
Caped a point: thieve comes rolls my face and leaves never saw him coming
rage for a bit continue playing
after a few more deaths the same thieve rolls me again
rage more and complain that the only reason why the thieve is rolling you is stealth
New game
Get rolled by a thieve
rage and start saying he is garbage cause he has to use stealth
Get rolled again cause now you offended the thieve player
Rage harder
Match ends leave game and exit to desktop
Open Chrome type in GW2 forum website
Create a new thread NERF STEALTH IT IS BROKEN or REMOVE STEALTH IT IS BROKEN.
QQ QQ QQ QQ QQ QQ

What a good player does:
starts match gets rolled
WTF just happen that is BS rage a lil
Happens 3 more time
OK KITTEN THIS
Whisper player
Dude what spec are you using you are rocking me and I am not going to lie i am getting frustrated as hell?
Whisper responds get spec
Log out make a thieve take him into pvp
Spec and learn build
Play the build for a few hours get it down
delete character go back to previous character
Runs into thieve, doesn’t get rolled and survives, but dies every so often now
Thieve player whispers you
What did you do you got a lot better in a few hours great job.
Your response
Just figured out how to work around thieves and how they worked is all, nice fights though man

You notice the difference there, the good players are learning the classes and finding out how they work, the bad players are just being lazy and asking for a nerf
good day sir

Wow! I’m surprised but it has happened. THIS GUY GETS IT! Others should be so lucky to learn from this example. Sadly only rage-posts are to follow, but at least a few understand how to play competitive s/tpvp or wvw properly. Job well done.

Same issue, on Tarnished Coast server.

brandon.6735:

BringBackMonks.7068:

I would like to know why Anet would put in a class that can tank a whole team of 5 for 2 to 3 minutes in a game that is supposed to be all balanced classes. Elementalists can’t do this. Warriors can’t do this. Why are Guardians the only one?

This ele would like to have a word with you.
Check out the other video’s on the channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og8tnQ-rieI

Just wanted to point out, this is a really old build. =/

So the active replies from Mr. Peters is making me not want to aim my iDuelist at them and bombard them with /hugs instead.

I think Anet still has a LONG way to go to earn back my faith in this game (bug fixes en masse prior to buffs/nerfs), but this is one glorious kitten start! Keep it up!

I read the interview about pay-as-you-go expansions and couldn’t stop laughing. Then got terrified as I realized it wasn’t a joke. =/

Winds.3087:

Rafe Mathews.2308:

I also used the aoe heal on Mantra consumption, again, no one received the heal but me… and that was only for the healing mantra and not for “Mantra of Pain”.. Is this bugged or did I have a buggy night?

Oh, no, this isn’t working like that. Heal from this trait occurs when you ready your mantra, i.e. after you charged it. Range is quite hectic, I think it’s around 500-600, but even in my berserker gear without a single +healing, this trait aoe heals for ~2600 hp after each mantra charge, so I guess full power\healing\toughness mantra healing build under quickness will be quite uber.

Wow. I guess I totally had that wrong then. Hmm. Tooltip is a bit misleading it seems, or I read it wrong.

I’ve been looking for a build that incorporates sword/XX and preferably GS. Staff, while good, FEELS slow to me and I prefer quicker abilities…something with a more prompt feel. Which is why I thoroughly HATE the scepter, in addition to clone on auto attack (terrible design).

I do like pistol, but feel like I need a good excuse to use it over sword/sword or focus for the speed buff.

I understand that weapon selection seems to call for glass cannon but I want away from that, even it’s it only to gear for knight gear. I’m just worried that eventually ill become a hinderance to FOTM groups in higher lvls.

Finally, looking for an experience/active guild. I’m on Tarnished Coast, should anyone want to run something.

Thanks for your input. Do you have any stable builds in mind or know of a reliable place to obtain them?

Tonight I realized I’m a bit tired of my glassy cannon build and wanted to do some aoe healing with vigor support. During my two and a half hour stint in wvw, I noticed I didn’t see ANY heals/regeneration from me on party members. Now I don’t have much +healing, just started with this trait line-up, but I’d figure I’d see it on SOMEONE least of all me..but nope. I also used the aoe heal on Mantra consumption, again, no one received the heal but me… and that was only for the healing mantra and not for “Mantra of Pain”.. Is this bugged or did I have a buggy night? I’d like to push to be a bit more supportive, but if all this spec is going to do is hinder my performance in multiple areas then I may as well go back to what I was. Thanks for any/all advice given.

Wrist-Blades? OK
Kama? AWESOME!

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQRAoY6alUmSO3cy9E+JFx2jdKUeypgpJ1rAZ1KQTA;TABg1yqEUJpSVliKKkMIJQyikDJJSLGGVsTYeA

this is my build. I’m aiming it to be a mix of dps/support via regen/blinds/interrupts. CnD is easy aggro drop in d/d. p/p has easy access to interrupts. I have infiltrator’s signet mostly for the stun-breaker and if I go in a fight knowing there’s little to no stuns I’ll swap in Agility to help deal with group’s conditions or caltrops for bleed stacks. This build is extremely blind heavy and works quite well in a small-zerg buster in wvw. Maybe not the best build, especially not for damage, but it’s quite fun for me.

Also, I ALWAYS keep a SB on hand for blast-spams (Best heals in the game when paired with water-fields), slows, 100% weakness uptime to help with overwhelming odds or pesky bosses.

LMFAO! Really?! A MESMER complaining about getting sacked by a THIEF?! Mesmer may as kitten well be the counter class to thief because Mesmers straight up pwn thieves who don’t get a significant drop on the mesmer. Have you tried to improve your skill as a mesmer and come back and try again? I also run a shatter mesmer build. Idk what your problem is, lag/skill/afk, but I kill a good 80% of the thieves that try to BS me down. Also, I see you’re alone which isn’t a smart move in wvw. Try running in a small group if you don’t want to zerg. Even when playing either thief or mesmer I run a 2-3 group for safety in numbers for instances just like this.

Mesmer issue? No
Thief issue? No
L2P issue? BINGO!

I’d say p/p is quite efficient at killing. However bringing that into DE’s may be less than rewarding as the shortbow offers the best bang for your buck in mob tapping, paired with Caltrops and Uncatchable you are an unstoppable bleeding machine. If DE’s aren’t your thing, by all means prove those that say p/p isn’t good wrong. I prefer p/p, it’s more fun, imho, but tagging mobs sucks without sb.

I’ve become quite a fan of my spec.
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQRAoY6alUmSO3cy9E+JFx2jdKUeypgpJ1rAZ1KQTA;TABg1yqEUJpSVliKKkMIJQyikDJJSLGGVsTYeA

I find it pretty good use towards personal damage and great team support via regen/blinds. People, imho, don’t give Blinds enough credit especially considering a well-timed blind could save a team or assist in rezzing. The damage is focused around CnD→Backstab to keep your personal damage up while blinding enemies and keeping Regen on yourself. Infiltrator’s Signet for stun breaks, otherwise adjustable. Signet of Agility would be my personal next choice for the group support for removing conditions from the team.

Maybe not the “best build” but it treats me and my groups rather swell.

I’ve logged well beyond 400 hours played across multiple characters. Since early launch I have been leveling a Mesmer, Elementalist, Thief, Ranger, and Warrior. All are various levels my highest three being Mesmer 70s, Ele and Ranger 50-60s. I continue to log in, even after the cluster of a phase 3 event, but I do so with much less enthusiasm than I used to. This is mostly due to bad manners in bug fixing and balancing. Bug fixing should be the primary issue at hand and yet we see sometimes sweeping nerfs to bugged out classes that doesn’t have anywhere else to turn from. Necro and Ele being my primary examples with both profession’s trait systems being totally screwed up in the sense that there is no synergy, save for a select few builds. Ele, during early BWE, was a force to be reckoned with. It had huge finishers and direct hits that could layout most people in 1-3 blows, this was a problem at first but as players learned the animations they knew when to dodge and evade making any fight with Ele a gamble and, most importantly, FUN. Ele has since been nerfed into a fraction of a ghost of what it used to be. Warriors, however, were allowed to keep this mindset of “well their moves are predictable let them have OP damage” and the community has swallowed that pill. But why was it ok for Warriors to keep their damage and survival but Elementalists lost both? Ele is the profession with the highest learning curve, lowest vitality and lowest damage. The risk vs reward is no where near proportional. Earth Grasp, Ride the Lightning, etc are all STILL bugged btw. On to Necro, Blood Magic trait line is horrid. It will actually heal your opponents (as tested and confirmed by MANY Necro players). The heal returns are not sufficient and Death Shroud is little more than a second HP bar.

I won’t go into any more detail or through all the classes but the combined outlook is grim for the state of the game. If I have friends wanting to join up the first thing I tell them is to roll a warrior or guardian since these to professions seem the most catered to and would be least effected by sweeping changes. Thief is also an option on the table due to it’s many available tools and risk vs reward system that actually feels quite balanced. I’m not offended by Anet’s position of Warrior being the “most balanced profession” but it does make me wonder what the f happened to the others…

Couple these profession problems with the latest event, various bugged events/quests/NPCs, and the new addition of FotM which is allowing the “this high to ride” mentality to develop I’ve been playing less and less and am anxiously awaiting another game to surprise me. Mechwarrior Online is approaching and DCUO (best wardrobe system EVER) is still keeping my interests. I strongly, desperately, hope that Areanet will find a way to turn this around and get people more interested in this game again. Let’s be honest, this game is outstanding and fun, but it’s still littered with issues and from my friend’s testimonies feels unfinished at 80 unless you wvw to no end.

Apologies for the wall of text, any improper grammar, and extended rant. Good cheers!

Makeover Kit – Does it allow for race changes? Love the Asuran animations in a sense as being a Mesmer makes me feel like I am a walking Gremlin army, but also being Asura it pulls much less attention to detail on the armor (from me anyway). Also, the clipping issues with light armor boots for Asuras is grotesque.

Wise.8025:

porter.9483:

So many people including people who allegedly play mesmers who dont know what the issue is.

The berserker has not recieved a damage reduction.

The problem is the berserker is missing attacks on its first pass. Which is being percieved by people who don’t play the class or allegedly play the class as a damage reduction. If allowed to live for 20,30,40 seconds every pass after the first one hits for full damage. IE: first pass = 3k , 2nd 3rd 4th etc pass = 5k damage.

This is a bug that has been introduced with the latest patch which is completely independent of them fixing the LOS bug(being able to cast the beserker without line of sight on the target).

So what YOU are saying is that a missing is not a damage reduction? I beg to differ on that point. That’s essentially saying that because they wanted people to be able to evade the initial attack from the berserker they have allowed the berserker to miss it’s first attack or have a highly reduced damage thus making this skill an 8 second cast before it is possible for it to land any damage and is at risk of being destroyed before any damage lands. – Brilliant deduction.

Karl McLain.5604:

I’ll re-post what was posted in the other thread:
Illusionary Berserker has not received a direct damage decrease. Instead, it seems that the damage reduction you (and I) are seeing is most likely associated this fix:
“Fixed a bug that caused many piercing, boomerang, and bouncing projectiles (those that hit more than 1 target) to continually increase in damage the more targets they hit.”
We are aware that this particular phantasm is now experiencing a significant drop in damage and are looking at getting it back to a more effective state.
-Karl

He’s basically saying that iZerker was a boomerang on a timer with aoe damage along its path. Also, by “more effective state” he’s saying they are not going to commit to anything but that it will be changed again.

Being the only good non-shatter aoe source of damage for a mesmer this has really hurt several build dynamics, as mesmer no longer has a heavy hitting aoe attack outside of their shatters, even with a full power spec.

iWarden says, “Hello.”

I was not previously a fan of sword/focus but seeing as how ibezerker got a ‘whoops-nerf’ it has given me reason enough to try different weapon combos. I was enjoying sword/sword but felt extremely lacking in the aoe department and decided to nab a focus for a lil bit of runspeed in my life, low and behold the iWarden does quite decent aoe damage so long as you keep the mobs close to him and him alive long enough to dish it out. Sword/focus is a fun-enough alternative (for now) but I do hope that Anet is making the iBezerker fix a top priority.

The hype made me excited, but I would’ve been happier with a kick to the groin and a falcon punch to the face.

I hope/pray that Wintersday will be better than this experience and certain professions will receive some much needed love, else I don’t see any reason for me to stick around. Out of 12 IRL friends I joined this game with originally, I’m the only one still playing and after this event and most recent patch it’s blatantly obvious as to why…

nvmvoidrays.2158:

Rafe Mathews.2308:

Just rolled a warrior in order to try and discover why they are so popular and loved. I have to say after wiping the floor with mobs pulling 5 at a time and soloing champions, how the kitten are they not determined OP by the vast majority of players and the devs? Is scaling so horrendous that they’re less useful at 80 or does the profession maintain the pace of slaughter throughout the levels? Sad to see the void between my Ele’s performance and the way the Warrior purely excels at seemingly everything.

Comparing d/d ele to gs/lb warrior.

it’s because warriors don’t do anything useful outside damage. that’s literally all they’re good for. i remember how people whined and kittened about warriors being OP throughout all three BWEs and then up until a month or two after release and without any changes, they suddenly became mediocre/bad.

i can solo champions and groups of monsters on my D/D elementalist. i will agree that warrior is much, much simpler and easier to use/understand then elementalist… and getting the same sort of damage from a warrior is easier, safer and simpler then any spec an elementalist has.

Healing wise, no. Warriors don’t perform as well. CC wise, grab a hammer. Damage, Greatsword. Buffs? They have amazing shouts and flags, shouts being on VERY short CD’s. Plus weapon swapping, not to mention the ability to have a +X Power/Precision/Condition on Kill equipped in a secondary weapon slot in order to nab that little nugget as well. I don’t know why, but it seems like warrior and guardian are the only classes one should consider. I had a friend of mine log on for the trail account. He played ele for a bit, then upon hearing how big a deal warrior is he rolled that. He quit within hours of starting the account due to how huge a gap there was between warriors and other classes.

mouse.1689:

ThiBash.5634:

It helps of course that every newbie plays a warrior, but only the most skilled players can stick with the elementalist for any length of time.

It sure doesn’t hurt, but it’s also worth noting that Warrior just has a way lower skill ceiling than Ele. There’s only so much mileage an amazing player can get out of a Warrior.

Really, I see this alot but it’s like comparing a push mower to a riding mower. Sure, the push mower will ‘get the job done’ but on the riding mower you can drink scotch, smoke a cigar, drink lemonade and eat a sammich. Fact is, warrior quality of life is much better than that of eles. Eles are still in dire need of a buff to damage OR survival (armor or vitality) since both are laughable now.

A warrior can charge into a 5+ group and reliably make a heavy dent before going down. An ele can’t compete on a scale like that, simply because the profession requires twice the work for half the results.

LightningLockey.5938:

Guidance?

Elementalists Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
They Got Nerfed Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher
And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire
</guidance>

Is that what you read in the patchnotes? Funny I read something a lil different. “Stupid Eles, roll a WARRIOR!!!”

That’s fine, if warriors are balanced then WTF just happened to Eles? Anet dug up the graves busted some caps just to make sure we’re dead enough, and reburied us. I’m not sure what you’re playing on your ele but 30 water or 30 arcane being nigh mandatory for both support and survival is just fail logic. Paired with Anet’s inability to produce a synergized trait system drives the nails into the hands and feet. The EA nerf, while not felt as explosively with D/D setups still raises up that cross.

Also, taking into account the wallop that they did to Rangers getting rick-rolled (Rangers getting fixed, lmfao) and Necros getting nerfed (WTF Right?) it’s becoming painfully obvious that the devs are throwing darts in order to come to conclusions about what profession/ability to nuke next. It’s like playing Rift’s launch all over again with the exception that no one is getting FOTM treatment by overzealous buffs.

I’m beginning to wonder why there are any options aside from playing a warrior with nuke-ability or a guardian able to survive it all.

/endrant

Because in PvE you can fight a Deer and have roughly the same experience as fighting a Champion. Also, weapon summons are humorous and fun. Mjolnir FTW!

Xyvius.1679:

I stopped reading at “Guardians are not there”.

I meant as Guardians are not at the same level Warriors are. Same field yes, friends even, but still not equally as “OP”.

Next fix – “It was unintended to be useful, it is now fine as is.”

Metalize.5680:

The biggest joke about Evasive Arcana is that I always considered it to be a design masterpiece with all the synergy it brings… And it turned out to be “unintended” bug.

I lol’d IRL. Incredibly true story.

Sad to see Eles get put through a grinder while ‘other’ classes get away smelling like winners.

The fact that he has no idea the massive problem Eles have and that he thinks that conjures should be nerfed or the flooring idea warriors are deserving of a buff.

If anything I think Conjures are still horribly underwhelming. Gaining comprehensible stats is one thing but we still lose 15 weapon skills and sigils for a modest gain in two specific stats. Also taking into account lowest health, and sub-mediocre damage, I feel as though Anet is taking away any tools we McGuyver into being productive. Yes, I brought McGuyver into this.

Sky.1683:

morrolan.9608:

JonPeters.5630:

Fast hands only is broken on the very first swap after you turn it on our load a map. After that it works. Fixing that first time bug is extraordinarily difficult, but we think it is worth it to keep the trait.

Where’s your feedback to the elementalist forum after the large number of nerfs this patch?

He is not the only game designer for this game.
It might be that someone else is taking care of Elementalist and etc.
However guys you still got my respect if you keep playing the classes even though you are unsatisfied.

Bold highlighted is the biggest issue Anet has. None of their developers even mains an Ele. So how they’re figuring buffs/nerfs to that profession is beyond me. Dartboards maybe? Thanks for the respect. We appreciate the sympathy for what it’s worth. I’m tired of consistently seeing eles get borked. I feel like they’re trying to force everyone to roll Guardian, Warrior or Thief (though Guards and Thieves got ‘touched up’ a bit).

Also, I know it’s Warrior forums but… R.I.P. Rangers. =(

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Warrior-Hammer-vs-Ele-Hammer

Yes, my chin hit the kitten floor.

I’m quite curious why not a single class is treated the way warriors have been. Their numbers (both damage and survival) is substantially superior to what others can perform. Guardians come close, but they’re not there. Rangers, Necro and Eles are still seen as a freebie kill in many scenarios while they continuously get fixes that most often times are underwhelming or a downright nerf. I don’t intend to troll or start pointing fingers, but I’m starting to get tired of playing a video game that feels like it is based and balanced around a particular class.

This is not meant to feed a feud, it’s just my opinions and asking for others. Can anyone clue me in as to WHY warriors are allowed to be so overbearing?

Metalize.5680:

3 month later from now, February 15 grand patch.

2 designers that work on pvp balance finally got to Elementalists and engineered brand new fixes that class needed badly since November 15.

Elementalist patchnotes:
– Dragon Tooth now properly applies blast finishers on the place where it hits, so that you can grant 3 stacks of might for your ally who was never there by comboing with fire field that was never there;
– Fixed Magnetic Grasp so it does not provide unintended Leap Finishers so the last 10% of you Eles who tried to make D/D Auras work in pvp can finally reroll or leave the game like the other 90% of you already did.

Communtiy rejoice!

You forgot to add they’ll be removing Tornado indefinitely and since Earth Grasp, Fire Grab and RTL still doesn’t work 100% those will be removed as well. Along with reduction to Fire’s dps and Earth’s survival. Please read on to various buffs handed out to warriors. =D

Have a Happy Kitten Day!

Just rolled a warrior in order to try and discover why they are so popular and loved. I have to say after wiping the floor with mobs pulling 5 at a time and soloing champions, how the kitten are they not determined OP by the vast majority of players and the devs? Is scaling so horrendous that they’re less useful at 80 or does the profession maintain the pace of slaughter throughout the levels? Sad to see the void between my Ele’s performance and the way the Warrior purely excels at seemingly everything.

Comparing d/d ele to gs/lb warrior.

terrordrone.1875:

Good luck getting anet to reply to this or even look at this.

I’m just going to level my warrior with 5 new combo finishers now.

lmao, so true.

Seems the only way to progress is to flip a coin between Warrior and Guardian. Anet devotes so much more attention to Greatswords and has such loving affection for the two previously mentioned professions it’s unreal. But alas, time for ez mode rather than carpel tunnel during Ele play for minuscule results.

Chaede.7348:

There are only 2 class developers for all 8 classes. We aren’t going to see any improvements or dev interaction any time soon. They are too busy buffing warriors. Anet has a seriously small, understaffed and 1 dimensionally focused class dev team.

Too busy hiring new content developers and not enough time fixing the broken parts of the game.

For the record I would love some developer engagement on a meaningful level but its probably not going to happen.

I do feel it’s important to note, neither one of those two spoken of actually play Elementalist as a main nor highly thought of alt.

1. plays a Ranger and Guardian
2. plays a Warrior and a Mesmer

I’d like to know of some available options as well.

“The elementalist has the unique ability to attune to different elements using special skills. There are four attunement skills in total, representing the elements of fire, air, earth and water. When one of these attunement skills is activated, the weapon skills of the player change to reflect the chosen element. These attunement skills can be used in combat, allowing players to effectively switch between four different sets of skills.

The flexibility of switching between attunements means that the elementalist is restricted to only one weapon set in combat. They also have much lower health in comparison to other professions, so they have to make up for their lack of durability under fire by managing their attunements and skills carefully and avoid putting themselves in dangerous situations.

Elementalist trait lines are also rather unique in that each of the lines directly improve one of the attunements specifically. For instance, Fire Magic trait line mostly improves use of fire attunement spells."
- taken from the Wiki itself.

Anet, this bug is horrendous. It actually draws people in and makes them believe that the Ele profession is both strong and interesting, but it is neither. Please fix your description.

Suggestions
“Elementatlists have a flashy way of doing nothing and upon entering combat die nearly instantly, don’t get excited about downed-state we’ve shafted them with that too.”

Launched with 4 classes, now has 5-ish.

lol Necro still sucks, and Ele just got minced. So, Anet, what sorta spec are we SUPPOSED to be using because the trait system is kittened and lacking ANY synergy now. I guess 20 fire is a must to play with conjures now, eh?

EDIT: ANet staff: “After the small uprising of complaints of what happened to Evasive Arcana blast finishers, we’ve decided to remove the trait entirely. Also, we have corrected any useful options in the trait system for the Elementalist profession. Remember, have fun!”

TGSlasher.1458:

“Ten percent of nuthin’ is…let me do the math here…nuthin’ into nuthin’…carry the nuthin’…”

Holy smokes! A Firefly quote! I love you forever!

Also: I am sadden by the unfortunate nerfs to D/D, especially seeing nothing done to up the damage of D/D or survival for that matter. Though, I’m excited to see what RTL and MG actually do when they work. For a long time I thought it was a bugged /dance alternative for eles.

Lmao. +100 cool points.

Looks awesome. Extra credit if you have Scorpion hook.

My dd+SB is a blast. Shortbow for zergs and point takedowns (best blast finisher EVER plus aoe weakness for team assists) and dd for single target takedowns (taking out key defenders or offensive nukers running around the skirts of battle.

Dd is NOT for large scale dps but for single TKOs and the shortbow for harassing and for reliable blast finishers.

Venoms are useful to some but are forgotten by everyone else. Sad really. Upon hearing about venom builds I was really excited, then I found out how they work and I haven’t even given it another look. Wish they lasted longer/were more useful, rather than just situational. They may rock in some people’s opinions but they’re not worth the points IMO….

Roger, I may be mistaken but that sounds like a power/crit build for pistol whip and shortbow spamming.

Shotgun with shortbow’s #2 and keep poison on them. When playing my Mesmer I hate that crap and love to eat backstabbers.

Also, playing a bit of the other classes will give you a great deal of knowledge on how to beat them and learn which builds are push-overs and which will try to drag the fight out until help arrives. A shotgun shortbow is a sure fire way to destroy mesmers in most situations due to their inability to rely on clones.

I didn’t take the time to read the whole page, but read the OP.

I was having similar issues, just hit 20 again….yes again. Originally I had dd and pp for weapon setups. This time around I have dd and shortbow, and loving it. I changed my playstyle into more of a backstabbing build for single targets (pistol/dagger for champions, or just stick to short bow). I think the new AS is a great improvement. Sure my ONE shot doesn’t hit nearly as hard but it and the next 4 extra hits are more than sufficient, it also lets me spread my damage much better with shortbows explosive arrow (love it). So my advice, try to continuously change/update your playstyle until you find a groove. Listen/read as many build topics you can. Try them out. Thieves are lucky to have so many viable builds that are so much fun across a nice spectrum of playstyles.

Would you mind spelling out your builds? I’m freshly starting a thief and want to do good for groups with a moderately unselfish playstyle. Been thinking of dagger/dagger or pistol/dagger in both cases a shortbow for secondary. I heavily enjoy the stealth builds with high crit, high survival, and great heals/stealth for party members.

Right. I LOVE how creative and intuitive cooking feels. Hate that it makes me feel so hungry though.

Could you recommend a guide? I haven’t had much luck in finding a useful one.