Guild Wars 2

It’s an understatement to say that the Elementalist is more than just bad.
Same goes for Tempest. It’s not a number thing.
We will gain absolutely nothing by simply doing loads and loads of damage if the entire mechanic is broken.

You don’t create a decent class by buffing some aspects and nerfing them again in your next breath. Don’t buff them in the first place OR think about changing certain aspects that won’t interfere with the game – in the long run.
That much off-topic.

Not playing Elementalist in PvE that’s how I play it now.

Frostbow was a gap closer and dealt considerably high damage while channeling Ice Storm in Water, favorably at 25 Stacks Vuln.
Now it doesn’t justify taking it – switching to water, casting it – since it is – per definition – a damage loss.

I am deeply sorry for my ignorance, but what is your point?

What exactly do you tend to accomplish with these videos?
AC is the first dungeon available for players with lower-levels, so doing it at your level isn’t that much of a big deal.

I don’t mind lower-level players in my party, as long as the LFG doesn’t say otherwise. But, if clear “rules” are stated / made in the LFG, I request others to abide by these rules.
So you getting kicked for not following these rules isn’t sth to get upset about.

For your run. You’re playing with tactics which were specifically made for this particular encounters you’re facing. So you’re not doing anything new or good which would justify your toxic behavior in your comment section, below your videos.
Also your “rotation” is practically not existent whatsoever.

However, the important thing is YOU having fun.

Greets

My I ask, how do you want to accomplish that?

Ehm..There are different viable builds for an elementalist. It is just that a lot of people aren’t open-minded enough to try a new build which sheers from metabattle.

You don’t simply nerf the most played class in PvP when having no balance in mind. Doing so will create an enormous outcry not just for one class, also for others.

Greets

BlackBeard.2873:

What needs to be done to make the weapon more complete:
- Increase attack rate on scepter autos (to synergize better with Signet of Restoration) while improving net dps
- Decrease cast time on dragon’s tooth, keep same time for skill to drop. 1s cast for a throw-away blast or area of denial is INSANELY long ontop of the long wait.
- Rework Water 2 completely to apply damage on each blast, or make it a blast, or make it do just about anything, even if increasing cooldown.

I am pretty sure that these statements were made by ANET to actually improve the current state of Scepter. But as always HoT has priority. Scepter NEEDS A LOT love.

But “HEY”, it took them 2 years to fix the FGS so let’s wait another 2 years and they will maybe change it somehow, most likely for the worse.

Well.. Still that amount of money for the little content shown so far isn’t worth it, at least in my opinion.
I agree that there is a lot given to us players, at first glance that is. Raids, something the community has been longing for over 2 years. But after a couple of months the new content will be as worn out as Guild Wars 2 is now.

Leaving Guild Wars 2 in an even worst state than it was before. Blade and Soul will leech most of the free players who should at the moment – I guess – create the delusion of the servers being full and content played well.

—-

Okay, that was a little off-topic.
I am certainly not working for ANET so I can’t tell how much work “really” went into the creation of Tempest at these points BW1 &BW2. But content / material shown was / is a joke.
It simply doesn’t work. Yeah sure, “it’s something new” HURRAY but just because something introduced it won’t make it good ore less of a joke. Tempest UNDERPERFORMS in all aspects the lovely “name” should stand for. If Tempest really works in raids, the so called challenging group content, it can’t be that challenging, can it? I mean pulling these ridiculous combos off, needs..

#

1. no interrupts
2. you shouldn’t be low health preferably
3. standing near the mobs – which if I recall correctly can kill you – lowest HP pool in game, comes so in handy here
4. luck

The problem is that everything has to look stunning. HoT looks amazing, check the maps are huge check and the verticality just leaves you breathless. But – looks aren’t everything if the mechanic is broken big time. An example fitting is the tempest or an even better example is the so called Mordremoth Guard “event”.

The best animations on the male side, I’d say are – Asura. Because nothing tops a cute elements casting little power house.

This has been an issue ever since..

It’s not “good” to lose your progress made via DCing but it has to work that way since especially world bosses and such aren’t upscaled/downscaled every second.

Arioso.8519:

But the high gold cost is a slap in the face to the new players playing this event. A new level 20 character is NOT going to have the 10 gold on hand to buy any of the better rewards even if they do have the blooms.

Exactly my thought! I don’t understand why a new player should spend that amount of money for sth. which gives him / her nothing – at the moment. If I recall my Guild Wars 2 experience correctly, getting my character to 80 and gearing him up with armor / trinkets etc. was my major priority, not looking “good”.

Dakota.4591:

Simzani.4318:

Loxias.2375:

Their QA team is outsourced. There are no testers in the arenanet studios, so they can’t take screenshots of them. They don’t exist.

Outsourced to where, Narnia?

This is GOLD! +1

Gray.9041:

~ " ~

Agreed

Could we calm down a little bit! That’s not the first time ANET failed considerably and it surely won’t be the last time. So keep all your complaints for later disappointments. They are to come and they will come big.

This event should have needed some more love and more than just a ludicrous forum post.

I know that the matter is being addressed at the moment, still an “official” forum post would be much appreciated. That shows just how little this “event” was planned in the long run.

Yours truly!

Vinteros Asteano.1209:

[…]

Finally, thinking of the Tempest stream, I’m pretty sure Karl mentioned that damage on overloads could be increased and the radius of air overload could be increased. It seems these changes are the ones he had in mind back when tempest was streamed. The streamed also mentioned working on unique sounds for warhorn abilities and earth overload’s animation, iirc. Things are being worked on. Offer your feedback, but have a little respect.

Before anyone accuses me of being a Tempest-lover or whatnot, I’m not satisfied with the current state of Tempest. I am extremely dissatisfied with some of the conduct I saw over the weekend though.

Increasing the numbers doesn’t make it better. Tempest doesn’t work. Just play it and you will see that it simply doesn’t work. Also with the upcoming challenging group-content, how will it work. The whole Aura / buff sharing is a nice thing (Although I personally don’t understand what’s so good about auras – my opinion)
How is the elementalist supposed to play in melee range when his HP pool / defense is the lowest in game. When playing mid-range / range, overloads lose their “effectiveness”.

Just read some threads. There are so many good suggestions made by the elementalist’s community.

The devs are people. True, they loved / love the game at some point, true. The problem is more that nowadays it’s not that you create sth “great” and therefore everyone wants to play it because it’s great. You create sth. which does its job in making enough money for the company – this can be seen for instance when pre-purchasing the game was made available or when it was ‘introduced’. I highly doubt that anything was ready back then, still – Point(s) of no return were introduced way too early. I full heartedly agree with what you said that they are just people with their own dreams, plans yada yada..
Complaining about something isn’t bad as long as it is somewhat good feedback.

Argol Vazin.3061:

I love ele. it is the class I main. I have all right to be upset by the kitten we are given and envy the classes that are given better elite specs. but I am not going to stop playing an ele because of that. Just like you have the right to foolishly defend it…Your wrong in doing so but I am not going to stop you.

This has nothing to do with trying to be like the other Specs. It is about being given the same respect.

Eh..what?

He isn’t wrong in trying to defend his opinion. Don’t call him a “fool” for that.

I personally like the name a lot. It also fits into the “overloads”. Lore-vise warhorn works fine and makes sense. So cut Anet some slack there.
I personally would have prefered sword main-hand as well but lamenting over it won’t give you a sword. Just take it as it is.

However, Tempest doesn’t work as it is now. It simply won’t be played because it either underperforms or requires sth. which is ridiculous to accomplish.
The current risk / reward-ish doesn’t work.
Also did tempest destroy the synergy behind the elementalist and everything it was based on, prior to this ludicrous trait / mechanic reveals.

So, I am all for sth useful and new. Tempest isn’t useful nor “new”. [It’s just the same in green ( german – english translation, works just best ] Same difference, with some new animations, which suck by the way. (Especially “earth overload” needs some huge rework).

If the reveal of the so called challenging group content offers sth worthy of calling it “challenging”. I don’t understand how the elementalist will survive playing melee even with Celestial gear, since he will use his overloads – locking him out of attunenments which guaranteed his versatility and therefore increased his chance of survival. With that gone, I can’t see him performing anywhere beside mid-range / range distance.
Problem here, when playing mid-range / range all overloads become useless.

As I already stated in some earlier discussion thread. The synergy behind the elementalist was / is destroyed beyond compare with how it is now.

Alekt.5803:

Yes. Actually, it seems to be Geyser that suffers from an obvious bug. Just look it yourself.
Lava Font is 180 radius while Geyser is 240 radius; both have the same radius at the moment.

Probably going to be fixed in 4 months.

This is one of the many bugs which will never be fixed. Since all current Devs are working on the Elementalist. Which created even more despair for the class.
So we’re better as things are now, before they get worse – we were there already..

I can’t log in.

Let’s hope for the best. Take your time and make Elementalist awesome again!

Xillllix.3485:

That’s because they probably designed the skill 1 hour before starting the live stream judging on how an epic fail it is.

This is brilliant!

So, after reading most of the comments posted here, I thought to myself – you should also write sth. Since this thread will either be merged into oblivion or it will be closed since it lost its objectivity and has become a little too emotional.

Okay, first of. I thought your text was hilarious to read – I thought you did a really good sarcastic way of explaining why the tempest, as it is know – doesn’t work. That was before I realized you actually meant that it would promote an “awesome new play style”

As already stated here, it won’t create a new role. I think that one of the biggest misunderstandings here is that just because something new was introduced, this introduction will magically create a new tier in which the tempest will find a place. That is not the case.
E.g. just because new weapon skins are introduced you’re not going to buy them all, are you?
Same with the tempest. Yes it is sth new – but not like good new, useful new. It’s just sth new, which won’t be used, since it is inferior to all current weapons and traits available to the elementalist. Thus creating NO new role.

Also staying in one attunement for a period of time, is nothing new. It has already been around and still is. For instance PvE. Though that’s not entirely true since playing staff has a rotation aswell.

The tempest, as it is know is nothing new. I can pretty much accomplish the same by better traits / weapons which will have a lower risk for me and a higher reward.

I personally support everything which makes sense and would contribute sth new to the game. That certainly is not the case with tempest.
The problem with the game at the moment is that everything dies way to fast. Being able to crit almost anything doesn’t help it either. So playing with high power levels is somewhat intended by the devs.
So pushing the elementalist into a role of a supporter won’t do any good since, as you already said – his damage is top tier. Why should he sacrifice his current role as a damage dealer for giving mediocre support to his party members?

If either the skills given by the tempest were indeed support worthy or giving him access to unique ways of playing the elementalist differently – I am all for it.

The skills given to the elementalist don’t make any sense. Either make it somewhat a support class, so no big numbers but – at the end of the zerg / dungeon / match, you will say – good he played tempest. But it’s something in between as it was presented. It doesn’t want to go full support nor full damage. It is something in-between, inferior to current builds.

You can’t create a new “class” or specialization, call it what you want by adding one additional traitline.

The elementalist has 4 different attunements he can change in and out, in theory. You can’t create a class with such high versatility by adding one extra line when it has been nerfed / buffed for almost 3 years to create a balanced class, yes – the elementalist is balanced.

The problem here is that it won’t work by just adding one skill tier which doesn’t work with the other trait lines well. That’s the synergy behind the elementalist and why a lot of work was put into it pre launch since know. This synergy created up to this point was solemnly destroyed by the tempest.

Could we please keep in mind that nothing absolutely nothing justifies the earth overload.

What has riding rocks to do with tempest??? Like for real :o

Because it works. Since most of your “real” damage can only bee seen after a certain amount of time, you will certainly lose damage while building this damage / conditions up. That at least goes for PvE.

For PvP. I don’t know if it’s that viable since you will be targeted first almost every time.

I could imagine it being fun while roaming but still, there a builds which are more versatile especially when going around solo or in groups / zergs.

Greets

Just play the elementalist as you want it to be. Have fun and be nice!

The elite makes absolutely no sense to me – it has absolutely nothing to do with what Anet seemed to have in mind while developing / presenting the tempest.

The elite is a failed attempt to give us an elite which doesn’t render itself useless because of our other elites’ high cooldowns.
The 25% in cooldown reduction are hardly recognizable. Also as content is now, they aren’t needed. Mobs still melt like cheese. Maybe the challenging group content will justify it but as it is now, this skill is just bad.

Either increase the CD reduction it grants or / and change it completely.

Biggest disappointment – yet.

There are always some people around who aren’t open for different play styles. I think that’s one of the things you have to cope with when playing in pugs.
Just laugh it away.

Greets

1. Tempest (Overall): 2

I think that a lot of consideration went into the development of the tempest but the presentation and how this consideration was converted into the game is just bad. I can’t see myself running around with tempest ever, as it is now. It’s mediocre at best, making absolutely not up for the huge damage loss (I know it’s supposed to be somewhat more supportive and tanky) and lack in almost every aspect.

2. Traits: 0

They are a joke.

3. Warhorn: 3

I think that it’s not that bad of a choice to have chosen the warhorn over our beloved
sword. It fits more to the GW1 lore – I suppose.

4: Overloads: 3

I don’t understand what would justify locking myself out of an attunement for such a ridiculously long time. For so little gain out of it. As they are now, they are just bad. Overloads need a whole rework. Let me not even start on the animation aspects of certain races. All in all earth NEEDS an animation rework / adjustment. The blast finisher at the end of the “whatever was going on, riding a rock” skill doesn’t work very reliable.
I personally don’t see what thad has to do with tempest but maybe I am just ignorant.
I am certainly no meteorologist but really what the kitten has riding a rock to do with tempest, seriously. A sandstorm would have been more fitting in EVERY aspect. This skill is just illogical.

5. Healing Skill: 3

I like the name. That’s all to it. As it is now, without any – XY-finsiher, it’s just meh.

6. Utilities: 2

They are bad. Okay, I understand that the tempest doesn’t want to go the super damage line but why do we get even more useless stuff?
Also it shouldn’t be called Flash Freeze if it isn’t instant cast. You should rename it to delayed freeze – more fitting.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Flash
I personally love “feel the burn”. It looks really nice. “Eye of the storm”. I don’t understand the urge of giving us super speed. 5 seconds. I have to say that I really feel op having this skill. Either increase the “super speed” or replace it with something that actually feels “super” – see what I did there. The cooldown is a joke. Why shouldn’t I take “armor of earth” – Protection + Stability?! and it procces nicely with water – and it’s also a stun breaker. Yeah, now super speed but why should I take it in the first place?

7. Elite Skill: 0

Wait, what? Why? This skill makes no sense. I personally could only see me using it – leaving Tempest line – thus reseting all shouts and changing to a a damage setup – taking my loved FGS – reducing its cooldown. (Only skill i can think of which does profit out of it – and it’s nice for mobility reasons)
I think that this skill should give eles the ability to reset a skill, granting a 100% cooldown reduction. I personally don’t get why it’s bad to give a class certain fortes. I know that ele already is top-notch damage wise but why shouldn’t it prosper in its current forte.

8. Animations & sound effects: 1

“Wash the pain away” and “feel the burn”

Maybe I am totally wrong and Tempest is the new best class around when HoT launches. Maybe the so called challanging group content will require a rock riding, no damage dealing, camping in one attuenemnt – because everything is on cooldown – jerk of all trades.

Hey,

I don’t know what you’re trying to prove here. Staff isn’t as viable and certainly not as forgiving as D/D. Still, playing D/D requires some skill. It’s pretty easy to kill an ele playing D/D who doesn’t know his/her rotation or how to encounter to different situations.
Therefore the person your team was facing probably wasn’t that bad, he knew what he was doing or you didn’t know how to encounter him.

Greetings

Everything seems to be fine for me. All the addressed issues of mine have been fixes.

My Bugs:

- Mail carriers
- Silverwastes/Drytop comlpete Reset
- Basic/Rare Collection’s Reset
- Reward Track
- Missing Hero Points
- Story Journal Reset

Yes. As far as my understanding goes, you will be able to use the overloading without having a warhorn equipped but you will need the trait line tempest.

Still I personally have my difficulties finding its usefulness in PvE.

Note // editing:
Wrong response

Wash the pain away! The animation looks kawaii

OMG. I think I won’t be able to play anymore. The warhorn is just hilarious.

I personally think that would be a great idea. Since I don’t know how the whole Lore will compete with this concept.

Maybe:
Upon the discovery of the new lands the elementalist used his wisdom and knowledge to focus his magical prowess on the ancient, long forgotten languages. He used them to command the winds but not ordinary winds – the power which would grant him and his allies powers which were thought to be forgotten long ago. He prayed to the gods, they heard his wishes and granted him the power to read the ancient languages and prosper in them. Thus the Tempest was born.

#Hype!

The problem is that economics in Guild Wars 2 are way too unstable.
Introducing this system now would be disastrous.

The only way to really fix the issues the economy guild wars 2 is facing at the moment, would be an introduction of a new currency. So we basically start at “zero”. From that point onward it would be possibly to give us direct player/player – trading. Something we have longed for eagerly.

The fastest way would indeed be following the karma train. Or completing events in general.
Still the best way to actually learn how to play the class anywhere near ideal. Is doing the boring content, open world. Since you will be confronted with different mobs-types of which you should know their mechanics when playing at the cap.

The fastest way to level is using Tome of Knowledge. You can basically get to 80 within 2 minutes. If you’re that bored of leveling. Try different reward tracks in PvP and log in daily to get your Tomes.

My advice would be playing D/D for leveling. Back in the days I used it for leveling. Because you didn’t have access to the good skills and the whole NPE wasn’t broken back then. Anyways it’s way easier leveling know than 2 years ago. Just try different styles so playing staff 24/7 won’t get too boring.

Ganbatte

Lovely to see “newer” players interested in the elementalist’s versatile play styles.

What makes the elementals so unique is its different kinds of gameplay.
A lot of its utilities are in fact useful. The FGS is in fact very useful, not just for mobility. I often use it for additional Dps in PvP and PvE respectively.

As the others have already suggested. It’s highly dependable on the content you’r talking about. For instance frostbow is way too good to not have it in any PvE rotation. Therefore it is possible using conjurers. Also playing Flame Axe in PvP can be loads of fun, if you know you positioning.

It’s more a content thing, when to use what. Don’t forget that you have three weapons at your disposal. USE them.
e.g. Dagger/Focus, Dagger/Dagger, Staff, Scepter/Focus, Scepter/Dagger.

Especially when out of combat, try to play around with these different weapon types – for skipping or giving support to your party members respectively.

I don’t play Cele in PvP. It’s just not fun anymore. As WP already said there is hardly any skill required to pull a successful D/D rotation off. It’s just wait for your cooldowns swap your attunement, wait for the cooldown – swap. It’s too lackluster at least for me.
I would recommend to just play around with it a little bit. Try it in Open World and in Dungeons and or PvP.

Good luck!

Sounds interesting. Would definitely make the ele gameplay more innovative. I like it!

As far as things are going at the moment. You won’t feel the additional 5% when under level 80.
So it’s really ONLY something to invest in if you’re playing at cap.

This myth about needing ascended armor isn’t slightly true. You don’t need it. You can easily get to 70 by having your trinkets and weapon(s) outfitted with AR.

Personally, I would go for ascended gear. Anet has already stated there will be no better gear in near future – knowing Anet we’re talking about a year or so at most. Also there will be new possibilities to change current ascended armor sets into others.
So I think it’s an invest you won’t regret.

Also I wouldn’t wait too long. The trading post prices will explode for certain things. For instance, mithrilium ingot prices will skyrocket. So I would reconsider crafting heavy armor know – especially since it’s beneficial when playing the new maps – ’cause you will be at level 80 and therefore “feeling” the difference.

Good luck!

I only wanted to sth to this very interesting conversation/discussion.

Firstly, you don’t need ascended armor. Same goes for legendaries. Every content apart from fractals can be – but still can be done without – ascended armor. Therefore having ascended armor/weapon/trinkets is more of a personal choice and not a requirement to complete anything content wise at the cap.

Secondly guys, pls keep in mind. You don’t need any ascended armor for fractals. You can do/get past 70 AR by having your trinkets (infused) and your weapon on ascended level, respectively.

Also you will ONLY feel or see the numbers, as the current state goes – when at level 80 because you won’t be nerfed. Exotic armor does absolutely the same, without same minor differences that are hardly recognizable when in PvE, especially in dungeons – where content evolves around stacking and not about your armor/weapon choice in general.

Okay..I think it’s an interesting change.
Frostbow isn’t that great. It was ONLY worth taking because of the traits which gave additional power/precision/damage modifiers.
If these can’t be accessed anymore, icebow will lose its purpose in some way. It was ONLY worth taking because the meta requested taking it. (gear, trinket, weapon choices)
But with these changes. Traits not giving any additional ‘support’. I am curious how gear will change, especially for Ele. Since we will be lacking a lot of precision as well as power.
——
Although there will be a 1000-ish base power?! Gear will get an more important role. Or did I misunderstand something?

Well I think it’s good that the animations seem to be ‘large’ in some way. Asuras are the smallest class playable in GW2 therefore cheating a little with weapons isn’t bad in my opinion.
What bothers me a lot more is that animations won’t be shown when too many players are stacked on one particular spot – animations(weapons in general) by larger/bigger chars are more likely to be shown.

You could maybe try to wear sth else so it doesn’t seem that “fireball”-like to you.

Greetings

I would try playing both classes, at least to a certain extent.
A guardian is always nice to have in any group – as long as he knows what he’s doing.
—
The Ele is more difficult to get a hang on and really understand the class, I would take that into account.
—

Anyways, both classes are fun to play, try both and find out which suits you best

Celestial amulet. That’s what gives the ele the “tanky” byname.

Neither class in guildwar2 was built to just outheal or outtank damage. Because of that gameplay is more active by dodging, stacking/standing in certain spots.

I don’t know your personal issues, but that’s definitely not the right place to grab a fight.

@OP, maybe you could be more precise in which particular boss encounters or at which content you are struggling most.
I think that it depends a lot on your experience for the class and the game, respectively.
Also running the same build all the time won’t do you any good in PvE. For instance – your current build, I would only recommend when playing against objects, that which you can’t land crits on and have a big hitbox.
Also you are pretty dependent on your party members, when doing dungeons as a group.

(It depends. If you’re doing solo content you know when to do/cast/change attunements. That certainly won’t apply to all cases in which you’re running with pugs.
e.g. a party member runs to far away or mistakenly pulls aggro.
When soloing you can easily avoid these situations by knowing your class and the boss’s mechanics. You don’t have to rely on anyone – making it easy, to say – “I can solo anything”. )

Note:
If you want to play the ele efficiently, don’t camp in one trait setup/with one weapon set.
When out of combat – in most cases – it can be of great benefit for you and your party members when changing your build/weapon.

Best of luck!

Could you be more precise.
For which game mode are you seeking advice?

Two things. The ele isn’t the only profession capable of stacking might – kicking you because of you don’t stacking it – is just kitten.

I would recommend playing D/F. If your LH is gone because of curtain pug – you will still deal decent damage because of the D’s auto chain in air.
S/D or S/F blast is better then D/F but when stuck in air for instance, damage dealt is almost nothing.

Still I would give you the advice of prestacking might before the battle. In most cases the boss should be down before your might stacks have decreased a reasonable number.

And if 2 warriors are in a group one of them should play phalanx. No questions asked. Staff’s damage outnumbers warriors damage in any scenario (when at 25 stacks might – zerk gearup).

Asura is the master race!

But I have to admit that I enjoy ‘Meteor’ casted by a female human most. I don’t know why but the whole dancing/holding-awesome staff looking animation. It just leaves a smile on my face!

Char animations are the worst, imo. I don’t like the clumsy big/huge – covering the screen cats.

S/X is stupid to use in every damage orientated scenario, at least at the moment. Pure S/X builds are nothing near ‘meta’ game play.
When using LH + S/X might be sth to rethink – but with pugs, you will usually “lose” your LH because some random party member picks it up. Being stuck in air with S/X without LH lacks a lot of damage.

Thaddeus.4891:

Jerus.4350:

Thaddeus.4891:

Staff for the highest DPS

S/F or S/D for stacking might for your team while doing a bit less dmg than staff.

D/F have a little bit less dmg than the other two, stack less might than S/X, but it’s the most fun rotation and have the best survivability. Ideal for harder content like Fractal 50.

Just tossing this question out there, how much more might do you need to have S/F or D/F exceed staff in damage, or is it even possible? I know staff has a huge lead, but it really lacks in the might category without outside might additions from the group. IIRC it’s like 14-15k staff, 11.5-12.5 S+LH, and 11-12 D/F with full buffs, but what about without might?

Well staff will always do more damage than S/X, whatever the situation. I guess your question is at which points you are better off choosing S/X over Staff? Staff can do between 3 and 9 stack of might and keeping a constant 4-5 might, while S/F can do 18-21 stack of might, keeping a constant 14-16 might without outside help.

At the same amount of might, staff will do around 10% more dps than a S/F build, while keeping at minimum 9 more constant might for the whole party. So the question is what is better? 10% more dps on 1 elementalist or 270 power for the whole team. 270 power is around a 8-9% dps boost, so it’s always better to have a S/F elementalist over a Staff Elementalist if your party don’t max out might.

When I pug on my staff Elementalist and I see that the group can’t maintain 20 stack of might or more, I always switch to my S/F build. But I think that your question was more about the dps of the Elementalist alone. An elementalist Staff vs S/F will be very similar. The numbers are close enough that i don’t think you can give answer for generic build like Staff or S/F build. Traits and utilities choice will deeply alter the answer to that.

Could you pls give some evidence under which circumstances this would apply?

Also might will only be granted if the field blasted is a fire field. So stacking might during combat with S/X is..difficult, since classes tend to overwrite fire fields by casting sth else.
Also your fire field is just one. So stacking might, during fight and maintaining these ridiculous numbers, sounds quite impossible, when you’re the only member giving might – I’d say that you’re at least saying that there is someone else granting might once in a while otherwise these numbers can’t be obtained without prestacking.

But enlighten me, if I am wrong.

There is no point in playing staff if there is no might provided by other party members or if you can’t hold 20-25 stacks of might.
Yeah, your personal damage might be the best but at the loss of your party’s overall damage.

The best option will always be sacrificing personal damage by giving greater support – maintaining might. Out of which your party will benefit in general.

I think that the best choice is playing for world completion.
I personally wouldn’t level the ele by leeching dungeon parts or buying them.
You will learn when to dodge especially when missing almost all the ‘good’-godly-damage applying skills – So roaming through open world content is the best way to go
—-
Staff still has a rotation. But you should stay in fire as long as possible.

I personally would recommend D/F. Focus’s fire field last longer then the fire field granted by Dagger offhand. Also you will only get the additional ‘burning foe buff’ if the mob runs through your fire field. Which in most cases doesn’t happen – because stacking everything (in corners) is considered – good. And damage dealt by S/D is far behind – when your LH is gone and for instance, your stuck in air.

I personally find myself playing Staff most of the time. Pre stacking might – changing to staff. Especially since almost everything in this game dyes in an instant – there is no point in playing ‘safe’.

Well anyways. I would also recommend watching her videos.

OMGimAnoobLOLOL.4730:

[…]
As condescending as this might sound, scepter is only used for very specific things and its really weak outside of those things.

Dagger mainhand is a good base, especially for leveling. Mapping/leveling as Dagger/Dagger gives you good burst+stuns. Dagger/Focus is mostly used for defensive utilities and it really wants Fresh Air trait.

As a lvl35 I’d recommend Dagger/Dagger. Run around in Air, hit 4 (to zoom up to something), hit 3 and 5 at the same time, immediately hit Fire, 3, 4 and mb 5. That’s your basic burst.
After you plop Fire, u can go either Water (use 3 while standing in Fire), hit 4 immediately, feel free to use 5 to heal. If you follow up with Earth instead of Water, use 4 while standing in fire (Blast+Knockdown) then just do stuff until you can get back into Air.
Once you get back into Air, just keep mashing out with Lightning Whip. Basic things shouldn’t survive very long past this, if it gets to this point.

For utilities, pick up Arcane Wave (blast, autocrit, instant), Signet of Fire, Signet of Air for simple mapping.

For traits, just pick up whatever seems solid. (+10% dmg to targets within 600, +10% dmg while Fire attuned, Vigor on crit, ect ect) There’s a lot of things that can function well for casual D/D stuff.[/quote]

Made some great suggestions. I also played D/D back in the days, when I was leveling my Ele. I would say it’s the easiest way to get the ele anywhere near 80.

Good luck!

There are also decent pug groups from time to time.

It’s more a luck thing. A lot of people even with high AP rates don’t know nowthing about the meta or anything about the class they’re playing.
So it depends. You can have a petty bad run or an awesome one.

It’s not that – much of – a big deal to just watch some videos getting used to dungeon mechanics. If you don’t want to follow the meta zerk thing – don’t. That’s the awesome thing about guild wars, you can do whatever pleases your taste. Just type in the LFG what you want or what you don’t want and people will join.
BUT
complaining about not having fun because of others enjoying doing things the fastest way possible isn’t the right way. Don’t join parties if you can’t fullfill their requirements. You won’t get called at or be kicked.

Just in case. There is nothing good in more than one warrior in a party when really playing ‘the meta’.

Post:
And if playing absolutely bad and or doing major mistakes – just listen, maybe the person just wants to give advice. In most cases it isn’t meant as an insult.
But calling names or kicking is just childish.
It might just be a game but manners don’t have to be completely forgotten because it’s a game.

That’s not entirely true. You won’t get the same rewards as players participating in the whole event chain if not playing actively.
You won’t get the extra event boni if not defending the batteries, for instance.

Also it’s a little different with world bosses – you will only get loot when dealing enough damage on the boss before its death. But you will get loot regardless of the boss’s success or failure. Reward granted will only be higher if succeeding.

Also chests don’t have an unlimited time to be looted. If not interacted with them they will disappear after a certain time.

Tornado hasn’t been good since the feature patch. And it’s not good now either.
The best possibility to change it would be making it ground targeted.

The whole idea of changing into a tornado sounds great and the animation looks awesome, don’t mistake me here.
But the idea has to be reworked on.

The skill is so broken at the moment and has no elite feel to it. It still remains a suicide button in most scenarios.

A cool feature would be if the tornado interrupts foes, pulling them into it. I mean that’s actually what a tornado is all about. It pulls and destructs everything in its path.
It should work like the mesmers curtain – with the possibility to pull all the mobs into the void while interrupting them.

That’s at least my thought.

Greets

It solely depends on the pug you’re in.

Pre stacking is only efficent when engaging the boss imedietely, if not you will lose your might stacks and the whole ‘using every skill-thing’ pretty much gets worthless. So stacking might before a fight depends on the pug and te boss you’re facing.

In most cases I prestack and change to staff.
S/X damage is weak in every scenario. So relying on its auto attack shouldn’t be your primary goal.
LH also isn’t that great if there are no other party members providing fire fields. You will just grant random boons to your party – maxing your personal damage at the loss of your party’s potential higher group damage.
So you would be better of creating a rotation while granting might to your allies.

Also since you’re not running world records, it’s not that of a big deal when stuck in one attunement.
The next question would be what’s your build. You can’t run one for every weapon type.