Guild Wars 2

FrownyClown.8402:

Do you have a lot of swiftness? What I do is lure them to a tree because they can’t hit through trees but you can. Utilize moments they are forced to dodge to close gaps. Pistol is honestly a one trick pony 1v1 weapon. Bring a friend?

So choices when it comes to range…

1) Find trees.
2) Bring friends.

Really THAT is our option? What does this say about D/D. We need to be given a way to counter ranged attacks. Ride the Lightening is near useless as it is easily dodged and then we have very little we can do.

We Ride The Lightening to them. They dodge put it on 40 second cool down and then stealth and move to range. They come out spamming the attack. Switch to Fire use Burning Speed. They see it not near enough to be a threat so no need to do anything just continue spamming attacks.

You could Immobilize them, but that is short duration and can be removed. They can then even allow it to run out continue to attack and then stealth and move back to range when you get in range.

I dont quite understand that the weaponset that is at most risk against range is the weaponset that has NO way to counter range…

Vargamonth.2047:

The blindness os burning application isn’t that great. It might have situational uses in PvE but I don’t think it’s a big deal for PvP.

The 30 Earth one however … idk, I’m probably mistaken, but a scepter Earth/Water condi bunker build seems fairly viable.

except when it comes to conditions Dagger >Scepter.

Dagger Vs Scepter
Burning = Dagger
Vul = Dagger
Bleeding = Dagger
Weakness = Dagger
Chill = Dagger
Cripple = Dagger
Immobilize = Dagger

Blind = Scepter

The ONLY thing Scepter has over Dagger when it comes to conditions is Blind. Is it worth losing out on everything else? of course not.

snow.8097:

Its just that its like “oh i get dmg, i Switch to earth and relax some seconds before my heal is ready” While they could have perma regen with the water trait line, thats like weakness on foe while attuned to earth

Earth attunement is NO threat. You go into that so you gain immunity to getting crit hit, but at the same time you are no threat to the opponents. You spend what about 25% of your time in Earth in combat and thats at the VERY best.

So immunity to crit about 25% of the time – if that. at the cost of being no threat. Sure you could go with the go into Earth when you know/think burst is coming but you are still taking the damage, it will just be a little bit less.

Then what do you do? leave it? then become susceptible to crit hits again but have the damage to be a threat? or stay in earth and die slowly without being a threat….

Deniara Devious.3948:

One trait basically setting the outcome of the match. Sighs…

Most of these traits will be nerfed, no other way about it. 50% less damage in stealth…on a class that spends most of the fight in stealth…yeah thats going to go down well. Warrior, Thief, Mesmer all have insanely broken traits….

While other classes get average to poor traits. Ele, Ranger and a few Necromancer ones are rather poor as well. People see the blind on burning but ignore the cool down and think perma blindness, others see the crit immunity and ignore the terrible attunement you have to be in for it to be active….

What a shock the same old powerful classes continue to get overpowered traits…

Ele, immune to crits in a attunement that is NO threat means nothing. Blind on burning, on a 5 second cool down inside a terrible traitline a terrible Air trait, average water trait that wont be taken by most and a arcana trait that is rather meh itself.

People see “immune to crits” and ignore the fact you have to be in an attunement that is no threat to anyone….

Kyon.9735:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Kyon.9735:

This is where trade-offs happen. I think you locked yourself in the mentality that Eles explicitly require Healing, Vitality, and Boons from traits. Don’t get me wrong, this is constructive criticism. I’m not bashing you. Traits are just one thing. You still have your Armors and Trinkets to cover the things you lack.

Where to get healing and vitality? You can get Dire/Settler/Magi to cover the HP and Healing you lack. With 30 points in Earth you should at least get Elemental Shielding so you have reliable access to Protection especially since this will probably a Signet build.

I take the trait lines for the traits. Not for the stat bonuses.

Then why do you insist that Elementalists require 20/30 points in Water and Arcana?

For the traits…what else.

Soothing Mist, Soothing Wave, Healing Ripple among others
Elemental Attunement, Evasive Arcana, Lingering Elements, Arcane Fury among others

Are any of the new ones worth losing these for?
Personally, i dont think so.

Fire – Terrible trait line. Blind every 5 seconds….wow.
Air – Laughable.
Earth – No crits, in an attunement that is no threat…
Water – Better healing for everyone except yourself
Arcana – Boon on hit, with 10 second cool down…

Kyon.9735:

This is where trade-offs happen. I think you locked yourself in the mentality that Eles explicitly require Healing, Vitality, and Boons from traits. Don’t get me wrong, this is constructive criticism. I’m not bashing you. Traits are just one thing. You still have your Armors and Trinkets to cover the things you lack.

Where to get healing and vitality? You can get Dire/Settler/Magi to cover the HP and Healing you lack. With 30 points in Earth you should at least get Elemental Shielding so you have reliable access to Protection especially since this will probably a Signet build.

I take the trait lines for the traits. Not for the stat bonuses.

Kyon.9735:

I’m pretty sure I put that you’ll only have 10 points left if you get 2 GM traits even before I edited it. You can either get Magi/Settler/Dire equipment to cover Vit and Healing.

I think you should start tinkering random builds that does not include 20 or 30 points in Water and Arcana. When I used to play DD 10x more than I played other weapon sets, I never imagined I could play DD without 20/30 points in Water and Arcana.

Arcana and Water are a requirement, until that changes it will make it kind of hard to do anything else. I guess you could get away with lower points in Arcana if you are a Fresh Air build but other than that, The more points you have in Arcana the lower the attunement cool downs and the lower they are the better.

Water is needed just for the healing you gain from it, even without the Healing power. Regen on crit, heal on attunement swap and such are VERY important.

I tried going into Fire but it just was not worth it. the loss of stats and traits elsewhere just was not worth it.

Maybe 0/0/30/10/30 could work but the loss of healing on attunement swap and such would still be hard.

You are forgetting something. To get Both the Fire and Earth traits you would have 10 points left. So you would lose healing, lose health, you would have longer attunement cool down, no boon on attunement swap just to name a few things. I really dont see this being a great option. Arcana is still a VERY important traitline, Water at least 15/20 is needed as well.

These are rather poor traits.

Remember, Only get Non-Crits happens in Earth. Might be affected by The Arcana trait so you either go into Earth to avoid taking crits but being NO threat what so ever or you take the hits and hope you can taken them down in damaging attunements.

Blind every 5 seconds isnt that great….

Have you seen the rest?

Fire – Terrible traitline. This trait wont change anything. So you can blind them once every 5 seconds…Nothing amazing

Earth – You have terrible skills in this attunement and not a threat attacking. Just means taking longer to kill them. Nothing amazing.

I see nothing that really helps ele sustain. You are not going to be fighting in Earth. Most Earth skills are rather poor. Low damage, low threat. So you wont be crit hit but you also wont be killing them in Earth.

Fire is meh, the whole traitline is rather poor. So you burn someone and blind them great for Scepter and its Auto attack, average for anything else and weakened due to the trait line it is in

Air. Yawn. Terrible.

Earth is TERRIBLE. It has very average skills and is pretty terrible when going with D/D at the very least. This trait wont be taken by quite a few i dont think. Being in Earth and with D/D you are not a threat so not being able to be Crit hit means nothing.

Water. Terrible.

Arcane. Terrible. No chance it would be taken over Evasive Arcana.

Fire is meh, the whole traitline is rather poor. So you burn someone and blind them great for Scepter and its Auto attack, average for anything else and weakened due to the trait line it is in

Air. Yawn. Terrible.

Earth is TERRIBLE. It has very average skills and is pretty terrible when going with D/D at the very least. This trait wont be taken by quite a few i dont think. Being in Earth and with D/D you are not a threat so not being able to be Crit hit means nothing.

Water. Terrible.

Arcane. Terrible. No chance it would be taken over Evasive Arcana.

I doubt it, our damage isnt exactly amazing. All it takes is a dodge, block or something to remove all the burst from our combo and then what…trying not to die until we can try it all over again.

I can see the point about 2 handed weapons. Maybe make it so that if ele or Engineer equip staff or rifle they are given the exact same weapon in the offhand slot so they can put 2 sigils on or something?

Something has to be done. Ele and Engineer are at a BIG disadvantage when it comes to sigils as it is and its only going to get worse when the changes come in.

Cush.4063:

Yes, i saw your reply in the other thread and have edited my post. I agree with Nike’s OP after realizing I was wrong and didn’t think about CD’s.

What would you rather have:

A: Swappable weapons outside of combat. This would mean being able to have 2 sigils and not need to use one on a stacking sigil. Though you would still be at a loss compared to all other classes due to having 2 Sigils Vs their 4 sigils (3 with stacking sigil)

Or

B: Having access to 4 Sigil slots (basically 3 due to stacking sigil) This would be a 1 sigil gain on what we currently have.

Cush.4063:

I understand the concern of this but I think it’s only fair to realize that Ele’s and Engineer’s get the advantage of “On Swap” sigils. An example would be the “Sigil of Energy” where an Ele would get 5 dodges automatically while a Guardian would get 3. So I think it’s ok to assume that since Ele’s/Engi’s have the advantage of “On Swap” sigil that other classes can have the advantage of “On Kill” sigils. I think the only thing up for debate would be the question that, are “On Swap” sigils equally as powerful as “On Kill” sigils. If not, then one class would definitely have the advantage with sigils over the other.

You forgetting that Sigil of Energy has a 9second cool down? So how would this benefit Ele and Engineer more than any other class? Seeing as it has the same cool down as every class is given with it.

On swap sigils have a cool down. Thus the benefit is not applicable when you get into it. EVERY class has the same cool down when it comes to a sigil. No one class has a benefit over another class with that in mind.

So ele and Engineer will actually be down to ONE sigil they can use if removing the stacking sigil weapon means removal of the stacks this is an even BIGGER nerf to both these classes and something tells me ArenaNet didn’t think this one through. So not only do every other class get FOUR sigil slots, if it is true that to keep your stacks you have to keep the sigil equipped will mean that all other classes will have THREE times the number of sigils than the Engineer and ele will have access to…

Cush.4063:

I understand the concern of this but I think it’s only fair to realize that Ele’s and Engineer’s get the advantage of “On Swap” sigils. An example would be the “Sigil of Energy” where an Ele would get 5 dodges automatically while a Guardian would get 3. So I think it’s ok to assume that since Ele’s/Engi’s have the advantage of “On Swap” sigil that other classes can have the advantage of “On Kill” sigils. I think the only thing up for debate would be the question that, are “On Swap” sigils equally as powerful as “On Kill” sigils. If not, then one class would definitely have the advantage with sigils over the other.

You forgetting that Sigil of Energy has a 9second cool down? So how would this benefit Ele and Engineer more than any other class? Seeing as it has the same cool down as every class is given with it.

On swap sigils have a cool down. Thus the benefit is not applicable when you get into it. EVERY class has the same cool down when it comes to a sigil. No one class has a benefit over another class with that in mind.

Swapping to Scepter/d is not an option for my build.
Staff? really who uses staff when not in zerg/group fighting?

D/D has NOTHING to protect itself from Range attacks. Ride The Lightening is easily dodged and thus given an insane cool down and then not useable for the rest of the fight so that can’t be counted on. Burning Speed is rather low distance as well.

Focus does NOT have Magnetic Aura and most of the skills on it are terrible anyway. Focus itself is a TERRIBLE weapon choice for most builds, the same goes for mine.

Yeah because D/D which i specifically stated is what i was using having NO counter to ranged attacks is my fault….What ever you say.

Its strange that the ranged weapons get access to something that Melee only weapon set really should have – counter for range builds.

Sarrs.4831:

You don’t see a problem with 4 on-crit sigils?

Nope. Seeing as a Warrior has Fast Hands. You would still be affected by the cool downs, so you blew ALL your sigils when you crit. Now you have to wait for them to be useable again and no ele would take 4 on crit ones anyway

Look at Warrior with Fasts Hands. every 5 seconds they can swap and would still be able to proc them each time depending on how they started the fight…

1 second: Get into combat, weapon swap to Hammer for example : 2 sigils proc
6 seconds: Fast hands make the weapon swap useable.
6 seconds: swap from hammer to longbow: 2 sigils proc
11 seconds: Cool down on Hammer sigils is up.

and repeat….

Nike.2631:

They are considered balanced as they are now by the Devs. Giving them more slots does not represent a zero-sum change.

My idea is that you have the potential to hold on to a 250 stack of stat buff while not having that weapon in play (like all the other professions can). If you think that’s worthless in combat you may want to think again.

So basically – rather than having access to 4 sigil slots in combat. You would rather have access to 2 but still keep your stacks? terrible idea. Just give ele and Engineer 4 sigil slots. That way they can keep the stacks and have access to another sigil slot.

Or as in my post a few down. Just give them both 2 more Sigil slots. Seeing as your idea would be useless in combat as would still be stuck with 2 sigil slots versus everyone else having 4. That is the issue here.

Your idea would be pointless in combat.

Seeing as they would be limited just like every other class with the cool downs and such each sigil has i don’t think this would be a major problem. They could add a like a Sigil slot next to the weapons on the character screen.

Or somehow make it that when either an Engineer or ele equips a weapon it is given 2 sigil slots (4 in the case of 2 handed weapons)

@Bruno – we arent swapping because of the sigils – we (ele at least) swap due to the insane cool down each attunement has) so we are forced into attunement dancing. That would not make us super powered at all. It would still have the EXACT same limits as every other class has.

So in the end it would not make us super powered. As stated we could not go from say Fire into Water, into Air and then into Earth and keep gaining benefits from sigils as they all have cool downs.

Warrior on the other hand, with the 5 second weapon swap would see a great benefit from the changed sigils.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

:o I like your idea

I’m an elementalist and tried out the swap for dmg build.
15/15/15/15/10 with sigils that dmg when swapping, having 4 of those would be amazing

triggering 4 sigils at once, on a 9s cooldown. now THAT would be broken.

Would it be much different to Warrior using Fast hands? insteand of all 4 at the same time, it would be 2 every 5 seconds. Think about it.

1 second: Get into combat, weapon swap (Hammer for example) : 2 sigils proc
6 seconds: Fast hands make the weapon swap useable.
6 seconds: swap from hammer to longbow: 2 sigils proc
11 seconds: Cool down on Hammer sigils is up.

and repeat….

Seeing the Sigil changes has got me to thinking, are Ele and Engineer being punished due to their class mechanics? Every other class will have access to FOUR sigil slots. While 2 classes are forced to use only 2.

It kinda seems unfair. I mean this will be a bigger buff to every other class than it will be to Ele and Engineer. So i was wondering would making it so that Ele and Engineer had 4 Sigil slots make them overpowered?

What do you guys think? I personally dont think it would. They would still be limited to the same as everyone else accounting for sigil cool downs. So they wouldnt be able to spam each attunement/kit swap to gain huge bonuses or anything.

“The Sigil of Sanctuary, which had extremely limited usability, has been renamed and re-worked, becoming the Sigil of Benevolence. This new sigil will grant bonus healing to other allies similar to how the elementalist’s new trait, Aquatic Benevolence, will function.”

So, not only do we get a terrible trait. EVERY other class will have the same access to it via a sigil…

Amazing work anet, truly clueless.

vate.5286:

BAMMMMM

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vEAQJAoYhcMKZW2wvBf0AApQLjHh8hGlH0wjNA-zACB4iChk0Ik3gkHAZqFRjtsuIasKZER1KlYAA-e

Arcane Blast is rather terrible. Signet of Fire is decent but nothing great either. Shard of Ice is a wasted trait. Should be swapped for either Soothing Wave or something. Earth’s Embrace is meh. I would swap for Elemental Shielding. Serrated Stones isnt that great either. I would actually make it a 0/0/20/20/30 and grab some healing power which you really lack and maybe Alacrity. A decent reduction on water skills or maybe condition removal on swapping to water. Arcane Energy should be replaced with Elemental Attunement

Gear wise, needs healing power. A huge part of your defense will come from healing.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vEEQJAoYncMcMonhwhFOsNwohyB8rdJOAQUAzLDFi8R5BNzYDA-zkCB4MIIOBk8OhUHA5RRMTaIrl1FRjVJTIVPLy6GYkCYRpRA-w

This is my current condition build.I some times swap Elemental Power out for Signet of Earth though for that added protection against backstab. I have Corruption sigil on another weapon that i swap out once i have hit 25stacks as well

So i just encountered a Thief using Pistol/Pistol. I stood NO chance. ALL he did was spam auto attacks and Repeater and then jump stealth the moment i got close to him, only for him to continue using the SAME attack from stealth (which deals more damage and Bleeding)

So, how do you guys counter classes and builds like this as D/D. I used Ride The Lightening. The moment it hit he jumped stealth and just went to range to spam the same attacks. I used Magnetic Grasp and then leap, he jumped stealth and repeated the process.

There was NOTHING i could do to stop him. He was running P/P. No idea the second set because he never swapped just kept spamming Repeater, Jumping into stealth using the free stealth attack (basically repeater dealing more damage and bleeding)

I really think Ele needs to be given access to Magnetic Aura. We have no way of countering range weapons. For a weapon set that HAS to be in melee to be doing damage it seems rather stupid that It is so easy just to kite us.

I used EVERYTHING i could to stay in range of this Thief and NOTHING worked. Burning Speed, Ride The Lightening and Magnetic Grasp simply had no affect. Even used Earthquake and Updraft in the hope i could get him down. Useless he just ported away in stealth and repeated the same attacks.

Karl McLain.5604:

To attempt to clear up some confusion: all outgoing heals from the elementalist will be increased by 25% for all receiving allies. Your outgoing regeneration is increased, your healing skills, your evasive arcana, your water blast finishers, etc. The trait will be offering an option to directly support your allies in this fashion.
This is not a pulse or aura like Battle Presence that increases everyone’s healing power, this trait directly affects the elementalist’s healing effectiveness based on their current healing ability.
I hope this helps clarify a bit.

Sorry to tell you this, but this trait is AWFUL. How did it ever get into the game? I mean really, this is NOT grandmaster worthy.

My question is: When you finally see that no one is using this poor excuse for a Grandmaster will you be changing it? Or will you just say its fine and that everyone else is terrible for not using it?

It should increase the Ele healing as well. Currently i would be hesitant to use it even if it was in Master slot. I really hope the others you have planned for ele arent as lackluster as this one.

Sickness.9831:

yeah, right, removing the heal would be a bit harsh…i think lower it by 50% would be fine. so healing and using 1 blast would equal the current healing you get. so it would be a nice buff.

That would still be a nerf. If you require 2 actions to do the same thing as it currently does with one action – that is not a buff at all. That is nothing more than a nerf. You can’t always blast your fields in combat. You have to take into consideration all the cool downs and such.

For it to be a 40second cool down. It needs to do its FULL heal and have a water field. I mean even with just over 700 Healing Power Cleansing Wave heals for 2,020 health. That is equal to 50.5Health per a second….

It should really be buffed a little, 25% buff and have a water field. Considering its insane cool down it currently is not that great. Or Maybe instead of a Waterfield. Grant everyone affected with a reasonable Regeneration. Say 5-10seconds.

Substance E.4852:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Atherakhia.4086:

Not only do Rangers need to choose between piercing arrows, eagle eye, spotter, and signet of the beastmaster, but you honesstly think this new trait isn’t the worst of the ones announced, but that it would ever be chosen over the alternatives? Come on dude… you must be trollin’

It is FAR better than the one Ele got. The class that needs sustain…gets a healing bonus to everyone BUT the ele…

We are the only ones that get a trait that has NO affect on us what so ever.

lol far from it. The ele trait could at least be of some use to teammates. Read the Winds has no team utility and barely makes the ranger stronger. It forces us to waste a Grandmaster Trait to compensate for a game engine fault that borders on a mechanical failure. Why waste endurance when you can just side step to avoid arrows that do crap damage at any range but maximum?

It also don’t help that the bow, and this trait, is near pointless when the enemy inevitably gets into melee range with the buttload of gap closers in the game. It also only really affects the Long bow. The short bow is often used too close for arrow speed to be an issue and the axe doesn’t fire arrows.

As i said. The class needs sustain and they get a trait that has NO affect on them at all. At least Ranger trait affects the ranger. The ele on has NO use to the ele what so ever. They are just trying to turn ele in the “healing” class….Something they said they didnt want.

So them saying they know we need sustain and THIS is what we get…
I guess we can wait for the other traits, but i have a feeling none of them will be that great.

Sickness.9831:

another awsome change imo would be, like someone mentioned previously, removing the heal from dagger #5, but adding a waterfield with the duration of the engis healturret overcharge.

The skill is a 40 second cool down skill….why exactly should the heal be removed? This would actually be a nerf. It should do its current thing AND have a few second (3 or 4) waterfield. Seeing as the heal has a 40 second cool down, in its current state (like most weapon, heal, utility and elite skills) the cool down simply is unjustified.

What i would change:
Armor: Dire
Rune: Perplexity
weapons: Apothecary

Momentum i dont think is worth taking

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vEEQJAoYncMcMonhwhFOsNwohyB8rdJOAQUAzLDFi8R5BNzYDA-zkCB4MIIOBk8OhUHA5RRMTaIrl1FRjVJTIVPLy6GYkCYRpRA-w

This is my exact build. I have Corruption to get 250 extra condition damage.

Qori.9671:

this trait might be ok if your a damage spec and NOT a healer spec. I guess you could still deal out decent damage and not be dropping completely worthless heals on your party. The old saying a dead ele does no damage holds true with this trait tho, a dead ele doesnt heal his team for jack kitten either

Seeing as it has ZERO affect on us, it is going to be rather average. It should increase Ele healing as well. 50% would be very helpful for us.

Karl McLain.5604:

This is just the first of many traits that we’ll be revealing. Tune into Ready Up tomorrow (http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2) for more information on what’s coming!
We’ll be talking about all of the new elementalist traits, one of them in particular being ‘Stone Heart’.
See you there,
-Karl

lets hope its not as lackluster and useless to us as “Aquatic Benevolence” because no grand master should should have NO use to the owner.

Nabuko Darayon.9645:

sorrychief.2563:

elprimo.4398:

lol heart of stone. Let me guess. Gain invulnerability for 1.5sec on eath attune?.

Inb4 this is actually what the trait will do.

I have a feeling we’ll get +300 Toughness (like the guardian +300 vit) with Stone Heart, while attuned to Earth

I hope not. If we got such a trait bonus it should affect ALL our attunements. not just 25% of us. Maybe it will be something like Diamond Skin but for Direct damage

ele got a trait that has NO affect on themselves…

Atherakhia.4086:

Not only do Rangers need to choose between piercing arrows, eagle eye, spotter, and signet of the beastmaster, but you honesstly think this new trait isn’t the worst of the ones announced, but that it would ever be chosen over the alternatives? Come on dude… you must be trollin’

It is FAR better than the one Ele got. The class that needs sustain…gets a healing bonus to everyone BUT the ele…

We are the only ones that get a trait that has NO affect on us what so ever.

Just another example of how clueless ANET are. We need sustain and they give us THIS? It should be:

50% Increased healing to yourself
25% increased healing to Allies.

I mean its a Grandmaster water trait. In its current state NO one will use it. It simply isnt worth it. What was all that about not wanting healer/dps/tank roles? Now you’re trying to make ele a healer….

FLiP.7680:

bobomb.5209:

Chill is a fairly rare condition to apply, and is therefore strong. The only exception is Elementalists but they have such a disadvantage at the moment compared to other classes that any nerf to them is unwarranted.

You don’t have a necro right? Spinal Shivers + Spectral Grasp + Dark Path + Chill of Death = 24s of chill. But still a class not even close to Thief, Mesmer and Warrior. Which btw none of them apply chill.

Immob is ok too, my previous P/D thief could stack 12s of immob, or reaply it 6 times (4 body shots + devourer venom). Now tell me how many thieves waste all their initiative doing it?

tl;dr: L2P

Spectral Grasp and Dark Path are insanely bugged. They can even miss if you are directly in front of them…

No one would use ALL of there Chill skills at the same time, that would be beyond stupid. They would space them out. Thief also has access to i think 5 second skill from stealing from elementalists, so they DO have access to Chill.

Then you get onto Sigils, runes and such EVERY class has access to it – if they want it. Immbo, is far from fine. It should NOT stack and the only ones that would say otherwise are those that know there build relies on it SO much that if it was fixed it would ruin there build.

By “jack of all trades” i think they mean in the same build.

While you won’t out damage someone, you will generally have better defense.
While you wont be able to out heal someone, you will generally have better attack
while you wont be able to out support someone, you will still have support.

So basically, you wont have much in each “role” as a class/build that is built for it, you make that up with the other ways.

roamzero.9486:

RTL CD nerf should be reverted and all mobility skills meant to be gap closers (rush/rtl/savage leap/heartseeker/swoop/etc) should be changed to only function (in combat) when you have something targeted.

Or rather, every skill like it should be the way Ride The Lightening is, if you hit someone then its fine normal cool down, if you dont then you get double the cool down.

Making it so that Ride The Lightening needs a Target would be a HUGE nerf to the class, more so than anyone else as we have so little health and armor that if we can’t escape then we are simply dead. We are 100% Melee as Dagger/Dagger so us having range means nothing, just that we are either escaping or trying to get space so we can go again. Unlike everyone else who gets to choose to be either Range or Melee.

Chill i personally think is okay, No one really has enough access to it to really it a game winner. Immbo on the other hand is simply broken. They really need to add Diminishing Returns to this game for CC and Immbo.

Who would waste such a high cool down skill against a Hammer warrior? In pretty much EVERY situation other skills would be much better. You block a few attacks and then boom CC til you are dead. Yeah using Arcane Shield is a GREAT idea against a weapon with SO much access to CC, it is nothing but delaying what you know will happen.

With that situation, you would be better off using other skills (Armor of Earth for example) or even using weapon mobility skills and getting out of range for a bit.

I would take fighting Melee Vs Melee every day of the week, i would happily use Magnetic Aura to force them into changing weapons. That is what i need, fighting Melee Vs Range is just not something that any Melee wants and to force them either into stop attacking so i can get close or swapping to melee weapons and going Melee Vs Melee would be perfect. Does that mean i would win? of course not, but it gives a much better chance than trying to fight knockbacks, stealth and kiting.

Rather than a pointless Blast finisher, like we dont have enough already. I would rather it block attacks for the whole duration, considering its insane cool down the least it should do is block them for its duration.

Block 3 attacks Vs Melee stun, Range Reflection, damage reduction or Burning and Might…I know what one i would pick. The one that is more versatile.

I actually use Elemental Power on my Condition Build, Sure its not the best skill and could do with a rework (like the example i gave combining it with my idea) but its still decent.

The Game Slayer.7632:

You’re right. I actually am using kralkachocolate bars as nourishment. I have 25 stacks of life, and 30 into water with 10 into air for the 7% conversion trait. Though, I’ll be honest, I’m thinking if i have 3k attack with this build, then if I changed to apothecary I might be able to get about 1k condi damage with 2k healing power. My armor is sitting at a comfy 2,500. Toughness will stay the same. My vitality is sitting at 15k because of water tree, and the guard buff bumps it up to 17/18k. Interesting talk though.

An interesting Combo could be going for around 1,500healing Power. That would make Signet of Restro heal for at least 344 per a cast. Going into Water (assuming 20 into water) would heal for 2k with 20 into Arcane you would get another 1,800 from Regen, taking Soothing Wave would be another 921 heal every 10seconds. Dagger #5 would be another 2,700 heal.

With 1,000 Condition damage Drakes Breath would have the potential do do just under 7,000Burning. a 5 second Burn would be just under 2,900 – this all coming from Obsidian Sanctum.

The only real issue would be how to overcome the health, I mean even with the Fortitude buff you would be looking at about 15,000. That would be death in like 3 attacks from a BS Thief.

You could add a couple of Dire+Rabid accessories (Precision/Toughness/Vitality/Condition damage) at the cost of Healing Power to increase the health. Getting around 1k Healing Power would be

Going into Water (assuming 20 into water) would heal for 1.7k rather than 2k with 20 into Arcane you would get another 1.5k rather than 1,800 from Regen, taking Soothing Wave would be another 753 rather than 921 heal every 10seconds. Dagger #5 would be another 2.2k rather than 2,700 heal.

So if we went into Water with 1,500 Healing Power and used Dagger 5# the total healing potential would be 7,421 with it at 1,000 Healing power it would be 6,153 so losing about 500 Healing power would be the loss of like 1,200 healing from that combo. Personally, i dont think it is that much.

With that in mind, you could drop some of the Healing gear to grab more Vitality based gear. It would be about getting a balance between Vitality and Healing Power. My aim is to be about 15-16k without Buffs.

What would really help is if they had the combo with Toughness, Vitality and Healing Power. As i already reach about 1,800Condition damage when fully buffed with food and stacks so if we had that combo i could drop some of my armor and weapons for those sort of stats.

Is that 2,500Amor? that would mean you are around 1,600Toughness. I am currently sitting at just under 2,000 attack Power. I have considered dropping some Condition damage and grabbing some Power stuff, Maybe dropping Corruption and grabbing Bloodlust might help a bit. I would still be at just over 1,600Condition damage but increasing my power from 941 to just under 1,200 might help me a bit as well.

glyph TRAITS. I picked Arcane as the 20% reduction at the very least is easily obtained for pretty much everyone goes at least 10 into Arcane. Over going into Air. Arcane Shield isn’t good, its just the best we have. Which means nothing.

Take a look at all the stuff other classes with more health, armor and everything else gets and look what we get terrible skills (when compared to them) with insane cool downs.

Also, you ignoring the Arcane trait that AFFECTS what attunement you are in when you use them? Sure, not the best of traits but still it affects Arcane skills and what happens is determined by your attunement when used.

I have barely seen anyone that isnt at least 10 into both Water and Arcane, most are 20 into Water and 30 into Arcane.

Hello, we are Ele. We have the WORST build diversity of ALL the classes. So we couldn’t make that any worse as its already the worst it can be.

Though i see nothing wrong with changing an average skill with an insane cool down into something that could be used by EVERYONE and be useful in pretty much any situation. Arcane Shield for example is WASTED on Thief who are in stealth because blocks don’t remove them from stealth – Shocking Aura on the other hand is VERY useful. want to Block 3 attacks from that ranger? why block 3 attacks when you can reflect his attacks back at him for 5 seconds with Magnetic Aura….

cheese.4739:

Ash why don’t you even read the kitten post?

It fits better as a Glyph, there are fewer arguments to be made for the GoEP (srsly, people like shield, it’s actually useful, and taking away those blocks would really bloody hurt), and the mechanics of Glyphs fit with attunement-based effects (whereas Arcanes are very definitely standalone spells that don’t depend on your attunement).

Elemental Power is good, sure the stun break is beyond pointless and the proc chance is rather low it is still a decent skill. They should remove the Stun Break, increase the Proc chance to 50% with a 1 second ICD and boom. Sorted.

I don’t know about making it a Glyph, to many of the Glyph traits are unattainable for most builds.

Inscription – Master Air trait
Zephyrs Boon – Air Minor
Quick Glyphs – Air Minor
Elemental Shielding – Earth Minor

Most people are 0/0/20/20/30 not many, if any can afford to drop points to go into Air Maybe if they make it with a 45 second cool down it would still be worth taking without any added traits.

Maybe they could combine both my idea and Elemental Power into one skill. Something like:

Elemental Aura:
Grant yourself an Aura based on your attunement. While this Aura is active skills you use have a 100% chance of inflicting a condition Fire – Burning(3 seconds), Water – Chill (2 seconds), Air – Weakness( 6 Seconds), Earth – Cripple (6 seconds)
Fire: Fire Shield – 5 second duration
Water: Frost Aura – 5 second duration
Air: Shocking Aura – 5 second duration
Earth: Magnetic Aura – 5 second duration
45second cool down

Something like that, made it a 100% chance due to the 5 second duration, compared to the 30 second duration of the previous version.

Lostwingman.5034:

The blocks are really nice for pinch “oh kitten I’m about to die” situations.
Before making all kinds of wacky aura changes to it we’d be better off doing something about the cooldown.

How about my above idea? It would mean Arcane Shield would be left alone. Though i do agree with you the cool down even as it is needs to be reduced to like 45-60second region.

cheese.4739:

Argh, stupid forum bug, logged me out again. Here’s the gist of what I’d typed:

1) Arcane Shield: don’t even think about it. It’s a great utility, bringing stunbreak, blocks, and not interrupting your channel.

So you would rather have 3 attacks blocked every 75 seconds over having access to fire Shield, Shocking Aura, Frost Aura and Magnetic Aura on a 45second cool down?

Add into that the traits for Arcane, like Lower cool down, Vul applications and such and it would be a GREAT skill that EVERY ele can use to gain access to the aura(s) they are missing out on.

Helpful in many ways as well, protects against melee (Shocking Aura) as well as range (Magnetic Aura) plus would account for Aura sharing trait as well.

In my opinion this would be a MUCH better skill than what Arcane Shield is. We have several other ways to gain Stun Break anyway, so the stun break part shouldn’t really count, hell what if the stun break was added to the Arcane Aura? I men it would make sense seeing that you use it as a defense and would make more sense than Elemental Power being a stun break thats for sure.

Lostwingman.5034:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

The best of a bad bunch.

Yea so it’s pretty nice by ele standards.

But that doesn’t mean it is a good skill that could be replaced by something MUCH better. Just think having access to all the Auras no matter your weapon set. No more getting Range spammed when using D/D just go into Earth pop the Arcane Aura and boom – you have Magnetic Aura and projectile reflection. I think this is what the skill should have been in the first place.

It would also then still be affected by the Arcane traits

Scar Of The Lotus.5631:

3) Less trait-based healing. Nearly all elementalists you will find have at the bare minimum, 10 in water magic. A majority of us will have to go higher to maintain the survivability we seek, often sacrificing a lot of damage in the process. I suggest introducing unique ways of acquiring health through the use of our skills. For example, fire grab would give us a ~1000 heal should we land it on a burning foe, or we receive ~500 health for each projectile we catch with Swirling Winds or enemy we stun with Static field. Unique ways of healing, in my opinion, would increase our survivability while also encouraging us to try and make optimal use of our skills, rather than spamming them when the incredibly high cooldown has been cleared.

That sounds interesting.

Healing for D/D builds:

Fire:
Ring of Fire – Healed for each target that enters or leaves the ring
Fire Grab – Healed for 25% of Damage done. the skill would be changed to deal 75% of the total burning on the target in damage

ie – if you have 10,000 worth of burning damage on the target. That is removed and you deal 7,500 damage and are healed for 2,500 health.

Water:
Vapor Blade – Add a healing component
Cone of Cold – Increase the Healing
Frost Aura – Healed for each attack

Other ideas could involve conditions, like you gain say 50% of the damage done by Burning as health.

Atoss.1056:

Condi build is fun to play but I think true strenght lies in some kind of mix with might stacking – sigil of battle, a bit boon duration maybe…
Let’s see what the sigil/rune patch brings to the game, for now perplexity seems to be the best if not only good option, burns and bleeds can be longer with other runes but it doesn’t help much if enemy cleans them fast.
I use d/f in mine, stats similiar to other posted above, mix of dire/apothecary/giver’s. Fun to play for sure, much difference than the old d/d or staff setups. Traits 0 0 30 20 20, no diamond skin though cause certain people cry about it (like if perplexity crying wasn’t enough arleady with my 2 (!) interrupts on quite long cd). Other trait setups seems nice too like 0 0 20 20 30 etc.. Tried 20 in fire for extra long burns but the long condis only work on ppl who have 0 cleanse or such, but at the same time you have to sacrifice some of your own points from other lines.

The problem with that is, as we are limited to just 2 sigils it gives us less options. Maybe Torment and Battle could be a decent combo. It would need to be another condition, one we dont have access to normally.

That would be Doom(Poison) or Torment(Torment) I currently run with them both. I have been thinking of giving Battle a try when i am not randomly running around doing my own thing. Doom is VERY useful against Healing signet warriors and even other elementalists, solid against Engineer as well.

I personally go 0/0/20/20/30. It gives nice condition damage, Toughness, Vitality and healing power and the little less cool down on attunement swapping as well as boon duration is nice. Evasive Arcana is VERY useful. I wish the dodge in Air was something useful like maybe AoE Confusion or something with a few stacks, that would be very nice.

Yeah i tried 10 in Fire grabbing the Burning duration trait, will the added duration was nice the damage loss wasn’t worth it and we have plenty of Burning anyway.

In my build, I have a little low health about 16k when in Obsidian Sanctum but when stacked in WvW i am normally at about 19-20k which is pretty much the sweet spot.

Even though the build is okay, not much wiggle room in it, until ArenaNet get around to helping us with sustain and conditions the sort of builds we can use will be rather limited.

I would be interested in swapping some of the Dire gear i have out for some Apothecary for the extra healing power but currently that just isnt possible thanks to how quickly and easily we can be burst down. Now if we were moved up to the second tier for health, even if it meant at the cost of direct burst damage – i would be happy with that, i think for us to get any real buff in sustainability our direct burst builds will have to be nerfed a bit first anyway

ComeAtMe.5932:

I can see this working as a condition tank build to be honest

It would be impossible to get that much Healing Power (2,000) as well as Toughness, Vitality and Condition damage into one build.

From the screen, we know he has at least 2,500health from WvW buffs. 100 Condition damage from the other WvW buff. No idea about food or stacks.

In a normal 0/0/20/20/30 build I could get 1,287Healing Power with, 1,378 Condition damage(Corruption sigil gives 250). The problem is that i would have 12.8k Health. The Toughness is solid at 1,861

This makes me think that is Stacks and food are all Healing Power based as well. Taking Mango food, swapping the corruption for Life sigil and taking Tuning Crystal gives me 1,678Healing Power and 1,284 condition damage. Adjusting the traits increases Condition damage to 1,470 but you would still have the HUGE issue of 12.8k health

So, all in all, i don’t think it is possible to get that high healing from it in a condition bunker based build

Arcane Shield is pathetic as it is, block three attacks on HOW long a cool down? Look at what other classes get with damage immunities, PROPER blocks, invul, stealth and what do we get an insane cool down skill that is simply average at best.

They cut it down to 30seconds and then i will consider it useful, the only reason i use it is because we have nothing else. The best of a bad bunch.

I think Auramancer would be better if Arcane shield was turned into Arcane Aura:

Arcane Aura:
Grant yourself an Aura based on your attunement.
Fire: Fire Shield – 5 second duration
Water: Frost Aura – 5 second duration
Air: Shocking Aura – 5 second duration
Earth: Magnetic Aura – 5 second duration
45second cool down

I think Auras from weapon skills need to be longer in duration as well, conisdering they have the insane ICD

I have never noticed it launching anyone without me using skill #3