Guild Wars 2

Knote.2904:

Azunai.5974:

Knote.2904:

Azunai.5974:

There already is one.

Where.

To find what you seek,

You have to think like a plant

Or perhaps smell like kelp.

Then you’ll meet a lady in need of help,

There, in her hands the answers you seek.

Just put them in the ground and you’ll see!

Begone gypsy sorcerer, I have no time for your fiddle faddle.

Sigh.

Some people will never understand my hatred for spoilers.

Roll a sylvari, you’ll run into a story mission involving plant turrets being used against waves of the Risen.

Leuca.5732:

Azunai.5974:

All offhands, yeah. Skills like uodraft have slightly reasonable cd’s for the utilities it provides. Skills like firegrab and churning earth should, in my opinion, have lower cd’s.

I think there are some exceptions to that, but I see what you’re saying. As for Churning Earth, I’d rather it get the cast time reduced; it’s already really obviously telegraphed, so keeping the cast time and reducing recharge will not really increase its efficacy while in combat.

I agree! Also, churning earth should have its cast time reduced to two seconds or less, so it combos well with CC’s. Otherwise people will just grow accostumed to the new cast time and dodge it. At least with cc, it’d be a lot better with reliably hitting with it.

Firegrab, gahh, should be lowered for sure.

And then anet adds more weapons and buffs our traits to make alacrity traits more accessible and worth taking but sigh, one can dream.

Leuca.5732:

Azunai.5974:

Leuca.5732:

Azunai.5974:

I still don’t understand why cd’s and power have to be so much more worse. Despite having more 20 skills, other classes can still spam a hell lot more. Maybe a slightly higher cd, but literally more than twice of any skill on another profession? Godkitten . And we can’t make use of our CDR traits.

Gale could be on a 30 second base cooldown and still not be overpowered. It does no damage or secondary utility effect. Updraft is aoe, acts as an evade that provides swiftness (meaning you gain something even if you hit nobody with the skill) and puts the ele at a perfect distance to combo into other skills.

I’d feel a lot better about it being 30 and not 20 or 25 if all other skills (or at least offhands) were similarly reduced. /:

I’m not sure what you’re referring to here, do you mean offhand skills across the board for all professions? You definitely hit the nail on head with the 20 skills in a weapon set issue; it kind of necessitates a slightly higher base recharge, but the amount so is excessive right now.

All offhands, yeah. Skills like uodraft have slightly reasonable cd’s for the utilities it provides. Skills like firegrab and churning earth should, in my opinion, have lower cd’s.

Knote.2904:

Azunai.5974:

There already is one.

Where.

To find what you seek,

You have to think like a plant

Or perhaps smell like kelp.

Then you’ll meet a lady in need of help,

There, in her hands the answers you seek.

Just put them in the ground and you’ll see!

Leuca.5732:

Azunai.5974:

I still don’t understand why cd’s and power have to be so much more worse. Despite having more 20 skills, other classes can still spam a hell lot more. Maybe a slightly higher cd, but literally more than twice of any skill on another profession? Godkitten . And we can’t make use of our CDR traits.

Gale could be on a 30 second base cooldown and still not be overpowered. It does no damage or secondary utility effect. Updraft is aoe, acts as an evade that provides swiftness (meaning you gain something even if you hit nobody with the skill) and puts the ele at a perfect distance to combo into other skills.

I’d feel a lot better about it being 30 and not 20 or 25 if all other skills (or at least offhands) were similarly reduced. /:

There already is one.

I still don’t understand why cd’s and power have to be so much more worse. Despite having more 20 skills, other classes can still spam a hell lot more. Maybe a slightly higher cd, but literally more than twice of any skill on another profession? Godkitten . And we can’t make use of our CDR traits.

BlackBeard.2873:

I want gauntlets, to let us channel the power of the elements through our hands. Throwing fireballs, ripping up the earth, Water-bending, and going all Kamehameha on you in air!

Have you played devil may cry 3? If not, you’d love it.

I feel that to make d/f work, you bave to go for burst and let your defensive skills take care of you. I suggest a fresh air build with arcane missle/wave. Knight armor and zerk trinkets/weapons.

A classic bunker build with focus is extremely tanky. Months ago, I defended a broken section of a wall already broken in two places (and the door busted open). I defended that part along with a ranger guildie while our guild held the wall against a zerg. Pretty amazing.

But really, in roaming and zergs, it’s not as great so go for some burst and hope you stop the enemy cold. Focus is really amazing with dealing with ranged guys, but you have to be conservative with your focus skills, due to cd’s. Be very sure to follow up on cc’s with burst, time your reflect for when a ranged guy is doing a killshot or volley attack, etc.

edit – Ohhhh, sPvP. I suck. Oh well, some stuff I said still applies.

I seriously doubt it. I hope they don’t. Making more weapons available to each profession should be a priority.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I saw this thread, and thought the linked video would be a great chance to learn some Tier 1 tactics to help me get better at WvW. Then I watched the first 30 seconds of the video, and it was just him on an AC.

/mindblown

And the rest of the video is spent on pressing 1 in staff repeatedly to tag kills.

Malcastus.6240:

It’s hard to take someone who wishes for an elemental magic-user to wield a modern mechanical weapon seriously, tbh.

In the end, the sword, warhorn and spear might be the most appropriate weapons for the profession. Keyword being “might”.

The torch is cool, but fire-related only. It would be odd using it outside fire attunement, in my opinion.

I don’t see anything wrong with that. Magic’s flexible. Lots and lots of weapon’s been used alongside magic and technology.

In lore, the asurans are already using magic to power and augment their technology. Look at their turrets, golems, et cetera… To say magic has’t been used for modern applications in GW2 is false.

Was the first line necessary? Really.

I have a small suspicion that the reason ele’s have fewer weapons is that some weapons were turned into conjures to save time and money.

cheshirefox.7026:

rifles no
stealth no
greatsword no

remember Anet, every time you avoid doing something dumb it’s like doing something right

It’s hard to take you seriously. Perhaps you should tell us the reasons behind your statements?

Solkard.5136:

pffft… it wouldn’t matter if it hit, just have 5 Ele’s spam that attack and everyone would quit from having to sit through the cut-scenes. :P

Victory through attrition!

Calm down, Satan.

Solkard.5136:

None of those seem all that fancy or flashy enough.
Instead of Railgun, how about this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8VwaEv3z1M
Or would that fall under fire attunement?

I know they don’t seem flashy at first. I only added what they do. All the elemental stuff comes after.

And ohhh come on, nothing ever tops Bahamut, he’s the king of flash. I’m curious about how that could be animated in gw2, though…. but I’d rage so hard if it “misses”.

BlackBeard.2873:

This would actually be pretty awesome, but would only play into us being even easier to read/ more predictable. Who cares though!

Have different colors like blue for air, purple for water, orange for earth, and brown for fire.

GET PUNK’D!

Elementalist – Rifles

fire
/Fireshot – fires a quick ball of flame that burns upon hit.
/Immolate – creates a stream of fire that damages and burns foes it makes contact with
/Searing chains – conjures a long firey chain to immobilize and burn the target (combo finisher: projectile)
/Flaming Advance – charge forward, leaving a trail of fire and blasts the target area with fire (combo finisher: blast)
/Backdraft – fires a powerful short range burst of fire, sending you a fair distance back (combo finisher: leap)

water
/Frostbite – fires a bullet of ice, causing vulnerability
/Chillrend – fires a volley of ice bullets, chilling and causing vulnerability (combo finisher: projectile)
/Snowball – blasts the target area with ice, chilling targets inside
/Cascade – slams the rifle butt onto the ground, creating a circle of water that heals and bestows regeneration on allies inside (combo field: water, grants regeneration)
/Hoarfrost – stops slightly to fire a long range bullet that freezes the target, unable to move or act for (?) seconds and creates (?) stacks of vulnerability. (combo finisher: projectile)

air
/Static – fires a quick burst of electricity that damages the target and everything around him
/Shock – shocks the target and everything around him, dealing small damage and causing cripple
/Lightning retreat – instantly teleports backwards, causing a burst of electricity at the original position (combo finisher: blast, grants swiftness)
/Thunderwave – blasts the target area, creating an area that dazes people crossing it (combo field: lightning)
/Thunderbolt – takes a knee and channels momentarily before firing a long, concentrated bolt of electricity, causing massive damage (combo finisher: projectile and kind of like mesmer’s greatsword autoattack, but with electricity and an afterimage after firing)

earth
/Splinter – fires a normal bullet and causes bleeding (hits harder than other autoattacks)
/Masterkey – fires a scattershot, dealing damage the closer the target is and causes bleeding
/Magnetic shot – fires a bullet that, upon impact, causes nearby enemies to be pulled towards the target (combo finisher: projectile)
/Titanfall – jumps to the target location, dealing high damage and causing cripple (combo finisher: blast)
/Railgun – takes a knee and channels to fire an incredibly fast and dense projectile to deal high damage and splinters the target and everything around him, causing bleeding (combo finisher: projectile)

Add some twirls to that?

Solkard.5136:

Azunai.5974:

Solkard.5136:

Azunai.5974:

What do you think of rifles, though?

If they hold it by the barrel and shoot fireballs out the stock? Sure, why not.

I’m not sure what to think of that post.

Picture a firing range with Engineers, Warriors, and Rogues all lining up the aim on their firearms. Then pan to your Ele at the end just twirling it around and pointing it in the wrong direction, but still laying waste to all the targets. :P

Haha, that made me laugh. So long ele’s can do some fancy long range sniping, I’m fine with some twirling on the side.

Solkard.5136:

Azunai.5974:

What do you think of rifles, though?

If they hold it by the barrel and shoot fireballs out the stock? Sure, why not.

I’m not sure what to think of that post.

ThiBash.5634:

Eles have a great sword already. It’s under ‘elite skills’. If that’s not enough, please roll a mesmer.

While it’s okay to have your own opinion, it is considered rude to tell other people what to do with their class.

What do you think of rifles, though?

I just personally find it hilarious to go full or nearly full zerk gears with regular traits. Staff, daggers, scepter, and focus, just go crazy.

Also take breaks and try something new, like dungeons or sPvP. Explore the mals, find jumpin puzzles.

TALK. It may seem quiet but really, people are just waiting for something to talk about. Chatter in map chat, but don’t spam, and others will follow your example.

Don’t worry about being a level or two lower for a heart. But technicially, finishing each zone should net you enough exp to be able to do the next zone. Are you sure you got all hearts? Finding vistas, waypoints, and skill points also reward good exp.

You could spam crafting for easy levels but save that for +50.

edit – ninja’d. Curse you, hjorje. ):

Mesket.5728:

Bismuth.3165:

eles should be able to use pistol and swords, eles using swords makes more sense than eles using daggers.

Daggers wielded by Sorcerors/Wizards is actually a classic in RPGs. More like ritual knives than slashing weapons.

Exactly, as shown in the animations. D/D ele’s don’t ever cut people with their daggers but instead swing them about or channel through them to create elemental effects.

Bismuth.3165:

eles should be able to use pistol and swords, eles using swords makes more sense than eles using daggers.

Come up with some skills then, show us!

kitten YOU, LEDGESSSSSSS!

Conncept.7638:

Sounds fun

• Engineer Hammer
  ‘Fix’: Apply hammer directly to problem area.
  Engine Block: Briefly block incoming damage, if you are struck, lowers the recharge of Magnetize, Electrify, and Explosivate.
  Magnetize: Magnetize your hammer, the next attack pulls your target.
  Electrify: Electrify your hammer, the next attack stuns.
  Explosivate: Rig your hammer head with explosives, the next attack deals AoE damage.

• Engineer Cannon
  Fire: Fire a missile
  Cluster fire: Fire a spray of missiles
  Overcharge: Fire a shot which blows back target and adjacent enemies
  Party Poppers: Fire a missile in to the ground which explodes when approached.
  Unnecessary Force: Fire a barrage of missiles covering a large area. Large area high damage attack, very long recharge.

• Guardian Cannon
  Holy Fire: Shoot a missile at your target. (AoE 900-1500)
  Symbol of Mana: Create a symbol which grants Vigor (900-1200)
  Halo: Create a ring of fire at range (900-1200)
  Bring the rain: (Channel) Fire a barrage of missiles at a targeted area (900-1500)
  Seat of the Judge: (Toggle) Immobilize yourself, but add higher range and larger AoE to all of your weapon abilities (does not work on weapon swap)

• Guardian Shield (main hand)
  The Keep>The Gate>The Wall: Attack, attack again, block
  Checkmate: Knock your target down and break control affects
  Symbol of the Cornerstone: Allies become briefly invulnerable (very long RC)

Loved the skills, thanks for sharing!

Fortus.6175:

Because Dagger/dagger totally fit the mage theme right? Yet we “accept” it because it was there from the start and you dont question it. Heck I still remember a couple of threads about it on release. Now? People dont even bat an eye.

I expect that the day Anet [hopefully] adds GS people will be very vocal about it, they will make WAAAHHHH threads about how it doesnt fit the class (because GS totally fits mesmers, a light class).

Please, get this right: Magic makes EVERYTHING possible, even casting fire and lighting underwater!!! Dont give me the “it doesnt fit the class” because if there is a totally magic based class that can totally pull this off is definitely elementalists.!

USE THY IMAGINATION

IMAGINATION!

Elementalist – Rifles

fire
/Fireshot – fires a quick ball of flame that burns upon hit.
/Immolate – creates a stream of fire that damages and burns foes it makes contact with
/Searing chains – conjures a long firey chain to immobilize and burn the target (combo finisher: projectile)
/Flaming Advance – charge forward, leaving a trail of fire and blasts the target area with fire (combo finisher: blast)
/Backdraft – fires a powerful short range burst of fire, sending you a fair distance back (combo finisher: leap)

water
/Frostbite – fires a bullet of ice, causing vulnerability
/Chillrend – fires a volley of ice bullets, chilling and causing vulnerability (combo finisher: projectile)
/Snowball – blasts the target area with ice, chilling targets inside
/Cascade – slams the rifle butt onto the ground, creating a circle of water that heals and bestows regeneration on allies inside (combo field: water, grants regeneration)
/Hoarfrost – stops slightly to fire a long range bullet that freezes the target, unable to move or act for (?) seconds and creates (?) stacks of vulnerability. (combo finisher: projectile)

air
/Static – fires a quick burst of electricity that damages the target and everything around him
/Shock – shocks the target and everything around him, dealing small damage and causing cripple
/Lightning retreat – instantly teleports backwards, causing a burst of electricity at the original position (combo finisher: blast, grants swiftness)
/Thunderwave – blasts the target area, creating an area that dazes people crossing it (combo field: lightning)
/Thunderbolt – takes a knee and channels momentarily before firing a long, concentrated bolt of electricity, causing massive damage (combo finisher: projectile)

earth
/Splinter – fires a normal bullet and causes bleeding (hits harder than other autoattacks)
/Masterkey – fires a scattershot, dealing damage the closer the target is and causes bleeding
/Magnetic shot – fires a bullet that, upon impact, causes nearby enemies to be pulled towards the target (combo finisher: projectile)
/Titanfall – jumps to the target location, dealing high damage and causing cripple (combo finisher: blast)
/Railgun – takes a knee and channels to fire an incredibly fast and dense projectile to deal high damage and splinters the target and everything around him, causing bleeding (combo finisher: projectile)

Well, that’s that. (: l faintly hope that if Anet needs any ideas, this would serve as some inspiration.

edit – the problem I encountered is that as things stand, attunement swapping is a must. Unless cooldowns are adjusted to encourage longer periods of time spent in each attunement, I made the skills with both that and attunement swapping in mind. It may not be the best weapon kit, but every skill were carefully considered with both theme and practicality in mind.

edit 2 – I also thought about adding different combo fields like smoke. Not too many, of course, leave that to staves. It’d be nice to see some form of stealth on elementalists, especially with rifles.

Looks nice but doesn’t this belong in the Guardian forum section?

Vayne.8563:

I do this all the time, because my real life often requires me to take sudden breaks.

Cool.

Leuca.5732:

Azunai.5974:

covenn.7165:

Celestial gear is pretty bad for an ele.

I wouldn’t say that. Elementalists and engineers benefit from the celestials because all stats are usefuk. It’s a kitten to farm for, though.

I’m going to strongly disagree on this point, not on the basis that celestial gear is bad for eles numerically, but that the current state of the game is not friendly towards celestial eles.

Elementalists would benefit far more if they could really capitalize on the condition damage. Unfortunately with a condi meta and the lack of condition variety compared to other professions, the math just can’t add up the way you want it to; eles can’t keep up with all the condi remove that’s become pretty standard nowadays. A higher investment in power is not only cheaper right now, but will probably be more effective for quite a while in terms of stats gained vs damage output.

Ffff, don’t use any of that fancy logic on me!

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Azunai.5974:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Glitchfull.5826:

For all those saying how to churn the earth correctly. One simple and incredibly destructive condition that makes churn completely useless. Blind. Let’s just say most classes have some sort of blind and even instant hit blinds.

A long time ago in a world called WvW, churn bombs were viable tactics. Then someone said “Why not just blind field?” Thus the churn bomb disappeared. The end.

Pretty much every class has access to a stun or more and with say Perplexity they punish the Ele with it as well.

With how spammy ele is, confusion can be a real pain without proper condi removal management.

This i agree with, however i was stating about the use of Churning Earth, very long cast time and easy to stun and interrupt and punish the ele with confusion for trying to use such a skill.

Ah, right, this is what happens when I skim the entire thread. :P

stale.9785:

ThiBash.5634:

silvermember.8941:

ThiBash.5634:

Your friend just doesn’t get the profession. No worries, not many people do. Those that do know most complaints are way over the top (and having been on both sides of the fence, I can say it’s not nice to hear you need to shap up to play ele, but sadly I have to admit it’s true).

I am sure that is totally the problem. It is not the classes it is most people, oops I mean noobs, having the problem. Afterall ballers like you don’t have a problem.

Over the years are I have played MMO, they always people like you that claim they are no issues with a class, it is because everyone else is bad, they are a pro at that class.

The reality generally is that be good at the class, but they are only good against noobs. Elementalist is one of those classes that against noob it is a strong class, in PvE there is almost no thinking involve so the elementalist in that scenario is also great. IN WvW, most of the flaws in the elementalist is made by the fact that gear+food + the downtime between fights is+ effect of the nerfs are less significant in PvE, but mainly because a lot of WvWers are not PvPer.

Like I said, it’s hard to have this discussion because there will always be people that won’t accept it (and I don’t blame them).

I don’t claim to be a top notch ele player. I’m not the guy that invented the evasive arcane style, nor the D/D bunker ele. But when it comes to eles, there’s 2 groups: those that get it and those that don’t. Unlike some professions, the ele’s effectiveness is directly scaled to the player’s skills. That’s a harsh reality to face for some, but that’s just the way it is.

Truth be told, after the recent patch, I don’t find many flaws in the staff ele anymore. Pretty much anything that was a true issue (and not just exagerated by unskilled players) was fixed.

But I get it that you won’t accept that from me. Just like I wouldn’t when I was in your shoes way back.

Skill doesn’t matter when the class itself is boned. Seriously, you could be god’s gift to ele’s, and you’re still not a threat to another player controlled character. Seriously, any player who’s paying attention will only ever allow 2 ele skills to land. Most of the skills can be stepped away from, no dodge needed. There are a very few where someone will have to burn a dodge, but that’s it.

Were ele’s alright, they’d have a heavy presence anywhere other than overworld PvE.

Oh god, so right. I am constantly amazed by how often spells hit when watching “pro ele vids”. I’m screaming in my head, “That was so obvious, why didn’t you dodge that??” It’s crazy that so many of our spells are so easily telegraphed and the more instant casts are easy to predict (fire 2, 3, 4 already used? expect a fire 5)

Oslaf Beinir.5842:

I can haz duel scepterz plz? I mean if the NPC at AC could do it then so should we.

That was dual torches, actually!

As always, my vote goes to rifles for elementalists.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Glitchfull.5826:

For all those saying how to churn the earth correctly. One simple and incredibly destructive condition that makes churn completely useless. Blind. Let’s just say most classes have some sort of blind and even instant hit blinds.

A long time ago in a world called WvW, churn bombs were viable tactics. Then someone said “Why not just blind field?” Thus the churn bomb disappeared. The end.

Pretty much every class has access to a stun or more and with say Perplexity they punish the Ele with it as well.

With how spammy ele is, confusion can be a real pain without proper condi removal management.

covenn.7165:

Celestial gear is pretty bad for an ele.

I wouldn’t say that. Elementalists and engineers benefit from the celestials because all stats are usefuk. It’s a kitten to farm for, though.

Zoij.3498:

So if I were to go into a 0/10/0/30/30 build, what sort of gear would I want for healing and damage output with defence as third importance? Precision vitality healing or something like that?

Bunch of knights, really. Soldiers with beserker mixed in works too.

OP hasn’t tried the chocobo challenge in FFX.

Grounder.7381:

Azunai.5974:

Grounder.7381:

big big guns for warriors or engineer!

Source for the pictures?

google. lol.

Ohhh, MSG. I am so disappointed.

I STILL RESENT THAT GUY FOR SAYING “WARSTAVES”.

I politely beg for a response. Anet plz

Grounder.7381:

big big guns for warriors or engineer!

Source for the pictures?

Nightarch.2943:

Have I ran my desire list here yet? No? Here we are then:

Necromancer: Dual swords, off hand torch and axe.
Guardian: Dual Daggers, main hand torch, and longbow.
Thief: Off hand sword, rifle, and dual axes.
Elementalist: Off hand scepter, main hand sword, and off hand torch.
Warrior: Dual pistols.
Ranger: Hammer, Dual maces.
Engineer: More kits, longbow, and hammer.
Mesmer: Main hand focus, main hand pistol, hammer and shortbow.

Ele’s should get rifles too.

Try mixing in rabid for precision. Getting a higher crit rate would work nice with proccing sigil of doom. You don’t need that much apothecary gear. Maybe rabid trinkets.

First of all, WOW. Very lengthy but also very well written and thought out. I really liked your emphasis on active play rather than passive, by removing or modifying traits that simply change stats. Making Spell Slinger more dependent on timing for bigger rewards was absolutely brilliant. Also, changing some traits to fit a “pure attunement” playstyle got me to agree with you even more. I really liked the idea of pyromancer’a puissance and seeing more traits in a similar vein.

I do, however think that changing attunement should always be a positive thing, not a negative thing, even if you wanna stay in an attunement for longer periods. No, changing attunement should, like you said, not be based on rotation, but need. A need for a specific spell, even if it means changing out of an attunement with lots of benefits. Pyromancer’s puissance is a great example of this, but Diamond skin isn’t. I don’t wanna hesitate to change out of earth, in fear of losing stacks. So I think Diamond Skin should be changed to promote active thinking rather than rote.

I still think evasive arcana should be changed, or split into minor traits. Maybe adept so 20/20/20/20/20 builds actually become possible and a “balanced elementalist” archetype will emerge amonst the purists. But that’s just my opinion.

Again, great post! Thoroughly enjoyed reading it all.

Well. Um. Congratulations?

MyPuppy.8970:

I want a whip, to inflict pain, and control. Or a whip sword. I can imagine so many nice animations from it.

Ivy? Is that you? I didn’t know you play gw2.

KeybladeMaster.3148:

yes rifles for eles!

I don’t know who you are. Or where you are.

But I know we are brothers. Not in blood, but in spirit.

And no matter where you are, our bond is strong as ever.

/nod