Guild Wars 2

High risk, high reward. I think that’s how it’s called.

You kill really fast and you die really fast.

Dest.7410:

Psychogene.6780:

I agree with you about buffing the other weapons that are lacking.

So the mesmers best protection is to actually not be in melee in my opinion. If they had more options at melee range, there wouldn’t be a doubt they would be more OP then they are currently perceived. In regards to their armor and health, it has nothing to do with this argument since it varies with personal preference.

Buffs can be not specific to mesmers. As it stands now, warriors are in serious need of a buff in PvP while being quite OP in PvE. Almost the reverse can be said for mesmer and thief.

Instead of nerfing their good points, just buff their weaknesses. Blurred Frenzy in mesmers is a good skill? What do other classes have to be on par with it? That’s the mentality I want from a balancing team. It can be anything, from a warrior shout that ends invulnerability, a necro curse that is unblockable, an engineer elixir that allows them to copy the status of their oponent (making them invuln every time the mesmer is)

Why not improve other classes but destroy one?

And mesmer melee is mostly for PvE situations, unless of course it is one of the scenarios you described.

Every person would love buffs to all the weaker skills/builds instead of a nerf to the strong skills/builds. The sad thing is that’s not how balancing works for Guild Wars 2.

Nerfing 1 thing instead of buffing 10 is easier and takes less time/money. That’s why pretty much all the professions had more nerfs than buffs. And that’s also the reason why most people (including me) think about nerfs instead of buffs. They are just used to it.

Unless Anet decides to buff instead of nerf, the only way to ask for more balance is to ask for a nerf which obviously sucks for the profession being nerfed.

Dest.7410:

Already made a post about that, people have been crying way too much for way too many mesmer abilities. If you are dying to a mesmer because of 2 secs invulnerability, even if he were to stay at sword at all times (which is suicidal btw), it means that you. are. doing. something. very. wrong.

Also, while at it, remove clones/phantasms from the game, because they are hard to deal with. Oh and make sure they remove shatters as well. Oh and please please please, make sure that mesmers get their health reduced to 12-15k max, they are far too hard to kill now apparently. Oh remove blink as well.

This train of thought will go on and on as long as there are people that believe that if something is too good, it should be removed by that class and not added to other classes. Oh wait, what’s that? Perma stealth thieves? Bunker eles? regen rangers? fearbomb/deathshroud necros? pretty much every class has things other classes do not, stop crying about it. Have you ever seen a mesmer ask for nerfs at Ele aoe? Or a mesmer crying because a thief got away, healed up, then killed them? Or when a pet revives the downed ranger and he stomps the mesmer?

Or, dare I say, when half of their abilities are still either bugged/working incorrectly or simply lackluster overall?

Mesmers have seen 8 and a half months of only nerfs (even the buffs we once got were removed pronto). The number of people playing mesmer has decreased up to a point that you rarely find them in PvE at all, in WvW they are portal monkeys and in Spvp they are, oh what? portal monkeys/swiftness providers.

This is the enjoyable class you wonderful whiners have created, little by little. And apparently you won’t rest until mesmer is only an NPC profession, or is erased entirely from the game.

“you are noobs and have no clue how to balance the game”

I know what you mean OP but that’s how the game changed.

The combat mechanics in GW were less action and more tactic based. In GW you had to think about other things while GW2 is all about jumping, dodging and – facing the correct way. It’s pretty similar to FPS games. I guess that’s how Anet wanted to make the game more appealing to players who didn’t play/like GW.

Tbh I also liked the combat mechanics in GW better.

Why is everyone starting to go off-topic?

jportell.2197:

These people lose to mesmers and think it is all because of one skill… and then get PO’d call the Mesmer a bad class and everyone that plays Mesmer NOOBs and people that can’t play a real class… I don’t even use MH sword currently but I am still against this nerf because I know it will not stop there… because it HAS NOT stopped… the QQers just keep coming….

Not sure why you think we lost to a Mesmer because we think a skill a too strong. The rest is just off-topic bs without any meaning for this thread.

Shay.7534:

So basically people want blurred frenzy to be on the level of pistol whip – 0 presence in the game, minus ~1k damage for the same stats on mesmer and 1s invulnerability vs 0.5s stun

Blurred frenzy : 2-3k damage heavy golem with 2204 power , 47% crit chance, 44% crit damage, ogre runes
Pistol whip : 3-4k damage with same stats

Well, i’m relieved now and cheering at your awesome plans. I will go tell all the pistol whip thieves the good news. Where exactly do the pistol whip thieves hang around ?

I pretty much understand where this new wave of rage against mesmers is coming. PVP just got way more popular and people started playing. People that have no idea what their class does even, let alone other classes and mesmer stands to be as the annoying opponent.
Proof is the fact that there are new threads where they actually complain about phantasm mesmer which has been a dead horse since November. Does it even get more sad then this ?

As I said before – almost any class has a good shot at killing mesmer 1v1 except warrior which pretty much dies to everything and to a certain extent necros. Ranger wipes the floor with mesmers. In teamfights we have a slight edge because one good shatter can make a team get in to trouble, but clearly not blurred frenzy is the culprit.

If anything needs nerf is mind wrack on targets except the intended one, at which point our AoE will be pretty much non-existent and we would need some compensation on staff probably.

I agree that Pistol Whip is pretty weak after the nerf but that’s a completely different topic. If Blurred Frenzy would be as weak the Mesmer would need some kind of buff to compensate for that – like we said before.

The rest is just off-topic again which nobody really cares about.

Tbh I would love to see some good arguments against a nerf here. So far the only thing I see is “you are noobs and have no clue how to balance the game” (uhm.. yeah) or “the Mesmer would be useless without the 2 sec Invulnerability” (no).

Feel free to surprise us with your on-topic arguments!

jportell.2197:

Blackhat.4016:

shimmerless.4560:

Blackhat.4016:

shimmerless.4560:

BlackBeard.2873:

For all the people fighting here, I think it might ease the pain a bit when people say “nerf” the skill, they don’t mean to drag it into the ground, stomp on it, and spit on the remains of the skill. They simply mean minor tweaks. In the example of blurred frenzy, that would be:
-12-15s cooldown (still often available) + more damage
-shorter distortion time
-tweak of distortion mechanic to make it a block rather than evade

All of these options can make the skill more balanced without doing something so silly as doubling the cooldown if your skill misses.

The “distortion” is two seconds long, I’m not sure how much lower you want it to go exactly.

One second.

The skill would be way more balanced then considering it only has a 10 sec CD. 10% invulnerability uptime by simply using one (!) skill still sounds pretty good to me. Maybe buff some weaker skills to compensate for that if the nerf hits Mesmers too hard.

One second would be “way more balanced” than two seconds? That seems awfully specific, why is getting rid of the last second so crucial?

2 seconds = too much invulnerability for 10 sec CD
0 seconds = dead Mesmer

=> 1 second.

Here is what the cloth classes have when they fight melee…

D/d ele LOTS of boons
Necro… LOTS of health+life steal
Mesmer>two seconds of invulnerability

I bet more mesmers would love to have the d/d eles boon up time while still doing good damage. Permanent protection… orrrrrr 2 seconds of invuln every 10 seconds… hmmmmmm…. who suffers least in the long run? yeah the one with perma protection…

You compare to 2 completely different builds which makes no sense at all. You have permanent protection (which can be removed btw but don’t tell anyone )because you spec for it as an ele. Runes, traits, trait line stats and utility skills. All those things are needed for permanent protection.

As a Mesmer you need nothing besides that one skill for 20% Invulnerability uptime (which equals 6 sec Protection uptime btw. 2 sec 100% reduced damage = 6 sec 33% reduced damage). No runes. No traits. Nothing. And that’s why the skill is too good.

10% Invulnerability uptime sounds fair too me since Mesmers need something to stay alive in a melee fight.

shimmerless.4560:

Blackhat.4016:

shimmerless.4560:

BlackBeard.2873:

For all the people fighting here, I think it might ease the pain a bit when people say “nerf” the skill, they don’t mean to drag it into the ground, stomp on it, and spit on the remains of the skill. They simply mean minor tweaks. In the example of blurred frenzy, that would be:
-12-15s cooldown (still often available) + more damage
-shorter distortion time
-tweak of distortion mechanic to make it a block rather than evade

All of these options can make the skill more balanced without doing something so silly as doubling the cooldown if your skill misses.

The “distortion” is two seconds long, I’m not sure how much lower you want it to go exactly.

One second.

The skill would be way more balanced then considering it only has a 10 sec CD. 10% invulnerability uptime by simply using one (!) skill still sounds pretty good to me. Maybe buff some weaker skills to compensate for that if the nerf hits Mesmers too hard.

One second would be “way more balanced” than two seconds? That seems awfully specific, why is getting rid of the last second so crucial?

2 seconds = too much invulnerability for 10 sec CD
0 seconds = dead Mesmer

=> 1 second.

shimmerless.4560:

BlackBeard.2873:

For all the people fighting here, I think it might ease the pain a bit when people say “nerf” the skill, they don’t mean to drag it into the ground, stomp on it, and spit on the remains of the skill. They simply mean minor tweaks. In the example of blurred frenzy, that would be:
-12-15s cooldown (still often available) + more damage
-shorter distortion time
-tweak of distortion mechanic to make it a block rather than evade

All of these options can make the skill more balanced without doing something so silly as doubling the cooldown if your skill misses.

The “distortion” is two seconds long, I’m not sure how much lower you want it to go exactly.

One second.

The skill would be way more balanced then considering it only has a 10 sec CD. 10% invulnerability uptime by simply using one (!) skill still sounds pretty good to me. Maybe buff some weaker skills to compensate for that if the nerf hits Mesmers too hard.

I am not going to argue about if some Mesmer skills need a nerf since there are several other threads for that out there but here is why you mainly see nerfs:

You can balance a game in 2 different ways.

• Buff everything so they are on the same level (awesome but takes a lot of time/money since you need to buff every other “non OP” build)
• Nerf everything so they are on the same level (not awesome but it works and takes less time/money since you only need to nerf the “OP” builds)

A good example for that would be the D/D bunker ele. Instead of nerfing it every single month (with some weird nerf decisions btw) they could have buffed everything on the same level. Won’t happen though since it takes a lot of time/money.

Another good example would be the Engineer. Even though I don’t play an Engineer I still know they are being nerfed on a regular basis as well. New “OP” build, new nerf. Why would you nerf those builds in the first place? Well, it takes less money/time to do that.

There are a lot of examples for those nerfs but in the end that’s how Anet wants to balance their game. That’s also the reason why we only see what you call “Nerf, Nerf, Nerf, Nerf”. It’s just the way balancing works for this game.

What Malthurius.6870 +1 said although your “constant action” part is also true. You need a break from time to time to make the action exciting again.

Even though I like the Engineer I would say Ranger. The Engi kits are kinda similar to Ele attunements. If you didn’t like the attunements you most likely won’t like the kits either. You should try them both though.

There is no need to worry. It’s not that easy at first but once you get used to it it’s a lot of fun and still rewarding.

The D/D build used to be pretty simple but due to the frequent nerfs it actually is a challenge now (which is fun in some cases imo).

I would say it is one of the hardest professions to play since it takes some time and practice to really know how to play an ele. Yes, you can just do the same skill rotations over and over again but that doesn’t make you a good ele imo.

I would suggest you try the ele in PvP and if you like the constant attunement swapping an ele might be the right profession for you.

Archer.1658:

Blackhat.4016:

Archer.1658:

Blackhat.4016:

Archer.1658:

Define a lot of damage? Even full glass in sPvP it is almost impossible to see anything over 4-5k unless your fighting glass cannons, in which case that is their fault. Why in gods name is this even being discussed? yes lets nerf the only viable one hand weapon mesmer has since scepter is crap. Also, lol at being hit with blurred frenzy in the first place, ileap (instigator for BF) is so telegraphed and bugged it is sad.

I feel like nobody is able to read today… let me try it again.

“Well, you are already invulnerable and deal a lot of damage. What else do you want for a 10 second CD? The root sucks but it doesn’t hurt too much since the enemy can’t do anything to you (except for repositioning). And like I said before, the damage is not the problem. The 2 second Distortion on a 10 second CD is the problem.”

I don’t care about the damage. It could be twice as much damage and I still wouldn’t care. It. is. about. Distortion.

Lawl, no I can’t read past all the crying. The distortion is fine as it is, it makes up for the fact we are rooted and are a light class kitten If distortion is nerfed, evade on ranger should be nerfed, evade from thief should be nerfed and anything else that grants a certain type of “invul” should be nerfed as well. Flawed argument is flawed. sPvP forum is full of crybabies, no wonder I don’t come here.

Totally understand the “crybaby” argument there. Maybe I should have thought about that before. The off-topic talk makes that even more clear.

Honestly, if you expect a proper answer you should read and write properly as well.

Point proven. Whining for the sake of whining. Let’s nerf all things.

Why are you still commenting? We are all crybabies and have no idea how a balanced skill should look like. That’s all you need to say to sum up your last few answers.

@OP
To sum it up:
Yes, the skill needs a slight nerf when it comes to Distortion or CD. Either reduce the Distortion uptime or increase the CD. I would prefer to reduce the uptime since the damage is ok. I have faith in Anet in this case.

Archer.1658:

Blackhat.4016:

Archer.1658:

Define a lot of damage? Even full glass in sPvP it is almost impossible to see anything over 4-5k unless your fighting glass cannons, in which case that is their fault. Why in gods name is this even being discussed? yes lets nerf the only viable one hand weapon mesmer has since scepter is crap. Also, lol at being hit with blurred frenzy in the first place, ileap (instigator for BF) is so telegraphed and bugged it is sad.

I feel like nobody is able to read today… let me try it again.

“Well, you are already invulnerable and deal a lot of damage. What else do you want for a 10 second CD? The root sucks but it doesn’t hurt too much since the enemy can’t do anything to you (except for repositioning). And like I said before, the damage is not the problem. The 2 second Distortion on a 10 second CD is the problem.”

I don’t care about the damage. It could be twice as much damage and I still wouldn’t care. It. is. about. Distortion.

Lawl, no I can’t read past all the crying. The distortion is fine as it is, it makes up for the fact we are rooted and are a light class kitten If distortion is nerfed, evade on ranger should be nerfed, evade from thief should be nerfed and anything else that grants a certain type of “invul” should be nerfed as well. Flawed argument is flawed. sPvP forum is full of crybabies, no wonder I don’t come here.

Totally understand the “crybaby” argument there. Maybe I should have thought about that before. The off-topic talk makes that even more clear.

Honestly, if you expect a proper answer you should read and write properly as well.

Zenith.7301:

Blackhat.4016:

I know that. DPS = Mesmer. Bunker = Ele. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough.

And I’m telling you that as a comparison of DPS ele vs. DPS mesmer the ele still has those advantages vs. the DPS mesmers because ALL of them are universal traits and utilities every ele regardless of gear or weapon setup takes.

The closest to a survivability hit you take between the setups is maybe replacing 2 cantrips for arcane utilities instead on a valkyrie/berk ele.

What do you mean by DPS ele? 0-20-0-20-30? That’s not a DPS build imo. It’s a slight variation of the bunker build. Berserker ele? That’s only viable in Hot Joins. At best. The ele has all those defensive advantages because he specs for it. That’s what the bunker build is all about. The Mesmer build is the complete opposite.

Besides that I feel like I am off-topic now. Back to Blurred Frenzy.

I know that. DPS = Mesmer. Bunker = Ele. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough.

Don’t worry about being too slow.^^ You will get used to it and unless you are playing a lot of PvP it doesn’t really matter.

I would suggest you should create your own build to understand how the ele works. This might help:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Rating-Elementalist-traits/first

Archer.1658:

Define a lot of damage? Even full glass in sPvP it is almost impossible to see anything over 4-5k unless your fighting glass cannons, in which case that is their fault. Why in gods name is this even being discussed? yes lets nerf the only viable one hand weapon mesmer has since scepter is crap. Also, lol at being hit with blurred frenzy in the first place, ileap (instigator for BF) is so telegraphed and bugged it is sad.

I feel like nobody is able to read today… let me try it again.

“Well, you are already invulnerable and deal a lot of damage. What else do you want for a 10 second CD? The root sucks but it doesn’t hurt too much since the enemy can’t do anything to you (except for repositioning). And like I said before, the damage is not the problem. The 2 second Distortion on a 10 second CD is the problem.”

I don’t care about the damage. It could be twice as much damage and I still wouldn’t care. It. is. about. Distortion.

Zenith.7301:

Swim.6830:

Salamol.7963:

You can move away from it, so no I don’t think it’s a problem. I realise that it’s usually used right after a tp/root but it’s one of the reasons to have a stunbreaker.

It autofaces, unlike 100 blades…

If mistform rooted Eles but was on a 10 sec cooldown, everyone would scream…

Mesmers don’t have prot or regen on attunement swap, they don’t have a pulsing heal that cleanses them of conditions. They don’t get aoe chunks of healing or several aoe knockdowns and a stun aura when hit in melee, and their utilities don’t grant them a long amount of prot and stability or rampant condition removal.

Mesmers don’t get an aoe weakness or a skill granting them near 400 toughness on activation, or aoe blinds. Mesmers don’t have their skill split between power skills and skills that apply powerful cinditions like chill or burning.

Not sure how comparing a DPS build to a bunker build makes this a good argument about Blurred Frenzy. Besides that there are several wrong assumptions. Maybe you should look up a few things before you post here…

jportell.2197:

Blackhat.4016:

jportell.2197:

And how many really high damage skills do mesmers have that don’t require a target? How many utility skills offer us invulnerability? How many movement skills do we have inour wweapons? How about for escaping a fight? Even necros can out run us or catch us… What about evades on our weapons as far as weapon movement goes we have 2 that’s it

This… doesn’t make a 2 second invulnerability on a 10 second CD less OP. If you think other skills need a buff that’s fine but this thread is not about the other skills.

It doesn’t make all other classes skills for avoiding damage while still being able to do high damage and deal with conditions better than us any less annoying to us. Blurred frenzy only does high damage in shatter builds and it is the only reliable damage mitigation we have in weapon sets… Both blocks that we have available only block ONE attack while other classes that have them block them for a set duration on matter what. Other classes have better weapon evasion than us. And if they bite off more than they can chew they can run away much easier. And to the person that said “Anything I said is now discredited” A necro with signet of locust is hard to catch especially for mesmers and especially since phantasmal berserker still does not freaking work… I’m sick of my class get nerfed over and over and over just because kittenes cannot L2P. I would loveee to have the damage mitigation that other classes get that mesmers are severely lacking but I deal with what I got. (FYI i’m not defending blurred frenzy because I use sword… haven’t touched it in months.) Objectively speaking other classes match our damage mitigation with their skill and put out high damage still. Blurred frenzy also only does high damage in shatter builds… in other builds (immortal and such) blurred frenzy damage is terrible.

Not sure if you read my answer. I do not – I repeat – not care about what you think about other skills/professions. This thread is about Blurred Frenzy. Nothing else. And like I said before there is no skill even close to the invulnerability this skill offers while still being on a 10 second CD. If the Mesmer would be too weak after a nerf (which won’t be the case) there should be a buff to compensate for that – like I said before.

Zenith.7301:

It’s a 2 second self-cc, in case you didn’t notice. You can do nothing else besides shatter while using it, and are rooted in place as a low mobility class.

The only way to land it offensively is by landing Swap, which is as obvious as an Eviscerate or Bull’s Charge. You either dodge or cleanse the root and move.

Well, you are already invulnerable and deal a lot of damage. What else do you want for a 10 second CD? The root sucks but it doesn’t hurt too much since the enemy can’t do anything to you (except for repositioning). And like I said before, the damage is not the problem. The 2 second Distortion on a 10 second CD is the problem.

jportell.2197:

And how many really high damage skills do mesmers have that don’t require a target? How many utility skills offer us invulnerability? How many movement skills do we have inour wweapons? How about for escaping a fight? Even necros can out run us or catch us… What about evades on our weapons as far as weapon movement goes we have 2 that’s it

This… doesn’t make a 2 second invulnerability on a 10 second CD less OP. If you think other skills need a buff that’s fine but this thread is not about the other skills.

Tbh mesmers aren’t OP in general but this skill is too strong imo.

The damage is decent and you get Distortion (aka Blur) for 2 seconds. Every 10 (!) seconds. 20% invulnerability uptime. There is no other skill even close to that.

Yes, I know you can dodge the damage pretty easily but that’s not the point. The 2 second Distortion on a 10 second CD is too strong.

Here is how a decent Mesmer will most likely use it against a strong opponent:
Opponent runs towards Mesmer and uses a high damage skill
=> Mesmer presses 2
=> Opponent deals 0 damage and his high damage skill is on a long CD
=> Mesmer is happy and will do the same again in 10 seconds

Imo nerf the Distortion part and buff weaker skills to compensate for that.

@Half Tooth.1867
Thanks for your feedback!

Chain Lightning
That’s a nice idea although I think it would be pretty difficult to balance the damage. I like the idea Blaine Tog.8304 had a little better though since it fits the air attunement really well (single target damage would be equal to the first target attacked in this case).

Static Field
That’s what I like about Static Field. I really wouldn’t want to change this skill. Lightning Surge should be the high damage skill imo while Static Field is your stun/combo field.

Burning Retreat
I thought about that as well but I am not sure if a leap finisher would be a little bit too strong. You would have access to every single aura (except for Shocking Aura) and a daze then. I like the idea though.

@SirDrygan.1823
Thanks for your feedback!
I am not sure which skill would be OP after the rework though. I tried to buff the weak skills and keep the good ones balanced. If there is a skill which is OP in your opinion please let me know.

I know they rarely come to the ele forums and comment (there is like 1 comment every 3 months) but I hope that somebody might read this and like the ideas. Maybe 1 or 2 of the reworks will be in a small staff buff.

@Navzar.2938
Thanks for your feedback!

Lightning Surge
Got a similar rework.

Eruption
I think the idea mentioned in the rework is better than just reducing the delay. You could either use the skill to hit your opponent or as a combo finisher.

Unsteady Ground
I don’t really like cripple with a damage boost considering this skill has a 30 second CD tbh. I would expect something useful like a knockdown with little damage since it fits the earth attunement really well.

Gust
Got a similar rework.

Meteor Shower
Yes, although this would be a bug fix instead of a rework then.

Hey.
First of all we need to know if it is lag (high ping) or low FPS (Frames per second). After that we might be able to help you.

P.S. I think this forum would be better for your thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech

@Coldtart.4785
Thanks for your feedback!
Burning Retreat:
Extra damage would be nice but I think a skill which creates distance between the ele and melee professions would be even better, especially for a 1v1. I would buff the damage in the air attunement to compensate for that though.

Water Blast:
I agree. That is a pretty nice idea. Going to update that.

Healing Rain:
I am not sure if the skill would be too strong with a higher target cap. Since we already buff Water Blast for the active heal I would not change this skill to keep the water attunement balanced although I would love to be able to heal more allies.

Chain Lightning:
Nothing to add here.

Gust:
Nothing to add here.

Stoning:
Weakness is a pretty underrated condition imo. Besides that Stoning is a physical projectile (combo finisher) which makes the skill even better. I don’t think the skill needs a buff.

Unsteady Ground:
Going to explain that in the answer to Blaine Tog.8304.

Shockwave:
Nothing to add here.

@Blaine Tog.8304
That was a pretty good explanation. Maybe I am too used to running around with at least 2 Guardian guild members and Armor of Earth. Besides that I really like the combo between Unsteady Ground and Lava Font/Ice Spike/Eruption. Going to update that but I will keep the complete rework as an alternative since I really liked the skill in beta.

@rhodoc.2381
Thanks for your feedback!
Chain Lightning would be a good skill for your idea. Sadly the damage would need to be lower if the skill is a drop down from the sky.
I included all your other ideas in the rework already (except for a Stoning rework which would be a single target skill).

I expected something creative. This troll is pretty lame…

I am sure they mentioned that they want to do a complete rework for the conjures in the last SotG.

Let’s hope they make them work like kits, otherwise I don’t see any reason to use them. You lose 20 skills and 1 utility skill for 5 skills (most of them are pretty bad). Even if the skills would be buffed a lot you would still lose your versatility and you also have to worry about the charges. Besides that there is only 1(!) trait for conjures. One. That’s not enough.

After the last few patches I am not sure if they will do a good job though…

Tbh I don’t really understand these fixes.
1. Not sure why you want to nerf what makes the signet unique. We already have 2 strong active heals.
2. Not gonna happen. Anet said they want to increase the ele heal skill cast time to make it easier to interrupt (I think it was in the last SotG). Besides that no cast time means weaker heal to keep it balanced.
3. Written in Stone (earth 12). We already have that trait.

I am probably as worried about more nerfs as you are (since we had them every single month) but this fix feels like a nerf to me.^^

@Blaine Tog.8304
Thanks for the feedback!
A knockdown would be nice as well but I feel like the huge amount of stability would make the skill a little weak. Either an ally gives you stability or you just use your own skills and run through Unsteady Ground without even noticing it. Sadly Unsteady Ground doesn’t move, otherwise the knockdown would be pretty good since your opponent has less time to react. Besides that it would not help too much in PvE. Imo a skill similar to Line of Warding would improve the PvE meta a lot since you would not rely on a Guardian every single time you want to do a difficult dungeon or FotM.

@Sabull.5670
Thanks for the feedback!
I agree about Lava Font. Going to update that!
I am not sure about the Unsteady Ground rework though. Imo a tornado transform would fit the air attunement much better and the small knockback wouldn’t help too much (I explained that in my answer to Blaine Tog.8304). I might include your idea in another rework though. Maybe focus.

Did you just start playing again? A lot of players had the same bug about a month ago and the gathering tools from back then are still bugged. I had the same bug on one of my chars. Just destroy the gathering tool and buy a new one. That should solve the problem.

I am an ele player since beta and honestly, it’s not too much fun anymore. I had to change my build every single month because of some new nerfs. Started playing LoL again and I am having a blast there. I might come back once they are starting to buff eles though (good joke, I know xD).

I wrote a short guide (signature) about it if you really want to know least useless trait. Tbh they are not horrible but also not great. I would say mediocre at best.

What OP said. +1

@Einlanzer.1627
Thanks for your feedback!

@Tsai.8216
Thanks for letting me know. I will post the ideas there once I have more feedback on how to improve the rework. I don’t want to spam the thread with unfinished work.

@Mooncrosser.7519
Thanks for the feedback! I will do a rework for the focus once I have more time.

@TheMightyAltroll.3485
Thanks for the feedback! I thought about the same rework you did but I feel like the blind is only a small bonus on top of the damage then. Imo the blind could be used way better if the casting time would be lower. That’s why I didn’t want to increase the damage too much.

@Navzar.2938
Just tested it again and you are right. Even though the AoE sometimes hits the opponent the skill misses quite often. Going to update that.

@Blaine Tog.8304
Wow, that is a lot of feedback!

Chain Lightning: Completely agree here. Your suggestion makes sense and fits the air attunement better. Going to update the rework!

Eruption: I agree. I am used to do these combos and that’s why I felt like 1 1/2 seconds would be enough. It may be difficult for new eles and players with a high ping though. Here is an idea which just came to my mind:

Don’t change the skill but if you press 2 again while being in earth attunement it explodes early (dealing less damage ofc). That way eles could still use the combo or hit the enemy if they want to.

Unsteady Ground: I was thinking about increasing the stats as well but imo that wouldn’t help a lot. The staff is mainly used for WvW or PvE. Cripple is pretty useless there because zergs in WvW have too much condition removal (for a 30 seconds CD) and it also doesn’t help a lot in PvE. That’s why I wanted to change the skill back to how it used to be in beta (if I remember correctly) without making it OP. Currently Guardians are pretty dominant in PvE (speed runs, FotM, etc.) and with the skill rework that might change. You wouldn’t have to wait for a Guardian for your run and instead you could use an ele to do his job. Obviously not as well as the Guardian but still good enough.

Shockwave: Nothing to add there.

@Vaugh.7193
Thanks for your feedback! I know the skill is deadly if you stand inside but the if is the problem.^^ That’s why I wanted to increase the damage (=> only 1-2 ticks hit but they deal a lot of damage) or the AoE radius (=> 2-3 ticks hit but they deal good damage). Like you said increasing the damage would be a little OP though and that’s why I will change the rework to increased AoE radius only.

I play LoL again and check the forum/guild chat from time to time.

(I didn’t play D/D though :P)

[Reserved for more editing]

This is my current rework for the staff elementalist. If you have more ideas on how to improve the elementalist or if you want to discuss my rework feel free to leave a comment! I will keep editing this thread to keep it up to date.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Earth:

Stoning
Hurl a rock and weaken your foe.

• Low damage but causes weakness and is a physical projectile (combo finisher). Nice skill.
  => No rework needed.

Eruption
Shake the ground until it erupts and damages foes.

• High damage and a blast finisher on a low CD. Pretty much never hits the target.
  => If you press 2 again while being in earth attunement the eruption explodes early but deals less damage.

Magnetic Aura
Reflect projectiles with magnetic energy.

• Fantastic skill on a high CD. Pretty balanced.
  => No rework needed.

Unsteady Ground
Create unsteady ground that cripples foes moving through it.

• Close to 0 damage and only a 2 second cripple on a high CD. Pretty useless.
  => Instant knockdown and cripples for 3 seconds.

• alternative skill rework:
  Create a line in front of you that foes cannot cross.
  Duration: 5 seconds
  Range: 1,200
  CD: 50 seconds
  Casting time: 1 second
  Now skill 5 instead of 4.
  (Line of Warding on a 50 second CD instead of 40 and no combo field)

Shockwave
Create a shockwave that bleeds and immobilizes your target.

• Low damage but immobilize and physical projectile (combo finisher) on a high CD. Misses quite often.
  => Increase the projectile width and/or projectile speed.
  Now skill 4 instead of 5.

Air:
Chain Lightning
Hit multiple foes with arcs of chain lightning.

• Really low damage, no additional effect and slow projectile speed. Really needs a damage and speed buff to keep up with the other staff 1 skills.
  => Increase the damage to 500 (first hit) /400 (second hit) / 300 (third hit) and increase the speed by 25%.

Lightning Surge
Charge a lightning surge that blinds foes near your target when it discharges.

• Mediocre damage and a high casting time for an air skill doesn’t make sense imo. The high casting time is also the reason why the blind is close to useless. Instead of making a certain skill miss it hits a random skill after 1 1/2 seconds.
  => Increase the damage to 600, reduce the casting time to 1/2 second and increase the CD to 14 seconds.

Gust
Push foes backward with a burst of air.

• Knockback without any damage on a high CD. Misses quite often.
  => Increase the projectile width and/or projectile speed. Add some damage (~1 auto-attack).

Windborne Speed
You and nearby allies gain swiftness, while curing crippled, immobilized, and chilled.

• Nice skill on a high CD. Seems balanced to me.
  => No rework needed.

Static Field
Create an electrical field that stuns foes crossing it.

• Fantastic skill on a very high CD. The lightning field helps a lot.
  => No rework needed.

Water:

Water Blast
Spray a jet of water at foes that also heals allies in the blast radius.

• Low damage but small AoE heal. Balanced but unreliable.
  => Heal bounces similar to Winds of Chaos (Mesmer staff 1).

Ice Spike
Drop a giant ice spike on foes to make them vulnerable.

• Nice damage and Vulnerability on a very low CD. The problem is the skill doesn’t hit your opponent most of the time.
  => Reduce the time until the Ice Spike hits your opponent (~75% of the current time) and increase the CD to 5 seconds.

Geyser
Create a geyser to heal nearby allies.

• The heal is ok but the AoE radius is way too small. The water field is very nice. CD is ok.
  => Increase the AoE radius to 180.

Frozen Ground
Coat the target area in ice, chilling foes that enter it.

• Fantastic skill on a very high CD. The ice field helps a lot.
  => No rework needed.

Healing Rain
Call down a healing rain on the target area, granting regeneration to allies and curing conditions once every three seconds.

• Great skill on a very high CD. Heals, removes conditions and gives you another water field. Sadly you need to stand still while casting but that makes the skill pretty balanced.
  => No rework needed.

Fire:

Fireball
Cast a fireball that explodes on impact and hits multiple foes.

• Deals decent damage in a small AoE but the projectile is slow.
  => Increase the speed by 25%.

Lava Font
Make lava erupt from the target area.

• The damage per tick is good but most enemies will only stand in it for 1 or 2 ticks. The CD is ok.
  => Instant damage instead of delayed damage.

Flame Burst
Burn foes at the target location.

• Burn deals a good amount of damage and the small AoE helps. The CD is balanced as well.
  => No rework needed.

Burning Retreat
Quickly roll backward, leaving behind a line of fire that burns.

• Close to 0 damage unless you stand in the fire field for the whole duration. Pretty high CD considering it is the only real engage/disengage skill for staff eles. Needs a rework imo.
  => Remove the fire field (we already have Lava Font for that) and reduce the CD to 10 seconds. That way staff eles would have a slight chance in a 1v1.

Meteor Shower
Call down a meteor shower onto the target area.

• Great skill if you need AoE damage, terrible in a 1v1. CD is ok. Balanced skill.
  => No rework needed.

Hello everyone,
in this thread I want to discuss and rework the elementalist staff skills. Some are really strong in my opinion while others are weak. I hope this will improve the current situation for staff eles. This thread is the first part. I will also do a rework for dagger, focus, scepter and the slot skills in the future.

Here are the different skills:

For PvE you can use any weapon. Just use the one you like the most. Here is a general overview:

• Staff: AoE damage, CC and support, lots of combo fields
• D/x: good damage, some CC and mobility, heal
• S/x: good damage (which can be dodged easily when it comes to fire), blind, condition removal and heal
• x/D: huge burst skills (which can be dodged easily), some CC, combo field and mobility
• x/F: CC, defense and combo field

For D/D builds I would recommend this guide:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-ele-3-29-12/first

Here is a short guide about the traits:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Rating-Elementalist-traits/first

I hope this helps.

Lenn.6347:

you’re pretty pathetic if you think your class is dead just because they put it in it’s place. dumb bunker builds healing right through my damage and getting away from what should be kills is ridiculous. and then to top off the cherry on the kitten pie, they can burst me down just as fast? you deserve to be nerfed.

adapt, and learn to play, rather than hopping on a bandwagon just because it’s stupid strong.

If a bunker ele can “burst” you down you seriously deserve to die. Against decent players it’s rather poke until you die (and that can take a long time unless you never dodge, don’t move and don’t heal).

Warriors always had the best mobility in the game (even better than thiefs and eles). Mobility is not the problem. The problem is kiting. Pretty much any profession can kite a warrior until he is dead. The good thing is:

There are a lot of bad players in WvW which means warriors are still able to roam pretty well.

Well, let’s hope once the SAB comes back we will be able to play World 1. I tried the SAB for the first time yesterday (and didn’t finish it) and I would love to play every single level.

Don’t forget the nerfs on Spirit Watch:

• Ride the Lightning distance is reduced by 40% while carrying the orb.
• Tornado move speed is now correctly reduced while carrying the orb.
• The orb is dropped if the orb carrier uses an invulnerability skill.
• The orb now spawns 10 seconds after match start instead of immediately.
• Increased altar commune time from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.

All of those nerfs hit the ele really hard. There is absolutely no reason to use an ele as the orb runner anymore. Well done Anet, well done…

Sadly no buffs for the bad traits this patch… again.

Here are the patch notes if you didn’t read them yet:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Game-Update-Notes-April-30-2013

Like they said in the SotG, huge nerfs and minor buffs. I expected it but I am still disappointed (well, that’s nothing new when it comes to patches)…

The next nerf will most likely hit us in 2 months because the next patch is a “bug fix” patch instead of balance. Enjoy your ele till then.

P.S. Cleansing Water is still one of the best traits and that’s why I will not change the rating.

^

It was pretty strong for an adept major trait. Imo way too strong for only 10 points. Maybe moving it to a higher tier instead of nerfing it would have been better though.