Guild Wars 2

Yukishiro.8792:

I like having builds that don’t require you put 30 points into an element. I don’t think I’d like a revision that made going 30 points into an element mandatory.

That said, ele traits in general are definitely underwhelming and could do with an across the board boost in effectiveness.

I wasn’t trying to imply a buff that made the 25/30 traits mandatory, but to make them appealing enough to actually want to use them.

The problem is that once you spend those extra 5/10 points, then you are pretty much committed to that one element and once you switch out of that element, you lose your investment into that particular element (hence the idea of having that particular element granting a buff that affects all other spells and not just that attunement).

Quintal.6594:

For all but arcane, yes.

For arcane.. evasive arcana = best thing ever (EVERY dodge is a blast finisher, even on cd)

Technically, the arcana trait line affects everything so that doesn’t have to have changes all. What I’m hoping for is that Anet will make it more worthwhile to dump more trait points in 1 particular line without causing big time penalties when switching.

Elementalists have to be able to switch elements at a moment’s notice so that means we immediately lose any sort of benefit from a specialized trait (besides dealing with an un-specialized element and the lack of bonuses) and lose some of the effectiveness.

The idea of having the set grandmaster trait that affected everything is my view of what could be done mitigate that loss of effectiveness when specializing in 1 element, not just dumping points in arcana (which affects everything).

Pinkerton.5643:

Well, I do feel that burning rage is a bit small, but if you have your foes constantly burning, that’s a 5% damage buff, which isn’t too bad.

Burning rage is absolutely too small of a bonus. An extra 5 would make it actually worth the 5 more points needed to get it. Also, my idea was more of an attempt to make the traits actually be synergetic with the other elements. We are able to switch to other attunements, so if people have grandmaster traits from one particular element switch to another, we lose them. In my opinion, that’s a really big penalty.

Pinkerton.5643:

Pyromancer’s Puissance is actually awesome, I think. The question is how fast can you cast fire spells? How many stacks can you build in 5 seconds?

With 20 in arcana, I can maintain about 5 stacks for about 1-2 seconds before it drops down to 4.

(I tried to find a suggestions forum but there are none so I’m posting it here.)

It might be that I’m only a PvE elementalist hence the PvE only point of view, but does anyone else find the grandmaster traits to be very… well, lackluster?

I mean, the idea of spending so many trait points in one particular line is to be able to specialize, right? Yet, for a class that is supposed to swap attunements when needed, we suddenly hinder ourselves if we swap out of our preferred element after specializing in a trait line.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the initial grandmaster trait be some sort of effect that affects all the other elements and then have the second trait be related to the core concept of the element?

For example, wouldn’t it make sense that this:

Burning Rage: 5% more damage vs. burning foes

Pyromancer’s Puissance: Gain 1 stack of might for 5 seconds each time you cast a fire spell.

Persisting Flames: Fire fields last 30% longer.

Be made changed into something like this?

Burning Rage: 15% more damage against foes while attuned to any element.

Pyromancer’s Puissance: Gain 15 stacks of power each time you cast a fire spell. (Max 150 power and ends on down or attunement switch).

Persisting Flames: This is fine (imo).

This way, players will have something to aim for when specializing and won’t face severe penalties when switching out of their favored element. At the same time, players will have a valid goal to reach for when they do spend that last 5 points to get the 2 traits that reflects the core concept of that particular line of magic (in fire’s case, damage, lots of damage).

OP, you forgot to mention something about meteor shower: Make the damage consistent. Right now, from what I’ve observed, the meteors seem to fall at random locations. If enemies (up to the max limit of 5) were actually auto-targeted by a meteor whenever they were inside the field, then meteor shower would be more useful in PvE.

Kraigan.6057:

…and after 10 button presses the elementalist has accomplished what other classes can do in half the time with half the button presses.

That, in my opinion, makes it more fun than any other class (I have to keep paying attention instead of just glancing around occasionally).

My staff combo rotation with signet of earth (for utility) is:

Earth: 2
Water: 2, 4
Air: 2, 3 if they’re close, 4
Fire: 2, signet of earth, 3, spam 1*

• Optional:
  Earth: 2, 5, 4

The odd thing about blasting staff is that I noticed that there were more meteors when I had the trait equipped. It could be just my imagination though (I hope I’m wrong).

In terms of traits, it seems to me that for a class that is supposed to switch between 4 elements in a fight, the granting of specialized bonuses should be much greater than just 10% extra damage while attuned to a certain element.

If anything, specializing to an element means you’ll be using that particular attunement as your dominant element. If anything, there should be some better specialized bonuses that represents the core of what that element is supposed to do.

I found the sudden ending of the personal quests around level 20 to be jarring as well. There were far too many conveniences for my human to discover her parent’s last known location and the wiping out of the White Mantle was just plain silly. There had to be a lot more build up and support for the personal storyline but I guess Anet’s intention was to get you ready for level 30 IE: where the real story begins.