Guild Wars 2

There are actually a lot of factors that go into this.

For example WvW varies on what you’re doing. There’s solo roaming. Havoc (5-20). Zerg (21-40+). Different activities are going to have various differences. What also matters is what WvW server you are in/on. For example 40+ people in a Zerg might sound like a lot but it’s fairly common in a Tier 1 bracket of WvW. When 40 people are dropping down AOE bombs going in with Berserker is suicide. I don’t care how cool or how skilled you are, 40 PBAOE’s going off just gonna down you outright without some tank. There are other times when you got that many people and honestly they aren’t very coordinated with their AOE bomb and you can get away with less tank.

Most cases I tend to use the following on a 06044 spec:

Armor: PVT
Jewelry: Zerker or Knight (Emerald) with Celestial Socketed
Weapon: Zerker

When the zerg play is too rough with too much coordinated AOE, I swap in the extra toughness and healing with the Jewelry slots. When it’s not, I keep it going full Zerker with PVT armor rounding me out with traits.

What I read was:

Please instant level to 20 then use 60 tomes of knowledge to instantly level to 80, have no equipment or gear prepared up, and head on out to Maguuma instantly and sit around and let others do the hard work for me.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Oh so what happened to “wave your arms around until you get to the end chest” Kodiak? Could it be possible that you have discovered that being efficient is nice ??

Oh well let me tell you the back story to that. A long, long, long time ago in a land far away….you don’t understand hyperbole. The end.

I’m just saying…

Purple Miku.7032:

Kodiak.3281:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Milennin.4825:

If you don’t stack Might before a battle you’re a bad Elementalist

Today is the day I learned I am a bad elementalist

We’ve known for quite some time. I am glad you came to the realization. It was getting awkward.

Hopefully the day will come that you learn it as well.

I stack Might in Air Attunement so I think I can safely say I am an amazing Elementalist.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Milennin.4825:

If you don’t stack Might before a battle you’re a bad Elementalist

Today is the day I learned I am a bad elementalist

We’ve known for quite some time. I am glad you came to the realization. It was getting awkward.

Just start coming up with stat combinations in GW2skills.net and see what works. There’s lots of combinations of gear that ultimately lead to the same stats. A lot of those stats depend on what you’re doing spec wise. Sometimes you can tweak things to reduce a stat here or a stat there and increase another stat elsewhere until you find a stat mix you want and then go out and make it.

Also the second they offer the same ranged AOE potential in other class I’m totally going to it. Really paying attention to HOT changes. I’d be on a necro right now but it’s just not quite the same. I tried Engineer at release and while I loved it the Grenades just hurt my hands to use lol…

The base Elementalist has to work with is just so abysmal stat wise. Maybe HOT will change that I am not sure but having to overcome baked in class limitations of defensive stats by having to excessively gear defensively to perform in WvW is annoying at best and criminal in that there’s very few ways to gear to get the “best of everything” package.

Just see with time.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

But so far the only thing that I have found to be required in all builds is a strong cleansing potential.

Which is why I’m so hesitant personally to veer away from 4 Water and /D when using two weapons. The double cleansing wave plus Cleansing Fire basically means I can ignore conditions entirely.

Again the issue you’re struggling with is design. It’s all flip flopped. The thief has highest burst damage with tons of escapability. Our damage isn’t equal and we don’t have anywhere near the same escapability (due to nerfs) because we get healing. This is what I’ve struggled with my Elementalist for so long, cause it leaves you ultimately to some very limited options design wise if you want to have the best of all worlds like most classes can.

I still S/D Fresh Air Ele all the time on a similar build setup. Works great, lots of burst people don’t expect. More stationary defensive classes really pay if they don’t catch the Dragon’s Tooth combo but still take a truckload of damage regardless. Prefer Celestial amulet though.

I know /F is super fashionable these days but I still prefer /D. Lots of great defenses in /D that really work out well.

I recommend gems to a lot of people who are newer and are usually rocking WvW exotics they got from leveling in EOTM (too many WvW badges…) and they won’t be able to get the upgrades out.

Otherwise if you got the cash, there’s lots of other options that are pretty decent.

Lots of ways to do stats honestly. If we’re discussing stats (Armor/Jewelry/Weapons) then going Celestial/Zerker Valk/Zerker aims for decent stats, but honestly wastes some stats in condition damage and healing you could focus elsewhere. Honestly I’d probably go with something like Soldier/Zerker/Zerker. You do give up some Precision Ferocity this way but in turn gain around 200 more power. The Tough and Vit are slightly lower, but nothing worth noting honestly especially for the cost difference of Celestial vs Soldier.

Up to you in the end. Many ways to skin a cat. Also depends on what spec you end up in point wise, as points in each line also passively increase stat totals quite a bit. I always end up quite a few points in Air traits because I always skimp on Precision/Ferocity and they make up that difference.

Honestly there’s no reason not to make both and give them each a try. With HOT could end up with a specialization on either class that changes the view point down the line.

In regards to WvW just about every play style is viable. It’s very easy in Zerg play to go D/D and spam your AOE’s as you zerg dive. Aura Share can be great in this environment with things like Shocking Aura weeding out anyone who doesn’t go Stability and other benefits like Frost Aura as well. Spamming lightning whip as you dive is every bit as viable as any other melee AOE class like Guardian.

How defensive you go depends on your preference. There is some absurdly tanky builds for Elementalist and some not as tanky builds as well. Most people these days shy away from them because they find them unnecessary. As always WvW is a balance of finding “just enough” survivability. Some zergs you face you will need more, others less. I own 6 suits of gear for a reason and that reason is options.

The primary difference between Guardian or Elementalist simply is the ranged options. Elementalist has the capability to throw on a staff and do AOE support (offensive or defensive) at 1200 range and the Guardian simply can’t. They get Scepter and a GTAOE staff ability. That’s about it.

The nice part about the Elementalist is it’s staff is full of both Offensive, Control and Defensive options all in one weapon. You have fire for damage. You have Air for some damage and AOE control. You have Earth for some control. You have Water for recovery and a bit of control. Even if you spec healing support and go full 100% healing mode you still have that baked in Control regardless. Even if you go full crazy time DPS town you can always swap back out and drop a Water field and blast it up for some heals and the control is still there.

Yea for sure. Very annoying, but again it’s like no time at all in the story. Just knock it out and you’ll be super glad when she dies.

I went priory for the armor. I hated the adviser, but that’s over quick enough.

Now I have a skirt with some pants on underneath. I like Priory armor in general because it’s all mixed together pretty well. Like I use a mix of white gold/tarnished silver for an off-white look outlined with a good charcoal and it all comes out pretty nice on the priory garb. You can really mix a few shades of colors and they can play off each other. Most armor sets it’s like BLAM this part is red, this part is orange, this part is yellow and not so much with the priory garb.

I had another idea this morning, not sure if others thought of it yet.

What if they do something that removes the Attunements and instead makes you like a “Zephyrite” elementalist. Instead you gain the ability to equip two weapons which have skills from existing attunements placed on them. For example Staff might have Air 1, Fire 2, Water 3, Earth 4, Fire 5. Then add in additional weapon set to this as well with a few new moves like a sword or mace main hand. This new spec would be focused around mobility (something Zephyrites are known for).

Boom, lore and class all in one.

In SPvP, for sure. However consider that the OP also mentioned levels, meaning he’s likely not talking about SPvP as levels don’t matter much there. As always most OPs tend to leave out exactly what part of game play they are aiming at so it’s hard to say for sure.

That said none of that really detracts from what I wrote. The main difference is still pretty much the option for range on the Elementalist. Considering the OP also mentioned doing support, hard to say if he’s looking for D/D melee game play as most support for Ele tends to either be boon stacking (which could be D/D or S/D or /F really) or field generation and healing support (from staff play).

Hard to tell till the OP gives more info to go on really.

About a year ago I made a Guardian specifically to test out the difference between Guardian and Elementalist. Guardians are pretty well regarded as one of if not the best class in game because they just fit in just about every kind of game play mode.

What it really comes down to is whether or not you want ranged options. Guardian has basically no range what so ever and feels very limited when it comes to situations where you need/want range. So if you are more of a stand offish style player who wants to do ranged AOE DPS or ranged AOE support (which in most cases you still gotta get in there a bit) then Elementalist is going to work better for you cause they have those options.

The trade off is the Guardian has to get in there more, but it’s also (arguably) better equipped to do so and is very naturally tanky by design even when offensive. That doesn’t mean you can’t get the same on the Elementalist, and most do, it’s simply a design difference when looking at the base of each class before you get into traits/utilities/etc.

So if you want more range…go Elementalist. If you don’t and you plan to do melee most of the time, Guardian or Elementalist will work just fine.

Seems like the main gain with Nomads is you’re trading power for a bit more Toughness and Healing Power.

See I’m totally with you Kaleban on just about everything you just said in terms of build design philosophy and have been for years. Back when the meta was 02066 with full tank gear I was “too offensive” and now with the zerkzerkzerk meta I’m “too defensive.”

My first recommendation is get really familiar with the builder at gw2skills.net and play around with stats. This lets you build a base of gear, and then tweak from there. This also lets you play around with things like Consumables. Sure Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup sounds great at first stat wise but after a week you may hate having to gather the mats or paying the cost to get it. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new ideas! Try swapping out a neck of one type for another and see how it affects the over all stats. Mix up the jewelry, runes, etc and really see what you can come up with. Doesn’t have to perfectly match if in the end the over all stats work out pretty great!

I do basically what you describe except I use PVT (Soldier or Ahamid’s) armor with Zerker Jewelry/Weapons and a 06044 spec. For WvW zerg play I swap in Emerald (Knight) jewelry base with Celestial (Charged Quarts Jewels) in them. This cranks my toughness into the near 1600 range and HP over 16000 which is pretty big when you’re running into 40 man zergs dropping piles of AOE onto your head haha. You do lose some crit and crit damage but not enough that matters when it’s 40 v 40 zerg style. Plenty of power with Bloodlust or Guard Killer stacks.

I would also consider Pack runes instead of Strength runes if you aren’t playing S/D or S/F or D/F or D/D all that much because honestly while the extra might duration is pretty awesome you don’t stack that much might as staff (usually about 3 blasts max) where as the rest of the pack bonuses can be more useful for WvW and running around in general.

Lawful.5314:

Difference is huge, and that is effectiveness.
Some of them can’t get the job done all the time.

You can argue how important effectiveness is all you want but effectiveness doesn’t equate to viability. The only thing viability is measured in is whether or not it gets the job done.

I’d also argue that there is no one over-arching be all-end all spec for any class that always gets the job done. Berserker anything is going to get downed in 2 seconds when it impacts with a 40+ man zerg in WvW. While my spec may survive that, it won’t be nearly as effective for 30+ fractal content. All about using the right tool (spec) for the job.

Lawful.5314:

I really don’t think that you should base the vialibity of a build , based on a select very few good players.

Sure it works, but its not anyhwere near as good.

The only thing you should really base the viability of anything on is does it accomplish the goals and objectives you want to accomplish? If it does, then it’s viable.

Arguing the difference between a Hammer, a Sledge Hammer, a Nail Gun and a Bolt Driver doesn’t matter much when all you’re trying to do is hammer some nails.

Lawful.5314:

Some people are going to say “Whoa wait, if they buff its damage, its going to be OP as hell!”
Well not exactly, if they buff the damage on elementalist, players won’t be forced into defensive cantrips and 6 water builds all the time to be able to scrap healing from anything they do, people would be able to actually invest into damage builds and try different variations, sure if a couple of them end up being too strong aka tanky and too high burst, you can tune the numbers down on the cantrips and stuff to make them less tanky, ect.

See as a person who plays a few classes, I have always found it’s our natural lack of HP and Armor compared to any other profession that causes me to feel the need to spec heavy into water and primarily use Cantrips. It’s like we were created with a deficiency and now you gotta spec a certain way to make up for it. Then because everyone spec’s into Water and Cantrips they have seen nothing but nerf after nerf after nerf even though it’s their own design of the class that gives people the feeling they need to make up for it. Now you can make up for it and still retain a great deal of burst damage and efficiency but no where as near efficient as other classes can because of their arbitrarily given natural benefits of HP or Armor.

Really their whole system is pretty much mixed signals and makes no sense. Ranger has medium HP pool and is more healing based while the Thief is more low HP pool and has a lot of escapability. Conversely in Light armor pool the Elementalist has a low HP pool and is more healing based while the Mesmer is a medium HP pool and has a lot of escapability.

Damage rarely comes into the equation. We’ve always had pretty reasonable damage all told with the biggest complaint is our damage is too ground focused and thus easier to avoid than others. I mean people even at the start of the Elementalist were bursting others down as Zerker in SPvP but once Anet started nerfing our mobility (because that’s Mesmer’s thing) I know the frustration boiled over and many of those guys stopped playing entirely.

Thaddeus.4891:

Kodiak.3281:

I really don’t get why people have such a hard time with reading comprehension around here.

Because you give bad advice to ppl?

I fail to see the correlation between your opinion on the advice I give (which you then later reference in your own advice) and someone linking a random D/D Celestial SPvP build in a thread where someone is asking for a staff build.

Ark.9586:

There’s literally no way for anything to change for ele unless they
a) make direct damage bad in general and make condition damage always superior
b) make a stat combination with like two primary attributes including power/ferocity, which is stupid because it can’t happen lol

Because they would never change things like raw crit damage % into a stat with less over all crit damage right?

Metas shift because people are willing to try new things and show that they aren’t as bad as people think even when they are surrounded with mindless drones screaming the current meta at the top of their lungs. The current ele Meta is nothing new. It was there since launch and guys like good ol’ Razor.6392 championing that cause back when people widely thought it was impossible to go zerkzerkzerk.

Sometimes a new patch kicks things off. Like I used to use 60062 long before the Fury blast and it was just fine but then after that Fire stopped seeing “useless” in the perceptions of people.

As they add new stuff in people will get new ideas and try things out. They’re always going to keep adding and tweaking stuff to the game, that’s what a MMO is. The question is are you one of the people who are shutting down every idea or trying to run with it and let it go somewhere?

Ark.9586:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAoYhcMKc24wzBd0AiAB5suqRBlfHTB-TJxHwADeAAa2fAwJAoYZAA

I really don’t get why people have such a hard time with reading comprehension around here.

All these stats depend on what you’re doing. Running with a huge zerg in WvW you gonna die if you try to staff ele in zerkzerkzerk but going that route in other parts of the game ain’t as bad.

Generally speaking I’ve always gone with:

PVT Armor – Strength Runes (cause I mostly S/D, would use “Pack” for Staff primary)
Zerker Jewelry
Zerker Weapon(s) – Bloodlust/Energy (Staff)
Sharpening Stone
Orrian Fries

With a 06044 build this gives me little over 16000 HP (with WvW buff), 1400 Tough, 50% crit, 204% crit dmg, and 2400 attack before might or bloodlust. Pretty much gives me the best of both worlds and I can slack mode through the game in just about any game mode (except SPvP which obviously has different setups) with pretty much any weapon type.

Perception is everything in a game that had no real numbers to go off of. Even if you could spreadsheet your way to numbers the damage was done back then. Ele/Necro/Ranger bad. Mesmer/Warrior/Guardian good.

But the meta for the game shifts as time rolls on. There was a time where there was like one zerker ele and everyone else “had” to go tanky. Now everyone “has” to go zerker. I can’t wait for what the meta of tomorrow holds…

Jerus.4350:

Sometimes you just wanna get drunk hop on teamspeak and chat it up while kitten ing around but still get your dungeons cleared

This is the song of my people.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having the stance that there is only one way to play and that’s your way. Even better, as you say, these days you can even back it up with some nice numbers that are based on in game data.

However what you can’t do is say there is only one right way to play an Elementalist and then say there are multiple ways to play an Elementalist. It’s a contradiction. It’s like you saying there’s no problems with people who want to sit in half tanky gear or just wants to heal. Yet on the the other hand there is a problem with it because you want to “educate him” on what’s the best in the game. If there’s no problem, why are you educating him?

I mean if people are going to be elitist zealots for their cause then just do it. Stop pretending you’re everyone’s buddy and it’s all cool when all you do is call people bad for playing bad and they should play the right way.

I have it on word from a very credible source that the specialization is actually dual wield hamsters attached by a rope that we wield in nunchaku fashion.

And there you have it. The “right” way. The “most efficient” way. The fact that it gets done is of no concern to you, only the way in which it was done.

As usual you also have the flare for the dramatic. Please go ahead and quote me at any point where I recommended anyone actually attempt anything I’ve done.

Which I believe this topic actually started with group composition, specifically whether or not berserker was really viable without a guardian’s blind/reflect.

If the group you are in is incapable of downing the content you are going after with a specific setup really what’s the harm in adjusting things so then you are capable of getting the job done?

I mean we can play around with words like “sneak” or “adapt” or “adjust” or “deceive” or “overcome” and all the various semantics that amount to the same thing but at the end of the day who really cares if the content gets done?

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

I love internet arguments because people are so assiduous in backing their claims

In the guide I wrote with Haviz, we make it clear that there is no one-size-fits-all build to solve everything, we emphasize the need to adapt to each encounter/group/skill-level, and we even advise a build designed for people learning dungeons.

See? I claim that I understand how people need to get the job done, and I back this statement.

In comparison, you claim to make people stop feeling “bad” by telling them to stop caring.

Against my better judgement I’ll point out that your entire post history is full of advice that has nothing to do with getting the job done.

You can look at this thread as an example. Person says sneak in a bit of defensive stats, and you claim that’s entirely wrong and that they should either get better by using traits instead of gear or wait for a better group. However wouldn’t getting the job done mean if switching in some defensive stats so long as they clear the dungeon fit that bill? Wouldn’t that, in fact, be going along with what you just said and if they find themselves in a group that isn’t conductive to zerkzerkzerk that they should in fact adapt to that situation and scale back to get the job done?

I mean look at your own admissions here. You see someone who “heals too much” when they swap to water and you want to have an aside with them and “re-educate” them on a “better” way of playing? That isn’t concern with getting the job done, that’s concern with making people play your way because you’re convinced that’s the best way to play and therefore should be the only way to play.

See at the end of the day, you don’t care if the job got done. What you fundamentally care about and show you care about is that it got done “right way.”

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Kodiak.3281:

Most people have one desire: Not to feel like they are bad or playing bad. That is why they come to these forums and ask advice.

And your advice is to pretend.

My advice is to not worry about things that truly don’t matter.

I actually had a nice person ask me for advice yesterday while doing the daily Fractal yesterday. He’d just come back, largely was in Rares and Exotics and wanted to know what the new habloo was for Elementalists. The advice I give is actually fair and balanced. I explain the old meta was tanky (2 years ago) and now it’s all zerkzerkzerk. Personally I’ve always been in the middle with half and half too offensive for the old meta and too defensive for the new meta. I usually recommend people start there, and then slowly switch out their build from tanky to offensive and then slowly switch around their gear. I recommend it this way because then people don’t get used to traits like after years of being (20)(4) water it’s hard for me not to rely on switching to water for a condi cleanse and heal due to habit. By not having that there, they can’t build any habits of relying on their traits. It’s more expensive this way cause you have to build multiple suits but hell I got all sorts of gear over time. So anyways, I tell him from there work it down till comfortable or if it finds he’s already comfortable and able to do everything why go crazy when you don’t need to? All depends on what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with. Not knowing the standard stacking spot or going there when everyone stacks will get you kicked out of a dungeon faster than being a certain spec or gear.

You actually have a lot of problem with people who just want to get the job done but as you say we’ve been down this road before and you typically are incapable of understanding.

I would use Conjures all the time in solo PvE if I didn’t have to worry about every random dude coming along and taking my 2nd set of charges.

After leveling two elementalists with people stealing my 2nd hammer I only do the standard Frost Bow bit now for destroying large objects/bosses.

Scoobaniec.9561:

I want to kill Caithe

I want to kill all of the Sylvari.

Also consider what it is you are doing in PvE.

I have no problems doing just about any game content on a 06044 spec with PVT armor and Zerker everything else. Generally speaking I avoid high end (30+) Fractals but otherwise works fine.

That won’t work however if you’re looking for ultra uber zerk zerk ZERK speed dungeon clear teams at that point you’re likely going to be best sticking to a Mesmer/Warrior/Guardian for easy mode.

Iris: Cheating is the wrong word. Cheating implies you are somehow breaking rules. Deceptive? Entirely. If anything it’s the people who are actually using these 3rd party programs and apps to see that kind of information the developers purposely went so far out of their way to mask that are actually breaking rules (which is why you don’t see any threads on the topic on the official forums and most are deleted immediately). Which we could probably quibble on that point forever but the fact remains there is a rule not do what these people are doing. I merely was pretending to be something I was not which is against no rules.

Zelyhn: If you remember I only have one metric when it comes to game performance: Does the content get completed? I don’t care if it’s done in the most optimal route nor do I care if it’s done with the most optimal players or optimal gear or optimal whatever nonsense. I’ve had just as many bad zerker groups who fail because people can’t handle the lack of HP and Toughness than I have had groups fail due to a lack of DPS. I’ve had just as many groups waste more time attempting to skip dungeon content as I’ve had groups who clear things faster just by doing it legitimately.

Most people have one desire: Not to feel like they are bad or playing bad. That is why they come to these forums and ask advice. Somewhere along the way they were told by someone what they were doing was bad. In turn they are greeted with the same superstition and brain washing they hear repeated over and over everywhere else. Do this, or you are bad. I don’t have these concerns, not because I wish to be bad, not because I am bad, but simply because I don’t value your opinion on whether or not I am a good or bad player.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

I remember some old discussion with you Kodiak where you would say that as long as you seem to wave you arms around with some animation no one would be able to tell that you are not contributing to the output of the group.

Apparently you stopped caring now

But you should know that there are only very few stats combinations that reflect the gear you are wearing, therefore programs that view HP are actually very accurate on the type of gear/trait the the user has in his build.

The glory days when you could go in full Clerics gear if you wanted and claimed you were #1 DPS they couldn’t prove it haha

There’s always been an element of know how to pull it off. You have to do most of the rotations in the right order and provide what people are more or less looking for (like Might Stacks). Long as you aren’t dead on the ground the entire fight and long as things more or less die very few people generally question it.

All depends on what you’re doing. Generally speaking very few people going to go full inquisition mode on you over Zerker gear over something simplistic like an Ascalon Catacombs path. Now high end fractals…

Zention.1849:

I don’t know where I was going with that point but well – it obviously is up to you how to play, but the next time in a party, your super tricky disguise as non zerker elementalist won’t work.

Part of the disguise is actually knowing what you’re doing.

I mean honestly you couldn’t make it to the first boss fight in most dungeons if people gather to stack might and you do something ridiculous like cast a water field.

The whole “never been caught” thing should probably tip ya off on my results

Also if my biggest concern was getting caught or outed I probably wouldn’t be posting with my account name tied to it very easy to look up and ban or block. I mostly don’t run dungeons at this point so I stopped caring.

PS: Programs that view HP are a poor barometer for what gear you’re wearing.

Sizer.5632:

Fully organized groups doing speedruns (like you see in those videos) are almost playing an entirely different game than pug groups are. Yes, it is better to wear more offensive gear to get yourself ready for being in those kinds of groups, but if you dont know the behavior of every boss then there is nothing wrong with wearing some defensive gear. Believe me, 99.99% of players who yell at the top of their lungs about people having to be in zerk gear 24/7 would never ever notice if you are in their group and doing 8k dps in your mixed gear instead of 10k dps in full zerk.

Yep. I join full Zerk groups all the time. They ask for link to gear, I link them Zerker gear with same visuals as another suit of gear. Pretty nice and no one has ever figured out the difference. I was called out once for using S/D instead of Conjure Lightning Hammer but I explained it away as frustrated as too many noobs were picking up my hammer.

Not to say that I float on by and get carried or anything, only that no one realistically in game has any way of telling what you are spec’d or how much DPS you are doing so it’s far too easy to get away with it

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

Why do people think that this game is 100% ballanced around PvP?

I don’t think anyone honestly believes that the game is 100% balanced around PvP but it’s also hard to ignore the long standing experience of players that most balance changes we’ve seen have been driven by PvP.

A classic Elementalist example of this was the Ride the Lightning nerf way long time ago where it was nerfed in PvE, WvW and SPvP because Elementalists had too much escapability. Why did it need to be nerfed in PvE? Because, as they’ve said repeatedly, they want all game modes to feel similar and they don’t want you hitting RTL every 30 seconds in PvE then switch over to PvP and now it has a 45 second cool down instead and you go to use it and it’s not up.

Agree, disagree, that’s just the way it is.

petyr baelish.9675:

You guys don’t do dungeon runs often do you? :p

That’s honestly nothing new. A lot of times people come looking for advice or to provide feedback and then some dude breaks in with some uber guide telling some casual guy just looking to casually run dungeons he should be in full zerk with opals and 6/6/0/2/0 as ultra uber lightning hammer excel-theory maximum dps extreme words!!!11

But I think your average dude is like, “I conjured a Fire Axe and it wasn’t very impressive.”

Big one for the human in Z v Z is it’s elite Reaper of Grenth where as you pass through enemy teams you are Poisoning/Chilling opponents around you (up to 10 a tick, which is a lot for an AOE). Also good source of Poison which Ele’s lack naturally.

The real irony here is the OP said they didn’t care about racial elites and everyone launches into a discussion on racial elites

Honestly all depends on what you want to do.

For general game play, it’s pretty hard to go wrong. Even the most basic of play styles of sitting in just Fire Attunement with a staff will get you tons of mileage for things like public events or champ bag grinding. No one realistically advocates that, mind you, but it’s effective none the less. If you get into more advanced topics like ranked SPvP and high end Fractals that’s really where spec and gear choices really matter.

I believe the commonly suggested route is to go 02066 with Berserker (Power>Prec/Fero) gear. As you get a feel for that and it’s game play slowly branch out into more offense such as dropping some from water/arcane towards fire or air in spec.

Personally I prefer 06044 for all times and purposes. I use Soldier’s armor (Power>Tough/Vit) and Zerker accessory/weapons as well as options for Knight/Celestial jewelry (Tough>Power/Prec + Celestial) if I need to get a bit tankier (such as for wvw zerg play). Mostly I rotate between Fresh Air with S/D for solo or group play and Lightning Rod Staff for zerg or large scale play. Works great. Really very few aspects of the game I don’t perform well in and most of those I don’t participate in. It’s always played as a mix of the old meta (super tanky) and the new meta (super zerker) which I find just great.

I used to be an Asura but ultimately the over the top animations did it in for me. I liked the look of it a lot in their racial T3 but the animations were too much. Everything is a giant act for an Asura. While the animations were neat at first, after about a year of constantly bobbing about and overdoing everything finally got me to reroll into a human.

Do you want range or not?

I mean sure there’s a few quibbles and points beyond that, but mostly it pretty much comes down to whether or not you want to have ranged moves or not.