Guild Wars 2

>Need more samples to be sure is not just an aberation.

currently I am using beta catalyst drivers that cause GW2 to hung during usage of any capturing mechanism – recording movies is not possible at all and screentshot works 1/20 tries.
This combined with additional requirements that must be meet to double the damage which is self gained 16 mights and <30s after killing previous mob to get 200power and 10% crit damage makes taking those screenshot ulta painfull

The differences between hits indeed exist because of random generator but they usually vary not more than ~ 100 damage. Ofc between the first and second screenshot I did not change any gear or traits.
In general the auto attack in air is doubled. Churning Earth can gain more than 2x bust when switching to water to get additional 20%. On this build with only 1700 base power I already got 12k+ Churning Earth initial + 4500 bleedings so ~16k Churning Earth in total which is quite nice for semi dps oriented build… but still on my thief or warrior I get a lot more dps with a lot lot lot less effort :/

>Well, the player who has 75 percente damage has alot of power

not always the case
this is my current build:
72% crit dmg and 1700 power
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3069/gw004se.jpg

same build/place/mob but after some tricks/combos/food
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4343/gw013ei.jpg

the damage is multipled by 2

there is simple rure in this game:
1v1:
tank cant kill tank – endless battle
gc cant kill tank, tank wins
gc vs gc – messmer wins

2v2 and 3v3. ..4v4…5v5
2/3/4/5 gc wins vs 2/3/4/5 tanks

that is because in this game GC complement each other while tanks and especially condi builds does not combine so well… and that is why chiftain ninjas (DPS oriented PT build) owns so hard any tank PT in pvp.

high crit damage and low crit chance actualy = low dps and dpm.
I wonder why many of you go 35% chance and 75% damage…
It gives you damage multipler 1.43 while 75% chance and 35% damage gives multipler of 1.63
Check the chance/damage ratio table here:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Critical_hit

After nerf perm fury is no longer an option and arcane power util/trait is not enought for 35% chance and 75% damage to make any sense. You will just see bigger red numbers from time to time but overall your damage will be not as good as with many smaller red numbers ^^
Going crit damage makes sense after your crit chance is 50% + . There is no magic just simple math.
ps.
I am in a process of creating simillar table as the one on wiki but in 3D where on the Z axis there will be power and you can see the optimal power/crit chance/crit damage ratios

>wondering what builds our viable out there

for pve almost any, some are better for some situations, some are better for others.
Seriuously try it yourself – this is also the fun part in the game – trying new builds.
Just dont start with GC/dps

>and what the main differences are in play styles between the different setups.

staff is totally different than dd. Its like completely other class, as dd in most cases you are more like warrior/thief rather than a staff ele.

>What Gear for which setup?

I would start with pow/tou/vit armours + accesories with healing and slowly move on to dps gear for example you change one accesory to dps each week – you will not feel much of a difference after one change but after 2 months you do lot more damage.
Ofc support aura sharing dd is also valid pve build for dungs.

>Any general tips?

rebind your keyboard. Default binding in unplayable and you will bever be good dd with it. You may also consider 12 button mouse, but I found keyboard with good binding a lot better than 12 buttons razer naga.
My binding is corresponding to the user interface:

I move with yghj instead of wasd.
My attunement change are on asdf
My 1-5 skill are on zxcv and mouse thumb for auto attack
My utils are on m,./
heal is on u
I use 3 finger for moving and at the same time i can use small finger for skills and attunement swapping and thumb fot utils – its way better for me than 12 button mouse

@Gaudrath.6725

its obvious for us all that staff/focus watter build is more supportive than dd dps.

@haviz.1340
>I play d/d in dungs since october and I only swap for D/F
> on certain bosses, staff is unnecessary. Gear is full zerker.

dude if you also dont die like this then – RESPECT.
Totay 20:00 (utc +1) I gonna try to speak in game to all of you dd dung runners and maybe we try some 4-5 dd party for fractals, share experience etc.

yet another interesting thing with dd ele:
this is me as ele after hundreds of play hours:
http://imageshack.us/f/835/gw057k.jpg/
and this is me as a thief after like 2 hours:
http://imageshack.us/f/405/gw078n.jpg/

and it works vice versa to counter a build that reuires 2h to “master” you just need another 1h to learn how to counter it. If you play a build that requires 300h to be average you need like 100h to lern how to counter it.

roostapro.9827:

Lavadiel.6231:

Cenka.9357:

I just had to respond to this, hello fellow dd dungeon runner! I do fracs an dungeons on DD as well, but you are correct. o.o I have never seen another DD user in the multiple groups that I’ve ran with, dungeons or fracs are usually staff runners

if you never saw one and I saw one once it means there are 3 of us – yey !!!
whisper to me in game – we gonna own some dungs/frac together :]
ofc on pve I do not play 3 cantrip tank/healer. The longer (and better) I play the more dps build I use. After 700h I am at 56%crit change, 56% crit damage,1800 power, 600 cond damage :> this allow me to make like half of the damage of 100b dps warrior and having 12k hp which is also half his hp pool – but I DO LOVE THIS!!!!

Make that 4.
I usually run D/D in..well everywhere, i love my play style, the challenge it gives and it lets my enemies see my face.

Never gonna give up my D/D (or simply put by a dev in beta, Hank hitting from side mobility build)

LOL
it turned out that I already had roostapro in friends list which means he was the only dd ele I saw – so he is the 3rd one, not the 4th
Btw. Cenka you ware also in my ingame firend list so we had to meet somewhere before and it was probably very nice meeting because only a few people ended up in my friend list.

Cenka.9357:

I just had to respond to this, hello fellow dd dungeon runner! I do fracs an dungeons on DD as well, but you are correct. o.o I have never seen another DD user in the multiple groups that I’ve ran with, dungeons or fracs are usually staff runners

if you never saw one and I saw one once it means there are 3 of us – yey !!!
whisper to me in game – we gonna own some dungs/frac together :]
ofc on pve I do not play 3 cantrip tank/healer. The longer (and better) I play the more dps build I use. After 700h I am at 56%crit change, 56% crit damage,1800 power, 600 cond damage :> this allow me to make like half of the damage of 100b dps warrior and having 12k hp which is also half his hp pool – but I DO LOVE THIS!!!!

TheGuy.3568:

Honestly lots of em. I find it funny how panic sets in when everything said so far applies to SPVP only.

exactly. I play pve in this game for almost 1000h by now. Made hundrets of dung runs and saw dd ele running dung only ONCE.
The question is – how this can be OP in pve? why literaly NOBODY use it?

There are some scepter/dagger dung runners (saw them like 5 times) but 99% eles use staff in dungs.
If you meet a dd ele in dung is has to be me
I use damage oriented dd for all dungs/fractals, all bosses… with maybe 2-3 exceptions where close combat is not an option (at least not for ele). I think on deso I am the only one active dd dung runner – please dont nerf me

As for pvp I was aware of very effecive counter necro build. Someone in this post also mentioned there is also engi counter for dd (I would like to face one to confirm this). Imho in all proffesions you can make a build that will end in 1v1 draw (endless combat) and in many – not all – proffesions you can make a deadly counter build for dd.

ps.
Ofc if dd ele RTL run out of combat he just lost a fight or lost a node in spvp its not a draw or win like many QQ implying (ofc thief is and always will be the best possible deserter in gw2).

Kardiamond.6952:

But lets be realistic, Elem were at the top of the food chain in sPvP

no its not – as I wrote a necro counter build gonna win each fight vs bunkier ele – no exception here.
In this game a “top” class/build does not exist – each build has its counter build.
Ele is proably the most versatile class, and if we assume power=versatile then yes – ele is the best. The problem is ele bunker is not a versatile build – its totaly handicaped build with quite high suravability vs most of the standard builds and very fragile vs specialized counter build… and also it has almost non existing dps – again its not versatile, its not OP, it requires a counter.

as for now the best pve healing for ele (with 50%+ crit rate) is not some ultra OP ele skill but actually is is a food – 66% life steal on crit.
Without this food a dps oriented dd ele dies to almost any champion in the game in less than 10 seconds. With this food it can solo ~50% champions in the game.
Also for dungeon and multiple strong mobs using dd watter autoatack gives you like 1000hp/s with this lifesteal food.
Glassy dd ele with lifesteal food has comparable healing with almost full tank/heal dd without this food. But the dps is like 2.5x bigger in the first case.

Ele healing (AND ANY OTHER CLASS) can be strong if you go 100% healing power – which is obvious absurd for pve.

In pvp any ele bunkier/cantrip build can be easily 1v1 killed vs a counter necro build. Necro gonna win 100 times in 100 fights – ele has 0 chance of winning no matter how good he is. Same as lame gc thief (the source of “pls nerf ele”) has 0% chance of winning against dd ele

Hyde.6189:

Lavadiel.6231:

no I was not near watter but it happened on raid of the capricon.

Everywhere on Raid Of The Capricorn is near water.

not everywhere. I was fighting him on beach node. Zero chances to get from there to water and then back in time less than 1s

Just accept the fact that this game has a LOTS of bugs and cheats and some ppl just use it…. simple.

Conncept.7638:

Were you near water? A lot of people forget that in that last patch we were given a smoke field underwater, smoke field combos in to stealth, and so far as I know stealth isn’t cancelled by exiting water.

no I was not near watter but it happened on raid of the capricon. If this not just another bug, then it might be some kind of macro/cheat that in an instant teleport you to underwatter, automatically executes murky watter + finisher and then teleport you back to the initial position (teleport cheats for GW2 are availible since like 3 months or more).
From my perspective it looked exacly as c&d made be thief before he stamps.

Nanoha.3892:

Lavadiel.6231:

I know what I saw, and what was possible to do and what was not – going invisible was not possible back then.

You say “back then” in which case this might have been when you could use items in pvp/wvw (liek revive orbs). There is some item you can buy that lets you stealth (from Charr area). Could well have been that, depends on how long ago this “back then” was. If it’s recent then I have no idea beyond what I’ve already said.

“back then” was yesterday, and as I said it was sPVP so no pve/wvw/racial skils could be used.
Imo its just another cheat, proably all of you already saw flying plyers in wvw and sPvp so going invisible is just another (new) cheat.
There is also possibily that after last path elems got new underwatter skill abbilities (and they indeed allows going stealth ) and somehow those new Murky Water ability can be used also on the surface.

Nanoha.3892:

RTL – without effect showing
As for finishing people while stealthed as an ele, I would strongly think that would be mist form with the mist not showing, very common thing to do when finishing someone.

yep but not when finishing a thief when he still dint not use his downed teleport skill and in 1v1 situation u dont have to use mist form to stamp a thief, cuz nobody gonna interrupt.
He was not that bad ele (cuz he killed me 1v1), and ofc would not make this mistake TWICE to use mist form before thief use down state teleport.
U know I am not that big of a nab, I know what I saw, and what was possible to do and what was not – going invisible was not possible back then.

I think we maight have a new bug/cheat there. Yesterday I was stopmed twice (same ele) exactly the same way as I stomp but as a thief – going invisible right before stomping.
Asked him on priv how is that possible – no response :/
I doubt there was a thief who hide him. There was no shadow refuge house visible, ele did not use any finisher and there was also no combo field starter anywhere arround.
As I said – new bug. This all happen on sPVP so no racial kitten elites, or go invisible consumables (like on wvw where any class can be invisible).

>and basically once you go Elementalist you can never go back

not true, played elem as my main for circa 600h, now as my second I play thief (250h)
Ofc plyed for some hours all other classes to know them cuz as an pvp ele u gonna mostly counterattack thus u have to know all classes, animations, tricks, strategies etc.
I do agree elem is the most fun class to play and by far the hardest one yet very powerful.

> i don’t want to be stuck with a support role at the end of the day

u dont have to, but ele (next to guardian) is best support class. Ofc by support I don’t mean auto attack with staff in the water. Playing a good support is interesting and not as easy as u may think.

>When i think elementalist i think glass cannon

yup, u can play as an glss but this would be extremely hard. Even after hundreds of hours of gameplay u still could die even in pve
If u want to play as an glass go thief, I just completed whole game as pure glass thief and it was a lot easier than with a balanced ele.

>What weapons should i be using??

ofc all of them, depends on situation, your current build, pve, pvp, wvw.

ele = versatility, truly to say you can (and hope u will) play any role with your ele, but in some cases some other clases gonna fit better for some tasks.

For example as a thief u can make a “universal” condtinion build. U will be using bow and aoe poision, drop calltrops, auto atack + signet of mailce. This build is ultra powerfull on pve u will never die, and will play like this from level 1 to lev 80, all dungs, all fractals up to level 20
U dont have to know your other skills, just those 3 I mentioned. BUT THIS IS BORING AS HELL. u dona wanna do this. The problem is this nooby playstyle is WAY more effective than more complicated, focused on balance and all weaplon/skill usage. This is obvious GW2 design “bug”.

With elem the more complicated you play the more powerfull you are. With other clases u just concentrate on one 2-3 skill “major strategy” and masx 2 minor ones and THATS ALL – if u wanna try something different u need to rebuild you character – unfortunatelly to other 2-3 skill build.
That is why I think elem and in some degree engi are the only proffesions that are not broken and fun to play even after hundreds of hours of gameplay.

wvw thieves are sometimes problematic to kill. Because of render bug they can be almost permanently invisible. You can either “randomly” aoe or cc and run, waiting like 30s for the game to finally render them, but if thief realizes he is now visible he diappears again for 30s. In pvp (no render bug) GC thieves (and any other GC/burs build) have literaly 0 chances to win 1v1.

ps.
Once I fought wvw SYLVARI thief who was perm invisible so I used cc & “ranom” aoe strategy. After a while I stopped receiving damage and after another 10s I finally saw a ASURA thief down and after another ~10s the SYLVARI appeared with already almost full downstate HP…

as for dd air skills:
1 – in most builds best 2-3 mobs auto attack (especially pve)

2 – 50% incomming dmg reduction, in pvp instead of insta gib you are left with ~6k HP which is enought to kill any GC build that tried to insta gib you

3 – pvp – epic (epic x3 for auramansers like me)

4 – even with high autostun chance best skill in the game

5 – succesfull hit = the beginning of the end

as for Magnetic Grasp it actually got worse since the last update. Now it does not matter if the enemy is 1m away or 10m away. It always locks you for same amout of time (pvp thief or even some pve veteran mobs can kill U during this lock). The solution is to use MG only at max distance, but I play aura build and use it also to get boons (cuz MG is actually a leap finisher). Until last path MG worked 25% of the time. Now it is always bugged.

I die because of RTL circa 1/3 of the times. In 2/3 I kill or live because of RTL.
So there is still no perfect equilibrium – aNet has to bug/nerf RLT to get as close as possible to the golden 50/50 ratio

Luthan.5236:

Is there any way to play like this and lets say take 2 or 3 mobs at the same time without needing to swap attunements every few seconds and without going downed every time?

yep there is but it is not the way elem is meant be played. U can easily take up to 5 or more mobs (including one veteran), can solo most of the champions but you have to be d/d attunements swapper, have propper build and min 100h elem experience.
I play elem for over 400h by now and can do things in pve that even wariors are not able to do.
First try playing tanky-balanced build like this:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1IiR0yJmAY_NW1aY0ZfcElQMjg
The longer you play and the better you become go more into damage (rampager set, berserker is a lot worse for dd elem). You will kill faster but have to evade almost all attacks – which requires some experience.
And rebind your keyboard (or buy 12 buttons razor mouse). Playing elem the right way on default key binding is not possible.

Play elem since beta, 400h for now. Found d/d balnaced+aura+1X might build to be most effective in pve.
Got bored with any other classes, except maybe for engineer which may be very intresting as well if there was a trait like “turets follow character” without it its mobility is non existent compared to elem.

Reassuming – I am extremely happy with my elem and dont see any resonable alternative for this class.

ps. Ofc elem needs a lot more prectice than any other class and can’t be played well using default key bindings (1-5 + F1-F4).

my binds just match the skill placement on skills bar:

yghj – movement
asdf – attunement (use litte finger to press)
zxcv – skills 2-5 (use litte finger to press)
mouse thumb button – skill 1
m,./ – utilities (use thumb to press)
u – healing

I play attunement dependent dd build. It is not possible to play it the right way using default binding.
My binding allows access to all skills/utils while constantly moving.

Ps. I extremely enjoy playing elem. Permanent (ofc during combat) swiftness, might 1x stacks, fury, protection, auras etc. Playing an elem is like playing Virtua Fighter fighting game. All other classes are just boring …

So far I never received 60 tokens
Max was 45 and got this amount only twice.
I usually do one AC route each day.
Yesterday I got into good party and made for first time all 3 paths in one day – 45/30/15.