Guild Wars 2

mysteryos.5329:

In guild wars2, we have AOLE{Area of Limited Effect} instead of AOE.

But seriously speaking, a limit of 5 players is so small in the face of so many in WvW

A limit of 5 players seems small if its 1 player vs 40. But since it’s zerg vs zerg, you have dozens of people with 5 player limited AoEs, which covers enough to hit everybody.

I do like “AOLE.” Its like phonetically saying AOE but with a ’Ole" in it, lol.

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

jayb.1329:

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

jayb.1329:

it seems to me like the Anti-duel side is composed of people who only want things to be their way

I would much rather have them fix the bugs and work on expansions that ALL players can enjoy then wasting resources on trying to make a small group of players happy.

like i said…..

The anti-duel side is composed of people who only want things their way.

So stating my preference is “only wanting it my way?” LOL!
Well, I guess the rest of your comments can be skipped over now as anything else you have to say is pretty much meaningless to me.

TL;DR inserts fingers in ears I CANT HEAR YOU!! I CANT HEAR YOU!!

Hoyvin.3241:

No Walking.6349:

So you’re going to take out a major part of a game that many players would absolutely love to have, simply so you don’t have to go into your options a single time and check a single box?

Yeah….selfish

Seriously? Selfish? A major part of the game? What are you? Five? You sound like a kid who’s dad told him to stop bouncing the ball up against the house.

First of all, it’s [b]not[‘b] a major part of this game. It’s not in this game at all. Therefore there is nothing to take out.

Second, it’s my opinion, not fact. I have no control over what goes or does not go into the game. I don’t care one way or the other if you can duel or not. Not one little bit. It’s less trouble for me if they don’t put it in, but, and let me be perfectly clear to you: I don’t care one bit either way.

This game has – sPvP, PvE, and WvWvW. Already, 2/3 of your gameplay revolves around pvp. I don’t know where this idea is coming from that “the majority of players do not like [competition]”

Even the majority of players on the forum (which is subjective) is still a minority of the entire player base.

Shootsfoot.9276:

Scrambles.2604:

killcannon.2576:

Shootsfoot.9276:

Since I only played on the correct side (Horde :P) explain to me what you guys mean by “another Goldshire?”

Goldshire is where all the bad stuff from WoW goes to breed and plot to take over the rest of the zones. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Just google: Goldshire Meme, and you will get a basic idea. I never ran into an analogue on Horde side.

Barrens chat!! Cmon man, how could you have never heard of Barrens chat??

>shrug<

Maybe because after day two of playing the game I realized trade chat was a cesspool and turned it off.

Everybody who wanted to duel hung outside of Org on my server. Then occasionally ally would fly in and we’d go at it for a while.

Was fun.

Hahah, i’m just messing with ya. Not everyone played WoW at the part-time job level.

killcannon.2576:

Shootsfoot.9276:

Since I only played on the correct side (Horde :P) explain to me what you guys mean by “another Goldshire?”

Goldshire is where all the bad stuff from WoW goes to breed and plot to take over the rest of the zones. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Just google: Goldshire Meme, and you will get a basic idea. I never ran into an analogue on Horde side.

Barrens chat!! Cmon man, how could you have never heard of Barrens chat??

OT – duels yes plzz!! 90% of this game is amazing, detailed PvE environments. If only i could actually battle people (even if it is just one person) in those environments!!

I could see people being against the idea of world pvp….but dueling? Don’t like, don’t do it!! No one is forcing you.

And if the issue is class balance…well people frequently 1v1 in mysts and WvW, so there is already data out there regarding class balance. I love the idea that duels would bring too light all these hidden class imbalances, while i’m still trying to find a CoF group thats not all zerker warriors. I think we already have a good idea about the current class balance.

if you want to appreciate this game a little more, take a look at Tribes: Ascend. I’m not knocking the game because it is a lot of fun, but the experience cost for some of the better, competitive items are so (unreasonably) high that just purchasing them with cash will save you weeks/months of consistent effort.

Obviously, if you want to spend the cash you will advance faster with professions and have an easier time acquiring gear, but at the same time things are priced fairly enough that, with reasonable effort, you can purchase them with in game gold.

Puandro.3245:

Phil.5280:

covenn.7165:

Asmodal.6489:

I dont think anyone i denying that staying in Fire will grant you the highest dps if specced for direct damage.

Oh I deny it whole completely. In fact, it is patently wrong. I will do more overall damage than someone staying in fire no matter how they spec.

This.

Staying in fire and gaining might is more dps than gaining fury while swapping atunements using lower dps skills.

You also have to consider:

You’re not getting any might unless you’re switching to Earth, either for Earth 2 or evasive arcana. Or unless you use arcane wave.

Also, you can maintain 10 stacks of vulnerability with 2 hits of water 2, so now your enemy is taking 10% more dmg.

Air 2 offers good damage as well, and all you have to do is switch to air> cast air 2 and get back to what you were doing, so the time it takes is negligible.

You can do all this and get back to fire just in time for meteor shower to be off cooldown.

Geotherma.2395:

Onshidesigns.1069:

Just because someone has more things does not always mean they are rich. They could be in debt. About to lose their job or business. What responsible rich person would just waste money on a game?

Rosario Dawson
Megan Fox
Mila Kunis
Seth Rogen
Jessica Alba
Jenny McCarthy
Daniel Craig
Snoop Dogg
Zac Efron
Jodie Foster

there’s more…

Not solely MMO’s, but I would say a lot of rich responsible (does not apply to all people listed..) people can and do play/buy games.

This thread has derailed so hard it is now in the middle of the ocean.

Ronah.2869:

Guys, the idea is this: With the excuse of gem-gold exchange, A-Nets consideres that everything they add in the cash shop is affordable by everyone and so, all the content they provide is available for all.
What I wanted to show is that, in this way, it will be easier to take everything out from the game rewards: weapons, armors, etc, and just put them in cash shop. People could just get the gold in the game from whatever activities they do, and then do the gold-gem exchange.

For example… they added the “daily costume brawler” to boost up costume sales.

and about of these mining picks: farming Bots have got an easier job now

It’s been my understanding that their philosophy has been “nothing sold in the store is required to compete in the game.” IMO, they have been consistent in that philosophy.

wookie.8934:

You want OOC weapon-swapping eh? In almost any 1v1 that’s pretty much an in-combat swap with RTL.

Like I said… it won’t happen.

In almost any 1v1 you would be using D/D, so if you can use RTL there’s a 50% chance you already have the weapons equipped you would want for the scenario.

Reminds me of druids in WoW, if the battle isn’t going your way, travel form > run away until out of combat > cat form stealth > re-engage, lol.

Mirta.5029:

Scrambles.2604:

Mirta.5029:

Scrambles.2604:

I personally don’t see the value in intangible virtual content. It doesn’t have any practical value, your investment on your purchase depreciates IMMEDIATELY, so your funds can never be recovered (unless you ebay your account).

One could also argue that buying an MMO is worthless, because it would only last as long as the servers do.

Sure, you could definitely argue that. What your paying for is for server space for your account, which serves a function. In game aesthetic items lack that or any useful function.

how about it makes your character look pretty and you feel better as a result of it? It’s the same logic as buying designer hoodies, make-up, paying for a fancy haircut, etc.

i don’t know how many times i can say this, but it all depends on each individuals perspective and their valuation of their money.

I don’t need to spend money to feel better about myself, but some people do. Does it bother me that some people need to spend money to feel good about themselves? A little, ( i blame the cultural ideologies that perpetuate our unnecessary consumerism), but it’s your life so do what you want.

Hickeroar.9734:

Scrambles.2604:

Hickeroar.9734:

Scrambles.2604:

Hickeroar.9734:

I think ANet did a good job of balancing gold’s actual value in the game. You can shell out a ton of money and buy a completed legendary, sure. But what does that gain you? You get no in-game advantage by doing this…

If you want to CRAFT a legendary, you can buy your way about halfway there, and then you’re required to do a LOT of in-game stuff to complete it. You can’t buy your way to a crafted legendary.

Also, those people shelling out lots of money are keeping the game running, while people who aren’t shelling out any money are basically getting a free ride. Sounds a whole lot like America to me…

free ride? I paid $60 for this game. That’s hardly free.

The people shelling out money are getting the content they are paying for. I paid my share and i get the content i paid for, which doesn’t include backpacks, molten picks, etc.

Yes, and I paid overall a couple hundred on WoW and expansion packs…and then had to pay a subscription fee. So what? The fee keeps the game going. The gem store keeps the game going.

Buying the game is nothing more than paying for the 5 years of development that it took to make the game in the first place.

Sure the gem store does provide regular income for Anet, but this was all determined by budget projections based on 1). cost of running business. 2). predictive analysis of how much the cash shop would be used by the population, as well as projected revenue and profit from game sales.

if your business model is dependent on 100% of your user base using the cash shop, then that is a poor business model. If your analysis shows people are less likely to use the cash shop, then it will require a sub (see WoW subscription model, which existed before there was a plethora of data showing people are very likely to spend money on virtual goods).

How is it a poor business model if people are spending, and the game is still running?

I understand that it’s RISKY at the offset, to be sure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I think it’s turned out to be a GREAT business model for them. It was a great business model in GW1, and it was so great that B2P and F2P imitators started popping up all over the place.

Arenanet is probably single-handedly responsible for the F2P craze that MMO games have turned into.

i dont think you understand what i wrote. take a few minutes and reread my post.

If, in order to operate you business, you need 100% of people who bought the game to also use the cash shop, it would be almost impossible to stay afloat. Operating budget is determined with projections that include people like myself who do not use the cash shop.

People that use the cash shop keep the game running, but people that dont use the cash shop wont run them out of business, because a certain % of your player base not using the cash shop is anticipated in your projections/business model.

Mirta.5029:

Scrambles.2604:

I personally don’t see the value in intangible virtual content. It doesn’t have any practical value, your investment on your purchase depreciates IMMEDIATELY, so your funds can never be recovered (unless you ebay your account).

One could also argue that buying an MMO is worthless, because it would only last as long as the servers do.

Sure, you could definitely argue that. What your paying for is for server space for your account, which serves a function. In game aesthetic items lack that or any useful function.

Hickeroar.9734:

Scrambles.2604:

Hickeroar.9734:

I think ANet did a good job of balancing gold’s actual value in the game. You can shell out a ton of money and buy a completed legendary, sure. But what does that gain you? You get no in-game advantage by doing this…

If you want to CRAFT a legendary, you can buy your way about halfway there, and then you’re required to do a LOT of in-game stuff to complete it. You can’t buy your way to a crafted legendary.

Also, those people shelling out lots of money are keeping the game running, while people who aren’t shelling out any money are basically getting a free ride. Sounds a whole lot like America to me…

free ride? I paid $60 for this game. That’s hardly free.

The people shelling out money are getting the content they are paying for. I paid my share and i get the content i paid for, which doesn’t include backpacks, molten picks, etc.

Yes, and I paid overall a couple hundred on WoW and expansion packs…and then had to pay a subscription fee. So what? The fee keeps the game going. The gem store keeps the game going.

Buying the game is nothing more than paying for the 5 years of development that it took to make the game in the first place.

Sure the gem store does provide regular income for Anet, but this was all determined by budget projections based on 1). cost of running business. 2). predictive analysis of how much the cash shop would be used by the population, as well as projected revenue and profit from game sales.

if your business model is dependent on 100% of your user base using the cash shop, then that is a poor business model. If your analysis shows people are less likely to use the cash shop, then it will require a sub (see WoW subscription model, which existed before there was a plethora of data showing people are very likely to spend money on virtual goods).

Mirta.5029:

Scrambles.2604:

As someone who never plans on spending any money in the cash shop, i am grateful to those weirdos walking around with their quaggan backpacks.

Yes, some people have more disposable income, have a different perspective on the value of their (parents) money, or don’t care that they are purchasing an intangible commodity that will only last as long as the game servers do. But at least this doesn’t effect your gameplay. Go try any F2P game where you get steamrolled by the same people you complain about and see if your perspective changes.

you know just assuming that they’re wasting their parents money is kind of well mean.
1. They might be adult people wasting their own money
2. They might be exchanging gold for gems. My boyfriend wanted those backbacks and that’s what he did. Personally I would really love to get the pink one, but those were a real gamble so I didn’t want to convert my hard earned gold.
And then there’s a question of what we can call a waste. I asked my boyfriend to get me gems on smite for my birthday for skins. Smite gems are relatively cheap, this way I won’t burden him with buying me and expensive present and he’ll still feel like he has given me a gift that I enjoy. Yes, smite like other moba games won’t be there forever. Maybe I’ll stop playing it in a year or so. But for now I’m enjoying it. If someone bought me a painting it would be there for much longer, but I wouldn’t enjoy it as much, if someone bought me a restaurant meal I would enjoy it for one evening, but I would also have a pleasant memory of it. What I am trying to say here is does it matter how long something lasts as long as it was enjoyable for you at the time?

1). Sorry, i put “parent” in parenthesis, because not everyone is spending the parent’s money. My point was, if your parents funds are available to you, and your a dependent that hasn’t had to choose between virtual items and feeding yourself, you may be more inclined to use the cash shop.

2) yes, some people (myself included) trade gold for gems. This thread isn’t about them.

3) People value their money differently. Some people see $10 well spent for 30 minutes of happiness. Some people also like to buy snake oil remedies.

I personally don’t see the value in intangible virtual content. It doesn’t have any practical value, your investment on your purchase depreciates IMMEDIATELY, so your funds can never be recovered (unless you ebay your account).

However, i could care less if other people disagree and want to buy this stuff. Doesn’t effect me one bit.

Hickeroar.9734:

I think ANet did a good job of balancing gold’s actual value in the game. You can shell out a ton of money and buy a completed legendary, sure. But what does that gain you? You get no in-game advantage by doing this…

If you want to CRAFT a legendary, you can buy your way about halfway there, and then you’re required to do a LOT of in-game stuff to complete it. You can’t buy your way to a crafted legendary.

Also, those people shelling out lots of money are keeping the game running, while people who aren’t shelling out any money are basically getting a free ride. Sounds a whole lot like America to me…

free ride? I paid $60 for this game. That’s hardly free.

The people shelling out money are getting the content they are paying for. I paid my share and i get the content i paid for, which doesn’t include backpacks, molten picks, etc.

LordSlack.4685:

The “vice-versa” is the part that makes me laugh. In game rich = RL rich. That’s amazing.

Can confirm, this isn’t true. I applied for a loan at the bank and got denied, EVEN THOUGH all my characters have legendaries, wtf!!??

As someone who never plans on spending any money in the cash shop, i am grateful to those weirdos walking around with their quaggan backpacks.

Yes, some people have more disposable income, have a different perspective on the value of their (parents) money, or don’t care that they are purchasing an intangible commodity that will only last as long as the game servers do. But at least this doesn’t effect your gameplay. Go try any F2P game where you get steamrolled by the same people you complain about and see if your perspective changes.

I just got one on my Ele and i couldn’t get it to work either.

Chaosky.5276:

Geez, you people sure get mad over someone wanting better ranged options.

There is a difference between asking for reasonable changes and asking for a complete weapon redesign because you don’t understand the mechanics.

I’m not going to say staff is perfect but the changes OP has been advocating are not only outrageous but are based on a narrow perspective of how the game mechanics work and how the class is played.

covenn.7165:

For the life of me I can’t figure out how there could possibly be such a perfect storm of incompetence and stubbornness in one person.

haha. ^this is awesome

Like all of OPs threads, he’s really just whining about staff again. I just wanted to point out the notion of a “D/D ele.” D/D is a powerful weapon set, but if you are strictly a D/D ele you are wasting a ton of potential by not using your other weapon sets.

I tend to run around with staff most of the time, since about 60% of my time is spent traversing great distances in WvW so i’m constantly refreshing swiftness. But do i consider myself a staff ele? No, because different weapon choices excel for different situations.

If i’m anticipating taking a lot of dmg and want to play it safe, then s/f is going to be my choice. If i want to do a lot of dmg but avoid melee range i’ll do s/d. If i want to go all out dmg and increased mobility i’ll do d/d. And if i want to stack swiftness/support the group/AoE/dps from a safe distance, then it’ll be staff. You’re doing yourself a disservice by picking one weapon and sticking to it.

Chaosky.5276:

Scrambles.2604:

eldain stenlund.4306:

Iam asking for Options. Is that too much for some of you players ??

not only are you the only one complaining, but you keep making new threads about the same thing.

I’m complaining, too!

well look at any of the 4 threads eldain has made and you will find plenty of reasonable suggestions and rebuttals.

edit; and staff is an excellent ranged option. The general consensus has been: faster projectile speeds would be nice, and AoEs that did the initial dmg tick immediately would also be cool.

eldain stenlund.4306:

Iam asking for Options. Is that too much for some of you players ??

not only are you the only one complaining, but you keep making new threads about the same thing.

Chaosky.5276:

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t a shorter delay on Eruption be better for combo fields as well? I mean, it’s not like you can use a blast finisher on more than one field, so wouldn’t it be better to cast the combo field and then switch to the earth attunement for Eruption and Evasive Arcana’s blast finisher? After all, that way I could cast Lava Font and then switch to earth for an Eruption/Evasive Arcana (Churning Earth) combo, which I can’t do currently.

IMO, it’s better set up the finisher first. What is important is the attunement you end up in after you get your boons.

For instance, if your setting up might for dps, you could drop fire 2 and switch to earth 2 and trigger might, but then you’re locked out of fire for at least 8 secs.

The way it currently is, you start with earth 2, switch to fire 2, gain might, and continue fire dps (meteor shower). By the time you’ve used up your fire cds, you can go back to earth and set up another finisher.

edit; I think the ramp up time is perfect. I have JUST enough time to cast Earth 2>Earth 5> Fire 2 and still get might. Being able to squeeze in the cc to lock them in your AoE is crucial.

stale.9785:

Um, scrambles? was there supposed to be more than a quote in that?

haha. Yeah. i had some formatting issues but it’s all edited and good now.

eldain stenlund.4306:

I dislike the current staff.. because there is no freedom.
and i also dislike the staff because if you are trying range nuker..
you only have 1 element to use. Fire.
and fire have:
*1 Autoattack. abit weak.
*2 Lava font. (Bad AoE, can get max 1 tick for low dmg).
*3 Explosion with minimum dmg but makes a fire dot. (decently good).
*4 Blazing retreat.. our escape. could be abit longer.
*5 Our iconic Meteor shower.

You only have these to play with if you want to be a range nuker.
“you have 3 more elements Noob”. <— someone is bound to say that.

Yes. you are right.
I do have 3 more elements.
But do they help me to be a ranged nuker ? Nope.. not one bit. None of them.
they are more for the Support area. aka.. not a nuker specialization.
and most important. why whould i swap to a 50% weaker element ??

so in the case of becoming a ranged nuker.
you dont need the other 3 elements.. specialy not since you get locked out from your primary dmg element fire IF you swap…

Whould be fun to have 1 more element than fire for a ranged nuker.

Fire offers more DPS options, but the other elements supplement your fire dps.

Hit them twice with water 2 and you have 10 stacks of vulnerability.
Earth 2 for extra dmg and might, but really you should place this under all of your AoEs.
Air 2 – good single target dmg

Obviously, pvp combat is more fluid and you cant stick to simple rotos like this. But you have offensive options in each attunement.

As for weapon switching – get in the habit of being aware of when you are in an out of combat. With practice, you can switch weapons pretty quickly. It’s not easy, but neither is this game, L2P

i mainly do wvw and run staff, and i think it’s fine at 5. If AoEs hit everyone, it would be waaay to powerful. I never get more than 5 people in my AoEs for long anyway, because anyone with half a brain is going to move out of the red circle.
AoEs are mostly effective for controlling zerg movement. Put a big red circle to the left of the zerg and theyll move right. I also cast my AoEs over my teammates (wars and guardians) to add dmg support to their pushes.
tldr you are not a one man army! You can still take advantage of bottlenecks with your AoEs, you just can’t down 10 people at once…it takes 2 eles to do that

you’ve gotta be trolling now. between your rants and your calling out Covenn, the only person that offered a reasonable adjustment to the staff.

D/D is a great 1v1 weapon, staff is great for group play/support. I’ve been caught in plenty of 1v1s with my staff out, not an ideal situation, but not game over either.

L2P, drop AoEs on yourself and make you enemy walk in them if they want to hit you.

i mainly do wvw and run staff, and i think it’s fine at 5. If AoEs hit everyone, it would be waaay to powerful. I never get more than 5 people in my AoEs for long anyway, because anyone with half a brain is going to move out of the red circle.

AoEs are mostly effective for controlling zerg movement. Put a big red circle to the left of the zerg and theyll move right. I also cast my AoEs over my teammates (wars and guardians) to add dmg support to their pushes.

tldr you are not a one man army! You can still take advantage of bottlenecks with your AoEs, you just can’t down 10 people at once…it takes 2 eles to do that

TGSlasher.1458:

Cantrips … cantrips … cantrips. … .. . every build, cantrips.

Come on guys, put some thought into it, do you need cantrips? (probably), can you live with out them? (probably not). Have you even tried? (Definantly not).

I have run a signet only build (cept elite of course FGS FTW). While a stun break would be nice (cleansing fire for cd, or lightning flash for movability) I find that I can live without them. Focus has an alsmot better Cleansing Fire (earth 4, clear 3 conditions and reflect) and a better Mist Form (no stun break but you have 4sec invunerable and can still do other stuff). As well as some control skills.

Currently trying to nut out a S/F dps build. Something like Imobolize into dragons tooth pheonix combo, with the focus for extra defenses.

haha. Yes! Cantrips! I do love my armor of earth. However, almost always keep arcane wave on my utility bar (i main staff in wvw, and i really love having an extra finisher to play with).

I also tend to run around with Arcane Power (next 5 attacks crit) for defense in WvW. Stack might > armor of earth (to prevent interupts)>meteorshower+arcane power = lots of high numbers

IMO, easiest way to learn combos is with staff:

Start in earth, cast earth 2 on yourself (or under, i guess), then switch to any other attunement and cast a spell that is labeled a field over the exact spot where your earth 2 is about to finish casting.

why is everyone trying to fix staff? There’s really nothing wrong with it.

Not only that, but this is the 2nd thread i’ve read where OP insists on fixing staff while having absolutely no understanding of how combo fields/finishers work.

wvw staff ele checking in. 10fire/30water/30 arcana bunker build with PVT gear.

first of all, every ele should carry all their weapons. I am most comfortable with staff, but i will always choose D/D for 1v1s. Staff is great for group fights and support, but when i’m on my own D/D is the safest way to go.

If i find myself caught offguard in a 1v1 and still have my staff out, my best advice is to start spamming your AoEs on yourself. That way if they want to hit you theyre going to have to be able to withstand my AoE dmg, which they wont be able to do for long

I dont have a problem with killing everything or skipping.

I just hate when the group insists on skipping, but one or two people can’t make it past the mobs without dying. So, you have a couple players sitting at the next event, while another couple players are struggling to catch up. The whole things ends up taking longer than if you just killed the mobs in the first place.

stale.9785:

Yeah man – comes down to a difference in what we want the play style to be on Staff. To get that combo, you’re setting things off at your feet – my desire is to set them off “way off over there” and hit the baddy before he’s at my feet. That given, leave earth 2, give me an AoE boom that I can use way off over there, and even, to preserve balance, let it not be a blast finisher.

EDIT: hey – thought. make earth 2 (Eruption – going to edit that now, my bad. not playing atm.) work like so: 1¾cast 6 second recharge; Shake the ground until it erupts and damages foes. -> press 2 again for instant finish.
This allows you to use it as your combo set-up, and me to use it as a burst of damage.

going to edit the OP to include the change – could make this the overall: “what i’d like from my staff” post.

By the time you need to trigger it, you wont be attuned to earth anymore :/

stale.9785:

Scrambles, while I agree with the point about Earth skill 2, to a degree, I want our second hardest hitting attack to be useful for something other than setting up heal field combos or area might. Like, you know, actually hitting an enemy with that (purely theoretical) stack of pain.

For the rest of your post, if that’s how you play staff, you’d be better, far better, to roll D/D or S/D. Waiting till they’re on top of you to be able to do damage is pretty much the opposite of what I’d like to see from a staff ele.

If i have a choice, in most small scale/1v1 situations i WILL be using d/d or s/d. If i want to go balls-out damage i will go d/d. But most situations in WvW, i will already have staff equipped. If you’re caught in combat you have to make due with what you have, which with staff means learning to swim around in your AoEs.

if you want to rely on earth2 to be a major source of damage, you just gotta learn to place it better :P

Personally, i don’t have much of a problem running staff. I agree with the faster projectiles speeds for fire1 and air1. I think they should reduce the cooldown for air2, that would definitely help single target dps.

However, i think you’re crazy if you think earth2 needs a faster animation. I use earth 2 to set up all my combos. If it was any faster it wouldnt work.

If someone closes in on you, start spamming AoEs over yourself and make them regret being close now I run a bunker build with PVT gear, so i just dodge/tank in my own AoEs and that usually does the trick.

I run mostly staff with a 30water/30 arcane bunker build and I have 4 superior runes of the ogre, which gives a % chance to summon Rock Dog when hit.

I also like to run with Hounds of Balthazar. If you wait for the rock dog to spawn to cast hounds, you get at least 30 secs where you have 3 minions running around. It works great in PvE if i’m getting mobbed.

It also works great with staff because both Hounds have leap finishers they use pretty often.

WvW Staff ele here. This may be a dumb question, but have you tried casting your AOEs on yourself?

i run a 30water/30 arcana bunker build with PVT gear, so i am fairly tanky. I have had a lot of success vs melee by dodging/tanking them, while spamming AOEs on myself. The Thiefs and Wars i fight tend to get tunnel vision trying to down me and don’t realize they’ve been getting pounded by AOEs til it’s too late. That, or they retreat.

Science.6709:

SWTOR also used an engine that couldn’t handle the game. My impression is that our technology isn’t yet able to create an MMO that runs smoothly.

To have huge delays or even complete unresponsiveness when I’m trying to play the game the way it’s meant to be played…this is a pretty grave matter.

Haha, yes. Yesterday, everyone in my WvW started complaining about skill lag and i immediately had a flash back to the early days of SWTOR. They managed to fix/improve this issue is SWTOR so hopefully it wont be impossible for GW2 to do the same.

Kaleden.9386:

Focus – Air – Skill 4: Swirling Winds will destroy any projectile (including those from Siege). It doesn’t work aground ground-targeted attacks (such as those from arrow carts) or melee attacks. Cooldown 30 seconds.

Focus – Earth – Skill 5: Obsidian Flesh also destroys projectiles, but you have to be very precise with your positioning. Cooldown 50 seconds.

Due to cooldowns, you wont be able to protect an area forever without having additional Elementalists with a Focus equipped.

Are you sure earth 5 can block siege? I’ve tried it a lot of times against trebs and Air 4 is the only one that destroys the projectile, earth 5 just makes me invulnerable.

weapon skills – 1,2,3,4,5
heal – Q
Utilities – E,R,T
Elite – F1
Attunements:
Fire – shift + w
water – shift + a
air – shift + d
earth – shift + s

dodge- double tap wasd, or V
A and D are both bound to strafe, use the mouse for turning.

tab – nearest target
shift + tab – next target

teg.1340:

To all of you who use WASD + 12345 for skills:

How do you use your skills without moving the middle finger from W to your 1-5 keys? Are you some kind of octopus?

2 is the only button that requires my finger to come off of the W key. In my WoW days, i would rebind 2 to ~ for that reason, but now i just hold down mouse 1&2 for auto-run.

titanlectro.5029:

More options = More buttons

If you see an elementalist as “look at how many buttons I have to press to do damage,” then you missed the point.

Think of it this way:
No matter what the situation is, you have a set of skills ready to use. It takes more buttons to have so many options available. But if you had less buttons, then you would not have those options. Complexity is the price you pay for flexibility.

QFT.

Ele is not a bad class, you just get out what you put into it.

keep two monk for boon duration, then get 4 superior runes of the ogre.

Rock daawwwg!!

Shootsfoot.9276:

Scrambles.2604:

I would love to see some UI addons. As a WoW vet myself, having dps/heal meters made running the same dungeons/raids over and over again much more fun. It helped me progress my own ability because i was receiving real-time feedback on my effective heals/over heals. It also provided me with feedback on what kind of dps i was getting from different rotos and strats, allowing me to better determine how i could play more effectivly. And as a healer, it was also fun to see how much damage i could sneak in by the end of the run.

Now-a-days, dps meters are a pipe dream (see the way they were implemented in SWTOR), and add-ons of any sort don’t exist in newer games.

What I would really like to see in GW2 is a freakin cooldown monitor. I play an ele, and it would be very helpful to get a little notification or a timer-window that would let me know when fire grab was off cooldown if i’m attuned to an element that is not fire.

Yeah, I would love to see a personal dps/healing meter just for my own amusement. Personally, I don’t care what other’s numbers are.

One of the things I loved Recount for in WoW was to be able to look at my spells and see what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong to try to improve.

Yeah, i forgot the name for it until you said it. Recount was awesome. I was never one to harass/exclude people due to DPS, but i really liked the competitive element it brought between group members….whether it’s trying to get #1 on dps, or trying to get #1 on dps amongst your fellow healers

Heylo.4938:

I don’t play ele too much, but I have felt the combo field pain. I usually try to at least get some area might from the fire circle and dragons tooth or phoenix. It’s pretty annoying when someone throws something unnecessary in my way. Most of the time, I don’t notice ele’s fields in time to capitalize on them with leap skills.

if this game allowed you to make macros (like in WoW), i would bind text with certain abilities.

So, when i drop a fire field, my character would say “/s Fire field down!” That would probably alleviate some of the issues with coordination.

Zenyatoo.4059:

I play ele.
I weep tears when basically anyone throws down combo fields over mine when im stacking might for the whole party.

also knockbacks are basically the worst CC in game. They’re at absolute best, just as effective as the other CC’s, but they’re also at worst, detrimental to the team rather than helpful. There’s never a “wrong” time to knock down or stun a monster. But there’s plenty of wrong times to knock one back.

ele here, and i agree. The problem is the effects of most combos are insignificant or go unnoticed, so there is little motivation to be mindful of what fields are down. Especially if you play a war or thief, which rely on combos a lot less.

i’m willing to bet this will change as people get more experienced…currently i feel like the only one in pugs that dives into healing fields with blasts when the party is low health.

As for knockbacks…i save them for the cliffs in WvW

I would love to see some UI addons. As a WoW vet myself, having dps/heal meters made running the same dungeons/raids over and over again much more fun. It helped me progress my own ability because i was receiving real-time feedback on my effective heals/over heals. It also provided me with feedback on what kind of dps i was getting from different rotos and strats, allowing me to better determine how i could play more effectivly. And as a healer, it was also fun to see how much damage i could sneak in by the end of the run.

Now-a-days, dps meters are a pipe dream (see the way they were implemented in SWTOR), and add-ons of any sort don’t exist in newer games.

What I would really like to see in GW2 is a freakin cooldown monitor. I play an ele, and it would be very helpful to get a little notification or a timer-window that would let me know when fire grab was off cooldown if i’m attuned to an element that is not fire.

Ivano.2604:

Ogre forever and never look back son :p

You are welcome

Rock Daaaaaawwwwg!!!! <3

Those who resist change are doomed to be left behind.

[hypothetical] What happens when Anet releases in-game voice chat? Are we gunna say ‘no thanks’ because elitists will be able to use voice chat to make fun of me or call out my mistakes more often?

Elitists are a small, but LOUD minority who prefer the company of each other. If you guys could grow a pair and stop playing the victim, you’d realize you’re the majority and there are plenty of like-minded people you can group with.

The more options you have the more immersive the game becomes. Part of WoW’s success can be attributed to community built add-ons, which allowed the game to evolve separate from the devs and meet the needs of different niches in the community.