Guild Wars 2

Well, c’mon, you have to admit, the bgm is pretty kittening horrible. Am I the only one who doesn’t like it? It sounds like alien robot sex techno.

People don’t like going to Heart of the Mists for pvp because the background music is ugly and unpleasing to the ears. It needs a change.

That is all. Discuss.

I feel ya, man. I always play the wizard class—always. I’m a big fantasy geek. I play it. I read it. I write it. And I hate it when the wizard class is UP and utter suck-age like it is in gw2. I’ve tried so hard to make Staff Ele work (aside from bunker which is boring as phruck in sPVP), and nothing’s worked.

Heavy sigh.

I second this motion. All in favor?

Kim Huynh.6412:

Teabaker.9524:

Yea, PvP in GW2 is probably the fastest dying PvP in any mmo. It’s sad because the gameplay and combat is by far the best out of any mmo.

Agreed. The moment a player gets to rank 10 (… at least on my server), it’s more one vs one than teams.

Really? I think it really depends on how you play. If you’re a roamer or a if you run with a zerg. I’m lvl 16 and I haven’t noticed an increase in 1v1 battles.

I really appreciate this post, thanks.

Occam.9841:

The people who think a weapon swapping ele would be OP are making what is essentially a math error.
They think about the abilities a d/d ele would gain by swapping to staff mid-fight but they are not paying attention to the abilities they lose access too for the duration of the time they have the staff out.
They think about it as (STAFF+DAGGER)
when it is really (STAFF+DAGGER)/2
It is the average of the 2 weapon sets, a strong set and a weak set. That makes its power between the 2, not above the strong.

Good point, sir.

Weapon swap sounds fun but we’re never gonna get it.

Imo, you should go condition with staff. Eruption PWNS PvE mobs. Someone else should go DD and tank. Oh, and you should both run 2 elementals at a time. They’re awesome tanks.

Bvhjdbvkjf.1987:

People really think that Staff is the hardest weapon to use as an Ele? I must just be really weird then cause I do better with my Staff Ele than any other class+weapon combo in the game…

1v1 with staff is hard.

CENSOR.6081:

SecondtoNone.7549:

Rieselle.5079:

It’s funny that people can complain that there is no skill in PvP and yet simultaneously complain that good teams destroy PUGs.

Obviously, there is something there that makes them win. And I doubt it’s superior twitch reflexes.

I forgot to clarify that I was talking about sPVP (kitten, people barely res each other in sPVP). I don’t have a premade team for tPVP and don’t bother. Obviously, in tPVP, if a team is organized and know what points to cap and which caps need help and such, they function a lot better. They’re also used to playing with each other and know what to do.

TPvP is no better. Don’t let the students and dole-bludgers fool you into thinking they’re on another level because their only achievement is a pixelated star to their avatar. It’s just artificial fun having specific classes, in specific builds, stationed at specific places, doing one specific role; like an incredibly obsequious parent from Teen Cribs.

So, pretty much sPVP but the team actually talks to each other? I figured. Talking to each other really does help a lot though.

Rieselle.5079:

It’s funny that people can complain that there is no skill in PvP and yet simultaneously complain that good teams destroy PUGs.

Obviously, there is something there that makes them win. And I doubt it’s superior twitch reflexes.

I forgot to clarify that I was talking about sPVP (kitten, people barely res each other in sPVP). I don’t have a premade team for tPVP and don’t bother. Obviously, in tPVP, if a team is organized and know what points to cap and which caps need help and such, they function a lot better. They’re also used to playing with each other and know what to do.

Imo, Staff Eles that use the auto-attacks usually aren’t that good. Unless, of course, you’re a glasscannon ele that’s spamming Fire 1. I rarely use my autos otherwise.

choban.9027:

@SecondtoNone you can do that in WvWvW….gain gold, earn XP and PvP…

Regarding sPvP…i really don’t mind getting glory (ranks) via hot-joins, and I really like that rewards are only cosmetic, even I personally don’t care about cosmetic stuff. You said that rank doesn’t mean anything, but why it should mean something else than showing ppl how many time are you spending playing sPvP. When they are done with implementing ladder system that will cover you competitive players to show your skill and stuff.
I am casual PvPer and I play just to enjoy and to learn something new, to evolve, to learn how to counter different professions and different builds, and I’ve been very successful by doing it so far.

I actually don’t like WvWvW so much because I hate walking so much. Also, it’s an even bigger zergfest than PVP.

Basically, mainly staff eles were hit a lot by the nerf. DD Eles and SD eles are still ok. I feel half as good because I depended so much on comboing everything and healing when I needed it. I loved comboing with Arcane Wave and EA.

This isn’t intuitive enough. It won’t work.

It’d be better if the ANet released an hotkey that did that. Like if pressing Alt + F1 pinged you on the map and yelled help on team or something.

It’s probably just me, but I do wish PVP gave some items for PVE (even just gold) or experience for PVE. I find PVE boring and wish I could level up just by doing PVP all the time.

The following is pure opinion:

1. Bursts still kill you in 3 seconds if you’re not careful (this is really not fun imo and you should never ever be able to die in 3 seconds unless you’re being gunned down by a huge mob)
2. Annoying classes are still annoying: Mesmers, Thieves, Guardians, Warriors (The HB Nubs)
3. There’s only one sPVP mode and it’s a boring mode. I really wish there was death match or capture the flag!
4. It’s all about the zerg because holding a point doesn’t give you any glory so the only way to get glory is to run with the zerg even if it means losing a cap point
5. Classes are still unbalanced and there are many bugged skills/traits
6. sPVP combat is very twitch-based and there’s very few tactics involved. I really wish things were more cerebral and players were able to complement each others’ playstyles more (comboing in each others’ fields). I know this is a strange suggestion, but I think it’d be easier to combo with other people if the elemental fields were more obvious and comboing in them made a more noticeable effect/text just to make things more blatant, like if there was a big “Might!” text or “Stealth!” text.
7. It’s DEFINITELY not true that any class can use whatever playstyle they want and not be punished for it.
8. You run into some really kitteny teams in sPVP sometimes and then other times, really good teams due to no matchmaking.
9. There’s an obvious skill gap. And it’s obvious due to no matchmaking.

But aside from all the negatives, PVP is still fun sometimes (and some times not)

I also no longer use staff and I use S/D now. I tried D/D for a bit and that’s cool too. Just currently trying out S/D.

Loco.4561:

SecondtoNone.7549:

I don’t understand why everyone says staff is bad at solo fights. I PVP a lot and I’m a staff ele and I do quite well. I don’t even use a bunker build. My staff ele uses a toughness/condition build.

It may be hard to land our high damage spells like eruption and lava font but they can be landed with proper aim and proper use of chill/stun/immobilize (we have tons of CC as a Staff ele). Now, this was easier before EA nerf. You could roll into frozen ground and stack like 8 seconds of frozen armor and it was much easier to land AoEs after it. The key is simply knowing when to use the right spell and at what time.

Mind you, I havent played Staff Ele since the nerf and I’ve been experimenting with SD…

I have never, ever been troubled by a Staff Ele. Most of the time I ignore them and kill the more dangerous targets. Maybe it’s a case of most of these players don’t know how to effectively use CC/Immobilise, I can tell you that 90% of them don’t even understand basic kiting. With the amount of mobility you can get with D/D (if you use the right cantrips), your not going to be able to kite me anyway.

And the match up is Staff Ele vs. DD Ele. Staff Ele will lose, everytime.

Well, I’ve been PVPing for a long time and you don’t see many staff Eles other than bunker staff Eles anyway (so, low talent pool). All you really see are DD eles because they’re easier to play.

An Elementalist only guild? Awesome. Invite please!

I don’t understand why everyone says staff is bad at solo fights. I PVP a lot and I’m a staff ele and I do quite well. I don’t even use a bunker build. My staff ele uses a toughness/condition build.

It may be hard to land our high damage spells like eruption and lava font but they can be landed with proper aim and proper use of chill/stun/immobilize (we have tons of CC as a Staff ele). Now, this was easier before EA nerf. You could roll into frozen ground and stack like 8 seconds of frozen armor and it was much easier to land AoEs after it. The key is simply knowing when to use the right spell and at what time.

Mind you, I havent played Staff Ele since the nerf and I’ve been experimenting with SD…

Meh, it seems like the people complaining about Staff Eles complaining are DD eles. You don’t know what it’s like to have the CORE aspect of your kittening class get removed. Heals and blast finishers were vital to Staff Ele builds. All of them. Sure, I kind of knew EA would get toned down, but not removed outright. Also, we expected a buff to compensate. But all we got are stupid conjure buffs. Sigh.

Sigh.

DiogoSilva.7089:

fixit.7189:

Isnt it funny the D/D guys are so happy and laughing at us staff users?

YOU DID NOT GET NERFED TO HECK.

That’s because that, when the game started, D/D was already “nerfed” and staff was already “broken”. Now they’re balanced.

Hm. I feel like there are much more DD than Staff in sPVP though. It’s very rare for me to run into another Staff Ele and it’s always a bunker Ele which I can never kill (lol).

I dont think this will help. ANet doesn’t seem to listen to the forumers.

TWMagimay.9057:

phandaria.4891:

Sera.6539:

I’m kind of at a loss too. I used staff heavily in dungeons as support and buffing with fields and Evasive Arcana to combo blast.

Same with me. Please share any alternative build for dungeon support ele.

Here’s a build. Take 4 other people in that dungeon and make sure they know what a “blast finisher” is. Problem solved. Seriously, stop looking at dungeons as if you have to solo them. The selling point of the whole puppy game was team work and stuff. You are not supposed to support everybody all the time, you provide the field, they finish it. It’s THAT simple. It’s also how I’ve been playing the whole time and, strange enough, it works!

Screw dungeons. Im more worried about sPVP. Theres no such thing as teamwork in sPVP. I barely get ressed most of the time when I get downed. I MF and wander off to a corner where I hope enemies wont notice me so I can spend a minute healing my own kittening self.

aydenunited.5729:

Or maybe, just maybe, developers know that people will complain about balance in any MMO ad-nauseum and have grown a thick skin. Because honestly, 90% of the balance suggestions on this forum are terrible, and considering that very few of you want to learn how to beat something and would rather complain, I am excited that they aren’t bowing down to every horrible idea, and instead, improving PvP in steady, small, forward moving changes.

That doesn’t mean communication doesn’t help, sir.

Plus, man, Staff Eles got nerfed so hard.

This is nice but I play a Staff Ele.

MrsAngelD.6971:

You know I hear everybody complaining about this, but I’ve never used this trait line on my ele and I have a blast on her. I’ve had my Ele since Day one of Head start. I would say it’s time for some of you other ele players to investigate and try out other trait-lines.

fwiw I switch between a scepter/dagger offhand and staff, depending on what I’m getting ready to face.

I have done a lot of experimenting. Did I not mention I run a Condition Staff Ele build? Who the hell uses this build but me?

But aside from that, I also used to use Monk, Water, Earth Runes. Sigh…

DiogoSilva.7089:

SecondtoNone.7549:

Funny how we used to have “hopes” for this patch…

Taking a look at the patch notes, it was a good patch. Important Bug fixes, nerfs to bunker builds, buffs to conjures.

You say this as someone who doesn’t play Staff Ele.

Funny how we used to have “hopes” for this patch…

I’ve been a Staff Ele (because real Eles use staffs) since release and I’ve stuck to it even though I sucked at it for a long time. It was hard to play in PVE and sPVP (not so much in WvWvW), but I eventually got better at it and I made it work. I stopped playing bunker because it’s boring not being able to kill anything and went condition and I made that work too. I had a lot of fun.

But I relied heavily on Evasive Arcana and Heals to even out (or get an edge) in battle. Now… nothing. Water 3 and 5 suck and were only good with blast finishers and now, there’s only Arcane Wave (Eruption too… but eh…).

I think my hopes were too high for some Ele buffs in the last patch and… Sigh. I just don’t know what to do now.

Perhaps it’s time I quit playing.

Earth Staff 1 at least stacks weakness even if it is duration which is decent. I do wish our auto attacks were better. The only one I use is fire 1.

I just felt like posting that…

But really, don’t stand still as an Ele. It gets you killed. Keep moving.

Unless you’re raining hell on the enemy team from far away while your team is keeping them busy. That’s fun. But otherwise. Run. Run Lola Run.

The people who don’t like downed state aren’t playing Thieves and Mesmers, who are both OP when they’re alive and downed. Seriously, wtf.

They just need to kittenen balance the downed states so that they’re all equally viable. I would prefer they balanced downed states rather than take it out completely. I actually don’t mind downed state as an Ele, it’s just super frustrating downed mesmers and thieves.

I agree. It’d be nice to know what you have planned for us. Not knowing is painful.

BFNK.6748:

I finally got to use the ‘Conjure Fiery Greatsword’ elite, and it has been a blast. With this in my hands I am able to destroy everything in my path, it’s really great. But could someone explain to me what is the point of having to actually lay your spare 20-charge weapon on the ground, having to go back for it after my initial sword has expired? This makes no sense, it is absolutely annoying and unnecessary. I am always moving in a forward direction, but whenever I use this ability I am actually forced to go back and pick it up. Not just that, if I want to be efficient I need to spawn the spare sword ahead of me, which often gets me unnecessarily murdered by a bunch of mobs, while trying to get the perfect far-away casting distance and not a single bit closer. I have to stand still while casting it, so it often bugs and goes into a 3 second recharge.

The poor sword has no synergy with the rest of my spells – If I ever decide to go underwater – it’s gone. If I ever need to pop mist form – IT’S GONE. If I accidentally pick some random worthless item from the ground – it’s gone. I can’t even leave it on the ground and pick it up later, the way I can with all those hundreds of practically useless tools (shovels, water buckets and whatnot). Not only this, but ANYONE can pick up my spare sword, anyone. I usually wouldn’t mind donating one to a fellow player, but when I have absolutely no choice of keeping it for myself – that is different. The control has been swept away and occasionally my survival depends on pure chance, which is ridiculous if we are to talk about a skill-driven game.

Why has it been so hard for you to just make it possible for the Elementalists to drop and pick up the sword whenever they want to? Or simply spawn one single sword with 20 (40 traited) charges? Why does my sword disappear nowhere to be found as soon as I use my Mist Form? You are punishing me for using my own spells?! And what is most annoying is that I am even being punished if I decide to be FULLY efficient with my sword – that is trying to use mostly the auto-attack, which throws 3-4 fireballs for the price of 1 charge. If I do that – as soon as my sword disappears, which happens just about after 1 minute has passed – my other sword is gone too. So I can’t even use my second charge because apparently I am not supposed to take my time and put my sword into full usage, not if I want to use both swords.

Furthermore, the sound effects… This is beyond comprehension – we (me and a large bunch of other players) are forced to turn off our sound effects, because every now and then the sword’s SFX will start glitching and producing unbearable noises of over-layered sounds, phasing and bugging me out of this world. This, combined with the amazing, most annoying bug of the scepter’s lightning auto-attack , makes playing an elementalist with sound effects turned on impossible. Unless the player is a sonic masochist and really wants to hear all those dying kittens for what seems to be practically 90% of the time. (Most eles roam in air mode for the speed buffs, the scepter will always bug, you can do the math)

I strongly hope that these problems will be fixed with the next patch. I did not write in the bug thread mostly because half of these ‘bugs’ are actually working as you intended them. Having to pick up my sword and losing it like I have described above – this is not a bug but it sure works and feels like one. The elementalist is by far the most fun, versatile and interesting profession to play and such issues do nothing but ruin the adventure for me (and I presume the rest of us, eles).

Please show us some love and make it right!

I agree. It definitely feels like the ele has a lot of small issues that can be streamlined.

Sharpe.1485:

Kuthos.9623:

You will get owned against any good thief with staff. If you’re not having troubles then you’re facing reaaaaally bad thieves. Staff is horrible at dueling.

Huh… What?

In PvP I mostly run Scepter/Dagger – but for giggles, I sometimes spec full bunker staff – let me tell you, it’s probably the most OP combo elementalists have at the moment.

Nothing at all will kill you in a 1v1 – and still difficult to die in a 1v2, unless your enemies really know what they are doing and prevent you from comboing your water fields.
And although your DPS will be crap – it can be quite sustained and will creep up on your enemies slowly but surely.

Burst classes/builds in particular (aka thieves) have absolutely no chance against a bunker staff ele.

Yeah, I don’t know how Kuthos plays but I wouldn’t be PVPing as a Staff Ele if I got my kitten handed to me all the time. Frankly, the only real trouble I have is against shatter mesmers (kitten they hurt).

My condition/toughness Ele has done pretty well so far. Bunkers are great for holding cap points but I could never kill kitten in pvp with it. If I had an 1v1’s, it’d last forever. Felt more like a war of attrition.

Kuthos.9623:

You will get owned against any good thief with staff. If you’re not having troubles then you’re facing reaaaaally bad thieves. Staff is horrible at dueling.

I duel all the time with staff… I don’t know what you guys are talking about. But I guess I’m only like lvl 14 in sPVP.

potemkin.4239:

I’m often put into a down state before I can finish an opponent off in a 1v1 skirmish. Most of the time, I bring the opponent to 10%-15% HP. I use the following to down them when they rush over to stomp me:

Icy Mist trait
Lava Tomb trait
Superior Rune of the Afflicted

If I’m lucky, I throw a Lava Font around me before I go down, to make things doubly painful. Using Vapor Form offensively catches some people by surprise.

I used to do that, but re-traited so I didn’t have to do that. I found it depressing that I did more DPS while I was downed and it felt like I was being too pessimistic.

Imo, best to re-trait and just learn to play better. Not to be mean. The key to playing Ele is to always be on the move. Circe strafe everywhere, all the time.

I PvP a lot and everyone seems to use D/D (if you see an Ele at all). I love Staff though. Imo, elementalists are wizards, and real wizards use staves.

emikochan.8504:

staff W4 clears immobilize/cripple/chill.

Yeah. Wind 4 Staff is surprisingly very good. I didn’t think much of it for battle before but its great when you get immmobilized or crippled. It’s almost always off CD for me in battle too.

fixit.7189:

Fight a thief while using a staff and tell us how it goes.

Oh you mean PvE….uh…spam buttons…/win?

Still think that S/D and D/D are much better over all. Staff only really shines with AoE/group support. DPS wise, other weapons sets blow it out of the water if played/specced right.

I fight thieves all the time on my Ele in sPVP as a staff. The only real problem so far I have is when they catch me off-guard and get a chance to unload their burst. Glass-cannon thieves are like premature ejaculators imo. Once they unload their burst, they’re not that hard.

Since we’re usually fighting on a cap point, I just spam fire font in the cap point once I dodge out of the way and it hits them even if they’re in stealth. I have so many AoEs, I dont care that I miss with one fire font.

I run a condition toughness build btw with staff.

Drew.1865:

After leveling a gaurdian to 80 I’ve realized Elementalists are under powered and do need a buff and a rework. The class is pretty broken and Anet needs to fix it.

I kill guardians all the time as a staff ele.

fixit.7189:

Immobilize > ele bunker.

It stops anything being casted upon being applied (interrupt).
They also make it hard to actually cast while rooted which requires you to jam on buttons and pray they will actually go off which is really annoying.
Ele cannot spin or move while stuck; get behind ele and go to town with no fear of being attacked.
Many immobilizes cannot be cleansed and will go full duration. Some are up to 10 seconds!
Immobilize is also uneffected by the stability buff; the ultimate ‘lose control of your character’ CC.
And most importantly: ele cannot dodge while immobilized. No dodge = no evasive arcana trixs.

One immobilize at the right time is all that is needed to stop an ele bunker in it’s tracks. Literally.

Windborne Speed (Air 4) cures immobilized, chilled, and crippled. I use it all the time. Since I rarely use Air 4 in battle, its almost always off cool-down.

Hm, I’ve only done Staff and Dagger/Dagger. Haven’t played around much with S/D but sounds like a cool build.

pahldus.1678:

Elementalists have the highest damage output and 2nd highest burst damage, plus with earth available almost all the time(save for when it is on cooldown) they also have high survivability just in a different way.

Health is not the be all end all of survivability, and in my opinion having played both mesmer and elementalist, ele has a lot more survivability. Not saying mesmer are complete glass cannons, that actually goes to the thief. The thief gets stealth to mitigate that problem, just like the mesmer gets clones and the ele gets earth skills. Every class has their method of mitigating damage, you just need to play to those if you plan on doing much PvP. As to PvE, it is not hard to survive, just strafe and you will be fine. When I strafe I so rarely get hit in PvE at least until the higher levels it makes the game a little boring. So now I only strafe if I think there is a chance I might go down.

I play staff Ele and imo, the Earth attunement doesn’t provide much defense. The only real defense skill is Earth 3, which repels ranged attacks for 5 seconds but has a 30s CD. Earth 2 is a bleed (not a defense move). Earth 1 stacks weakness which is good and counts as a defense based skill I suppose, more like a debuff. Earth 4 and 5 are also debuffs but they miss a lot imo.

Water attunement is much better for defense. Use water 4 and water 2 to keep people away from you and heal with water 3 and 5 in conjunction with arcane wave and evasive arcana (and eruption) for massive AOE heals.

Sugram.3106:

SecondtoNone.7549:

Bunker Staffs are most viable in sPVP, but it’s hard to kill stuff and 1v1’s can go on forever.

I play a condition damage based staff ele traiting into earth, water, and arcana. So far, I still have good survival because of the high toughness and decent hp (19k) and I don’t get bursted down by thieves and I can kill better than my bunker build.

The key to playing ele is to never ever stand still. Move move move. Circle strafe, jump, move backwards, dodge. But don’t stand still. Avoid using Fire 5 unless no one is targetting you and you’re firing away at a group of enemies from far away (this is really fun and you do a lot of damage).

Oh and don’t burn through your stunbreakers unless you’re getting bursted down. You need the stunbreakers when you’re getting HBed or getting hit by a thief’s burst.

my Sylvari ele future build, i say future cause i’m not lvl 80
weapon S/D
earth 30/3/4/7
water 30/3/5/11
arcane 10 /5
good build if u want to survive long battles & do a lot of dam, i tested it in are were u can reset & try meany builds but u will be back to normal when u return to game, it also kills fast & u can switch to water sometimes to support ur group, to get erth & fire both 30 dose not give much earth water is better, i try’d it in Heart Of Mists, it kills faster then then other ele builds, not good DPS with staff, Staff is not bad but my opinion is that S/D is better, with staff gameplay is a bit harder, & with staff fire is better, it has useful skills like example 1, what makes u jump backward & u leave trail of fire on the ground what dam ur enemy as long as he runs on that trail of fire, good in PVE

S/D is good too. But imo, a bunker staff ele is a good support class for controlling points. High AoE Heals with good CD and awesome AoE condition removal is sweet.

I’m rolling a condition based staff ele right now. The high toughness and 19k hp adds for good survivability and I can stack decent burns and bleeds. I can actually kill stuff unlike the bunker build where 1v1’s took ages.

boozer.7815:

Staff Ele is viable but needs work in the Air line. Other than that, Fire and Earth Staff Ele is beast.

That’s funny because I walk around in the air attunement as a Staff Ele.

I’m always using windborne speed for the movement speed boost. I actually start off my battles with Air 2 for a quick blind and then Air 3 in an attempt to push them back. If it does knock them over, I use Air 1 to squeeze some damage in and Air 5 to stun and then, usually move to earth to use eruption. I love switching to earth for the temporary protection (and stability of you get the grandmaster trait) as people usually open with the best skills (stuns) initially.

pahldus.1678:

Warriors/Necros w/out gear at lvl. 80 — 18,372
Engineer/Ranger/Mesmer w/out gear at lvl. 80 — 15,082
Elementalist/Guardian/Thief w/out gear at lvl. 80 — 10,805

So yeah, ele’s are low man, but not the only one getting the shaft.

Imo, it should look like this:

Warriors/Necros w/out gear at lvl. 80 — 18,372
Engineer/Ranger/Elementalist w/out gear at lvl. 80 — 15,082
Mesmer/Guardian/Thief w/out gear at lvl. 80 — 10,805

Who’s with me? I still like wearing light armor though because light armor looks sexier.

Bunker Staffs are most viable in sPVP, but it’s hard to kill stuff and 1v1’s can go on forever.

I play a condition damage based staff ele traiting into earth, water, and arcana. So far, I still have good survival because of the high toughness and decent hp (19k) and I don’t get bursted down by thieves and I can kill better than my bunker build.

The key to playing ele is to never ever stand still. Move move move. Circle strafe, jump, move backwards, dodge. But don’t stand still. Avoid using Fire 5 unless no one is targetting you and you’re firing away at a group of enemies from far away (this is really fun and you do a lot of damage).

Oh and don’t burn through your stunbreakers unless you’re getting bursted down. You need the stunbreakers when you’re getting HBed or getting hit by a thief’s burst.