Guild Wars 2

Crossplay.2067:

Here’s another idea. What if you could disable 2 elements to gain weapon swapping?

That would still leave the initial problem of adding new combinations, which goes directly against Anet’s initial design plans. The idea seems reasonable (more reasonable than most I’ve read so far), but it does create a lot of new combinations that have to be taken into account and balanced.

The main issue is that you can’t think of Fire Grab in a vacuum. Sure, on its own it may be sub par, but you’ll Always be running it in a build that can also stun, snare and heal itself. It’s the fact that we have other elements too that makes the skill less powerful.

And if you really want to burst with it, I’d recommend combining it with scepter. If you Hurl→3x Lightning Strike (1 from weapon, 1 from sigil and 1 from trait)→Fire Grab (on an already burning target), you get quite a massive spike in just 2 seconds or so.

The one thing I do find odd is that its damage is nearly equal to Sigil of Aire, yet it is AoE. Shouldn’t Air be much higher?

Xaos.3257:

Ehmm…. the range is a huge factor to a fight

My apologies if I made it sound like it makes no difference, because there’s obviously an advantage to having a bigger range. What I meant to say is that dagger have so many ways to close the distance that it doesn’t matter so much to them that it’s a deal breaker.

For starters, their attacks aren’t strictly melee attacks as they can have up to 600 range, but at least 400. Furthermore, they have snares and stuns of their own to make sure the target won’t get away easily. Finally, they have plenty of condition removal and stunbreakers and if Lightning Flash is added to that, you can see that the only place where range would be an issue is jumping puzzles.

Range is a factor, sure. But there are ther differences between dagger/dagger and staff that are more noteworthy than their range difference. The playing speed, mobility and combo fields to name but a few.

In short, I wouldn’t swap weapons or cast conjures solely for the range. I’d pick a conjure that actually does something different. If it has a better range, then great, but not just for the range.

Xaos.3257:

Truth is that the D/D is in a huge disadvantage in a fight if the opponent knows how to use the enviroment.

The same can be said for most staff skills.

Invictus.1503:

However the issue was never that they had Asian themes, the problem was that they mixed a lot of Asian cultures together and presented them as one.

If that’s the case, then the best idea would be to ignore the complainers and just add Cantha. I mean, they should take it as a compliment that stuff is based on their culture.

The only good thing here is that if Cantha doesn’t get added, we still ‘win’ because then at least we don’t get to compliment those people either.

Glad I’m more openminded than all those ‘ooh I’m offended’ people out there…

I’m not bummed out by the changes to the ele itself, but more to the new anti-boon skills. If we’d have the option to make a build without boons, then it’d be fair. But at the moment, we don’t. So warriors get a free damage buff vs eles, and thieves steal all our boons (and they had little trouble with staff eles to begin with).

You can ‘dps from a distance’ with daggers if you need to. There’s almost no fight that requires 1200 range and makes anything less than that useless.

The range of the ele weapons is a secondary stat, not their defining trait.

There’s one build that can make some use of the conjures, and that’s the Elemental Surge build. You may have less skills when equipping the conjure, but you still get conditions on demand, not to mention a good number of boons when swapping attunements.

maddoctor.2738:

ThiBash.5634:

and of course the conjure weapons, which are designed to compensate our inability to swap weapons.

They are? Where is the 1200 range Conjured Weapon then? That’s the only thing that is missing to allow all Ele types to use all types of range just like every other profession can -very easily- do.

If you want that range, there’s a bunch of signets and an arcane skill.

But the main thing is that the range on elementalist’s weapons is pretty much irrelevant. An evasive arcana staff wielder spends a lot of time in melee too, and a dagger ele has enough gap closers to quickly get back into range. In fact, you even have a 600 range projectile attack on what are otherwise pretty much melee weapons…

Seriously, range is a secondary stat on ele weapons.

It also happens when you’re standing right next to them, on the same platform. What’s worse is that they continue to attack you, and even send you straight into defeated when throwing you off (rather than downed as it should be).

About half the time, when taking the Minstrel in your hands, the music notes disappear.

I don’t mind hard content in the game. However, that already exists in the form of fractals.

What I’m missing is a quick, fun dungeon you can do when you have a spare half hour, to have fun with your friends. At the moment, if you want to do a dungeon, you’ll have to reserve at least an hour and that’s just too long.

That and the fact that bosses in general just have too much health. Stuff takes too long, making it become boring during the fight.

Not this thread again…

The reason why we don’t have nor will ever get in-combat weapon swap is because ArenaNet wants to limit the number of potential combinations. It backfired on them in Guild Wars 1 and therefore they put restrictions on it in Guild Wars 2.

Other reasons include needlessly complex mechanics just to make it work, potentially overpowered combinations that nobody may forsee right now), the fact that range isn’t a deciding factor in our weapon choice (anywhere other than jumping puzzles maybe) and of course the conjure weapons, which are designed to compensate our inability to swap weapons.

It’s just not worth the trouble you’ll create by adding it. And when it comes to out of combat swapping, that can easily be incorporated with a traitbuild/equipment swapping feature, which would benefit all players rather than just the elementalist.

People have yet to experience true bunker eles. D/D is good at staying alive, but focus is many times better at it. It has its drawbacks of course (less damage and mobility), but when it comes down to being unkillable, it’s much better at that.

Maybe some day we all end up playing that just to be able to survive a fight.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Not to say it would be a bad idea to add those to Glyphs, just that Glyph-heavy builds work better than you might think if you alloy them with a cantrip or two.

A cantrip or two means it stops being a glyph build. If you look at other professions, you’ll notice their stunbreakers are spread among different skill types. The ranger for example, can run a full signet build with a stunbreaker. However, he isn’t required to always have a signet if he wants a stunbreaker in his build. Same goes for engineer, that has both gadget and elixir stunbreakers.

Meanwhile, we get only 1 type of stunbreaker, that also happens to have the best traits and the most desirable traitline to work with them. And if you’re gonna invest traits in something, you’ll want to make the maximum use out of it…hence 3 cantrips to make a build.

But trying to make a full glyph, signet or arcane build…that’s quite a bit harder, especially since the stunbreaker is more or less mandatory. It’s a gamechanging effect, hence it’s popular.

A very good idea but…it may be slightly too long for a fractal. Some part of it will probably have to be shortened.

BUT I WOULD STILL LIKE TO SEE THAT HAPPEN!

In general, it seems like turning the temporary content dungeons into fractals (even if they’d have a very small chance to happen) would be a great idea. Just imagine fighting Mad King Thorn as a fractal boss once every 100 runs or so. Would be epic.

Yeah, awesome dungeon. Really liked the way the boss fight differes based upon the order of defeating them. That’s definitely something that can be used more often in my opinion.

It could be Caithe’s girlfriend, though that one’s not from a city.

So what else could it be…which cities do we know of exist? There’s Arah, Divinity’s Reach and Lion’s Arch…any other cities?

The thing is, if we overcome this challenge then we’re basically saying to Anet that what they changed was ok. When in reality, it doesn’t really mean a nerf is good or bad. Just means the ele players are good.

At the very least, our non-fireball damage auto attacks should be increased a bit. They just do too little damage atm. Fireball is barely acceptable and the others might as well deal no damage.

No we’re not. With the recent addition of anti-boon skills, staff has finally reached the point where it became unplayable. Staff eles needed those boons, still do and even if they wouldn’t be required, we can’t ditch them because there’s no ele build without boons.

Ra the Eternal.1635:

People need to:

• Learn their profession & its workarounds against others. If I can do it, so can you.

There is no workaround for anti-boon skills on elementalists. Regardless of what build you pick, it’ll revolve around boons in one form or another. Which mean that the ‘nagging’ we do as you’ve called it, is actually valid. Especially since the main perpatrator, D/D, depends on boons the least of all ele builds.

Well, I did file a bug report a while back listing all the staff skills that werent affected…maybe this is that fix?

CrazyAce.3842:

What if we’re not around on May 12th? I have no idea what I might be doing that day. I did all the other story achievements, and I don’t want to miss out on my Fused Weapon Skin just because I might not be able to log in on that day.

It’s available for multiple days right?

Vulpis.8063:

Given that WoW also does 5-man raids

Called dungeons there too.

and every other part of the F&F arc…including the previous pair of instances that were designed for 5-person groups…were still soloable (rather difficult, but still doable, which is exactly the challenge level I’m looking for)?

You can solo this one if you’re good enough. Nothing in it requires 5 players to be present. You want a challenge right? This is a challenge.

There’s really no excuse for ending the arc like this.

They don’t need it. It’s a well designed dungeon with an epic boss fight. Personal preference on your part is just that. If you want solo play, go play an offline game. And it’s not like you can’t get a random group in less than a minute anyway.

DevonCarver.5370:

The AoE limit is due to technical limitations.

That’s actually good to know. If things just can’t be done, they can’t be done. No use for us to complain about it further.

Very cool dungeon. The health on the mobs may be a tiny bit lowered so it won’t become tedious, but overall I enjoyed it a lot.

If I understand you correctly, you’re saying that non-cantrip builds aren’t up to par because they lack a stunbreaker?

That is something I can agree with. Just did the new dungeon boss and while in theory you can dodge everything, the charr boss has a nasty stun that you’ll be glad to break out of if you didn’t dodge it in time. Which means you’ll want at least 1 stun breaker in your build, and that severely hinders your choices. Add the superior condition removal and vigor, and you’ve got yourself a winner. Regardless of what the skill does otherwise.

As long as stunbreakers are manadatory, expect cantrips to rule supreme.

- Improve glyph of elemental power, because it’s underpowered;

The one part of your comment I disagree with. I run it on my staff build and it helps immensely with making stuff hit stuff. The fact that it has a cooldown per target means you can have a snaring meteor shower versus zergs, or snaring auto-attacks in 1v1. Both are pretty useful tools. But as a whole, the glyph build just won’t cut it yet.

If you’re running scepter/focus, you might get away with no stunbreaker and only limited condition removals.

TwoBit.5903:

-Comet skill: Blast finisher now occurs at the comet’s location rather than at the elementalist’s location.

Dat dartboard balancing. GG ANet.

That’s actually a bugfix. Don’t fault them for fixing bugs. You’d not want them to stop fixing bugs, do you?

Part of the changes makes me feel Anet was listening to us. Signets got a minor buff, as did glyphs (non-earth elemental summons really needed this). They DO want to buff our lesser used skills.

However, I do feel that they grossly underestimate the effect boonhate will have on the non-tank builds and these changes aren’t enough to compensate. Running a signet build still lacks a good stunbreaker. Glass cannon staff builds will still be hurt by the new anti-boon skills, and got the few non-boon defensive skills they had left nerfed.

Strife.2693:

But.. how do you play arcane with a staff ? I mean, you’re trying to compensate the long casting time with instant arcane spells ?

If I were to use them, I’d use them as utility. Arcane Blast would be a 1500 range spell that’s both a projectile finisher and (in earth) and immobilize. Arcane Wave is a blast finisher, which would have very good defensive utility (cast it in a water field for chill on your opponent and extra healing for you). Finally, Arcane Power combines well a number of spells, be it any of the auto-attacks, or something more specific like a Fiery Greatsword #5 while in Earth to make sure the target can’t leave the AoE blast.

There are a lot of possibilities, but I’m kinda worried about the lack of stunbreaker/panic button that such a build would have.

cero.1209:

I would like to see some damage oriented builds actually!

I have a feeling that the devs are trying to make us try other things than just bunker.

There’s no way I’m gonna run out there without the Protection boon if each offensive boon I take make warriors deal 3% more damage too.

Minion of Vey.4398:

Other than some gimmick glass cannon builds, the profession completely falls apart in any sort of sustained combat situation without using many boons.

Just found out that thieves can also steal our boons after next patch. Guess whatever 1v1 chance I had on my staff ele is now gone too…

…but still, the added boon hinderance does suggest we can somehow do without. As a community, surely we can come up with something?

tolunart.2095:

Eh, I’m a big picture kind of guy. I try to look at things from a different perspective than “such-and-such is more powerful/effective than similar things, therefore I have to do such-and-such.”

The devs have to view the game as a whole, while players tend to look at it from a single point of view, care only about a single class or technique, etc.

I’m looking at the big picture when I point out that the anti-boon skills will hurt the staff eles a lot more than the bunker d/d eles and guardians that caused the nerf to begin with.

Does anyone have any idea how it can be done? I mean, supposedly the +3% damage per boon traits isn’t a free automatic damage buff on eles…so we must have at least one viable non-boon build. However, I’ve not found it yet. Could you guys help me out?

So far, I’ve looked at:
-Cantrips -> boon based traits
-Auras -> boon based traits
-Signets -> uses auras -> boon based
-Glyphs -> cast boons on use
-Arcane -> doesn’t cause boons, but traitline gives boon duration
-Mono-fire -> relies on might stacking and doesn’t have the protection/defense to cope with the extra damage it’ll get

At a loss here…which viable build am I missing? Which ele build can deal meaningful damage without Sigil of Battle? Discuss please.

stale.9785:

Ele’s catch it nearly as hard, with the attunement dancing, but for guardian’s, it’s the classes core mechanic, and what makes up for us having 8000HP less than the other soldier class…

Not nearly as hard. Just as hard.

Of all the potential builds (including the subpar ones), there’s only 1 that doesn’t create boons and that one uses a traitline that increases boon duration.

-Cantrips traits generate boons.
-Glyph traits generate boons.
-Aura traits generate boons.
-Signet traits generate auras, that generate boons.
-Arcane skills generate conditions…but the traitline increases boon duration.

And the worst part is that D/D bunker, the build that CAUSES the boon hate suffers THE LEAST from it because it still has defensive skills to rely on. The staff on the other hand, had to use boons instead…and thus gets nerfed twice as hard.

And the best part is that there were two more logical options available: reduction of boon duration or more boon removal.

In the end though, it seems that +20% more damage versus staff eles was preferable…especially since warriors had such a hard time taking them down to begin with.

Apologies for my earlier post. Apparently this got fixed at some point. Arcane Power triggers a lot more ‘normal’ now. Which is a good thing really. Time to bust out the Arcane build!

PistolWhip.2697:

If a warrior wants to do damage regardless of the trait being there or not, they will do extreme amounts of it.

That’s exactly what I mean. Warriors already do an insane amount of damage. By picking just 1 trait, they will completely steamroll staff eles now. Staying power just became irrelevant, they no longer need it.

In my guild, we do 1 type: tier 3 bounty so we get a chance at getting at least 1 boss we can find before the timer runs out. Everybody gets their personal rewards and we’re done for the week.

We’ll start earning merits when we get trek. Our guild is too small to waste our time getting frustrated by completing bounties.

With the upcoming patch, a funeral dirge would be appropriate I think…

Sil.4560:

ThiBash.5634:

A well timed kill shot will be blocked by Aegis fortunately.

Apparently that’s what Signet of Might will be for. Unblockable, boon-hating sniper rifle. HEAD SHOT.

Didn’t know that. Now I’m really against this change.

Then again, I already was against it when they first anounced it. Why not add more boon stripping or make boons harder to apply?

PistolWhip.2697:

Its 3% per boon, so unless you run more than 5 boons at a time, hard unless you run “save yourselves”, or your teammates are there to provide boons. It wont be that number in most situations.

Just running the Elemental Attunement trait will give said warrior +15% extra damage (it gives near-permanent might, protection, regeneration, swiftness & fury). If I’m unfortunate enough to recieve even more boons from my allies during the fight, it’ll quickly add up to 20%. I’d drop the trait but unfortunately, viable boonless builds are in short supply on staff eles. Making a build without boons is pretty darn hard, even if it would be viable to play. Just look at the traits and skills and see how many of the provide boons. The warrior would have a tough time finding an ele that doesn’t give him at least +9%.

Snickers.9570:

Frozen Ground: This becomes an AoE Frost Armour ability, 5 second duration 40 second cooldown.

What you’re describing is exactly what Frozen Ground does when you activate a blast finisher in the field. Your suggestion would thus be a major nerf.

Gust: Change into a ground target ability like Whirlwind Attack, slight increase to width of the projectile.
Windborne Speed: Reduce cooldown by 5 seconds.

Gust could benefit greatly from a faster projectile. Windborne speed wouldn’t matter much seeing that perma swiftness is commonplace on eles.

Eruption: Reduce animation time by 1 second.
Magnetic Aura: Reduce cooldown to around 20 seconds.
Shockwave: Change into a ground target ability like Whirlwind Attack, slight increase to width of the projectile. Reduce cooldown by 5 seconds.

Eruption’s ability to combo with other fields is what makes its casting time good. I’d rather see it get instant casting time instead. That would also speed it up but still allow for combos.
Magnetic Aura change would be pretty sweet. However, seeing as how it’s much better than Fire Aura, you may wanna make that one have 20 recharge too, and maybe give MA 25 instead.
Shockwave like Gust is fine in theory, but could benefit greatly from a much bigger projectile speed.

Oldgrimm.8521:

now that warriors deal 3% more damage per boon,

using this will kill you literally,

a well timed eviscerate or kill shot is huge,

A well timed kill shot will be blocked by Aegis fortunately.

Not saying I like the free 20% damage bonus warriors just got versus elementalists though…

I’m not gonna run dung, sorry.

Leo G

“All signets that just augment a single stat will be basically double.”

The exact quote from the sotg video.

Signet of Fire will probably be overlooked because it grants critical chance rather than precision. Almost willing to bet money on that…

offence.4726:

D/D ele is the single most OP spec in the game so far , whoever is denying this needs a reality check and some game sense. It’s funny how thieves get nerfed every single patch and yet they still didnt adress this build Quite sad.

The D/D gets nerfed but at the same time staff get destroyed. That’s the problem with these nerfs. They hurt the non-problem specs more than the ones they’re trying to fix.

Blackhat.4016:

Maybe I should read more and write less…

Np. Happens to everyone.

If they have to keep this weird mechanic then I would encourage making it work on wheter you have a target SELECTED and not wheter you HIT a target.