Guild Wars 2

My engineer’s name was based on ‘Gonzo the Great’ from the Muppets (whom in many ways has an Asura-like personality).

Therefore, I now have a character named Ghinzio the Great.

Feel free to make your title bragging or even over the top. The Fantastic/Amazing/Splendid/Genious/etc. make a great ‘last name’.

The thing with names like these is, that while you may not be offended by certain things, others may be. The only logical thing for ArenaNet to do is to play it safe. I don’t understand why you’re so upset about that, because I feel you really can’t expect them to handle things in any other way. A grumpy player is less of a problem than being affiliated with racism. Your name may have been in a ‘grey area’ but like they say, better safe than sorry.

That’s just the way things are.

There’s a fix. Dodge 100 blades and they go down fairly easily.

Veenix

Because you keep failing to understand what “versatility” means.

To be honest, I don’t think you do either. It’s not the range number in the skill description that determines the versatility. Unlike other professions, the Elementalist’s weapons aren’t more or less effective at different ranges. This may seem like a contadiction because other classes DO have a difference between ranged and melee weapons.

Take Static Field for example. At longer ranges, it’s a great snare/interrupt ability. At shorter ranges, it’s great at helping you escape combat. The versatility of the skill lies in the fact that it can do various things depending on the player’s creativity.

As for the daggers, they may require shorter ranges to deal their damage, but Elementalists are also extremely mobile. How, where and when you get into melee is for the player to decide. And when they do, they got a lot of ways they can actually fight the fight, making it hard to predict and counter their attacks.

Range has more to do with fighting style than with weapon effectiveness. The staff isn’t any less potent in melee than it is at range. Just different.

Kreit.4709:

@ThiBash
It’s not sarcasm. In PvE situtations, when you just stay in fire attunement and spam 3 skills are quite often (plus might stacking from major fire trait, OP asked about dps build).
And +5% damage – it’s sigil of force. Bloodlust gives 10 power per kill, which is better then sigil of battle.

The reason I compared Sigil of Battle to Sigil of Force is to show why Sigil of Battle is a good choice. I’ll admit that wasn’t the right place to do so though.

However, I disagree that Bloodlust is a better choice because Sigil of Battle also gives condition damage. In fights that last longer than 10 seconds, you’ll get 6 stacks of Might from your sigil alone. That’s 210 power and 210 condition damage. Whereas Bloodlust gives you 250 power at best. Since you’re likely to do at least some condition damage (through either bleeding or burning), Battle surpasses Bloodlust easily.

To sum it up:
Superior Sigil of Battle grants 210 power and 210 condition damage.
Superior Sigil of Bloodlust grants 250 power.

elchulo

Since ele attunements have almost no synergy you actually lose TONS of dps in staff by switching

Sure, Eruption + Lava Font…no synergy. Static Field + Stoning…no synergy.

elchulo

Just because we have access to 20 skills doesn’t make them all good. Many are worthless.

Would you people please learn how to read. We were saying in DUNGEONS it can be more efficient aka more dps to stay in fire for STAFF. If we had parsers I would show you.

But that would be ignoring the incredible synergy the staff Elementalist has with other professions due to combo fields. A ranger shooting through static field will cause enough vulnerability to make your whole team deal more damage (25% vulnerability for 5 players means your fire dps would have to be 125% better than other attunements just to catch up).

The staff elementalist is a COMBO player. The whole weapon revolves around making all sorts of combos, both with your team and with your own skills. You cannot measure it purely by comparing dps, because that’s not what the staff is about.

Until you learn the value of comboing, you’ll not be able to use the staff the way it was intended. In which case you’re probably better off staying in fire, as you’ll hinder your team the least…

BishopX.6453:

who cares about 10% more damage? Ill take my 15 stacks of might over your 10% damage.

Finally, someone who knows how attunement switching works on staves. The only thing you forgot to mention is that it’s AREA might…so your whole party gets the bonus if you’re good.

FInd me a fire ele that can outdps 15 stacks of might on the entire TEAM, and I’ll concede that staying in 1 element may be better.

Also, there’s the fabulous Sigil of Battle, which grants you might just for switching attunements, the vulnerability from static field combos, the snares that make enemies easier to catch from water, etc…

Staying in 1 element is fine, but don’t claim for a second that you’re more useful than someone who does not, because it’s simply not true.

And with staff you don’t switch attunements often as with D/D

Sarcasm I assume? I switch way more often than the internal cooldown of the sigil.

On a side note, some paper napkin math suggests that even at 3 stacks, sigil of battle’s better than the +5% damage sigil.

The sigil of battle is already more powerful than the +5% damage alternative. Removing the cooldown restriction would make it the mandatory choice for all Elementalists (not to mention each Elementalist would run with 25 stacks of might all the time).

Removing the cooldown is a very, very bad idea and people who think it’s a great way to ‘fix’ the Elementalist should really stop posting ‘balance’ tips.

The sigil is fine with cooldown, end of story.

Mass Guild Mail would be sooo useful…just restrict it to Guild Leader once a day to prevent problems, but even then…

…I’m trying to mail my members info on the Treasure Trove system…such a pain with the EXCESSIVE MESSAGING stupid thing coming up EVERY…SINGLE…TIME…

There’s a new bug since last patch. For some weird reason, Whirlpool now does 33% less damage than it should.

No idea how or why, but I’m sure you guys at Anet know what’s going on.

Or what could help is make it usable without downed allies. The fire effect could be worth it IF you could cast it at will.

But no matter what fixes we come up with, they won’t happen…

Reading some of the comments here, I can recommend trying an Evasive Arcana build. That will allow you to spec for defense and still deal good damage due to the 15-20 stacks of might you can get on yourself.

Try it, you’ll like it.

wertyuio.8630:

it would reward skilled players for juggling their attunements better.

You mean pressing F1-4 mindlessly right? It would be a powerful buff, but it wouldn’t be the best way to ‘fix’ things.

On a side note, if you’re good with Evasive Arcana and Arcane Blast, you can still get to 15-19 stacks of might if you’d want to.

DaedalusDragon.3754:

Honestly, it is going to be useless no matter what they do with it from here on. Fixing any real bug on this skill still wouldn’t be incentive to put it on my skillbar.

Agreed. It should be instant cast now to make it worth bringing.

DaedalusDragon.3754:

The developer in charge of the “Make sure the elementalist sucks” department probably complained… But I must give them credit, they are FANTASTIC at their job.

While I do not agree that the Elementalist sucks (though it takes great effort to not make them suck), I still don’t get the why (assuming your reason isn’t the actual truth lol).

Up until the latest patch, it used to be Whirlpool…

…any chance that, going with the nerf, we’d also get a fix of the parts of the skill that don’t work? Like the ‘teleport to you’ bit that never worked because the target gets revived where they went down and thus will go down again before they can get teleported to your location?

The one thing I do not understand is WHY it was nerfed. I mean, who complained about it? The npcs? Sure, it was a strong move, but with a cooldown like that, it should be. At least to make up for the fact that it was really just a filler skill…it’s just a sit and wait till it’s over skill.

An internal cooldown is understandable…otherwise it would be too powerful for Elementalists (it’s already one of the best choices, as it gives way more dps increase than the +5% damage one for example) but I agree that it would be nice if it was displayed in the item description.

What I love? The versatility of the staff build.

Not only do we get a lot of skills but we can use them all in a lot of different ways. It helps me make up a tactic on the fly and I really enjoy that. It also allows me to take on pretty much any role, wheter it be offensive damage dealer, offensive support, defensive tanker or healing support.

Between our own skills and the combo fields/finishers we get, we have acces to so many boons and conditions it’s not funny anymore…but it is FUN.

He meant 5% overall. You get 20% for 1/4 of the time, so 5% on average.

You get the attunements and that’s what you’ll have to work with. If you’re not up to it, then please do not go to the forums asking for a buff.

There’s no ‘switching strategy’ with swapping weapons. Don’t confuse range with strategy. You can switch strategy by switching attunement. For staves, this means setting up a different combo (with ice field instead of lava font) or using your water auto attack to gain it’s heals when your opponent’s at a shorter range.

Use your skills creatively. The different strategies are already available. Even the daggers have longer ranged skills that can help you close the fight (or use your utility slots to compensate).

Conncept.7638:

Nice idea, I could see either helping to fix the Ele’s lack of diversity.

Lack of diversity? Between the 4 attunements which all do completely different things and the combos they can make, hoe more diverse do you wanna get?

juanitobgoode.1079:

I don’t like the fact that we are forced to do these “combos” to execute damage.

Except that’s EXACTLY what the staff is all about. Combos and Attunement Swapping. Your heal is weak without the combo and strong with it. Your burning may be weak, but the rapid firing ranger using your fire fields does a bucket of damage with it.

Even your auto attack skills have secondary effects that make them useful depending on the situation. You should swap attunments all the time, because that’s what you’re supposed to do. Mono-attunement is Guild Wars 1 (ancient history).

The staff is a support weapon, which deals 25% or so of its damage through combos. And when you learn how to utilize them properly, you’ll blaze through enemies liek they weren’t there.

Like how Eruption+Evasive Arcane+Arcane Blast+Lava Font create 9 stacks of might…that’s how the staff was designed.

To be quite honest, I think you’re all overreacting a bit. Yes, there are some things about the Elementalist that don’t work well. And yes, good player skill can compensate for most of those shortcomings.

Seriously, it’s been said by now. Playing the Elementalist takes skill, we know that now. Maybe more than other professions. A buff will come when it will come. Cluttering the forum will only make it take longer because Anet has to read so much junk to get to the actual feedback.

So let’s all agree:

A newbie with an Elementalist = underpowered.
A pro with an Elementalist = balanced.
A god-like player with an Elementalist = just arrogant. You’re not half as good as you may thing you are.

Lifelike.5862:

Conjured weapons are not useless. I believe they’re currently just very undervalued. They’re pretty darn good for setting up combo fields and for performing certain combos that you otherwise couldn’t.

I’d agree, except for the fact that that doesn’t apply to Conjure Earth Shield. It cannot combo whatsoever, and its damage and other skills are still subpar.

Nikkle

Arcane is not an attunement so the arcane fury trait is not effected by LE. Some people think this is a bug but in reality they can’t read.

You know, there’s a nicer way of phrasing such things. You cannot blame people reading ‘attunement bonus’ and linking it to either Arcane Fury or Elemental Attunement.

If the skill were to read “…attunements last 5 seconds after switching…” then I agree it would be a totally different matter.

That’s good to know. I’ll go check it out. Hopefully it’s not a bug that gets fixed at some point in the future. :-)

Admitted, the golem is pretty useful when questing. Especially when you’re swarmed, if it does show up, it’s whirling attack can keep the enemies off you.

Still, it’s not something you can rely upon, it’s more of a ‘nice if it happens’ ability.

And of course, the better you get at dodging stuff, the less you’ll see it appear.

I’ve been pondering myself silly but I cannot come up with anything. It’s spam attack would be a decent alternative for Stoning, if only it caused weakness.

Or maybe if it had an effect on the cast, like Lava Axe has…

It took some time before I could genuinely appreciate the Elementalist, but I can now scarcely imagine myself playing anything else.

Could someone educate me on the uses of this skill?

As an Earth-fan I’d really like to find a way to make it useful, but I have yet to find a use for it.

For one thing, the auto-attack is weaker than my Fire auto and that’s ranged, while the shield is melee. The stun is ok, as is the invulnerability shield, but nothing I couldn’t also get through other skills (like Mist Form). Also, there are no combo moves.

And worst of all, because I normally use a staff with defensive stats, my defense actually goes DOWN when I use the shield.

So therefore I’m turning to the collected wisdom of the forum and ask:

How can I make Conjure Earth Shield work? Are there any combinations I’ve overlooked that make it a viable skill to bring?

No. I think I can safely say that I got the better deal out of this, not ArenaNet. $60.00 is way too cheap for this gem of a game.

It’s spelled Lady, not Ladie.

Currently, runes like the Superior Rune of the Ogre and Superior Rune of the Golemancer have a 5% chance to summon an ally whenever the player is hit.

That chance is pretty low, especially considering the fact that there’s a cooldown on the ability that prevents them from being used to often.

Increasing the chance to 10% would make them a bit more reliable, without overdoing it, and would increase the fun factor a lot. Another suggestion is to make them appear when the player hits something instead of when they’re hit themselves (and then keep it at 5%).

Bottom line: when I get a golem, I’d really like to see it around often. They’re so cool. I don’t mind if they have to be weakened or the cooldown increased. As long as they’re reliable on appearing.

Staff Elementalists also generate combo fields. That adds a lot of hidden damage, like near-constant burning, might buffs or invulnerability.

Not all damage can be measured by looking at the skill numbers.

Durable? In what universe? I can tell you from experience that without dodging everything, even a full toughness build won’t survive the Project Alpha boss (to name but one of many things).

But a warrior can…

Paulus magintie.7432

Sure you can atune to water to bolster it but in the middle of a fight you can’t just attune to water when your trying to roll out damage.

I’d like to correct you on two points.

For one thing, switching to water magic doesn’t increase the power of your heals (it will make Glyph of Restoration add regeneration, but that’s a skill effect, not an attunement effect).

Secondly, you CAN switch attunements when dodging. And while ressing. Or talking. Or even while casting Fire Storm. In fact, switching to Earth (with the stability trait) can be a way to finish casting the spell safely at times.

Lowering the health and armor of a boss doesn’t make it less challenging. Only faster.

Instead of pulling of the same trick for 5 minutes, you now have to do it for 4 minutes. Given how the dungeon’s made, I’d say that’d actually be an improvement.

These dungeons aren’t designed for average players or PuG’s but skilled, well coordinated teams.

Unavoidable instantkill mechanics have nothing to do with teamwork or player skill.

To be quite honest, I prefer attunement swapping over weapon swapping. It’s not hindering me in the slightests, on the contrary. It’s helping me.

Does anyone know if the proc from Signet of Restoration (Elementalist) counts as using a skill?

I would really like a /headdesk command. If it’d summon an actual desk, that’d be awesome.

I think I might even pay for that in the gem store…

I’m guessing there are no different looks available yet?

Killyox.3950

No ammount of toughness will help you if you can’t dodge/blind/LOS properly

I can do those things well, thank you very much. If I can dodge 9 out of 10 times, it’d be nice if stacking toughness and earth magic would save me the 10th time. But apparently that’s asking too much.

It depends on what you plan on doing I suppose, For example, the staff earth auto attack, Stoning, may not deal that much damage. But I can see times where an elementalist would be tasked by their group to spamming it solely for keeping a boss weakened.

In general though, I too prefer to switch attunements regularly. But if any attunement would be playable by itself, it’d be earth.

The important thing on the Valkyrie’s is the Toughness and Healing.

Wouldn’t Cleric’s be more useful then? At least it has power (which works for all your skills) instead of condition damage.

Talk about overreacting…the skill hasn’t been nerfed into usefulness, they merely removed an exploit.

If the instant kills were changed to only take let’s say 90% of your health away, it’d still be plenty of incentive to dodge them.

But at least you’d be able to not play 100% perfectly once in a while.

Does anyone know of a breathing apparatus that looks different than Gavbeorn’s? I’m looking for one that’s fitting for a spellcaster (maybe a magical ‘breathing crystal’ or something). Or maybe just any non-standard look.

Having been instakilled in Crucible of Eternity more times than I can count, while wearing full toughness gear, I can only say…

…yes, that would fix a lot. Even 2k health buff would solve a lot of the problems the Elementalist currently has.