Guild Wars 2

Yeah, I wish that tonics could be freely sold on the TP. I never use them myself except for the rare occasions when I’m waiting around in town and there’s a Costume Brawl going on. I’d much rather sell them to people who like running around as an unusual critter.

I’m with the OP. Personal preference will trump prestige every single time. If a particular item does not appeal to my sense of aesthetics, I will never get it, no matter how prestigious it is viewed by others. It is for this reason that I’m not getting a Legendary as they currently exist; all of them are either too outlandish, or they simply don’t suit the image I have in mind of my character. (My necromancer wields a shiny staff that shoots rainbows? SERIOUSLY?)

Torrad.1075:

Or you can try walking into the throne room in Divinity’s Reach as a charr and talking to the queen. Apparently they just let people walk in there.

They let my Charr Warrior walk right up to Queen Jennah in full armor and with his weapons. The Shining Blade must be REALLY incompetent (or very, VERY confident). XD

Tengu is almost certainly going to be the next playable race. They were actually slated to be the 6th playable race at launch, but were cut due to a lack of time. (You can see the evidence for this in Dominion of Winds and the way the map layout is set up.)

I wouldn’t mind the Koda as a playable race, although I think they have too much thematic overlap with the Norn (arctic-dwelling, bear-like, huge, strong race) to make them distinct enough.

Unfortunately Hylek were created from the start to be a non-player race, according to the Art of GW2 book, which means it’s very unlikely that we’ll see them become a playable race. Likewise, while I would love for Skritt to become a playable race, their Hive intelligence and the fact that they become more stupid the further they are away from members of their species means that we’re very unlikely to see them become a player race. Another problem is that male and female members of both species are just about impossible to distinguish from each other, which is a big drawback as far as player aesthetics are concerned.

I doubt that Largos or Quaggan will become playable races either, since as aquatic races, it wouldn’t really make sense for them to be spending extended periods of time away from the water questing.

Centaurs are a possibility, especially if there is an Elonian expansion that centers around Palawa Joko and the remnants of the Sunspear/Veldrunner tribes that are still resisting him. However, it probably won’t happen given how much the centaurs are built up as Humanity’s foes in their origin stories. Their large size and unusual model might also make it hard for them to do jumping puzzles.

The last race I’d love to see become playable would be the Naga, perhaps with a Canthan expansion. Models already exist in the Krait, and the Krait Witch shows that male and female serpentoids look visually distinct enough from each other for them to be viable player characters. Unlike the krait, naga seem to be a primarily land-dwelling species from what I can recall in Factions, and they could still jump by coiling up their bodies and propelling themselves upwards with their tails.

Lower priority for me, but I wouldn’t mind this myself. That garish yellow underwear just looks so hideous on my female human Mesmer.

@CelestialPetal: Congrats on making it to the cool server! As far as lore is concerned, you should be able to find most of what you need on the official Wiki by looking up the relevant pages for races, cultures etc.

Of course, if you have lots of time to spare, you could always pick up GW1 and its expansions and play through that. Nothing beats being able to learn history by witnessing the Searing firsthand.

@Kerithlan: I think I’ve seen them around a few times too. One time I stumbled upon a secret(?) gathering of roleplayers in an underwater cave in Metrica Province. Not sure if they were the guild, but man I felt like an intruder. >.>

Which guild is that, Kerithlan?

Surbrus.6942:

To those asking “why isn’t cultural (or similar) armour simply armour skins like HOM?”:

Cultural armour is both a gold sink and a gem sink. There I said it.

And before anyone cries greed or whatever, a gem sink is perfectly fine for cosmetic gear.

Not entirely true, depending on how lucky you were with BLCs/Map Completions. I bought 25 Fine Transmutation Stones during the Black Friday sale, but prior to that I already had 5 Fine Transmutation Stones obtained from Black Lion Chests (using keys found purely through drops and quest rewards) and map completions. And none of my characters are even level 50 yet. I have no doubt that by the time I reach level 80 on all my characters, I’d have acquired enough Fine Transmutation Stones for a set or two without any gem purchases at all.

It’s also not so much a gem sink considering you could simply earn gold in-game and trade that for gems.

redknight.8036:

Man loves to see people get the same deal as he paid for.
In the interest of ‘fairness’ and all that.

Human nature.
I wish you to suffer the same fate as I did.
This is why ascended backpack crafting materials ‘considered too grindy’ during the reddit AMA session – is still yet to be downgraded.

They can’t risk the early adopter’s rage. We, who prefer to play the waiting game, won’t see a change . Not so soon.

But it IS coming. We know that for a fact. The truth is that ALL early adopters always end up getting burned. As time goes by, prices will fall or goods become easier to get. That is just the way markets (and especially markets in an MMO) work. Early adopters pay a higher premium for the same reason that people stand in line for hours for the new Apple gadget; they want to be the first and crow over the people who haven’t got it yet.

I do this too with Day 1 DLC and preorder bonuses for games I buy. I know that down the track, the stuff I paid top dollar for will no doubt be put up again for sale at a lower price. And I don’t begrudge the latecomers for getting it cheaper. The higher price I paid is the price for the extra 1 – 3 months I got to play around with my toys earlier than the rest. I had my fun, and now it’s time to let the others have their fun too.

Only 10-15 hours of GW2 per week?? Unacceptable! The solution here is obvious; create one character of each class and level them all up to 80. HOP TO IT!

Piken Square is the other unofficial RP server (on EU), so if Tarnished Coast is constantly full, you can try your luck there.

On Tarnished Coast, most RP tends to happen in towns (especially Divinity’s Reach) and taverns, but it’s not uncommon for me to run into impromptu roleplays occuring anywhere in the world. I also do my best to try and keep any /say speech in character, although I freely go OOC in Map chat.

@CelestialPetal: Apparently Henge of Denravi is a shell of its former self since the Titan Alliance imploded. Guilds and players left the server in droves, which may be why you simply can’t find anyone there.

Lag can definitely be a factor in jumping puzzles, but if you have a broadband internet connection you should be fine for just about any sort of JP out there outside of timed ones like the Clock Tower or Skipping Stones. I live in Australia and connect to a US server; my ping is generally around 200 – 300ms, based on past experience in GW1, and I haven’t really had much problems completing any jumping puzzles so far.

If you’re not using a broadband connection because you can’t get one in your area, that’s unfortunate, but it’s out of ANet’s hands.

Poor psycho-motor skills, as you put it, is also a factor that ANet can’t really account for. Some players will be good at JP’s, while others will struggle. During the Halloween event, about 60% of my guild were able to successfully complete the Clock Tower, another 30% just couldn’t manage it despite their best efforts, and the last 10% didn’t bother altogether because they don’t like JP’s. If JP’s are proving to be more frustration than fun, maybe it’s just not an activity that’s meant for you, the same way that PvP or TP power trading may not be fun for other players.

Warrior is probably the best class for a new player to start out with, as its mechanics are pretty straightforward and your heavy armor and higher health pool means you’ll die less often. Once you’re more familiar with the combat mechanics, try branching out into other classes, because they’re all pretty fun to play.

I was thrilled (though very surprised) the first time I actually saw a Sea Scorpions in-game, since as most of you know, they were a real species that lived in prehistoric oceans millions of years ago and were part of an animal group called the Euryptids. They appear to have mostly died out prior to the Cambrian period (which is the era before the Triassic and the rise of the dinosaurs).

Given that there were still dinosaurs around in the Tarnished Coast 250 years ago, I guess in hindsight it’s not that strange that we would see Sea Scorpions in the oceans too.

I support having all minions regen health while out of combat. If the Flesh Golem needs to retain it’s “elite” status as a result, make it so the Flesh Golem has a permanent, unremovable Regenerate boon on it.

Oliin.9581:

Ok, I’m going to throw this out there. Fixes should not be praised or rejoiced over, they should be expected. That includes fixes to things that are brokenly overpowerd as well as things that are underpowered.

Granted I’m well aware there’s a vast gulf between what should be and what is, but that’s my general stance on the matter of fixes.

True, but that doesn’t mean we can’t thank people for doing their job. Do you never say “Thank you” to a server who brings you your meal, for instance? They may just be doing their job, but politeness can go a long way in brightening their day and making sure they continue to do a good job in the future.

Holm.7058:

Yeah, because winning in fights is definitely defined by who has the biggest muscle mass. It’s definitely not about speed, tactics, or experience. Just strength.

Past a certain point, yes, sheer size and muscle mass will trump speed, tactics or experience in any fight (unless weapons are involved). There is no way that a chihuahua could win in a fight against a lion, for example.

But strictly speaking about humanoid combat, experience, speed and technique can count for a lot, but you still need a certain amount of bulk and strength to pull it off. Take a look at professional female fighters or athletes. They have physiques and musculature that are equal to that of a male counterpart. The idea that frail, delicate females with no obvious muscles or bulk can hold their own in a fight against tougher opponents (known as “waif-fu”) is frankly a myth. Everything else being equal, the bigger, stronger opponent will always win.

Ryuujin.8236:

Zaxares.5419

Don’t monotremes actually lay eggs though? We do know that Asura give live birth to their progeny.

Missing the point

Rather Asura don’t have to fit into any extant phylogeny found here on Earth.

A fair point.

It could be due to any number of reasons, but the main one that comes to my mind is that sometimes the gap between buy and sell prices are so high that you know that posting your item a few coppers under the lowest seller will still result in waiting days, or even weeks, for a buyer. Maybe the seller needs money in a hurry and so decides to offer his item for much cheaper in the hopes of getting a quick sale (whether it be from a genuine buyer or a power trader who snaps it up to resell later).

“My strength… INCREASES!”

applecup.3047

Pretty much this. I’m not offended in any way – it’s just frustrating when these mistakes (which could be easily fixed or mitigated) are made by developers who have poured such love and thought and research into the game.

I can sympathise. As a Chinese, I often cringe at the way Chinese NPCs are voiced in games. I can tell immediately when an NPC’s voice actor is actually a native English speaker that’s just trying to adopt a “Chinese accent”, yet I know that a non-Chinese speaker would never notice the difference. So it bugs me too, but I can overlook it.

Lutinz.6915:

The Searing itself was probably bungled from what we learn about it in Orr. The magic had the ability to be far more focused and directed. Of course, this is the Flame Legion we are talking about so they may have just done it on purpose.

I actually wonder sometimes if the Flame Legion actually knew what the Searing would do before they performed the ritual. I sometimes get the impression that all the shamans knew was that this new magic would destroy the Wall, but not the specifics of how it would accomplish this. Thus, the shamans might have been surprised as the humans when the Searing Crystals fell from the sky and scorched the landscape. (Of course, given the Flame Legion’s love for fire and their habit of burning everything in their wake, they probably didn’t object too much to the results.)

On a semi-related note, given the similarity of the Searing crystals to Kralkatorrik and his Branded, anyone else think that the Cauldron of Cataclysm was an artifact of Kralkatorrik’s?

Given the huge disparity in physical appearance for Sylvari, I would say that it varies from sylvari to sylvari. For instance, there are some faces where their features appear bark-like, others where they appear like hardwood, one that looks cactus-like (this one I imagine would be firm but springy to the touch), and others where it’s difficult to say what texture their skin might feel like. The face I chose for my sylvari looks like hardwood, so I imagine her skin feels like smooth, polished wood, but with an underlying flexibility that allows her to have facial expressions. (So something similar to young bamboo shoots, perhaps.)

Errant Venture.9371:

In GW2 every class role is already pretty much filled. Adding more classes would run into the same problem we saw in GW1: no particular role for the new class. We’ll be much more likely to see new weapons/weapon combinations rather than completely new professions in GW2.

I think ANet said as much in an early interview. They have no plans to add any more classes to GW2, although they are definitely looking at new races. New weapons also seem possible (for starters, Nightmare Courtiers sometimes use whips).

Bluestone.7106

I would like it if they added a recipe of some kind to upgrade the tier of your gear in the mystic forge.

I can live with that, as long as the prices for upgrading equipment aren’t too ridiculous. I actually believe this is something ANet WILL implement going forward, along with giving crafters the ability to make Ascended gear. (Alternatively, perhaps the items needed to upgrade Exotic equipment to Ascended in the Mystic Forge can only be made through crafting?)

redknight.8036:

It’s a gold sink.
In the purest form.

However,
In the most ideal scenario, people hit 80, wearing green armor, have 120 gold to spare, bought the rare quality set – before jumping to the dungeons.

I said ‘most ideal’
I believe that is how they envisioned it.

Oh, I don’t deny that it’s meant to be a gold sink. Any MMO needs gold sinks to keep inflation in check, and pretty equipment is one of the best ways to do it.

I think your reasoning behind it is sound too; however, the fact that Order armor exists kinda puts a wrench in that idea, since Order armor is also Rare and much, MUCH cheaper than T3 Cultural. (I got the impression that Order armor was intended to be the “Can’t afford level 80 gear? Here’s the cheap option.” solution for end-game players.)

And of course, it ended up being moot anyway since most players are just skipping over Rare armor and heading straight to Exotics. (This happened in GW1 too, with people running to Droknar’s Forge and buying level 20 gear and skipping all the other armor along the way.) Since that’s likely to happen again when Ascended armor comes onto the scene, it makes me wonder if ANet will buff all end-game armors by 1 tier to prevent them from being made entirely obsolete.

Surbrus.6942:

Zaxares.5419:

I’m not sure if this is a sarcastic response or not, but at 180 tokens a day, you can quite reasonably get a full set of Exotic Dungeon armor in a mere 8 days just by running all paths of a dungeon once per day. Unless you’re a TP player or happen to get very lucky with drops, you won’t be able to earn 150 gold in 8 days…

I believe that you misunderstood my post. I said that no one is going to spend 150 gold for the stats of their armour because every single other avenue for acquiring exotic armour stats is much cheaper. Therefore, making T3 armour skins have actual exotic stats is meaningless.

I see where you’re coming from, and I guess I (and Calsifer) are coming from the other side. In my case, I don’t particularly care that the stats for Cultural armor may not suit my particular build. I actually LIKE having multiple sets of armor with different stat spreads on them, to suit different purposes. It just feels like T3 Cultural armor is in this weird halfway zone where it could be a decent armor on its own, but as a Rare suit, it’s just not up there yet.

If we were purchasing it purely for the skin, then why not just make it a set of skins that you apply to your armor like the Heritage skins or the gem store skins? Why bother having it as an armor set at all? (In fact, if Cultural armor/weapons were nothing but skins that you had to apply to another armor/weapon, I probably wouldn’t be complaining about it at all.)

While I like this idea, I agree with skotie that it will never get implemented due to the presence of Black Lion salvaging tools, and the fact that ANet needs as many gold sinks in the game as possible to keep inflation under control.

I got past that one on my Norn by basically looking at my feet while making the jumps.

Leo Paul.1659:

frans.8092:

If there’s enough of them. Their intelligence increases with the number of Scritt together in a city, or hive or whatever it’s called.

Wow really? I don’t pay much attention to their story since I find them revolting.. Hmm that’s really interesting to know.

Unfortunately that’s also why it’s very unlikely Skritt will ever be a playable race. You can’t really account for something like that when it’s a player controlling them, unless it’s something purely cosmetic like a Skritt PC’s voice emotes changing depending on whether or not there’s other Skritt in the vicinity.

Rednik.3809:

BTW, charr are not dogs, and not all big cats have those barbed things.

I was under the impression all cats had barbed kittenes… Which large cats are you thinking of?

But yes, Charr are much closer to felines than canines. Apart from the shape of their muzzles, which is more canine-looking (especially on females), Charr features are definitely feline in appearance.

PCanineBrigade.4916:

Kopa.4206:

i wonder who is more dominate in sexual relation between the charrs…

I have a feeling it’s female.. But who knows?

When it comes to these things, usually it’s the larger gender who is dominant, which suggests that male Charr are dominant in sexual pairings. This isn’t a hard rule though, as there are plenty of exceptions. Given their intelligence, I’d say that it’s largely up to personal preferences whether an individual Charr is dominant or submissive in the bedchamber.

I’m more curious to know if Charr have periods of “heat”, or whether they’re sexually active all year round like humans.

AuldWolf.7598:

@Zaxares.5419

You quite easily mix up ‘charr’ with ‘Flame Legion.’ Not understanding the difference there is like not understanding the difference between Germany an the Nazi regime.

I’ve actually used that same example to argue in the Human forums as to why the Charr of today can’t be blamed for the Searing or the events that followed. XD

But at the same time, we also shouldn’t forget that while ordinary German civilians may not have directly participated in the crimes committed by the Nazi regime, they also did nothing to stop it. They could have taken a stand, protested, left the country, and so on. (And in fact, some courageous Germans did just those.) But the majority just went along with the flow. I don’t blame them for this, because were I in the shoes, I’d probably have done the same; kept my head down and just hope for things to improve.

So while the majority of the Charr legions probably had no hand in organising those activities, they also did not feel strongly enough against it to try and put a stop to the Flame Legion’s excesses. (Not to mention that dialogue with Pyre and his warband indicates that even though he was opposed to the Flame Legion, he and his warband didn’t have much higher opinions of humans than the shamans did.)

I always thought that was intentional in order to try and prevent clipping with bulkier armor sets. I’d rather have floating stuff than clipping, to be honest.

And that’s when all the golems merge together, Voltron-style, to form the 7th Elder Dragon, Mechanus Prime.

Zappix.7928:

I couldn’t stand the phrases Asura Warriors say. “You’re really good at riling me up”. “I’M ALL WOUND UP”. “FULLY ADRENALISED”. Annoying as hell lol..

What do they say when they get Might applied on them?

Embolism.8106:

Zaxares.5419:

Zyrusticae.7245

I’m seriously thinking Asura are not mammals. They may be ovo-viviparous or histotrophic viviparous.

That is entirely possible. In a world with fantastical creatures that can petrify you with their gaze or that are far too huge to realistically support their own body weight, who’s to say that Asura aren’t part of a new type of Order that is warm-blooded, has hair, but are ovo-viviparous?

That isn’t very far-fetched. See monotremes.

Don’t monotremes actually lay eggs though? We do know that Asura give live birth to their progeny.

Aren’t the stats of the Triforge Amulet more or less that of an Ascended item in itself? If so, it should be a simple matter just to change its tier to Ascended in a future build, and make it infusable.

I suspect that ANet will introduce new recipes down the line that let crafters create their own Ascended tier items, as well as the ability to upgrade Exotic items to Ascended versions through the Mystic Forge, thus providing some progression from Exotic to Ascended without having to replace one’s entire equipment in the process.

Surbrus.6942:

Calsifer.6079:

I could make the same argument for dungeon armors but ANet seems to have no problem there.

Dungeon armours function as a way to get those stats. No one is going to spend ~150 gold for the stats for their armour. However people will spend ~1300 dungeon tokens for the stats. Therefore the argument you suggest is null.

I’m not sure if this is a sarcastic response or not, but at 180 tokens a day, you can quite reasonably get a full set of Exotic Dungeon armor in a mere 8 days just by running all paths of a dungeon once per day. Unless you’re a TP player or happen to get very lucky with drops, you won’t be able to earn 150 gold in 8 days, and for an armor set that isn’t even Exotic. Considering that some Dungeon armors look absolutely stunning in themselves, I still think there’s a strong case to be made for buffing T3 Cultural armor to Exotic status (perhaps even Ascended status, when Ascended armor is introduced. I would also support Dungeon armor being made Ascended by default.)

While personally I find the idea of playing the TP to be rather distasteful with regards to the effects it has on the economy, I imagine that ANet will not step in as some people are genuinely enjoying this unorthodox “playstyle”, and because ANet can correct the economy through introduction of new recipes, increasing drop rates etc. if certain materials start becoming so expensive that it’s priced out of reach for the average player.

As for me, I’m a long way away from worrying about Ascended items or Legendaries, so I’m taking a wait-and-see approach with regards to how the economy looks by the time I get there. In the meantime, I’m more than able to farm the mats and items I need through normal play, so price spikes and manipulation don’t affect me insofar as it might actually increase prices for excess mats I wish to sell.

You can throw 4 minipets into the MF and get a random minipet back, but it’s completely random. There was also a special MF recipe during Halloween that gave you the unique mini “Chainsaw the Skeleton”, but I think the recipe might be deactivated now that Halloween is over.

Yes and no. The rewards a chest gives is hardcoded into them, so it’s possible to get decent loot from a small chest that was a reward for completing a Group Event DE (like the one at the end of the Champions of the Sun meta-event in Caledon Forest), while getting crummy loot from a big one (at the end of some Jumping Puzzles in the same zone).

What you should generally look for is the name of the chest. Chests that are just named “Chest” usually offer piddling loot; they are intended more as little bonuses while running through an area. Chests with more descriptive names like “Splendid Chest” or “Glorious Chest” are usually found at the end of Group Events and give better loot.

That’s not the Pirate hat, is it? (Can’t be certain as my characters are only just getting up to the level range where the Pirate armor drops.)

I got a total of 11 unid’d dyes over the weekend, which is consistent with the drop rates I was seeing back when the game was first released. I’m still of the belief that the sudden spike in prices is due to more people buying them up for the Gift of Colour, and a precipitous drop in supply after the mass bot banning (as far as I know, bots simply sell everything they get on the TP and don’t bother with opening bags/dyes etc.)

If the price of gems rises to 4 or 5g per 100 gems, that’s when I’ll start buying gems to trade for gold.

CMF.5461:

Apple castle doesn’t make complete sense, but it isn’t out of this world either. It sounds like two randomly picked words to make a name. Think of it this way, how ridiculous do you find it when you see people name their kids things like: Blanket, or Pilot Inspector (real names look them up).

They are not wrong, but just sound random and dumb to some people, much like Apple Castle sounds dumb to the OP.

I could actually see a Sylvari choosing to name his castle “Apple”. XD Maybe they just really like apples.

Just an update that I did finally receive my soundtrack CDs around the 19th of November. Hopefully others who are still waiting on their soundtracks will get them soon.

I don’t think the Charr hate the Human Gods as a whole. It’s just that the Charr don’t believe them to be actual “Gods”. The Charr’s definition of a “god” appears to be a being that is truly, absolutely omnipotent/omniscient. If a creature can be faced in battle, defeated and killed, then it is not a god. (And since Abaddon’s death in Nightfall proved that the gods can indeed be slain, the Charr do not believe the Six Gods to be true deities.)

Instead, the Charr regard the Six Gods with attitudes ranging from derisive contempt to simple indifference. As a society, they believe in accomplishing things with their own strength and merit, and they believe gaining power through worship of, and subservience to, another creature to be shameful and a sign of personal failure.

If a truly omnipotent being were to arise that was invulnerable to everything the Charr could throw it, the Charr might actually revise their opinion about worshipping it if it was the only alternative to destruction. (Many Charr would not do so, nonetheless.)

The two best contenders for pet names that I’ve seen:

A pig named “Chauvinistic”.
A raven named “Rich Gold Vein”. (I’m guessing Rich Orichalcum Vein was too long. XD)

I always keep a Devourer as one of my land pets. You never know when you run into a situation where sending in a melee pet is just suicide for the poor beast. Even better, Devourers possess a dodge back skill AND a push back skill, which makes them a lot more hardy than you might expect. I do wish that Devourers had a higher chance of causing Poison with their normal attack, but as it is, the additional extra Poison is a nice bonus.

My current strategy is just to pelt opponents with arrows from a distance while my pet tanks, but then again, I’m still only level 43 so I don’t have that many traits unlocked, and I’m going for a split build where both myself and my pet deal damage (30 Marksmanship, 20 Precision and 20 Beast Mastery).

Druitt.7629:

Anyone who consistently has issues with minions when you only have 3 or fewer out for a fight? Remember that if you more than 5 points in Death Magic you’re forced to take Reanimator which will spawn another minion when you kill a foe. (A Bad Thing, in my opinion.)

I’ve never had more than two out at once, and have never had a problem.

I think you may be on to something here. On my Necromancer’s early days, when I was running around with a Blood Fiend, Bone Fiend and 2 Bone Minions, I never recalled having any problems with unresponsive minions. It was only when I added a Shadow Fiend/Flesh Golem to the mix that things started going haywire. It may be that the game’s code starts to break down when you have more than 3 types of minions out in play at once.

Also, as PinCushion pointed out, ranged minions usually have no problem at all. All it takes is for you to start attacking a target and Blood/Bone Fiends will join in the mayhem immediately.

The Flesh Golem deserves a special mention in that it seems to be stuck in its “combat mode” a lot. Most other minions are passive until you either attack something or are themselves attacked (and even then, only the minion that was attacked will retaliate. Other minions will continue to be passive until you attack a target.) If stuck in combat mode, the Flesh Golem will continually seek out red targets to attack, even without your direction. Fortunately it doesn’t automatically target yellow/white targets.

I do that with my Earth Elemental. It’s incredible how much damage he can tank if I’m supporting him with Water heals. And you can still deal decent damage by switching to Fire, dropping Flame Burst and Lava Font, then switch to Earth and drop Eruption for a huge stack of AoE damage, then switch back to Water and continue healing.

You can juggle Glyph of Lesser Elementals and Glyph of Elementals between battles too so you’re not stuck waiting on the cooldown from one battle to the next.