Guild Wars 2

Daphoenix is a human female.

The racial elite is nice.

Edit: Runes = 2x Superior Monk, 2x Superior Water, 2x Major water.

There was mention of 2x Divinity instead of major water (and mention of major monk working too) which are also possibilities. Keep in mind in sPvP boon duration is nerfed.

Zephyr’s Boon (air trait tree 10 points) gives swiftness and fury on aura use. Perma-swiftness was very easy to maintain prior the previous patch. You now gain less swiftness duration off Shocking Aura (d/d skill 3) with the recent patch. From 10s down to 5s. Perma-swiftness can still be maintained with the 70% boon duration in WvW and PvE with attention paid to switching in and out of air attunement. Without that, expect some downtime.

With d/d auras are granted in 3 ways. Frost Aura (water 4), Shocking Aura (air 3), and Fire Aura (magnetic leap [earth 3] in a fire field [fire 3/4]).

@GoatCheese: It’s really a matter of flavouring. With the full knights gear + whatever daggers (zerkers, soldiers, w/e), the accessories are really where you “tweak” your build. With that in mind you can’t go wrong with celestial (all-stat) ascended accessories as the ele benefits from it all. If you want to “tweak” your build in one direction or another (toughness, crit dmg, vit, prec, w/e) then toss in an ascended or two of those specific stats for that added bonus. Depends how far you want to specialize.

All this unnecessary talk, glass vs bunker, “a good ele would/wouldn’t….”

It’s simple really. A good ele wouldn’t need vapor form to get back into a tower/keep. If you’re using vapor form you’ve already kittened up. Yes, we know, immobilize timings, etc, can keep that entry from happening. Whatever.

A player in a downed state SHOULD NOT be able to pass through doors/portals/w.e. Your character should not be able to be moved (/teleported) in that fashion if you are downed. There is NO REASON an elementalist should be able to do that, no excuse great enough to justify it.

The quickest comparison is, of course, the warrior’s vengeance. This ability is essentially a “I sacrifice every benefit of downed state, accept armor repair costs, giving my enemy loot, and going to a fully downed state for the sake of escaping into a tower/getting some more DPS and abilities down” button. Now, if they should be able to pass through a door is arguable. They’ll be revived and throwing kitten in your face soon enough if they get through the door just as an ele would. However, they incur a penalty. An ele coming through a door can self-rez once inside no prob incurring no penalty for dying. As previously stated, if you’re a bunker ele and you’re depending on vapor form to get into a tower you’ve already kittened up. You should pay for that kitten up.

Like lets get serious guys, vapor form being able to enter a tower is inexcusable. It’s like we’re so afraid of the nerf bat that we can’t accept the obvious.

Been a lil bit since I made a post in this section but I’ve made my way to WvW more recently and 1 thing I must say is…

Props to all servers Had tons more fun in WvW in the past 1-2 weeks than I have in the last month or w/e. Some great fights all around.

Sadly though that’s a double edged sword, while I have had more fun in WvW and there’s almost always a good fight to be found with how the points have been going and stuff seems like us (SF) will be locked here for a while more. As much as I do enjoy these recent nights I still feel we’d be better suited in T7 and I think whoever drops to T8 will be a much better match for you guys.

ET seems to have caught a second wind since becoming second. Your night-early morning (particularly that 12-6AM server time) presence is much harder felt now. I had some sparse words with a TFoR member about it I believe. I’m happy to hear the night coordination is improving that rapidly for you, the next opponent will not have an easy time keeping points ticking.

That mentioned, TFoR I’ve been seeing a lot more of you guys around and enjoy your presence. You put up some great fights. Props of course too to the usuals, WZ, KWBH, YARR, Mend, TAC, PZ, PK. Always look forward to seeing your tags. TAC, pretty sure ran into your little guild group a couple times today. Very nice, carried a lot of momentum. No easy task to shut down. YARR, seems I’m always running into small groups of you around the southern supply camp. That area’s like your stomping grounds regardless of BL. Sick small group tactics. Vicious lockdowns.

I think we can all agree that this last 1-2 weeks has been a sort of breath of fresh air in some respects for WvW. At the same time I almost want to tell you all to run guild missions, FOTM, dungeons, etc, and grind for that pink gear for about 2 weeks. Just give us WvW haha. This ratings toilet of T8 is a joke and with no word from Anet on it (that I know of) seems we’re either BFFs (for at least a month) or you bend over and we launch our rocket out of here.

Either way, good fighting with you guys. Much <3.

Haven’t checked into WvW lots lately, it’s basically just a place to run through dailies right now.

Anyways, as is, the state of the match up is appalling and as such any conclusions drawn (as in lack of coordination, server strength/quality, etc) from the current state are for the most part meaningless. Speaking for myself, my time and effort towards WvW has consistently shifted to PvE and sPvP. Started messing around with alts, fractal and dungeon runs for gear, etc. I think this is most likely a very common story.

Coordination on SF used to be very bad, then there was a large server effort to coordinate more that really hit its prime in the earlier stages of this current match up. Once the steamroll became apparent to everyone, that began deteriorating. There was a resurgence at the news of the reset (because everyone knew we’d be getting annihilated) and then reset was scrapped and that fizzled out.

As is to be on SF in WvW its just zerg around. No one wants to waste siege so it’s not even really used anymore. A little supplement as we smash our heads against our unfortunate victim door. Used to be seeing some creative tactics from ET and FC but that’s not as common anymore, and really only the hardcore WvWers from those servers seem to make any appearance anymore. Everyone’s just losing interest.

Really like as much as I hate to say it ET and FC should just abandon WvW completely and give SF 24 hour full map ownership. Even saying that though I’m skeptical if it’d be enough, and even if it was, the server that’d replace us would probably be condemned to permanent residency no matter what. Tier 8 seems to be becoming some form of cruel and unusual punishment.

I hope the divine hand of ANet intervenes and saves our impoverished WvW souls but until that day of holy reckoning we’re stuck in this purgatory. “Why don’t you change servers?” Don’t want to, not even a solution worth suggesting, as there are bonds and community here I feel a part of. Furthermore it’s not like the server doesn’t care about WvW, I’d like to be able to see it grow, etc, instead of being on the coat tails of some other established server community’s efforts. Paid transfers also punishes us if we were to elect that option because we had the misfortune of being stuck in the T8 pit of rating quicksand when they were activated.

Oh well, very unfortunate situation. Feels like those who do care about WvW might be forced to transfer out simply out of frustration and resignation due to this current match up. I also sympathize with those newer to the game that have only had this match up to base their WvW experience off of.

I personally prioritize toughness over vitality typically. Vitality shines more when you’re facing a lot of condition dmg (ignores armour) or burst (gives you more time to react). When you get more comfortable/familiar with ele, you can sacrifice vitality to buff up stats like prec, tough, crit dmg, etc. PVT (soldier’s) and PPT (knight’s) gear are both good choices. PVT would probably be the better choice when learning the class because it gives you more of a margin of error. You can then use lower end accessories (cheaply bought off the trading post) to sort of personalize your build through combinations of accessories + jewels (berserker, knight, valkyrie, etc). From there you can swap out gear in accordance to your play style, the PVT gives you a solid somewhat durable base to start from.

Personally I have no problem with versatility in WvW w/ the standard 0/10/0/30/30 d/d build. I can always switch to staff, swap trait in arcana for increased staff AoE, and spam away while still having the benefits of EA water roll heal and the ability to take quite a few hits. If you’re planning to avoid the d/d aspect and stick to a more ranged approach (scepter/staff) then you can afford to trade off quite a bit of survivability for dmg output. I find the condition dmg options available to the ele are somewhat lackluster and thus don’t bother with condition dmg stacking, leaving them as a sort of small additional dmg, and focus more on upfront delivery (power, prec, +crit dmg)

70% boon duration comes from 2x superior monk, 2x superior water, and 2x major water. Thats +40% along with the +30% from traits. He also rocks a lot of high end accessories which buff up the the other stats you’re talking about.

From what I understand, short answer, vit is good for fractals. Outside of that you want enough of it (valkyrie jewels etc) to take enough burst and be able to get away. Outside of that you want power/precision/toughness/crit dmg (so PPT mostly). You kind of adjust it to personal taste and need.

Hard to really give specific advice cuz dunno what you intend to do with your ele, weapon, etc.

I thought I’d chime in on this as I find some things (other than the status of the match up) getting incredibly tiring. What I’m referring to of course is the discussion about our tier on this forum, as well as map chat, as well as… well…. everywhere. -.-

We are all frustrated. Okay, maybe not all…. Mindless zerging seems to be an attractive way to spend time for many people… But clearly there is a lot of us, on all servers, frustrated. If it’s so blatantly clear that’s the case, why the BM? Why the disrespect?

I know it sucks balls to log into WvW kind of stoked cuz you’re getting to do something you enjoy after slaving away at whatever education/employment you have, only to be steamrolled, spawn camped, mindless suicides into doors/walls, etc. It sucks to log onto WvW, check the map, and wonder “well kitten wtf do I do?” It pisses you off for sure. There’s no need to direct that at other players on the other servers, or to post 5 different threads in the WvW forum to voice your concern for some specific issue as if your thread will garner some divine attention and change things.

SF did not willfully put itself into this match up and honeslty in the beginning it was a kitten good match up. So was the one prior, with HoD and GoM, then GoM went on a terror and we fought it out with HoD trying to avoid being dropped. “The Great Transfer” event threw everything to kitten. The reset was half embraced because while anyone involved in WvW knew it’d mean we’d be completely smashed for months possibly because of it, it’d be a change of pace to what had at that time became an almost month long ordeal. Now that too has changed things.

There is NO denying that there is an issue with this tier. There is no available downward motion, the climb out is steep, the transfer situation changed tons that was really unaccommodated for by the rating system, and the match up currently is for the most part punishing. I applaud many on ET and FC for their organization and tactics, and have seen a consistent increase in it. To face the challenge you need to explore options. On the other hand for us, it’s just zerg around and flip things. Let you take them, flip it back. At times it gets incredibly mindless, and we’re not encouraged to really explore tactics and strategies.

But why the kitten the BM and bullkitten? No need. WZ, YARR, MEND, TTA, KWBH, respect. Had some AWESOME fights with you guys and always look forward to seeing your tags. I find myself /bowing and wishing I could /bow when dead tons. I have no bad feelings towards any of you. Now, the exploits/hacks/wtfever, that have taken place and we all have pretty much seen/know about (wish there was a better way to report this) I have no respect for. Someone dances on me, w/e, if you’re mad bro I understand.

We may have to all endure this for some weeks to come… Can we please get back to keeping this clean? No need to throw so much dirt on our servers.Personally I would probably elect for a period where WvW is “accelerated” so to speak. Point wise 2 weeks worth or w/e is accomplished in 1. Just to sort of facilitate a quicker stabilization, it shouldn’t effect currently competitive tiers, only those that are experiencing mismatching due to transfer. But hey, what do I know?

Look forward to more good fights, and truly hope in the end this doesn’t negatively effect our servers too drastically. It’s unfortunate that players on ET and FC might be discouraged from WvW because of this. Apologies -.-

@ Arheundel:

Yes, “sky is falling” mentality. There are some wild speculations and conclusions being drawn in this thread. Switching to a different profession, etc? Over the comments in this video? Come on now…

There’s this whole sense of this being a house of cards and if someone sneezes in our direction it’s going to bring it all falling down because, well, WTF ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO? If you do this… well, how can I play the class anymore!? Etc. When faced with the ever intimidating nerf bat, every class can be made out to be a house of cards.

I emphasized in my last post the importance of circumstance. You seemed to have offered up a lot of “in a vacuum” retorts. I’m not going to argue that thief burst dmg and stealth abuse builds are strong (I have a lv80 thief, I know), and I’m not going to argue that mesmer shatter builds don’t hurt, or that mesmer survival builds aren’t a serious kitten to kill. I know.

I also main a lvl 80, 0/10/0/30/30 d/d ele. I know why it’s my main, I know why I enjoy the class, I know why there is reference to skill cap, etc, when regarding the class. I also don’t want to see my class nerfed into oblivion. I’ve also dabbled with bunker staff and GC staff. Knowing these things, I can’t argue the efficiency of the ele vs other classes. Not necessarily “in a vacuum” or 1v1 situations or so many other circumstances we can consider. But in WvW, yeah I can see it being a bit “too efficient.” I can see why there would be attention drawn here, I don’t feel I need to explain why.

There just seems to be a fearmongering going on when it comes to these nerfs, like people realize their build has aspects that may be out of balance but covet them as they give them increased proficiency, and as such defend them rabidly. I personally found no reason to be alarmed after hearing what was said in the video. I also see no reason to be so scared about upcoming nerfs as they’ve been explained thus far. This however doesn’t exclude the fact that I’m skeptical for Anet to, lets say, stay “true” to their expressed position.

Too much “the sky is falling” mentality.

To put it simply, as stated previously, the SOTG discussion was very s/tPvP related. Coming from that, the question is field “What are you aiming to nerf?” The main theme was that the ele (particularly d/d bunker) has so many little things that come together to make them a little bit more efficient then they should be. That was basically it. He lists off boon duration, toughness, regen, mobility, etc.

Who is going to argue that that isn’t a relatively realistic perspective? It’s easy enough to see/experience. It comes down to a fundamental question of is it because they are better than they should be, or that other classes can’t counter them efficiently enough? Are they too strong, or are the rest too weak? There’s an ambiguous standard in play that requires definition for their to be balance, a standard that can only be truly explored and adjusted via real world application. Remember, the ele was brought up along with the ranger.

This sort of standard of balance is pliable to the circumstances of play. That is to say, balance in sPvP =/= PvE =/= WvW. If one fails to distinguish the circumstance and make appropriate adjustments, the system, the game, fails. In that sense, we as players cannot take this as a blanket remark, and must hope that the developers are able to make this distinction.

Again, this position from anet on this matter is ambiguous at best. Prior to the ele nerf statements in the video the dev was basically saying that they don’t want to destroy builds like the ranger and ele, just make them a little less efficient in some regards, and bring other classes up and give them option to counter, etc, and that they are being very careful with what they do in these regards. We can only hope there is some truth behind that.