Guild Wars 2

digiowl.9620:

Funny thing about wells is that they in essence require you to stand still and take a beating. Try to dodge and you pulled that mob group off the well, loosing quite a bit of DPS in the process. This while the rest of the game is basically built around player keeping on the move and dodging…

Eeh, the wells are one of the largest area effects around, you’ve got plenty of room to move in them. Not to mention you can drop other aoe spells as you move around, like the staff spells for example.

Oh I think using all 4 attunements is superior to using just one in most situations. I just think that if you’re purposefully going to gimp yourself, you should at least do it knowing that you’re gimping yourself.

I think the best advice is to try all of them, see if you can find a rotation that works for you, and if you decide to only use certain attunements it will at least be your own decision.

I haven’t seen s/d build here much, if at all. I think the common belief is that s/d is a poor build.

Lillian Wandom Hale.7102:

I played few Hours in November, few hours in December and few hours in January …

Nothing changed for three months (except underwater missiles) …ergo I can comment whatever I like

Sure. But people shouldn’t take you seriously. I’ve played a few hours of mesmer this week, does that mean I can make wide ranging suggestions for fixing the class and expect to be taken seriously?

Arheundel.6451:

pdboddy.4162:

No thank you. My evades don’t always help the party but my heals do.

People got problems with ele heals, so yeah maybe they should be removed and replaced with soemthing else

Or they could tone down healing a little without taking it away entirely.

The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.

No thank you. My evades don’t always help the party but my heals do.

MagusShade.2358:

well thats cool. So elementalists have about 2 viable builds (glasscannon, bunker) and one of those is too good so we’ll only have a mediocre bunker and glasscannon left? good job devs. Hey here’s an idea..why not just write elementalists out of the game entirely? I mean if you don’t want anyone to seriously think about creating one, just remove it from the character creation screen. That would make your job way easier!

If you watched, or read what some folks have said, the devs want to make the ele’s other build more viable. Not leave us with mediocre builds.

Rfreak.6591:

We could also list a number of possible options/skill/trait changes that we could apply in order to allow the summons.

Rfreak.6591:

@pdboddy.4162

Environmental weapons aren’t AI-controlled summoned units and your “8” elementals are given…
1-with an utility slot
2-with an ELITE slot

And neither got any actual utility either gives any kind of synergy with anything, they’re just there and there’s noway to boost’em with traits/builds and stuff.

So we can’t discuss the creation of traits, or the modification of traits, that would boost our elementals? Instead of asking for more summons that would end up the same way as elementals: no synergy nor way to boost them.

And while the summons occupy two slots, they are so much more efficient because we can choose what ones we get by switching attunements. Everyone else, barring the ranger’s class ability, has to use more slots to get the same range of choice.

This is just like the AoE nerf we got in the January patch.

Kodiak.3281:

I’ve been playing for MMOs for 14 years and I can tell you that you’re better off just moving on or adjusting yourself rather than try to get Devs to change something. Without vastly overwhelming community support, they tend to march to the beat of their own drum.

That’s generally a way to figure out if something really needs attention. If everyone who was complaining was only complaining about one or two things at length, they might get looked at. But if you look around, this forum has the same “noise level” as all the others, when it comes to complaints. To me that means that there’s not one major thing that’s lacking, but that a number of minor things could be looked at and possibly tweaked.

Devs won’t change anything if the noise is random. If everyone sounded off about one particular issue and kept at it, that sort of thing might get looked at. But as you said, the numbers also have to match the complaint.

And yeah, the OP can’t be offering constructive criticism if they’re not playing.

This could be interesting. Just having a new weapon with a decent number of single target abilities would solve some of the perceived problems of the elementalist. ArenaNet could use some of your ideas and mix them with a few existing abilities and run with it.

8 elementals and 5 environmental weapons isn’t enough?

Lillian Wandom Hale.7102:

I don’t want to be that kitten

but hun :
“I have a few 80s but want to make a class mainly for distance (single target killing)”

Ranger is good, but pet takes part of your damage, and pet is far from WvW still ….
Ele is okay, but no SIngle Target Damage …Long Range out of 20, 1 skill is Single target and doesn’t deal damage

SINGLE TARGET …that’s WARRIOR, and NOBODY can blame me for saying this

(Covers head in fear and expects large RAGE for mentioning W word)

He wants to level up his ranger or elementalist. How about helping him with that instead of derailing the thread.

To the op: Nothing concrete has been said about what skills will change or even how they’ll go about “balancing” the skills they believe to be out of whack. So maybe keep levelling both?

If you’re not playing, you should do so for a bit before posting your opinion, don’t you think?

dreztina.4820:

The only weapon swapping elementalists need is for conjured weapons to act like temporary swappable weapons.

They are. Cast cast cast F.

waka.9826:

I would only be open to this idea is if the elementalist lost all his utility skills and armor as soon as he swapped weapons.

How about stuff stays as it is now? :P

Arheundel.6451:

andyj.5809:

Im amazed people actually think ele is underpowered in any part of the game, especially pve. I can take on 10 equivalent level mobs and come out on top, learn your skills and know when to use them, get a good build and stop trying to use scepter or focus.

So to re-collect your thoughts:

-scepter and focus are not viable
-you need correct build ( aka ultra defensive build)

And the end result is..ele is not UP, nice logic!

So you are saying that no other profession has gimpy builds? I can’t speak for the usefulness of scepter or focus, but yeah you do need to have a decent build, don’t you?

James.3940:

pdboddy.4162:

James.3940:

I’m not saying that they absolutely need this, but it would be nice to be able to switch to D/D from a staff without having to leave combat. Also for PvP purposes this could only apply to PvE.

I’m just curious to what everyone thinks of this.

It is a terrible idea.

Then I appreciate your opinion. All it was, was simply an idea.

The reason why I am harsh is that mainly this idea would have people up in arms. If your intention is that the attunements remain, even with weapon swapping having a full minute cooldown, elementalists would be incredibly powerful.. to the point of being hugely op.

If your intention is to remove the attunements to allow weapon swapping, you would be removing the elementalist’s key ability: to always be doing something. No matter what build: auramancer, condition, pure dps… the elementalist is never waiting, they are always doing. That is incredibly flexible and hugely powerful. And I think it vastly outweighs the ability to switch weapons in combat.

Has the OP been deleting their posts, because the conversation seems disjointed now.

I don’t think I will see the issues the OP has when I start doing dungeons or higher level open world stuff. Few of the posts I’ve seen here suggest that eles have pve issues, quite the opposite usually.

I’m curious to know what level and setup the OP has been using.

James.3940:

I’m not saying that they absolutely need this, but it would be nice to be able to switch to D/D from a staff without having to leave combat. Also for PvP purposes this could only apply to PvE.

I’m just curious to what everyone thinks of this.

It is a terrible idea.

waka.9826:

Is this thread serious?

It can’t be serious can it?

There have been a few threads recently calling for the ability to switch weapons, with various crappy suggestions on how to achieve it.

Sadly they are serious.

People failing to comprehend the profession.

Sure, lets make elementalists like other classes. Let’s bump them up to heavy armor and give them a great 100 wands ability, oh and we could add illusionary doubles cause why not?

Seriously, the elementalist is an awesome profession. Sure, the other classes that can weapon swap have a minor advantage in being able to have a melee and ranged weapon setup. But they are just as boned as everyone else when they run into something or someone who’s their perfect counter.

You do the best you can in deciding what weapon, armor, skills and traits to equip. Elementalists have the most awesome ability in the game: to laugh at cooldowns every time they switch attunements. Taking away one of the defining characteristics of the profession makes it less worthwhile to play.

Red Falcon.8257:

@Fanbois
It is undeniable on an objective basis that Warrior has some core skills bugged that leave the class much weaker than it should be.
You can’t intellectually honestly say that Warrior does not suffer from the skill bugs.
If you want to claim that, then post a video of Rush/Bull landing perfectly all the times on moving targets, else it’s all sterile talk.

Go into any of the profession boards and spend some time reading them. You’ll find threads JUST like yours, complaining how their class hasn’t gotten better (guardians) or is too squishy (elementalists), and that ArenaNet isn’t listening (every profession).

Red Falcon.8257:

Dear Anet,
I had a whole 5 months of patience with Warrior bugs, I think that’s very Ghandi-like of me.
I just want to know if a fix is coming sooner or late, or it is intended for those skills to fail by design.
Of course though, having skills that fail by RNG would severely reduce the skill ceiling and reliability of the class.

Yes, ArenaNet should kowtow to you, one person out of millions who paid the same 60 bucks for the game.

Yes, I’m obviously a fanboi.

I asked this question back when I was 23, and I am currently at 30. I used staff until 24 and switched to dagger/dagger at that point. I also added a bit more toughness and healing to my gear, before I was all power. I am specced 10/0/0/0/10, probably not the best, I think 0/0/10/10/0 would be better for survivability. But as I have gotten better at using dagger/dagger, I find I don’t die as often.

The trick is attunement dancing, and using dodge. Air 5 is a good way to keep mobs off of you, if you do Air 4 first, you can get a good chunk of damage in. Switch to earth, do Earth 3 for the quick immobilize, hit Earth 5 and it should get off right about the time the mob gets back to you, knocking them down and doing good damage. Switch to water for some healing or fire for that final burst of damage of Fire 3, 4 and 5.

The nice bit is that almost all of your spells allow you to move, and many of them are point blank aoe so you can deal with adds.

Leo G.4501:

I enjoy playing both

I guess the problem as outlined by the OP only exists in the highest levels?

At level 26 I am not having problems with PvE with my elementalist. Oh I die from time to time, but it forces me to look at the problem from a fresh angle.

I like being able to swap attunements. I don’t find the staff or d/d setup as being any harder to do than the weapons on my warrior or guardian.

It’s a fresh idea when you compare it to the standard mage in other MMOs: Fire your load of awesome spells… oh, it’s not dead? Okay, I’m going to run around here with my dinky pewpewpew autoattack until I’m reloaded. Don’t die folks… almost there…

Unless I am focused on something specific, the daily just happens on it’s own.

The monthly, on the other handy, I may never complete, at least not for a while. I don’t wish to do any dungeons yet.

Ansultares.1567:

showatt.9413:

do not understand the need to limit the amount of ori node to so few around Tyria.

It’s too cheap, says their economist. Does not promote gem sales. Makes the rest of the legendary mats seem even more ridiculously overpriced.

Got a link to that statement?

Caedmon.6798:

I still don’t get,whats the point of this ,or using other peoples build ? You want to see 100 ppl running around with the same builds ? You are to lazy to try out different builds yourself and do not want the experienced gained from trying it all out yourself ? Honestly,i am wondering,why.

Everyone’s idea of fun is different. Some enjoy figuring out the numbers and sharing them, others don’t find that enjoyable at all. Even with “cookie cutter” builds, people tend to personalize their builds. So I doubt that “everyone” is running the exact same build.

I’m only level 24 with my ele and after a bump at 20 or so where I couldn’t figure out how to not die, I’m now really enjoying the elementalist. While I try to avoid multi-mob engagements, the d/d ele seems to do quite well at handling multiple mobs.

I start with fire and move into earth, and at that point I can either go into water (if it looks like I will win shortly) or go into air (for air 5 and the extra speed to run away). Figure out how to dance and you can go far.

You could always try guesting til you’ve got enough gold to make the switch.

That way your guildies can help you out.

My suggestion is to try the other starting areas, there are lots of skill points within easy reach for your level. It will also give you a head start on map completion.

Don’t let the lack of response dampen your enthusiasm. There are many people who don’t read the forum but might be interested. Try guesting for a bit and ask around on other worlds.

Asura! Mostly animations and story lines.

MasterPakku.2890:

but recently im using a staff and 2x 1h sword and i rarely die cause i keep swapping and i use my phatasm leap with my staff and cast away chaos storm. and i also keep swapping.

Weapon/Attunement dancing is the way to go.

I’ve got a character of each class, most of them at 10 or so, with elementalist at 25. The easiest levelling on single targets has been with warrior and guardian. Mesmer feels like it’s in the middle.

For weapons, I’ve liked the great sword and the sword/sword combo.

Tuck.4095:

Little off topic but what is 100b?

And Eles for life!

Warrior skill 100 blades.

Well, some things to consider. Thank you all for the suggestions and to the OP for their initial questions.

I’ve been reading the various guides posted, but there’s not a whole lot of suggestions for surviving at the midlow to mid levels. I’m wondering what people did at low levels to not die. Levelling with other people is easier, but often I find myself the lone wolf.

locuststorm.3852:

Just in time for the AoE nerfs.

Great guide though, I had never noticed the power of having fury on aura cast!

So to those who were saying aoe nerfs were inbound: How do you like your crow?

I don’t really enjoy scepter/dagger combo, up until now I’ve been using staff. For the most part, mobs would either stand in the fire (ranged) or run up to me to stand in the fire. But my ele could take the odd hit or two and keep moving. I could do the attunement dance on the odd veteran or champion without dying usually.

Now, even one hit is enough for my ele to say structural integrity weakened.

I can’t recall if I have arcane shield, but I do have the signet of earth, air, fire and water.

And I know I have to practice dodging more.

I was trying dagger/dagger last night after the patch. Maybe I’ll look into scepter again.

What would help survivability for levels 20 – 40? I’m at level 23 now, and mobs are able to 1 – 2 hit my poor ele. My armor is all at or near my level. At the moment, I have 10 in fire, and the rest in arcane. Should I switch 10 points into something else (water)?

The last one is not likely a bug. And there’s a stickied bug thread at the top of the forum.

Eh, the reaction just proves that players will find anything to complain about. Before the patch it was all doom and gloom because anything and everything with aoe was being nerfed.

Now it’s all doom and gloom because people’s pet peeves haven’t been fixed.

Despite some of the good things in the patch.

Almost at WoW levels folks…

Rukia.4802:

Sure, a convenience buff… good enough? Not imo. I often waste my opponents dodges before even attempting a steal stun because it’s so obvious and commonly used it gets dodged 90% of the time if you open with it. Honestly these “buffs” don’t affect me at all.

Luckily it’s not all about you anyways. :P

Omg they nerfed everythi… oh wait.

Blacklight.2871:

I’ve done plenty of praising. Seeing the same bugs and broken events in the game, four months after release, demands criticism now.

Perhaps, but the game still gets way more things right than wrong.

JemL.3501:

kinda…everyone who wants to play together should be/are in the same world…why spread lies, i laugh with the ‘’i have friends in every single world’’

if your problem was no people then you shouldve done what every other person exploited…free transfers.

but whatever not like i paid for this (60 bucks for the key is not the same) or will bother me.

have fun

Right, so I should have used the free transfers to transfer to Tarnished Coast which was full at the time… every time I tried.

Guesting will be fun.

I think that the devs erred in mentioning the whole “We’re concerned about aoe” thing to begin with. At least, they should have stated what they were planning. At least then the concern/rage/whining would be focused instead of needless conjecture being thrown about.

critickitten.1498:

Okay, now I’m obligated to ask because people keep insisting that this bow was made for bronies.

What evidence do you have to back that up, beyond the fact that it has a unicorn on it and shoots rainbows? I mean specific evidence to prove that the developers made this bow for the sole purpose of pandering to a relatively small audience?

Because seriously, rainbows and unicorns were a pretty common “dream”/fantasy construct way before MLP even existed.

Just do a search for mlp guilds on gw2 and you’ll find that they’re not exactly a small audience. And they don’t necessarily have be pandering to a specific audience by putting pop culture references into the game. I mean, the new show appears to be hugely popular, and it has been so for a few years, so why is the bow not a reference to mlp?

Only AN can confirm/deny it and I doubt they will. So people will believe what they want to believe.