Curse

set asside · Oct 27, 2011, 01:05 PM // 13:05

It seems my ele's getting weaker and weaker as I progress, I'm lionarch right now lvl 15. Should i just switch proffesions now, srart over. Or should I play through and will it get better.

I'm an E/Mo right now, did fire magic for a while got my first elite spell "either prodigy" not too impressed.

Sagittario · Oct 27, 2011, 01:45 PM // 13:45

1)fire sucks
2)Reaching lvl20 is just a tutorial bit, the true fan start afterwards
3)Prophecies suck, if starting over, start in NightFall
4)You reached LA, campaign travel to Elona and follow it's story line (much more fun, not boring like prophecies, early elite skills, heroes)

Outo Oli Apc · Oct 27, 2011, 01:45 PM // 13:45

It's your gaming experience, so do as you like, we can't choose for you.

You can try some other proffession too, if you want, and continue playing with it if you want to.

But, it's your choce. Do what you want to.

Vanway · Oct 27, 2011, 01:58 PM // 13:58

if your bored by level 15, your gonna struggle to actually finish any campaign on any char imo. eles are weak, but they might be getting a buff soon, so definitely don't delete it. but you do have 7 more slots, so make a char in a different campaign and see if you like that more

wilebill · Oct 27, 2011, 02:35 PM // 14:35

Save the ele for later. Got to Nightfall. Try a Ranger or Warrior.

Kaleban · Oct 27, 2011, 02:48 PM // 14:48

The two classes that got buffed/revamped recently on a major scale (not just skill updates) were the Mesmer and the Dervish.

The Dervish is a melee powerhouse, with varied builds that are all viable. In fact, of all the melee characters I'd say the Dervish is now the most versatile, the Assassin is more for specialized speed clears and high end PvE tanking, and the Warrior is somewhat generic, although has a few good builds for both PvE and PvP. But I would say if you want to try melee, go Dervish.

As for casters, I've never liked the Elementalists cast times, and the real killer is that elemental damage is abysmal in Hard Mode due to the armor scaling on mobs. The Ele has three decent PvE builds, the E/Mo Protter (healing/protection, no damage), Air Invoke (decent three target spiking, but very sub-par to melee) and the AP caller (Assassin's Promise to recharge PvE only skills). The Elementalist gets much better in PvP where there isn't nearly the armor bonus to your enemies, and several tactics like blind and knockdown are much more devastating in a 4v4 or 8v8 than the typical 8v20+ in PvE.

I've always liked Mesmers, and with their update are more deadly in PvP and absolutely dominate PvE for both damage and shutdown.

If you're really thinking about restarting your main character, I'd say try a Mesmer. Its slow going at first until you acquire better skills, but even Backfire and Empathy can roll through almost all of Prophecies.

akelarumi · Oct 27, 2011, 02:55 PM // 14:55

I keep expressing I disagree that ele's are weak. Yes in hard mode they can use a buff and no they are not "the nuke them down" profession they where ment to be, but in the end it is a class you can use in many different ways and styles (solo-farmer, damage dealer, e/mo healer, e/mo tank, interrupter, etc).

To OP, We can not decide for you if you should change profession. you are still in the tutorial part of the game in the sense that everything till lvl 20 is tutorial. This means that slowly you are starting to encounter foes that take more skill (gaming skill and better game skills in your build) to defeat.

The decission you should make is if you like the playing style. There is no real advatage of one profession over the other.

To help you better it would be nice to tell the following:
1: what campaigns do you own? If you have factions it would be wise to unlock it and get some very nice skills AND max lvl armor in Kaineng City. If you have Nightfall you can get very nice hero's to help you and in Eye of the north also max lvl armor.
(remember hero's need to be skilled and geared up by you, so best is too not fill your party with them at first, but take one or two and make them better till you add more of them to your party, a hero's power is in the fact that you can customise it, if you don't do that a henchman is better).

2: How did you get Ether prodigy. Beside that it is a tricky elite to use (I personal don't see the benefit of that one either), it means you either used money/resources to unlock and buy it or you went into Eye of The north, wich is meant for more experienced people to actually play through.

3: What is your current gear? What level armor, weapons and runes are you using?

In general, when having trouble, you might want to join, change to, a helpfull guild. This is a game with some tricks that are hard to discover, talking to experience people, and having them observe you (and explain how to improve) when fighting can make a huge difference.

Essence Snow · Oct 27, 2011, 02:56 PM // 14:56

^^ agree 2 post above

if you want melee go derv>war
if u want caster go mesmer
if u want farming/end game go sin
if u want to play lazy go rit

ranger and ele are very meh beside a few niche roles
necro has been outclassed by mesmer imo
war has been outclassed by derv
para...well para is para...be prepared to play 1 build and no pvp
monks are always needed, but healing is no fun imo, smite is lackluster except vs undead

ofc this is all opinion

Quaker · Oct 27, 2011, 03:07 PM // 15:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by set asside

It seems my ele's getting weaker and weaker as I progress, I'm lionarch right now lvl 15.

It's normal for any class to go through variances as you get to level 20. There are many reasons for this, such as the number of side quests you do, your weapons and armor, the availability of skills, etc. An Elementalist is not really any inherently weaker than any other class - you could try some other element besides fire. Air is nice for spike damage and blinding.

gremlin · Oct 27, 2011, 09:15 PM // 21:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

It's normal for any class to go through variances as you get to level 20. There are many reasons for this, such as the number of side quests you do, your weapons and armor, the availability of skills, etc. An Elementalist is not really any inherently weaker than any other class - you could try some other element besides fire. Air is nice for spike damage and blinding.

qft

Nothing wrong with ele its maybe got some problems in hard mode but in normal play its great.
All your lacking is skills and they will come soon enough, by all means take a break and try something else but no reason to abandon the ele.

Your not at max armour or weapon stats yet, have few elite skills and have insufficient normal skills to make up a solid build.
All this will come with time.

Mashiyu · Oct 30, 2011, 12:20 AM // 00:20

If you're interested in the prophecies storyline, I wouldn't recommend you to go to factions/nightfall for quicker leveling/heros, since it would make the rest of the campaign to easy - especially the rest of the kryta, jungle and desert regions. In proh, you're supposed to be Lvl 20 after the desert.

If you want the game to be a cake walk - get heros.

If you just want to beat the campaign in the shortest time possible - get heros and find the walkway to skip the jungle. You can even skip the desert with a so called "drok run" but I wouln't recommend that, since you'll miss the attribute quest in the desert.

If you are bored by the campaign - try something else.

If you are bored by the profession - try something else.

And how did you get ether prodigy?

LifeInfusion · Oct 31, 2011, 12:17 AM // 00:17

E-Prodigy
+6 regen is 3.3energy per second total if you count the base 4 regen of eles; Ether Prodigy requires use of a energy dump. In the old days players ran Heal Party + Healing Breeze with Air spike (Chain Lightning + Lightning Orb + BFlash) + Ward against melee with it. It's for really energy conscious players and not be used with energy-light bars. You really need a low energy swap (Brawn over Brains -5 energy and Ignorance is Bliss -5 energy focus ,that you don't meet the req for, in order to have negative energy) in order to not die. The focus can also be http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Frozen_Fan , http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Tattered_Fan or http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Frozen_Fan so long as you don't invest in the attribute. (read http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Energy_hiding /http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...wap-id1725.php). It was at the pinnacle of skill-based play in GW when players ran it , unlike now where all you do is mash Invoke/Rodgort's Invocation/Shard Storm (with Mirror of Ice /"MoI")/E-Surge or what have you.

Some options for dumping energy are Heal Other, Heal Party, Healing Breeze, Spirit Bond/Protective Spirit, Windborne Speed (cast on multiple people in PvP), Lightning Orb, Stoning (not as good as orb), Storm Djinn's Haste (-1 is 3 energy regen), Lightning Hammer, Rodgort's Invocation, Extinguish/Convert Hexes (conditional). Vapor Blade really sucks due to enchanted things being harder to kill. Or you could be unproductive and use Glyph of Essence.

See

Ensign's bar (Nalesia Alvindi) http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pastSeasons/GWFC/24/

Captain Danjang's bar, http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pastSeasons/GWWC/20/ or http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pastSeasons/GWWC/23/ or
http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pa...ns/GWFC-S1/68/ or http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pa...ns/GWFC-S2/81/

and Lamer Juu Hachi's http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pastSeasons/GWWC/18/

and Rune D Grasy's http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pa...ns/GWFC-S1/78/

and http://www.gw-memorial.net/builds/pa...Autumn-06/101/

It's best to use it with an enchanting mod. I'd probably run a Brawn over Brains spear with shield as a swap.

Why I think Nightfall is the key

It wasn't until after Nightfall that powercreep became "wtf".

Prophecies has the worst ele (elite) skills for damage now. That's why E/Mo is the best template (Ether Renewal) or Dual attunement there. Back when Zealot's Fire was armor-ignoring and draw conditions was 0 recharge I ran Ether Renewal + smite IIRC (Heal balls in PvP were popular then). Then Ether Renewal was nerfed so I ran Ether Prodigy/Glyph of Energy with Lightning Orb + Chain Lightning or Meteor Shower + Fireball + glyph of lesser energy since DoT AoE died with AoE scatter. At one point I even dabbled with Obsidian Flame (with Glyph of Energy) + Ward against melee + Stoning and some other stuff. In Factions it was more or less the same. Then Nightfall hit with Searing Flames.

Water was never great in PvE because your only AoEs are: Ice Spikes (80 damage or so), Deep Freeze (80 dmg or so), Rust (70dmg or so), Maelstrom (DoT with scatter).

More or less the only constant (E/Mo) was Heal Party+Healing Breeze/Aegis+Prot Spirit powered by glyph of lesser energy. At one point Aegis was partywide, even off the radar.

If you want to make an ele in Prophecies, switch to Nightfall (via Kamadan) once you get to Lion's Arch or use tomes.

Core
Fireball (110 or so), PvE : too bad it's projectile
Lightning Orb (100 or so + 25% AP), PvE: too bad it's projectile and also 15 energy is steep ... in PvP it's Savage Shot/Power Spike bait now
Meteor (110 or so)
Deep Freeze (80 or so...use for snare for Searing heat), PVE
Gale, PvP
Blinding Flash (BFlash), PvP ... not so great when -20% blind rune + shields exist
Blurred Vision, PvP
Elemental Attunement [E]
Shard Storm (80 or so), PvP

Prophecies:
Chain Lightning (90 or so +25%AP on 3 targets)<-- the best skill, period
Eruption (40 or so x5)<-- really requires Assassin's Promise because Glyph of Renewal stops you from using glyph of lesser energy as energy management ; causes scatter
Mind Shock (100 or so + 20% AP), PvP
Armor of Mist, PvP
Rodgort's Invocation (120 or so+burning)<-- use with Mind Blast or Dual attunement
Frozen Burst, PvP <-- nicknamed "Broken Burst"

Examples of Nightfall skills:
Mind Blast [E] <-- Eles can be single target DPS

Invoke Lightning [E] (90 or so + 25% AP on 3 targets)
Lightning Bolt (100 or so + 25% AP), PvP
Storm Djinn's Haste , PvP
Searing Flames [E] (100 or so) + Glowing Gaze
Liquid Flame (100 or so)
Flame Djinn's Haste (100 or so), PvP
Blinding Surge [E] , PvP
Icy Shackles, PvP

EDIT: added gw-memorial links

lorazcyk · Nov 19, 2011, 07:11 AM // 07:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by set asside

It seems my ele's getting weaker and weaker as I progress, I'm lionarch right now lvl 15. Should i just switch proffesions now, srart over. Or should I play through and will it get better.

I'm an E/Mo right now, did fire magic for a while got my first elite spell "either prodigy" not too impressed.

Elementalist are fun! If you like it so far, keep playing it.

Some enemies have high defense against some types of magic. If it seems like they're not taking much damage, try switching to a different magic.
Here are some build ideas for you.
(you can click the pictures if you want to know where to get that skill)

Put atleast 12 points in Fire Magic, and the rest in Energy Storage.

Cast Fire Attunement, then Aura of Restoration.
Use your Glyph of Lesser Energy, then use Phoenix, then use Fireball.
Use Meteor when there are many enemies bunched up together.
Use Flare only if you have lots of energy.
If you want a Signet of Capture, bring it instead of Flare.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Mind_Burn
You can capture this skill, and bring it instead of Flare, but don't cast it very often! You don't want to get Exhaustion!

Put atleast 12 points in Air Magic, the rest in Energy Storage.

Cast Air Attunement, then Aura of Restoration.
Use Glyph of Lesser Energy, then use Lightning Orb, then Chain Lightning.
Repeat if you still have plenty of energy.
Use Lightning Strike only if you have lots of energy.
Try not to use Healing Breeze too often!
If you want a Signet of Capture, bring it instead of Healing Breeze

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Thunderclap
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lightning_Surge
You can capture either one of these Elites, and bring it instead of Lightning Strike.

Put atleast 12 points in Water Magic, the rest in Energy Storage.

Cast Water Attunement, then Aura of Restoration.
Use Glyph of Lesser Energy, use Ice Spikes, then Shard Storm.
Repeat if you still have plenty of energy.
Use Ice Spear only if you have lots of energy.
Use Blurred Vision if you have plenty of energy, and there are many physical attackers next to each other.
If you want a Signet of Capture, bring it instead of Blurred Vision.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ward_Against_Harm
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Mind_Freeze
You can bring either of these elites. You can bring them instead of Ice Spear or Blurred Vision.

Put atleast 12 points in Earth Magic, the rest in Energy Storage.

Cast Earth Attunement, then Aura of Restoration.
Use Glyph of Lesser Energy, use Earthquake. Now your foes are knocked-down, they can't move. Now use Eruption.
Don't use Eruption and Earthquake until your Glyph comes back.
For now, use Stone Daggers and Stoning, if you have lots of energy.
When the Glyph of Lesser Energy comes back, use it, then Earthquake, then Eruption.
Repeat!
If you want a Signet of Capture, bring it instead of Stone Daggers.

When to go to Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, I promise that you will get more powerful skills. But you're in Prophecies, so finish that story first.
Try these skillbars, I bet you'll like them!

Also....
Do you have armor on your head? You can get 2 extra points into a magic if you buy an head piece and a +1 point elemental rune.

Have you done the quests to get extra 30 points? These are The Hero's Challenge and Forgotten Wisdom. You will become much more powerful!
But if you just got to Lion's Arch, don't worry about these two quests yet.