Curse

Arato · Jun 20, 2010, 05:23 PM // 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteAsIce

It's sad when the best PvE build for a Ranger is a melee build.

What build would this be... cause I see a lot of splinter barrage rangers.. IMO, splinter barrage nukes better than Eles in HM.

Voodoo Rage · Jun 20, 2010, 06:59 PM // 18:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arato

What build would this be... cause I see a lot of splinter barrage rangers.. IMO, splinter barrage nukes better than Eles in HM.

Rangers are very solid with both daggers and scythes because expertise lowers the cost of attack skills to a very manageable level. It also allows you to take along a pet (please don't flame me for this) which gives you one more physical attacker to activate MoP and Barbs from your necros (and giving you the ability to use the skill, Never Rampage Alone for IAS).

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:R/D_PvE_Pet_Scythe

UnChosen · Jun 20, 2010, 09:42 PM // 21:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenRgy

Lightning Orb doesn't promote kiting?

Wat?

Lightning Orb can miss if the mobs are moving. So what you do is tell your teammate to stay still (as in don't kite) so that the melee mobs can start hitting them. Then you can cast your lightning orb and/or DoTAoE with a guarantee that it would hit. I can't count how many time I was playing as an Ele and my monk teammate decides to kite like a madman (which is GOOD, but frustrating to me), and ALL my DoTAoE and/or Lightning Orb managed to hit air or got in 1-2 hits before the mobs ran out.

WhiteAsIce · Jun 21, 2010, 08:49 AM // 08:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arato

What build would this be... cause I see a lot of splinter barrage rangers.. IMO, splinter barrage nukes better than Eles in HM.

I was referring to Scythe Rangers, usually with a pet, as is posted on PvX.
I don't like Splinter Barrage on my Ranger. I often find that I have energy problems, even with 13 Expertise and a Zealous bow. Also, SW at 10 Chan is weak - I'd rather have my Xandra toss SW on me with her 16 Chan.

But I digress - my pick for most useful HM Ele build that doesn't have ER Infuse on it is an Earth Warder. Nothing to fix there really, it works just fine.

Mouse at Large · Jun 21, 2010, 09:01 AM // 09:01

The problem with earth wards is basically they have limited area. If you consider the usual space between frontline to backline, they are only going to be effective for a limited number of team members at any time.......unless you all ball up which is not good

Amy Awien · Jun 21, 2010, 09:45 AM // 09:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arato

Amusing, spiteful spirit punishes not only attacking, but also skill and spell usage. ...

And they prevent you from taking damage mitigation that works by slowing attack and/or cast speed.

Quote:

Also there are totally unconditional armor ignoring damage skills as well. E-surge is what, 90ish damage aoe for 5 energy?

SF has a recharge of 2 seconds, E-Surge is on a 15 s recharge (IIRC) and has double the cast time (yeah another attrib can compensate). Searing Flames synergyzes with Glowing Gaze and on top of the 100 damage it adds another 100 from burning.

And you could bring cracked armor somewhere in your team. I don't understand what the problem is with that.

Arato · Jun 21, 2010, 03:00 PM // 15:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amy Awien

And they prevent you from taking damage mitigation that works by slowing attack and/or cast speed.

SF has a recharge of 2 seconds, E-Surge is on a 15 s recharge (IIRC) and has double the cast time (yeah another attrib can compensate). Searing Flames synergyzes with Glowing Gaze and on top of the 100 damage it adds another 100 from burning.

And you could bring cracked armor somewhere in your team. I don't understand what the problem is with that.

100 damage from SF? Not in hard mode.

Like I said, lucky to get 90 damage in HM, that's against casters.

In a lot of situations, like PuGs, if you want a mob to have cracked armor, you have to bring it yourself. SS necros never bring it even though they should.

Esurge is a 10s cooldown with 10 fast casting and barely any more casting time than SF. I was just looking for a comparable elite nuke that was armor ignoring really though.

IMO the balance between armor ignoring damage and non ignoring damage should be more like chaos storm compared to searing heat/unsteady ground and the like.

Those skills do 42 damage a pulse at 16 of their attribute line while chaos storm does 26. In hard mode against heavy armor targets, chaos storm still does 26, and UG/Heats does usually around 22 damage a pulse. So the armor ignoring damage has an edge still, but at least it's not like most of the other skills, where armor ignoring damage deals close to the same amount of damage as non armor ignoring damage against a lightly armored target, and nearly twice as much damage vs heavily armored targets.

Burning Freebies · Jun 23, 2010, 11:14 PM // 23:14

I agree entirely with the first post. This profession was sold to me on a plate when they mentioned the biggest damage idea. Now, i'm stuck with an almost useless profession. If you look at the damage of an ele compared to its biggest contenders, the warrior, assassin, mesmer and necromancer, you will notice a very distinct difference.

The Warrior thrives on high armour and health, allowing it to tank foes easily with adrenaline fuelled skills. Assassin combos make sure that they are in and out of the fray in seconds. Mesmers suck your energy like a kid sucking a lollipop, whilst preventing you from even casting. Necromancers inflict all sorts of conditions whilst punishing all those who dare attack, and creating armies of minions. Now tell me the elementalists are a better profession.

Eles dont have high armour of health, where they lose out to the warriors. Assassins are quick-in complete contrast to ele skill casting times. Eles have virtually no interrupts and energy drain skills-its all poor damage skills. And we cant summon allies or use empathy related skills. That's 4 professions better than an ele.

What are we stuck with? A small armoured profession that gobbles up its own energy using skills that hurt about as much as a pinprick. Lets look at some examples-lightning hammer, Meteor shower, fireball, flare, Searing flames, glowing glaze, immolate. All have high energy costs with no damage return. Meteor shower casts slower than a snail on a marathon, meaning your dead-before halfway through casting it. Lightning hammer is weak-you can get equal damage for under 25 energy. Fireball and flare cost too much and dont damage enough. And Searing flames and immolate have been nerfed too much-now the burning times and return damage have been reduced so much they are barely noticeable skills.

That's the ele challenge. We have to scavenge through the few decent skills we have to find a perfect combo (another challenge), which we can use as easily as possible-now becoming almost impossible. The ele needs to change-something appears to be doing for GW2.

Cuilan · Jun 24, 2010, 01:40 AM // 01:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mouse at Large

The problem with earth wards is basically they have limited area. If you consider the usual space between frontline to backline, they are only going to be effective for a limited number of team members at any time.......unless you all ball up which is not good

There isn't any problem with earth wards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burning Freebies

The Warrior thrives on high armour and health, allowing it to tank foes easily with adrenaline fuelled skills. Assassin combos make sure that they are in and out of the fray in seconds. Mesmers suck your energy like a kid sucking a lollipop, whilst preventing you from even casting. Necromancers inflict all sorts of conditions whilst punishing all those who dare attack, and creating armies of minions. Now tell me the elementalists are a better profession.

Assassins are no longer spike 'n run, you really suck if mesmer foes are draining your energy that badly, and for minions I'm assuming you mean Death Nova.

Mouse at Large · Jun 24, 2010, 06:35 AM // 06:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cuilan

There isn't any problem with earth wards.

I like a constructive discussion. Unfortunately, that's not one.

Cuilan · Jun 24, 2010, 10:40 AM // 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mouse at Large

I like a constructive discussion. Unfortunately, that's not one.

Ummm, okay...?

There's a ton of single target spells, are you saying they're all bad, too?

Mouse at Large · Jun 24, 2010, 11:35 AM // 11:35

Non sequitur. What I was hinting at was the effectiveness of wards compared to party wide buffs from other professions.

Cuilan · Jun 24, 2010, 04:44 PM // 16:44

So Protective Spirit would be bad in your view. Non sequitur nothing.

Desert Rose · Jun 24, 2010, 07:02 PM // 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mouse at Large

The problem with earth wards is basically they have limited area.

From a game mechanic standpoint point of view wards are fine; due to the "small" area of effect they need battlefield awareness, proper placement and good position play to be fully effective.
The problems is that powercreep (i.e. "Save Yourselves!") and badly designed new game mechanics (i.e. Binding Rituals) has made them largely obsolete.

Myotheraccount · Jun 24, 2010, 10:18 PM // 22:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arato

What build would this be... cause I see a lot of splinter barrage rangers.. IMO, splinter barrage nukes better than Eles in HM.

lol no. Who made you think that? =/

Mouse at Large · Jun 25, 2010, 11:15 AM // 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desert Rose

From a game mechanic standpoint point of view wards are fine; due to the "small" area of effect they need battlefield awareness, proper placement and good position play to be fully effective.
The problems is that powercreep (i.e. "Save Yourselves!") and badly designed new game mechanics (i.e. Binding Rituals) has made them largely obsolete.

That's my point

Jeydra · Jun 25, 2010, 11:38 PM // 23:38

The number of unsupported statements in this thread is depressing.

Yes the above statement itself is unsupported.

PS: Barring the fact that Earth wards are almost completely useless, no, there isn't any problem with Earth wards.

Cuilan · Jun 26, 2010, 12:10 AM // 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mouse at Large

That's my point

No, your point was that they didn't effect a whole party of people half a map away.

Perfected Shadow · Jun 26, 2010, 08:46 AM // 08:46

I'd just buff Intensity and Elemental Lord to give some of the following:
- armor penetration
- much bigger +attribute levels
- immunity to exhaustion
- decrease casting times
- spells automatically cause cracked armor
- spells gain % chance to KD

Changing them to just skills or stances (that can be maintained indefinitely) instead of enchantments would be welcome too. They also have to be tied to Energy storage.

Mouse at Large · Jun 26, 2010, 10:01 AM // 10:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cuilan

No, your point was that they didn't effect a whole party of people half a map away.

Can't see where I said that

If you don't believe that there are other party wide buffs that work better than earth magic static wards, then so be it. I'm not going to try persuade you otherwise.