Curse

Neriandal Freit · Aug 01, 2007, 05:42 PM // 17:42

Seeing as this is my main character, Neriandal Freit, I've decided I need to ask how the game play of the Elementalist today is going?

I haven't had the chance at all to play Guildwars for almost five months now. Unfortunately, my family kicked me out of the house and I moved into my friends place to which I've been attempting to get Wireless Internet Access up to my computer since then. Fortunately, this begging week I should have it! It helps that Summer is coming to a end and (unfortunately) my friends are going back to school while I work, work and work some more.

So, how has the gameplay of the Elementalist been the past five months? What has change? What do I need to expect with Neriandal now? Are Elementalist wanted in PvE Groups? Are we still masters of farming? What's occured that I haven't picked up on (watching this forum like a hawk) in the past five months?

Stormlord Alex · Aug 01, 2007, 05:55 PM // 17:55

Not much has changed, tbh.

Packs of Searing Flames still kick ass, as do multiple Triple-Heat guys with Deep Freeze.; for PvE.

Stoneflesh Aura got a slight nerf, but it's still possible to keep up.

Oh, and the Ele's PvE-only skills were added and swiftly nerfed into nothingness.

Neriandal Freit · Aug 01, 2007, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Yeah, I read up a little on those PvE-ONly skills and was wondering their usage for in game play.

Stormlord Alex · Aug 01, 2007, 08:24 PM // 20:24

To be perfectly hones... I wouldn't use either, at all. If I ever had a free slot, there's much better skills in each element to add in.

Wyat Hawke · Aug 02, 2007, 08:24 AM // 08:24

As mentioned, nothing is different now really... We are still the kings of farming, and still as wanted as ever in PvE. I'd say the biggest change nowadays is what the groups you are teaming up with, wants to play. The thumb rule is; "Go big, or go home!". Most people expect a nuker dishing out maximum damage. Before, I could actually be allowed to go earth and bring wards, but that seems to have changed...

fujin · Aug 02, 2007, 09:03 AM // 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyat Hawke

As mentioned, nothing is different now really... We are still the kings of farming, and still as wanted as ever in PvE. I'd say the biggest change nowadays is what the groups you are teaming up with, wants to play. The thumb rule is; "Go big, or go home!". Most people expect a nuker dishing out maximum damage. Before, I could actually be allowed to go earth and bring wards, but that seems to have changed...

The people who think they're gonna die without 3 Monks would probably kick you out of the group if you go Earth Magic or warding.

Neriandal Freit · Aug 02, 2007, 05:27 PM // 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyat Hawke

As mentioned, nothing is different now really... We are still the kings of farming, and still as wanted as ever in PvE. I'd say the biggest change nowadays is what the groups you are teaming up with, wants to play. The thumb rule is; "Go big, or go home!". Most people expect a nuker dishing out maximum damage. Before, I could actually be allowed to go earth and bring wards, but that seems to have changed...

It's not back to the whole "Be a Fire Nuker or go away" like it was when Sorrows Furnace was first introduced two years ago is it?

Wyat Hawke · Aug 02, 2007, 09:10 PM // 21:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neriandal Freit

It's not back to the whole "Be a Fire Nuker or go away" like it was when Sorrows Furnace was first introduced two years ago is it?

No, since now we have Sandstorm. But it's not that far away from the SF update, sadly...

Neriandal Freit · Aug 02, 2007, 09:31 PM // 21:31

So are the great Water Elementalist able to get into groups now that groups are seeking Searing Flames and Sandstorm teams?

Wyat Hawke · Aug 03, 2007, 12:01 AM // 00:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neriandal Freit

So are the great Water Elementalist able to get into groups now that groups are seeking Searing Flames and Sandstorm teams?

Not a chance really... I have had the rare occasion of playing as them in HM once though. If I where to rank them in terms of how wanted the different magical attributes are, it would've been;

1. Fire
2. Earth
3. Water
4. Air

Unless you are farming, my top tip is to go fire really. I hope that helps, and answers your original question

Neriandal Freit · Aug 03, 2007, 12:13 AM // 00:13

Oh it does, I know (knew) everything about the ELementalist possible, what type of builds to use, etc.etc., but I was just wanting to see if anything like the Water Elementalist is more viable now in PvE due to Hard Mode and the lessened restraint on Scattering.

Wyat Hawke · Aug 03, 2007, 12:25 AM // 00:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neriandal Freit

Oh it does, I know (knew) everything about the ELementalist possible, what type of builds to use, etc.etc., but I was just wanting to see if anything like the Water Elementalist is more viable now in PvE due to Hard Mode and the lessened restraint on Scattering.

nah, HM and NM is almost the same for us now, it isn't (atleast shouldn't be) our job to do that (snare). There are plenty of other skills that snare faster than most of the Water skills. If you're going HM, your job is to kill the mobs as fast as possible, before they scatter too much.

It's pretty much the same as 5 months ago.

Cebe · Aug 03, 2007, 09:47 AM // 09:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex

To be perfectly hones... I wouldn't use either, at all. If I ever had a free slot, there's much better skills in each element to add in.

True, the only use I've found for our PvE-Only skills is the Luxon skill, Elemental Lord, with a Mind Blast build since there's a couple of variable slots in my build. Elemental Lord + Glyph of Elemental Power give Mind Blast a nice boost, but other than that, they're too difficult to fit on a skillbar, especially a skill as useless as Intensity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neriandal Freit

So are the great Water Elementalist able to get into groups now that groups are seeking Searing Flames and Sandstorm teams?

To be honest the only real use I've found for water magic is combining it with Fire or Air purely for the conditional water hex or the AoE snare.

It looks as though water magic may become more fun when GW:EN comes out as there are 2 water skills in particular which caught my eye: Glowing Ice and Slippery Ground.

Of course you can play Hard Mode however you choose to play it. When I for Masters on Hard Mode Gyala Hatchery I went Chilling Winds + Deep Freeze, and packed the bar with other water snares, and Blurred Vision. We had another ele using Fire Magic with Meteor Shower. If you can get a warrior good enough to hold aggro enough having one ele cast Deep Freeze and another casting MS + other AoE skills on the top of them can be fun. Made light work out of a bit of practice. In short, Water Magic needs to be made to work with a second element in PvE for it to be viable, be that a second elementalist, or just incorporating 2 elements into one skillbar.

Mouse at Large · Aug 03, 2007, 11:14 AM // 11:14

With the change to mob AI i.e. slightly less scatter in NM and a lot more in HM, if doing NM, it's quite possible to run a Mind Blast+MoR + 2 or 3 AoE fire spells and still have space for some utility. I tend to run something along these lines with the Para Sunspear skill

Div · Aug 04, 2007, 12:17 AM // 00:17

Going with 2 fire eles and a water ele for snare can still be very nasty AoE even if they try to scatter

Mind blast-immolate is also really nice. In HM though, a lot is about survival, so Bsurge and wards are another good choice rather than pure damage output with nukage (aka mindless ele-ing)

Francis Demeules · Aug 04, 2007, 02:01 AM // 02:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

Going with 2 fire eles and a water ele for snare can still be very nasty AoE even if they try to scatter

Mind blast-immolate is also really nice. In HM though, a lot is about survival, so Bsurge and wards are another good choice rather than pure damage output with nukage (aka mindless ele-ing)

If you have a Water and Fire eles in your team, I suggest the water ele brings Steam with him if the Fire ele does burning to make blind for... like what... 10 seconds

Its very nasty against melee

Suuk · Aug 09, 2007, 12:29 PM // 12:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

In HM though, a lot is about survival, so Bsurge and wards are another good choice rather than pure damage output with nukage (aka mindless ele-ing)

Thats right. I almost always play earth/air in HM... But, that is with heroes/henchies. When with humans it comes down to fire or being the water snare.

zling · Aug 17, 2007, 07:17 PM // 19:17

water eles can be used as support chars, sorta like a good mesmer, with skills such as blurred vision, rust, maelstorm and such... u can even go E/Me and bring signet of humility and stuff along the way
other than that however fire is the dominant element, air is way outta PvE, only invoke/chain lightning hit more than 1 target and the air line is weak anyway compared to other damage attributes(not only from ele line)
earth has and still is the best for a tank, now with the E/D mystic regeneration combo its better than ever, high armor, reduced damage and super regen, the perfect tank... oh and I almost forgot, immune to critical hits, even better :P

ZenRgy · Aug 18, 2007, 03:20 AM // 03:20

Water is PvE is a waste, and the only useful water skills for PvE don't require you run any points in them.

Water is a PvP element. It's pointless bringing snares and running a lot of points into for snares and hexes when all PvE requires you in the end, to just blow everything up.

And the EotN skills for the water line are garbageso they're not going to make the hydros much more popular in PvE.

It boilds down to this, if you want to be efficient in PvE in a team build, you run fire. Everything else is usually a waste of time.

Leonidas2 · Aug 18, 2007, 08:55 AM // 08:55

Time to get flamed again, but I'll voice my opinion, as usual, about fire magic.

Worthless

Fire magic in Hard Mode...

Even more worthless

I can sum up the basis of my argument with 2 more words.

No Defense.