Curse

Maria The Princess · Apr 17, 2006, 07:41 PM // 19:41

I've read a few Stickies, got a little more familiar with th Eles...

i'm sharing an account with my brother so we get 2 characters each... i have a Ranger (my baby) and a 55 monk... i'm not using it anymore.. so i've been thinking to delete it and create an Ele. i've never had one and i dont want to delete a perfect with all the skills monk for a character that i will not find use of. now my questions:

->can Ele provide same profit as a 55 monk? (or is it a "just for fun" character?)
->what is the most fun things to do with ele?
->can Ele solo and how effective is that? (anywhere....not in pre searing)
->how hard is it to find farming groups? (how long you need to spam LFG in FOW, SF (if they actually take eles), Tombs, other areas)
->what is best second proffession to start with (until i learn how to use the Ele)
->when too many people in the group and a badly needed monk wants to join is the Ele being first to get kiked (lol after the underestimated ranger or the 4th wammo)
->how much (everage) it costs to have a good ele?
(for me money is not a VERY big issue, cuz ill sell the 55 runes to get the ele things, but would be nice to know the average price tag on a new ele, Droks armor+weps) i've been playing for a while and i know prices for doffrent ele things, but i never payed attention to what ele weps are the most efficient, ive been selling em or givin away to guildies

is it worth to delete a complete 55 monk to crteate ele?

i figured the Ele forum is the best place for this question
thank for your time to reply

pegasux · Apr 17, 2006, 08:52 PM // 20:52

IMO I love playing my ele over my W,N,Mo. The reason why is because of the versatility that it offers. I can go fire - AoE, Air - Huge single target damage, Water - Crowd control, or my favorite Earth - do everything.

Yes an Ele can solo as either a geomancer or a 55 ele. You are prone to being stripped just like a 55 monk is. I farm very fast and very effectively the same areas a 55 can but faster IMO.

The fun things are to play a non-typical ele...come up with different builds that blow people away =) esp. in PvP.

Farming groups are not hard to find as long as your willing to do the cookie cutter meteor shower builds, it seems that most ele's love doing this but i find it very BORING!

For farming /mo is the way to go and for PvE Mesmer is the popular choice for archane echo. Physical resistance is also nice for mele areas.

Never been kicked out of a group when i was the only ele...as long as I was a cookie cutter nuker =(. Now if you play the other 3 elements you will be kicked...esp earth and water since people simply do not understand the benefits of those 2 skill lines.

Cost is cheap...droks is 10k-11k for armor and materials. Skills are free unless you get runs then you have to buy them. Making a 55ele cost about 3k not including the -50 offhand (3-5k).

The best weapons in the game IMO are as follows:
Fire - Ragos (30-40K)
Water - Flints Fleshcheaver (1k)
Air - Collectors Air Staff with 18%-20% ench mod and +5 armor or energy mod (10K)
Earth - FFS and a -2 DMG +45 Health Crimson Carapice Collectors Shield. (2k)

I use the FFS and the shield almost exclusively now cause of the -2 DMG and +45 health. I switch to another weapon set if I need emergency energy.

I do enjoy monking but not as a 55 at all. 55 builds to me are the most boring builds in the game. Whether or not it's worth it is up to you. Ask yourself is healing more fun then killing. Therein lies your answer to you own question.

Hope this helps =)

Maria The Princess · Apr 17, 2006, 09:23 PM // 21:23

thank you for helpful post. you realy answered all the questions i had in mind, and since i hardly use my monk... im happy 55 ele can work

Francis Crawford · Apr 17, 2006, 09:25 PM // 21:25

Hi!

First of all, if you delete the character, make sure to keep the runes and so on and sell them!!

You probably could do very well selling the whole thing as a complete set.

Second, there are a lot of gripe threads about playing an elementalist these days, in multiple forums here. You might want to check them out.

Third, the opinion that solo farming with an elementalist is as fast as with a 55 HP monk is a decidely minority view. I have no personal experience, never having played a 55 HP anything, but playing the elementalist is definitely less automatic, and it's not clear you'll really be doing damage as quickly as Shield of Judgment does, and there's rarely room in the build for any warrior running skills (and Armor of Mist only wanders into the build occasionally). But certainly you can farm trolls, ice imps, ettins, hydras, sand elementals, griffons, and just about any other kind of single-profession mob.

In a group I just do fire AoE damage, but I do not find that echo nuking is demanded. I'm more likely just to play with henchies and maybe my wife than to find a pickup group, but when I want a PUG there's rarely a problem (unless I'm in an area where there's a general monk shortage). Well, SF has 5-person templates that don't include an elementalist, and so on.

Uh, have you considering playing a real monk -- healing or protection -- and joining groups that way?

Maria The Princess · Apr 17, 2006, 09:41 PM // 21:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

Uh, have you considering playing a real monk -- healing or protection -- and joining groups that way?

i was playing the "real monk" thing all the way to fire islands through the whole story line. the only time i jumped forward was to get my droks armor, but then i went back to ascalon... so yes i ve done ALOT of monking and even now sometimes i re-build to help guildies farm or do missions when they got monk shortage. as matter of fact i find 55 solo more fun then staring at red bars all long the game...

the only thing i havent realy done yet is bonding, but from my 1st and only try i found it SO boring that i hardly finished the mission cuz i was fallling asleep (

)

so i doubt theres is a monking cocept that i missed...

LightningHell · Apr 17, 2006, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Smiting.

gameshoes3003 · Apr 18, 2006, 02:05 AM // 02:05

Yeah, In the UW, it is not hard to find a group there if one has even organized yet because most of the gorups there would like to have an ele, but when I go there, there doesn't seem to be many of them there, so it's an easy competition if you want to get into a gorup, unless if you're chosen over a monk that is.

Ira Blinks · Apr 18, 2006, 02:10 AM // 02:10

on american server ele can only find group as nuker to fow or missions, thats it. You can also solo farm titans or trolls, but really anyone can do that

CKaz · Apr 18, 2006, 05:55 PM // 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by pegasux

The best weapons in the game IMO are as follows:
Fire - Ragos (30-40K)
Water - Flints Fleshcheaver (1k)
Air - Collectors Air Staff with 18%-20% ench mod and +5 armor or energy mod (10K)
Earth - FFS and a -2 DMG +45 Health Crimson Carapice Collectors Shield. (2k)

I use the FFS and the shield almost exclusively now cause of the -2 DMG and +45 health. I switch to another weapon set if I need emergency energy.

Mostly in alignment there/done similiar/same kind of things however I have to ask how you have the FFS modded, 20% enchant? Anything else?

Your Collector Shield when enchanted (maguuma), specific build (stance), or specific enemy (hex)?
You bother going E/W for this or just work with the armor it grants sans tactics?

I only ask because I also like the bizarre/different challenges and as many configurations I have I haven't tried that/had the need, it interests though...

one fun bit, I have a refined solo build that owns Zaishen Mesmers, in fact I generally kill the lot of them with 2 skills for 1k faction a day for fun heh

cheers
CKaz

CKaz · Apr 18, 2006, 06:02 PM // 18:02

Back to the OPs question though -

Well I deleted an up and coming monk to keep my Ele who's done it all because I like mixing it up - even though I'm not convinced ANet is interested in keeping the Ele viable. Quite frankly I see a lot of love in chapter 2 for other classes but not so much for the Ele. I have a lot of fun with my Necro and Warrior too, but I don't think I'll ever stop toying with Ele options.

In general I think you'd have a ton of fun, the eles weakeness is really long intense protracted fights - more to the tune of 8player pvp battles. And as mentioned as peoples eyes finally open a bit more to necro and ranger options they seem to shut a bit more to the fact Ele still works great in groups in the traditional ways as well as many more much less recognized ones. I did pretty much all the 'tough' stuff with ele and hench alone, including the majority of my UAS achievement (95+% capped alone unless taking someone with me).

holden · Apr 18, 2006, 06:05 PM // 18:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maria The Princess

is it worth to delete a complete 55 monk to crteate ele?

imo a necro or mesmer/necro would be more satisfying to play than an ele in pve.
i wouldn't even delete my warrior to make an ele.

Yanman.be · Apr 18, 2006, 06:14 PM // 18:14

My ele can 55 for uw, so can yours xD.

Pm Frahma Yanman, and I'll show you what an ele can do...they farm OTHER, harder to get places, but they do farm

pegasux · Apr 18, 2006, 07:55 PM // 19:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by CKaz

Mostly in alignment there/done similiar/same kind of things however I have to ask how you have the FFS modded, 20% enchant? Anything else?

Your Collector Shield when enchanted (maguuma), specific build (stance), or specific enemy (hex)?
You bother going E/W for this or just work with the armor it grants sans tactics?

I only ask because I also like the bizarre/different challenges and as many configurations I have I haven't tried that/had the need, it interests though...

one fun bit, I have a refined solo build that owns Zaishen Mesmers, in fact I generally kill the lot of them with 2 skills for 1k faction a day for fun heh

cheers
CKaz

Hey Ckaz, The shield is from the wilds...you will need 5 ancient eyes which are a pain to get cause you have to take on the riders in groups or 6-9. The Crimson Carapice Shield stats are +12 armor (req9 tactics) - doesn't benefit you, -2 DMG (While Enchanted) and +45 Health (While Enchanted). Since you are a geomancer you will always be enchanted and the +45 boost will get your health up to 500.

The FFS is modded with a 20% enchant grip, the other mod is a fiery haft which i use for PvP in conjunction with Mark of Rodgort =). The FFS with the 20% mod will give you a 10 sec kinetic which makes things a lot easier.

I have tried going E/W for balanced stance but found that going E/Me is easier using Obsidian Flesh. The PBAoE knockdowns still get me but no biggie though i just work through them. For a while i didn't use Obsidian Flesh and went with Ether Renewal instead for the healing <was using galigords staff at the time>.
With the shield and armor buffs you will take 0 dmg from mele attacks which is nice so Ether Renewal isn't needed any longer.

I use the E/Me build for foes that kd like hydras. For others that don't kd i use the e/mo build. I also use the e/me build to solo ember...real challenging though!

I also have a pretty strange e/n build that I use to PvP with...i call it my kill any target build...hehehe. there hasn't been a foe that i haven't been able to kill yet 1v1 but throw in 2v1 and i'm a gonner =(. The 1v1 PvP in factions will be a blast for ele's imo, esp for the geomancers.

milias · Apr 18, 2006, 09:14 PM // 21:14

Just buy Factions when it comes out. You'll get 2 or 4 more char slots depending on whether you merge or not. No need to delete a perfectly good char! Although I wouldn't call 55-monks "perfectly good chars"...

Maria The Princess · Apr 18, 2006, 09:29 PM // 21:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by milias

Just buy Factions when it comes out. You'll get 2 or 4 more char slots depending on whether you merge or not. No need to delete a perfectly good char! Although I wouldn't call 55-monks "perfectly good chars"...

i'm sharing the account with my brother.... since were gonna merge accounts, were gonna get only 1 extar char slot EACH (2 in total), and i really can't wait to make an Assassin

buy hey! thanks for advice evry1, i deleted my monk and now have a brand new ele. and its FUN! even in pre-searing i had fun
btw, the Ele girl dance is woth deleting 5 monks...lol

Eaimirth Etaivella · Apr 19, 2006, 01:37 AM // 01:37

Eles just can't do the damage anymore; so get used to having ss necros, and even mesmers get the slots before you do.

Hella Good · Apr 19, 2006, 03:12 AM // 03:12

Don't delete your smiter... It's much more useful than an Ele.

LightningHell · Apr 19, 2006, 04:37 AM // 04:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hella Good

Don't delete your smiter... It's much more useful than an Ele.

True for most of the populace, but not for some people. Including me.

I wouldn't delete my Elly for ANYTHING.

(Oh fine, I might delete her for Glint or a Mursaat, but then....

)

CKaz · Apr 19, 2006, 04:51 AM // 04:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by pegasux

Hey Ckaz, The shield is from the wilds...you will need 5 ancient eyes which are a pain to get cause you have to take on the riders in groups or 6-9. The Crimson Carapice Shield stats are +12 armor (req9 tactics) - doesn't benefit you, -2 DMG (While Enchanted) and +45 Health (While Enchanted). Since you are a geomancer you will always be enchanted and the +45 boost will get your health up to 500.

Cool yeah thought it was more than likely you went for the enchanted/forest one but wanted to be sure you didn't have anything else up your sleeve. And thus the /W question, if you went tactics to 9 the enchanted green might be a little better but again that'd be a pretty specific build.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pegasux

The FFS is modded with a 20% enchant grip, the other mod is a fiery haft which i use for PvP in conjunction with Mark of Rodgort =). The FFS with the 20% mod will give you a 10 sec kinetic which makes things a lot easier.

Yeah I use this too, can still be used for a monk or iw mesmer etc etc, like the thought on the axe haft though I'd normally switch to (fire) wanding unless your target is hanging around... like those warriors thinking they'll go toe to toe with you eh?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pegasux

I have tried going E/W for balanced stance but found that going E/Me is easier using Obsidian Flesh. The PBAoE knockdowns still get me but no biggie though i just work through them. For a while i didn't use Obsidian Flesh and went with Ether Renewal instead for the healing <was using galigords staff at the time>.
With the shield and armor buffs you will take 0 dmg from mele attacks which is nice so Ether Renewal isn't needed any longer.

I'll have to give this a bit of a shot. And yeah the Factions anti-KD Earth Ward if it'll fit on the toolbar will even take quite a bit of the pain out of the hammer warriors, those slinging gale, etc, if it can be squeezed onto the bar.

good stuff

cheers
CKaz

CKaz · Apr 19, 2006, 04:57 AM // 04:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maria The Princess

buy hey! thanks for advice evry1, i deleted my monk and now have a brand new ele. and its FUN! even in pre-searing i had fun
btw, the Ele girl dance is woth deleting 5 monks...lol

Hey great, grats

Lots of us here more than willing to help - I certainly had a ton of fun, I'd say over Necro or Warr, going through the game with my Ele.

Also oddly enough as you're going to chapter2 you'll really enjoy Faction armor choices - much more functional, and IMO better looking to boot. Other classes have some nice looking armor as well but often might be a step back from the ideal chapter1 choices...

Archmage in particular rocks for the ele!

Cheers
CKaz