Searing Flames nerf

Damage on Searing Flames just went down 10%.

In limited efforts, I wasn't succeeding much in hard mode with a standard 3 x SF/MM primary/heroes group build of the sort that rocks in normal mode. Too squishy, and not killing the enemies fast enough.

Now I don't think I'll even try to make it work. Time to find something else altogether.

Sadly yes

This could be Anet's way of trying to force eles to run the now generaly useless PvE skills.

On second thoughts, and given their track record on the buff/nerf swings, I'm maybe giving them credit for strategic planning they don't deserve.....

I'm so happy this has happened. SF is incredibly dull to play. At least now it will force people to be more creative and allow more creative people into brain-dead pugs... If your into that...

10% isn't much. If anything they fail to balance it since they shouldv'e made the duration of the burnign longer so you don't need 2-3 SFers just to keep the burn on (unless you carry Mark of rodgort).

The last 3 nerfs have pretty much made sf builds useless. now we lost 10% damage. so not even elemental lord will bring us close (only adds 6dmg per lvl) and the nerf to intensity to 10 seconds only covers 3 sf casts. even at 15 seconds i found it pretty much useless as another skill was more useful.

I think its dear time A-net gets off there rears and seperates the pvp/pve skills so that we can pound monsters better since monsters are geared with having a lot more life then players do.

everyone says pvp and pve are completely different so why do they have to share the same stat skills. more monsters with more life and faster casting and running in hard mode make it hard for us to kill with weakened skills.

what is the alternative mass damage pve to sf? it sure aint air spike and im not sure earth based has enough gun to do it

frojack ur completly right i have just h8ed sf since it's realease hence why i deleted my ele to save me from cookie-cutter rubbish.

Except just long enough to figure out how it works, I've never renewal nuked and probably never will. The lack of time between targeting and effect makes it totally mindless. If I want to be totally mindless, I'll just farm.

This repeated nerfing of SF is quite disappointing. Elementalists had at least ONE kick-butt skillbar, and now we don't any more.

I love how much hate Searing Flames gets... People whining its too cookie cutter, saying they 'deleted there ele to avoid it'. Whatever. People say its the end of the SF ele. People thinking it means pugs will take something else...

Seriously, get real. This SF nerf means it takes *slightly* longer to kill everything. If you don't want to run it so be it. Nothing has changed since yesterday.

Evilsod is right. The 10% less damage just means it takes a few more casts to kill things.

Given that I haven't figured out at all how to run SF successfully in hard mode, 10% damage reduction is a bunch.

Yeah, I know it's not the only life loss caused by the build, but it's probably over 5% of the life loss caused by three of the not a lot more than three pure damage dealers of the team.

Nerfed Intensity PLUS a hypothetical 9th skillbar slot to run it approximately balances this. This plus real-world Intensity is a net loss. And that's only for my primary. For my heroes, it's a total net loss.

your right evilsod. even with the last 3 nerfs against this build it is STILL the best pve elementalist build out there. it sad that they cant buff the other skills to make them more useable instead of killing our best source of damage. even in its current form its still one of the best mob killers around and until we see better skills for other elements it will continue to be the most useful build.

a neccessary nerf, the skill was waaaaaaaaay too good in pvp at just spamming on a target.

The problem is that they randomly butchered the pretty decent pve skills, instead of buffed, which they needed to do (what's the point in making pve skills worse than pvp skills??)

I do hope that everyone is aware that Searing Flames builds are still viable and infact they are still the most damaging builds in the fire elementalist repetoire.

The nerf was called for. I think it was nerfed appropriately.

Quote: Originally Posted by Francis Crawford Except just long enough to figure out how it works, I've never renewal nuked and probably never will. The lack of time between targeting and effect makes it totally mindless. If I want to be totally mindless, I'll just farm.

This repeated nerfing of SF is quite disappointing. Elementalists had at least ONE kick-butt skillbar, and now we don't any more. Erm, it's SF that brought the term "mindless". It's ONE SKILL one kick-butt skillbar if you ask me. There shouldn't be skills which are staples in given class' bar. SF is staple as it's single most damaging Spell.

Have you ever used:
Searing Heat
Rodgort's Invocation
Incendiary Bonds
Immolate
Meteor Shower
Maelstrom

on one skill bar? Oh, I know they suck balls, compared to SF. But they needed some skill and timing to play (for star just look at the costs ).

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion 10% isn't much. If anything they fail to balance it since they shouldv'e made the duration of the burnign longer so you don't need 2-3 SFers just to keep the burn on (unless you carry Mark of rodgort). Just confess you are tired of clicking more than one skill and so you want SF to do everything. IMO the nerf is well called and it should lore burning as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by Francis Crawford Except just long enough to figure out how it works, I've never renewal nuked and probably never will. The lack of time between targeting and effect makes it totally mindless. If I want to be totally mindless, I'll just farm.

This repeated nerfing of SF is quite disappointing. Elementalists had at least ONE kick-butt skillbar, and now we don't any more. Erm, it's SF that brought the term "mindless". It's ONE SKILL one kick-butt skillbar if you ask me. There shouldn't be skill which are staples in given class' bar. SF is staple as it's single most damaging Spell.
Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion 10% isn't much. If anything they fail to balance it since they shouldv'e made the duration of the burnign longer so you don't need 2-3 SFers just to keep the burn on (unless you carry Mark of rodgort). Just confess you are tired of clicking more than one skill and so you want SF to do everything. IMO the nerf is good and it should lower the burning part as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by GeniusLoci Erm, it's SF that brought the term "mindless". It's ONE SKILL one kick-butt skillbar if you ask me. There shouldn't be skill which are staples in given class' bar. SF is staple as it's single most damaging Spell. monks have prot spirit, warriors have frenzy, pve necros have ss (pvp necros have para bond). Some skills are just better than others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeniusLoci IMO the nerf is good and it should lower the burning part as well. um...I can't even begin to fathom why. You're bad? o ok.

I wrote why - because it outdamages even the skills which cannot be used as tech, thus making them useless.

As for the point about other classes skills - afaik frenzy was never so good and in PvE is not even skill to choose unless you hate your monks or you think you can see any damage before it comes.

Sure there are skills which just stand out, bot most of them are used With other skills. While SF is spammable so it doesn't need much more.

What if you had to make your target burn to recieve the spike damage part with other Spell? Would it be hard to make it or it is just that DPS will go 20-30% down due to downtime? Ele will still see do more daage than anyone.

well with the current burn time, without wand/offhand bonus'es, only actully hit 1 damage spike
so its 1 cast of sf to burn
glowing glaze
sf cast to spike
liquid flame
sf to burn
sf to spike

I think he means frenzy in pvp, where it's hands down about the best IAS buff around. In pve, you'd probably only use frenzy on a bow or with a spear. Where it's actually real good, as long as you're not sitting in touch range of your warriors.

As for SF, I reckon it's a poor nerf. Let's face it, it's no threat alone, it's only when used in numbers that it's scary. With 3 SFer's (which you get from any guild team or heroway), the nerf makes pretty much no difference at all. It's only the single ele looking to pug that get's hurt. Pity that.

Oh noes! A skill doesn't work so good anymore as it used to be! What s hall we do now?!? We're totally desperate!!



Here's a tip for you: Use one of the other hundreds of skills?