[PvE] Weaver: lowest HP, lowest armor, lowest range, high complexity -> medium damage?

Ever since the 4war/1mes dungeon meta, it has been my gripe with elementalists that they have the lowest health pool, the lowest armor rating, considerably high complexity, either short range and acceptable cooldowns or long range and long cooldowns - and they are not the absolute #1 in DPS.

Weaver comes with even higher complexity than base ele, and with sword being 130 range. Other than loving elemental mages, why would anyone pick an elementalist (and a weaver) rather than any other profession, mechanically-wise?

Sure, it's too soon to know all the ins and outs, perhaps some upcoming balance patches would bring more sense to the overall system. Perhaps the cream-of-the-crop raiders will find out complex rotations that make weaver pull ahead 1k DPS.

However, from the perspective of a regular player, or even a semi-hardcore one who does enjoy a challenge but doesn't have the time to practice the rotation to squeeze that extra 1k DPS in, the first thought about elementalists would be: low armor, low HP, long cooldowns / short range -> that must result in top damage.

So, with that vent out of the way:Where is the reasoning behind weaver / ele overall stats for the majority of players in the grand profession design? From design perspective, how is it that the squishiest, one of the most complex professions is not the top in damage, and by a margin?If the design goal is to allow everyone play whatever they like (based on the flavor, the overall feeling, the core mechanics) and achieve comparable DPS so as to be equally desirable in groups, maybe it's time to equalize HP and armor pools across the board as well?

Finally:Other than being a fan of flashy mages, why have you been sticking with elementalist? Have you hopped from tempest to weaver?If you have mained an ele in the past but changed your main on the way: why?

Edit:Disclaimer:Having read other threads on weaver so far - it's only fair to notice that full-buffed, large-hitbox, stationary golem DPS benchmarks don't mean much at this point. We'll need to wait and see for some news from the raidar, but i'm not overly optimistic.

Well, weaver itself is top dps. Staff-rotations have access to some extra ticking aoe-fields and reach higher numbers than ever.

It's the sword that hits like a wet noodle. The sword is slow and mostly single-hit. Elementalists usually draw their dps from a range of rapidly hitting aoe fields. Unless sword receives some significant buffs, the added risk and lost utility of going completely melee will prevent sword from being a real alternative to staff.

Firebrand currently out-damages weaver, and the most likely scenario is that they both will be nerfed to be brought more in line with other professions. Firebrand brings much more party utility. Not to mention that the rotations are done on immobile targets that do not fight back and weaver rotations are considerably harder to pull off, most likely impossible in 100% in real fights.

Even then, condi soulbeasts can do ~42k DPS in similar circumstances (buffs and immobile target), not to mention scourge with 39k (to compare with the necro/reaper counters from not so long ago), all along while bringing party utility, often unique to their profession.

And the weaver sword... coupled with its range, it makes absolutely no sense to be that low, especially on the lowest HP / lowest armor / lowest range profession out there.

From design perspective: why introduce a profession that, compared to other available options, is highest risk for less-than-highest reward?

It's sad but I kill things so much faster with staff tempest :/

You can certainly make top damage dealer from weaver. Just not on sword. It's not as high as Firebrand, but then, they both probably do higher dps than intended.

Weaver is top power burst dmg but tempest dose more condi dmg power dps over the long run. You just cant compete with air overload fresh air.

On the contrary, I can. I'm consistently getting higher numbers with Weaver, both on the practice golem and in fractals/raids.

I know it hasn't even been a full week of PoF being out and we certainly don't know Anet's plans for future class balance, but I would like to pipe in and express my concern for the sword on Weaver. My perspective on the sword primarily comes from PvP/WvW experience but playing through the PoF PvE maps has proved it to be a PvE issue as well. The issue comes from it's low attack speed AND mediocre base damages. For a class (as stated above in title) with one of the lowest base stats AND highest skill ceilings it just doesn't compute that we as Weavers are working 2-3x as hard (arguable) as other classes just to put out similar if not still subpar damage. In WvW I am literally playing the piano like Liberace to even hold a candle to sustaining the amount of damage in the game while also still trying to squeeze out what little damage I can where I can.I'm not here to condemn Anet or assume that I know everything about Weaver to even make such a claim. In fact I am well pleased with the theme and loving the complexity of the class and have nothing but optimism for this creative breath of 'Fresh Air' for the class. I'd merely like to see some changes made to base damages and/or attack speed of the sword for Weaver to give it something to write home about...