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Do you game without Elite Specializations? Is it possible?


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Prior to the release of HoT it wasn't an issue, the core classes were all that we had available to us. Now with two additional "classes" per profession, our options have been expanded greatly.

My question is simple (and complex if you want to make it): Do you still play the core classes or have the elites completely overwritten those for you?Can you still be relevant in Fractals, Raids, or WvW without an Elite?

The only core profession I still run is the ranger. All my others are set on one (or both with templates) of the elites.

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To preface I should state I don't min/max. That being said I have 1 character for each type of specialization; this includes core characters. Core ranger and core guardian are still really fun in PVE across all expansions. I've made a core mesmer but I haven't tried him in newer maps. Core revenant does as well as you can expect since it was launched with HOT. Core warrior and necro feel a bit clunky but that's just based on my play style. I haven't made a core thief or engie yet.But to answer your question simply - you absolutely can play across all the pve content new and old with a core character. I think you can WvW as well unless you're in a squad with people who care about builds. You will be fine for core dungeons, and you might be ok for most fractals.However I think you will have a hard time getting in to Raids and sPvp on core builds.

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Depends on the class for me i like core guardian but i loath core mesmer (compared to their elites). Also keep in mind that every free account is running around without any elites, so a large number of players actually don't use them. For fractals, raids, etc, I'd say most cores are weaker compared to their elites but theyre still decent/relevant.

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I have maxed out exactly two Elite Specs (both on the same character), and have never used them.I'll throw on a different spec if I feel like changing things up once in awhile (or lighting up greyed-out skills), but I do just fine without them.

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You can definitely use core specs in open-world content, dungeons and lower tier fractals. I do it all the time. In higher tier Fractals, raids and to a lesser extent WvW the deciding factor is probably your group - how strict they are and what everyone else is using. My raid groups will sometimes have people using core specs, but I'm not experienced enough with raids to know how they decide which ones to use and when.

For what it's worth Anet didn't intend elite specs to be directly better than core specs, just different. How successful they've been is debatable, and I think some of them are definitely an improvement even if it's just adding new options rather than an increase in damage (or defense) but it's certainly not intended to be that the existance of elite specs makes core builds obsolete.

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The closest I've gotten to an E-spec on any of my characters is unlocking it, sometimes completely, but that's it, I don't use them, mainly because I'm 1. to lazy, 2. play my core Ranger 95% of the time, and 3. I no longer partake of WvW(only played it the first year and half before the zergs took over when people actually played it like it was designed to be played) nor do I PvP anymore(never a big fan of it anyways, pretty sure less than 50 matches) and I only did low level Fractals(stopped playing those too) and Raids aren't my thing. So for almost all OW content and the stories core is sufficient.

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If you play PVE casually, you dont need any elite specs for any character.

If you're a min-maxer, a "hardcore" player or partake in PvP/WvW/Raids you're going to WANT the elite specs, if not outright need them. Depending on the balance patch, some more than others. Can you play without them? Sure, but you'll be carried by your team in a lot of cases (notable exception being guardian right now).

Its not just about the power creep, its about team synergies and output potential and the roles these elite specs take within a given comp.

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Coming back to the game after years without playing it, I don't find any interesting "Elite Specialization" for my characters. Elem can chose between support spec and weird double affinity spec, neither of them feeling attractive, and my recently leveled up ranger can pick .. between support healer and weird pokemon spec which makes you turn into one of your pets.
First, none of them do justice to these 2 classes in my opinion, but moreover, I find it totally dumb that we need to replace one of our older specs in order to choose a new one. It feels like your character suddenly forget what he was able to do and which abilities and strengths you spent hours improving and masterizing just to get lost in a new strange way.It would make sense and really feel like an improvement and boost of power if they added a fourth slot to use the new spec, but no.

So for now I just keep playing with my basic skills and abilities with both of my lv80 characters

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@"Merzhin Hudour.4698" said:Coming back to the game after years without playing it, I don't find any interesting "Elite Specialization" for my characters. Elem can chose between support spec and weird double affinity spec, neither of them feeling attractive, and my recently leveled up ranger can pick .. between support healer and weird pokemon spec which makes you turn into one of your pets.

First, none of them do justice to these 2 classes in my opinion, but moreover, I find it totally dumb that we need to replace one of our older specs in order to choose a new one. It feels like your character suddenly forget what he was able to do and which abilities and strengths you spent hours improving and masterizing just to get lost in a new strange way.It would make sense and really feel like an improvement and boost of power if they added a fourth slot to use the new spec, but no.

So for now I just keep playing with my basic skills and abilities with both of my lv80 characters

Funny, I'm doing plenty of DPS as my Tempest with very few things chosen for support and I didn't find Weaver to be weird, just more complex. Can't speak on Ranger elite specs as I haven't played them. Personally, it sounds like to me you went in hating the elite specs and went to find a reason to do so given your descriptions.

I play a Fresh Air Tempest which is DPS oriented - look it up for a non-support Tempest build.

Weaver to me actually sounds like a natural progression of an Elementalist. One decided that instead of just playing around in one element at a time that it would try playing around in two at the same time and even mixing the two for a few spells.

Also how is the fact that you can only choose 2 core specs if you choose to do an elite spec different than just core with there being 5 core specs and you only being able to choose 3?

Unless you stopped before they changed from the time where you could pick some from each spec line to only being able to choose to go fully down 3 spec lines. But they did that for balance reasons as it's fewer combinations so it's easier to balance.

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I stopped playing one year or maybe two years after launch, for a lot of reasons including the fact that I couldn't play my elementalist the way I wanted to if I wanted to be efficient in pve or pvp.One of the things I loved with GW was that I could play the way I wanted with my Elem, except for some specific missions or high-end elite areas.And it was the first mmorpg which made me want to play another class, and I did a Ritualist which I could also play the way I wanted in 90% of the game content.This wasn't the case with Gw2 at launch, and it still doesn't seem to be the case now neither, and that's why I don't really like these "elite specs".Also, to dive a bit deeper in the subject, gw had a marvelous and rare gameplay mechanic which required players to hunt down and steal elite skills from bosses all over the world, to make them stronger. We also had the Ascension which allowed us to bring our avatars closer to gods by allowing them a second class.Which means that our characters really grew in strength, power and knowledges long after reaching max level.

Now, after two expansions, two new elite specs for each class, our characters are not more powerful, they're just useful in a different way but still limited with only 3 possible active specializations, making the previous time invested and specs useless, and even requiring to change weapons in order to be efficient.It doesn't make sense at all for me.

They did it because it's easier for sure. But the easy path is not always the best. Balance isn't a matter of gameplay mechanics, it's a matter of skills, damages, numbers, and they have all the control on these to balance the game even if they allowed 4 specs, because all players could have them.So it's a false argument.

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@"Merzhin Hudour.4698" said:I stopped playing one year or maybe two years after launch, for a lot of reasons including the fact that I couldn't play my elementalist the way I wanted to if I wanted to be efficient in pve or pvp.One of the things I loved with GW was that I could play the way I wanted with my Elem, except for some specific missions or high-end elite areas.And it was the first mmorpg which made me want to play another class, and I did a Ritualist which I could also play the way I wanted in 90% of the game content.This wasn't the case with Gw2 at launch, and it still doesn't seem to be the case now neither, and that's why I don't really like these "elite specs".Also, to dive a bit deeper in the subject, gw had a marvelous and rare gameplay mechanic which required players to hunt down and steal elite skills from bosses all over the world, to make them stronger. We also had the Ascension which allowed us to bring our avatars closer to gods by allowing them a second class.Which means that our characters really grew in strength, power and knowledges long after reaching max level.

Now, after two expansions, two new elite specs for each class, our characters are not more powerful, they're just useful in a different way but still limited with only 3 possible active specializations, making the previous time invested and specs useless, and even requiring to change weapons in order to be efficient.It doesn't make sense at all for me.

They did it because it's easier for sure. But the easy path is not always the best. Balance isn't a matter of gameplay mechanics, it's a matter of skills, damages, numbers, and they have all the control on these to balance the game even if they allowed 4 specs, because all players could have them.So it's a false argument.

It's not a false argument. I never said they made the right choice or the best choice in the long run. Just that they made the choice because it was easier to balance than what it was. Since you didn't give a time frame on when you left and I couldn't remember when the change happened.

I can't talk to Guild Wars 1 as I never played it so I can't speak to how progression felt in that game vs this game. My brother and his friends played it and my brother did mention he liked build crafting. But did mention that all the build combinations the game had made it virtually impossible to balance.

ANet chose what it did with the elite specs because they didn't want those who chose not get the expansion packs for whatever reason to not be left behind those who did buy the expansion packs in PvP, WvW, or high end content where builds matter. Granted they did miss the mark and most of the elite specs do end up outperforming the core specs, but that was their goal. And they're not so overpowered that there aren't still close to meta core builds.

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I am playing an old fashioned Condi Ranger, ditched the Soulbeast since few of the traits were really beneficial to my playstyle and I do not like playing without a pet.If we ever get a new Elite, I sincerely hope it will focus on Pets. Let us have two pets out, let us be able to command them more directly, use more of their skills at will, that sort of thing.

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