Lillium.6481

I'm very disappointed with this spec right away just for being ANOTHER melee spec for Elementalist, which the class neither wants nor needs. I also really don't like hammer, and find it horribly unfitting for the class. But getting hands on with the class for this beta, I've managed to be even more disappointed at Catalyst. The F5 field looks fantastic visually - When it's up. It's ridiculously short, with sort of a long build up, and frankly not enough effect once it is up (PvE). I like the concept of this ability, and as the most core feature of the elite spec, it is something that with a lot of fixing could make the spec fun to play with alone, aside from the utility skills or the weapon. But in PvE, it needs to be available faster, with a SIGNIFICANTLY increased up time. I mean basically constant, ala Scourge's Shades. If this is at the cost of some boons? Well, it may help build variety with the spec to move boons into the traits rather than just innately attached to the field. Or the boons could be tied to the rather limited energy, while the damage and field could be constant. Maybe the energy could be the limiter for how often you can move the field - which is pretty important imo, for how much most combat moves around. There are a lot of ways to fix what's going on here, but in my opinion, it starts with this jade sphere field thing being just plain more available. The energy bar definitely needs to be bigger, in any case. The tiny little thing over the skill is barely visible. A big energy bar sort of like Revenant's could easily sit under the attunement icons without looking too busy or confusing. The Augments are way WAY too restrictive by requiring use in a specific attunement. The pay off for being in that attunement is too small - BUT WAIT! You don't just need to be in the correct attunement, you also need to be in your F5 field! Which ... Has a poor up time. While the Augments would absolutely be better if they were either versatile (different effects on every skill depending on attunement, you know like Glyphs or a bunch of Ele's other stuff) or else attunement neutral (kinda like Tempest's Shouts), the requirement of the F5 field as is makes Augments basically useless. The requirement for using these skills in the F5 field could stay - if and only if drastic changes are made to the availability of the field. Assuming those changes, the Augments would still need to either be versatile for attunements. Or the potency of these skills would need increased to a hard-to-balance level, to make the pay off worthwhile. I don't think I was ever going to like the hammer, honestly. It's dissonant with the very caster concept of Elementalist. But attempting to set aside my personal distaste for the weapon, I still just do not find hammer appealing. It's VERY slow, the attacks don't feel like they flow. The orbs look visually fantastic, like the F5 field, but their usefulness... Is very poor for PvE. Having to hold mobs at an exact range to hit them with orbs, while being a spec with a lot of outright melee (which moves you closer, so the orbs no longer hit), is not great. I could have played with the rotation of cycling through attunements to maximize orbs longer, but frankly, it didn't feel good. The pay off was way too slow, especially for PvE where anything short of a boss is just plain dead already, which really limits where this weapon will be viable (let alone fun). As far as the partially midrange, partially melee skills of the weapon, I think the concept of the weapon wants to be this really fluid thing that moves around the battle field, staying close-ish but dangerous from any range within that... But it really doesn't quite reach its goal. I had much more fun when I just lazily strapped on dagger/dagger with the rest of this spec instead. But given how poor the central jade-F5-thing mechanic is, and how useless the Augments are (so I ditched most for base skills), in the end I just felt like a core Elementalist. And I was - A base Elementalist with an f5 button.

Long thread is long, but one more voice to the throng.If your purchase is a gamble, then your model is a shamble.So let us sit and think, what else might go in ink?The results of this action might form a bitter faction,who shout and cry 'They'll have no more!', and no more come knocking at Guild War's door.