AshenOwl.2485

Let water have *one* weapon it's the coolest element, I'm tired of Fire getting all the goodies.

Engineer Shortbow. This is one I have some mixed feelings on; on the one hand, I think the unique weapon mechanic is pretty interesting, on the other, the nature of the mechanic makes the skills all feel very repetitive. And the animations here feel clunky and need some work. The skills require so much time to place, and then additional time to arm, and then manually trigger them. The flow of the weapon in comparison to the flow of most combat is really holding it back now. Especially when you compare it to something like Necro Staff. I think one possible solution to this would be to turn the damage and slow arrows into targeted skills, while keeping the heal and barrier arrows as ground targeted. They would otherwise function normally, but when you activate the payload arrow it creates the AoE centered on the target of the first attack (as if the arrow with the payload was stuck in them). If the enemy dies before the payload is activated, the arrow "drops" and creates a aoe zone at the area the creature died. I feel like this would help guarantee some of the damage from the damage payloads (which can often be completely avoided by even NPC mobs if placed incorrectly), and also increase the decision making involved in the use of this weapon. And since so much of the "class fantasy" involved in this weapon seems like it revolves around making "trapped" areas you lure enemies into, this would also benefit that. So, Engi Shortbow bulletpoints: -Speed up cast times and animations -Diversify the type of weapon skills on this weapon

Ele Pistols. Looking beyond the uninspired animations (which I'm hoping will be worked on before official release), there's some clunkiness to this weapon, but also a lot of promise. Right now it feels very mid, but I think it could become a very appealing weapon with some changes. The main problem I had with it is also the thing that I think gives it a lot of promise, and that's the "elemental ammo" mechanic unique to this weapon. I'm a big fan of meaningful synergy, but there's little meaning to the synergy in this one. While you can store the elemental bullets (and get a cool floating orb above your head when you do), you can only spend them in their element. There's no reason to save them or build up 4, besides aesthetic, so you really just want to attune to an element, use a move that creates an elemental bullet and then the one that spends it, and then attune to another element and repeat. There is an element of decision making in which move move you use to make the bullet and which to spend it, but mostly you just create a bullet with 2 and spend it on 3. I think a positive change they could make to Ele Pistol is giving it a true ammo mechanic. When you attune to an element you gain 2 ammo, when you finish the autoattack chain you gain 1 ammo, and you can store a maximum of 4 (which will still be represented by the floating orbs). The 2 weapon skills could be generic ammo skills with no cooldown, the 3 pack a bit more punch so they do have a slight cooldown in addition to their ammo cost. Another alternative is to focus on the "generator/spender" theme. Make the 2 skills generators, making one bullet per cast, and then the 3 skills consume all bullets, regardless of element, for additional bonus effects that also change depending on attunement. So Fire Pistol 3, as a possible example, will always inflict burning. But if you consume a fire ammo it'll grant you a Fire Aura, and if you consume another elemental ammo it'll inflict additional conditions depending on the ammo stored (like Water=Vulnerability, Air=Confusion, Earth=Bleeding). These are just a couple ideas I've brainstormed, but the main point I want to get across is Ele Pistol just needs a more interesting mechanic to not only set it apart from Ele Scepter but to also stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the more interesting weapons mechanics the other professions are getting. So the major bulletpoints I want to leave on Ele Pistol are: -Diversify animations for more unique feel per skill -Develop elemental ammo mechanic so it has more impact and unique feel.

Here's a bunch of Elementalist ideas, because I keep thinking of things I want to see on my fav. Evoker: Lore: Evoker's draw on latent elemental power to give form and function to their elements temporarily. Unlike Elementals, these constructs are simple and work in tandem with an Elementalist's will, acting more as an extension of the Elementalist than a true summoned creature. In battle an Evoker wields a pistol in both hands, blasting their enemies from afar before detonating their elemental constructs. Mechanics: The Invoker generates Elemental constructs that match their attunement. Like Mesmer clones, the constructs are fixed to a single enemy and will dissipate when their target dies. Similar to Mesmer shatters, Elemental Constructs will detonate when the Elementalist switches attunements. Incarnate: Lore: It's one thing to command the primal forces of the elements, it's another thing entirely to physically embody them. But that's exactly what an Incarnate does. Wielding a longbow to keep their foes at a range, enemies who get close to the Incarnate thinking they're an easy mark find themselves face to face with an Avatar of elemental fury. Mechanics: Allows Elementalists to transform into Elemental Avatars, giving them access to different skill sets depending on the element. Each form has a different strength, but the transform skills share a cooldown and resources, making choosing your form to fit your fight all the more important. Arcanist: Lore: All Elementalists are familiar with the Arcane, but only Arcanists choose to focus on its power. By harmonizing the elemental magic within themselves, the Elementalist has learned to channel pure magic the way they do elemental magic. Wielding versatile rifles to engage foes near and far, the Arcanist blasts foes with elemental power before finishing them off with Arcane power. Mechanics: Arcanists gain access to a 5th attunement, the Arcane Attunement. Unlike their other attunements, however, Arcane abilities are all limited by an "ammo" system. Each ability in Arcane attunement (except the autoattack) will consume one ammo resource, and the abilities will be inaccessible when you run out. This resource will slowly regenerate on its own, and quickly regenerate when you cycle through your elemental attunements.

Condition Weaver and/or Condition Tempest are fun, share gear, and can easily get you through the story. Leveling up Ele was one of my favorite experiences in GW2, you get a lot of cool abilities that you likely won't use in end-game content but are fun and flashy while leveling or doing story. (Conjures in particular are super cool thematically, but nearly useless in endgame.) You can pick up a set of Dire Gear for relatively cheap early on (don't buy gear till you hit 80), and use that for both Condi Tempest and Condi Weaver. Celestial is also a great set for Ele, since it uses all the stats, but can be expensive. I'd start with cheap Dire and save up for Celestial. I hope you enjoy the experience! Ele has some problems and gets meme'd on pretty hard by the community, but overall it's fun to play if you enjoy fast paced and active combat.

What makes most supports desirable are easy access to Quickness and/or Alacrity. Elementalist has almost no access to either. Scourge is desirable because it provides tons of barrier without really giving up its DPS. Healer Tempest loses tons of DPS because they have to spend time in Water Attunement, so while they have the highest pure healing potential they give up more than other supports. Unless you NEED all that raw healing, you don't need the Tempest. Weaver DPS is competitive with other DPS specs... but requires twice as much work to achieve in comparison to anything other than a Condition Engineer. It's also got a very punishing rotation. So, no, I don't think Elementalist will suddenly become meta or even desirable if they bring down the current meta professions. It needs to either supply meta boons or deal more damage while healing to be a desirable support, and either needs to deal more damage or needs a simpler rotation to be a more desirable dps.

I didn't want hammer, but I actually like the idea behind hammer. A weapon with multiple ranges is a good idea and adds versatility the Elementalist needs since we can't switch weapons. But too much of hammer is tied into Hammer 3, and they forgot to give us the utility skills we NEED on a weapon, since Elementalist defense is more active than passive. I think hammer can be saved, and while it still wouldn't be my first choice for aesthetics or class fantasy I don't think it's an innately bad choice.

Some of y'all are so dramatic, I swear. I don't think most of us expect a complete overhaul, that's unreasonable. But there are interesting concepts in Catalyst that can be capitalized on to give the spec synergy, things that can be removed to reduce thematic and mechanical bloat, and identity that can be salvaged if they take the time to really look it over.

Sounds like you want to play a Ranger, friend

I recently started playing Staff/Staff Mirage in Open World, and I've been having a blast, but it dawned on me recently that I'm enjoying it so much because it's the first time in a long while that I've felt like a mage. I love my Weaver, I love the fast-paced melee combat I get out of it, but when I started leveling my Ele I wanted to be a mage who learned how to wield a blade, I didn't want to get stuck in melee to feel like a competent hero. I'm really hoping that the dedicated balance team we get when EoD releases is willing to put in work on smoothing out issues like this. Soft reworks for certain weapons, at least.

Personally, I'd like to see Elite specs that are specific to the Commander. Maybe powers only they can access (in the story) because of their connection to Aurene. And because Aurene has powers from the previous Elder Dragons, we could even have specific callbacks to them, like a Necromancer with a Dragon Shroud that gives them Zhaitan inspired abilities. In regards to previous Elite spec lore, I think some of them are really cool. I like the idea of Elementalists learning to attune to 2 elements after studying under the Djinn. Mirage lore isn't especially noteworthy, but I like how it's presented. It feels like a natural expression of Elonian Mesmer magic, whereas some Elite spec lore feels shoehorned. Holosmith, for instance. While I love the spec thematically, the lore behind it doesn't feel like it fits the setting or the Elonians. I'd rather they had tied it to Asura, even if it was through some kind of more recent Asura/Elona partnership. Most Elite specs in Heart of Thorns feel more like natural, thematic extensions of their base class. Warrior into Berserker, Elementalist into Tempest, even Mesmer into Chronomancer. Then you have things like Dragonhunter, that ties into the story loosely, and Scrapper, which is specifically of Charr origin (though, the entire Engineer profession is tied mainly to the Charr, so this still feels pretty natural). I think I preferred this approach the most, but I think a mix of the two could also work. Not every new Elite spec needs to fit the setting it's a part of, but if it makes sense for the design then go ahead and tie it in.

Sounds like you want a Scourge Necromancer. They're strong condi damage dealers and healer/barrier support.

Even non-Ele mains think the Catalyst is a letdown, and it got me thinking about what I was hoping for and what the community was expecting. So, I wanted to give a breakdown of what I'd like to see from Elementalist in the future. First, let's start with the weapon. I actually like what they tried to do with hammer, but I think most of us agree it missed the mark. But having a weapon that has multiple range identities is a very cool idea I'd like to see with future Elite Specs. Hammer doesn't do it well because Hammer 3 is the same in each attunement, it doesn't have enough active sustain (which is paramount on Elementalist), or the mobility you'd expect from a weapon set with multiple ranges. Second, let's look at the utilities. Augments are just Stances with extra steps- I know I'm not the first to say so, but I think it bears repeating. Personally, I was hoping for something like Wells or Spirits, which I think Elementalist could have made great use of. Especially after seeing Specter's wells, which are such a great blend of core Thief and existing well mechanics. That's what I'd like to see from more elite spec utilities across the board. Finally, let's look at the Elite Mechanic. Typically this involves the Core Class profession mechanics, but Daredevil, Mirage, and Vindicator alter the dodge mechanic while leaving the profession mechanic relatively intact. Catalyst adds an F5 that has a largely independent energy system, but doesn't really interact with core attunements. Elementalist, imo, has the most difficult Profession Mechanic to design around. You can't change much without essentially having a whole new system to balance. Still, I think there are options to consider. For instance, some people want to see a "camp an element" elite spec. One option to consider would be a system that keeps you attuned to a single element until you build up enough of a resource to switch attunements. The resource could be a stacking buff that increases related element attacks, incentivizing camping one attunement for a time, but switching attunements would get rid of the buff and force you to start from scratch. An Attunement Shroud or Arcane Shroud is another popular option. I could definitely see an Arcane Shroud that benefits from critical hits being a thing (since Arcane skills are typically related to critical hits). I'm a big fan of transform skills, and I could see this being similar to the Archon skill from Diablo III, one of my favorite moves (even if it did make the Wizard build meta pretty stale for a while). I'd even take a pet mechanic, like Mechanist is getting. A permanent elemental that changes its element to match your attunement could have been neat. Anyway, these are just some of my ideas. What did the rest of you want to see, or still hope to see in the future?

I have to disagree with you. I love the Engineer in GW2 because it's class fantasy isn't JUST steampunk, and I honestly didn't even become interested in playing it until Holosmith. (Though I probably have more time on Scrapper than Holo now.) Engineer's integrity isn't ruined because their technology is advancing- if anything, it adds to their class fantasy that they have so much access to superior technology compared to everyone else. It's always annoyed me that Asura have such pretty, elegant technology but Engineer is so steeped in ugly, Charr tech that our base aesthetics have stuck there.

They did make a point of saying they're reallocating more people into specific balance-changing roles after EoD releases, so we'll get balance patches more often and maybe even see some reworks.

The knockdown from the golem appearing seems like an important CC to access, and I don't think they'd showcase that summoning animation if it wasn't something you could do regularly. My guess is the F5 will be a "Deploy/Recall" button. While deployed F1-F4 is all command abilities. When the golem is recalled they're your regular toolbelt skills.

See, this makes sense when the payout is bursty, not when it's supportive. In a fight you want to go in with your F5, letting it buff you and becoming more dangerous as long as you stay in your sphere. But because you have to work up to use the F5 you're mainly ineffective until it's active, and then even when it's out you're waiting for it to start ramping up.

I've been working on obtaining my Skyscale, in the "Raising Skyscales" quest now. I got all of the treats except the Tasty Bat Wing, which just doesn't seem to drop? Every other treat took 10 minutes or less. I've spent maybe 5 or 6 hours farming bats in different locations, on different characters, and with Magic Find Buffs on to no avail. Has anyone else had this issue? Am I just being majorly screwed by RNG? Any help would be much appreciated, I really want my Skyscale.

You can see the claws on the foot, it's definitely facing forward.

FFXIV. Black Mages have the highest potential DPS of any class in the game, but they're nowhere near the most popular class.

I mostly just want to pretend my Engineer crafted her mounts, and I love the "themed" mounts (like the Mesmer butterfly jackal). Please and thank you. 🙏🏼

I actually think Elemental Empowerment is one of the cooler parts of the Catalyst kit, though I agree that it's too difficult to keep up currently. I'd like to see more traits that help you stack or keep it, and maybe give it some synergy with the orb.

Your English is fantastic, I'm just having some fun 😊

👉🏼😎👉🏼

Personally, I think the answer is to spread the damage across attunements so that each attunement has a damage + utility identity. The way it stands now, the majority of damage is loaded into fire and air, with some condi in earth, and not a lot going on for water besides healing. Spreading the damage out would give players the freedom to choose an element based on the utility the attunement offers, instead of doing your best to avoid one of your attunements. This would require Elementalists to cycle through all of their attunements in order to maximize their DPS, which I see as an absolute win.