Mevelios.4809

(carrying over from mesmer subforum) Wasn't the right place indeed, but didn't care to create a dedicated topic for a single reply and this one has been made at the same time, so to carry on and elaborate (stick with me, this will be a lengthy read): What I'm thinking about is more of a long-term view than what is missing right here, right now. I was surprised when the new weapon mastery that came out as the pistol for elementalists was an actual "new" weapon rather than something recycled; I've stated it elsewhere (likely mesmer subforum but can't be bothered to check through my posts to find it again and link it) but I already mentioned how underwater weapons could've been reused as land options, because the work put in them could likely be partially recovered - the underlying idea being to cut on costs, seeing how SotO turned out. Now I don't enjoy hitting on the studios freely, but it just feels cheap -yes, I dare the word- to see the same textures repeated countless times on end to simulate wide maps (wizard's tower, or zakiros' inside with the same white tile repeated endlessly on floor, roof, walls reminiscent of dungeon crawlers I played 20 years ago if not more) and don't get me started on how optimisation is disastrous, I've never had so much trouble running GW2 than when going to those maps. Hence from this idea: recycling underwater content to cut on costs. What comes next? Trident & harpoon gun inevitably; I can't even imagine how could the harpoon gun be turned into a melee option, whereas the underwater trident we already know is largely a ranged tool. Factor in ideas or principles that could be derived from mythologies in which the trident is more of a focus for mystical power; try on the opposite to imagine the trident as a melee weapon and the first idea that comes to mind are retiarii -arena gladiators- while there could be 9 archetypes concerned by that weapon, warriors primarily, quickly bottlenecking whatever could be thought of next. What identity, uniqueness does that leave for the spear then? This is without mentioning the credibility of both weapons' wielding, since tridents (which are basically a type of spear) are meant to stab whereas the vast variety of other spears provide leeway to innovate and think of skills, thus we're back to the concept of using trident as a magical focus. At most the trident could otherwise be thought of as a defensive weapon, like the Korean dangpa; one could imagine the side blades to have a cutting edge, but their very conception make them not only unwieldy on slashing motions (only one blade usable over a lateral axis), it concentrates all the strength over a single blade weakening its integrity. The trident instead, as a magical focus (which is its description on the wiki) could definitely become the angry version of the staff later on, even if it means "in six months at best" by summoning the precise AoEs many players seem to be craving for, with one easy and obvious candidate from antique Greek mythology to find inspiration in creating skills: Poseidon stabbing the land to make a salty geyser surge from it while competing against Athena over who would be the patron deity of Athens, or how he was associated to earthquakes; one could even push it as far as some of Zeus' thunderbolt depictions or Hades, often represented with his bident to preside over earth - or rather the hades, the underworld, what is (here what comes from) below the surface of the land. Hence my personal wish (even if I understand your point how it's not something missing "now"): for the spear to be more of a melee tool, or at most an agile hybrid fun to play, because "next" if the studios go down the full recycling of other underwater weapons (if it really proves successful at cutting costs, or if it merely was a direction they wished to take) in an attempt to provide as much content as possible, the remaining future choices for elementalist all yell "ranged tool" to my imagination - hence, how it would restrict possibilities in the not-so-far future. Of course, this is only speculation so far. Let's consider what we have now: as I've stated already, an AoE ranged weapon IMO steps into scepter or staff territory. Ignore the autoattacks, it would be a mess to turn them into targetable AoEs; the scepter does that on pretty much every skill apart water/earth autoattacks & earth 2. Yes, the 180 AoEs are barely usable; don't try reversing the issue though, since it lies in either the AoE radius either the lack of pulling skills (on scepter an offhand could make a difference), not in the "technicalities"! The 06/25 preview update states it'll increase power coefficients, however it doesn't say anything about removing conditions; thus I'd expect it to still be usable for both power & condi profiles, although likely more of a mix of damage sources (think of virtuosos' damages mix). Then comes the staff: a harder topic as it remains mostly a support weapon, or an iconical one for WvW backline assistance & meteor showers. Which "technicalities" are we talking about then: apart from earth autoattack which is the only odd one out, they're all multitarget skills - however as a two-hander, I'll admit the lack of any pulling is troublesome in their use (setting aside the projectile speed topic since I'll pick it up later with hammer). Fire staff's fine although Flame burst's impractical from the target restriction over a small radius, while water staff is hard to touch considering how supportive it is - yet Ice spike & Frozen ground could do the trick if a trait were to alter their functions and make them worthwhile damaging tools (considering how fire spec is a must-have in any damage dealer build, a new trait would replace Conjurer or Pyromancer's puissance/Blinding ashes, the pyro puissance having seemingly a lot more uses in PvP/WvW). Air staff's pretty much a lost cause but the previous idea of a trait changing the behaviour of skills could again work its magic for Lightning surge & Static field (that is, if we're talking about making staff a condi weapon; otherwise for power purposes, revise the coefficient - the AoE radius issue still stands, and Lightning surge could simply turn into a targetable AoE rather than being restricted by a target again). Then there's earth staff, for which Eruption's delay could definitely be shortened (even as healer it's hard to blast away in time your fields), while Unsteady ground could have a flip-over skill to cancel it and be turned into a pull (why not?) and Shock wave could be an actual targetable AoE rather than a piercing attack. In the end it falls down IMO to a simpler matter in adressing the staff (or scepter for that matter) than creating a new weapon to fill a spot both could occupy: revise coefficients if making it a power option, create a new trait or simplify it by adding conditions on a few skills if making it a condi option, in all cases take a look at the various radius (ideally add an AoE property to earth autoattack) then turn one, possibly two skills into actual targetable AoEs: there, you have something to work with! Now, these all sound so easy on paper yet I can't imagine what actual considerations the studios have. However while I'm at it, I'll keep going with the tools I have a different opinion about: first of them, the hammer. Yes, it seems to have been designed with melee purposes in mind, however the orbs themselves do not deal damage and only provide buffs or feed cata energy; the weapon behaviour is shared between melee water/earth & ranged air/fire. How about seizing the opportunity to make up a viable, low intensity ranged power profile out of it, reminding of the current autoattack-centered air sword (dancing exclusively between air & fire attunements)? Technicalities again would be the key word here, with coefficients making the difference. Just thinking how troublesome it could be to counterbalance an autoattack against the remaining skills of their respective attunements sounds like a real chore, but if it's been done for the sword there's hopefully experience to consider repeating it for another weapon? It could ease access to the archetype for curious players with a smoother learning curve, without denying the option of using the hammer as it is today since the idea is not to make it better to resort to autoattacks (no guardian hammer please), but to make it a possibility. Finally there are projectile speed considerations for both hammer & staff; technicalities again, as I don't know what more to say than - kick it up a notch, it's terribly SLOW! Next are daggers. I'll skip quickly the offhand: it's obviously a melee tool matching the sword, I wasn't even considering it when I mentioned dagger behaviour because it's my go-to offhand on that pairing by personal preference. Now for the mainhand: it has too many contradictions. Yes, the dashes & air/earth 2 or water 3 give it a melee feel; however both fire & water auto- and breath attacks have a piercing behaviour, with the proximity for fire auto being a matter of optimisation (with more leniency at landing them on larger hitboxes). It's a good support tool and the only use I make of it through its several combo options; still it could use some love to give it an as-yet unoccupied role in the form of a mid-range piercing asset with some mobility options, which could be paired well with the warhorn (regardless of how efficient that offhand currently is) or a potential pulling offhand we could imagine from my bit about what to pair the scepter with to counterbalance the target-restricted autos. Back to mainhand dagger, or my would-be competitor against virtuosos: ranges for auto/breath attacks could be standardized at 600 by keeping a 5-target max limitation; Burning speed could be a retreating move instead of a gap closer (which would also be somewhat easier to use as a combo field, since it doesn't send a healer into a potential lethal melee) to oppose Earthen rush. Ring of earth would still be the anti-projectiles and/or melee AoE tool to match the gap closer, however air would see some more change with the auto becoming another forward pierce rather than melee cleave, and Convergence becoming a ranged target-restricted skill rather than another AoE around self. That was quite a lengthy post; congrats if you've read it all so far! But those are the reasons why I feel like the spear would be a better fit as either a proper melee cleaver, either an agile hybrid. With some revisions, some already existing traits of our arsenal could be given emphasis and find room as the "AoE ranged weapon"; then with what could possibly come next if going down the underwater recycling (big game hunters with harpoon guns, tridents for... something mystical?), there's definitely room to think something up with more ease at satisfying the wilder AoE fantasies!

Definitely a melee weapon to challenge sword+warhorn, since everything else is ranged already. Daggers may have a short distance but still a distance, and hammer is enough of a hybrid to keep attacking from afar (inefficient, sure, but doable). Could be power or condi, I don't mind but I simply feel like since the sword is already a power tool, a condi melee one would fit - and regardless, finally another pure melee tool to put emphasis on weaver/cata melee tools (and in some measure tempest short-ranged overloads) would be welcome! However as I've stated in a reply to the mesmer subforum, the trailer was displaying a character throwing a spear from range and blowing up into a fire AoE so that's what I expect we'll get (the "reward careful aiming from range" profile the spear article mentioned). Easy to anticipate and definitely not innovating on anything since it's already something the scepter does and staff isn't really far from that, the very scepter that'll become a power ranged option in the next balance update (while there still aren't reliable ranged offhands beyond 600 range) hence why I'm expecting the spear to be condi - a boringly easy to anticipate spear so I'm sincerely hoping for a surprise. In the meantime, still wondering what staff stands for, apart from support roles and WvW backline "don't interrupt me good sir" meteor showers! I could settle for a hybrid weapon like the hammer providing ranged & melee skills depending the attunement, although then I'd definitely prefer an agile skill set. Something including gap closers like dagger's Ride the lightning and escape skills like Burning retreat to have your options, even if inefficient, the way hammer does. Hopefully with a fun mechanic on top of those skills to spice things up and to get out of the boring autoattack loop we already have with air sword or fire scepter; however with already several spears including CD resets or flipover skills I doubt it's feasible! Simply waiting for the reveal to come out since I'm already convinced of what will it be, leaving me only to wonder whether it'll be efficient enough to make me (or rather, force me to) play it or just discard that toy the way I dislike scepter.

That one I'm putting a coin on elementalist. Their trailer had a character throwing a spear at range blowing up into a fire AoE, I'm expecting that boring & easy to anticipate thing. I'm hoping for it to at least be a hybrid tool like the hammer (something offering air dagger's Ride the lightning to jump into melee & fire staff Burning retreat so you have your options in combat) rather than another fully ranged toy reminiscent of scepter gameplay, when nearly everything aside from the sword is already ranged (not counting in the short dagger distance or hybrid hammer). A melee spear to challenge sword+warhorn on a weaver or catalyst (or even tempest because of the short-ranged overloads) could've been so satisfying, but I'm not keeping my hopes up; wait&see, maybe there'll be a surprise! I mean, there are 8 points within the article, for 9 classes.

As a weaver utility it's convenient at forcing a full attunement & reseting all attunement CDs for a quick access to several key utilities, but don't forget what might turn into an obstacle: you're unable to use dual attacks for 5sec! Lahar, Pile driver and so on will have limited access if you have trouble anticipating what'll you need next to deal with the opponent.

See, that could exactly be the thing (if technically possible): when an elemental bullet is active and you're attuned to the related element, your skill bar could light up in the associated color (red fire, blue water, etc) or at least the two pistol skills able to consume it. There are still considerations about the energy level to think of as well which we approached in this very topic, so might as well make our imagination work to make suggestions!

It does reset, likely not the way you would like it to; you start from zero! @Jzaku.9765 likely implies what I was saying about how cata energy mimics warrior adrenaline. The only difference being that warrior can generate some quickly through Berserker stance; yes it's no damage dealing option, my point is that the option exists whereas for cata it doesn't, but I've made a much more expansive post about that on the other topic I linked above. Considering what use catalysts have for their utilities, I'm pretty sure a thing or two could be looked at for the purpose of providing a quick burst of energy; at least I don't think utilities provide much to the core issue, there are several tools to provide extra damage but we're talking about producing energy when there are no targets. That's something I got used to in strikes/raids (looking at my character to tell whether some bullets are active if I missed their use order at some point); I can easily imagine though it's hard to tell sometimes with all the visual clutter you can have on screen - already happens in the content I play sometimes. ☹️

TBH pre-boons in fractals is just a habit that came to be but isn't a need, targets in strikes/raids are tougher and we manage those encounters without pre-boons. Mesmers have a similar issue, requiring clones for mirages to provide alacrity (yes, one could provide a little before the fight but then they're out of endurance to ramp up alac duration) & chronos are helpless for quick/alac. I tend to find that pre-boon habit a mere waste of time since you can provide pretty much everything at the start of the fight, besides the stacking of might (even then it's arguable for some who can ramp it up in a matter of three seconds). Taking mistlock on its own does lock you, but if you bother using the trait Energized elements it somehow unlocks it while out of combat (despite being unable to produce energy, as the trait reads). Go figure why does it work...! Anyway, being unable to produce any energy out of combat is likely taken from the adrenaline system the catalyst energy imitates - it's unrelated to the revenant, only part of the name is shared but the mechanic is clearly an imitation of the warrior's. It takes some effort to play the e-spec, however indeed the UI could welcome some work to be able to tell whether we're capable to release one, two or three spheres - there should also be markers when standing at 18 & 26 energy for those playing the aforementioned trait (Energized elements). Many impractical facts and limitations were also mentioned in a similar topic. The pistol's a different topic IMO, I like how it's been made (although I'd think it's a poor match in PvP since a knowledgeable opponent would be able to tell which effects you have in store): the elemental bullets are colourful enough in your buff bar to notice them, and there are also visuals around your character that allow you to take your eyes off your skill bar to notice what's actually going on in the fight. It takes some getting used to but it's not the poorest choice at generating energy (it's no staff, eh?) while its skills aren't that difficult to remember, since the effects are very binary (either 2>3 either 3>2 depending attunement, one having offensive purposes, the other defensive effects)!

I'd have a differing opinion exactly for that last argument: fights involving a lot of movement (Dhuum, OLC, KO to only quote a few). I notice my "ordinary" boons uptime/might quantity is rather low if my booner partner (whether healer or boondps) also struggles a bit with them. That's what I like about the current state of orbs: the full quickness is provided on cast, the remainder of boons being provided throughout the sphere pulses and rewarding standing inside (which, for the sake of that precise counterargument, happens to be unfeasible in various contexts). On that topic, one thing I was thinking about was, despite being fine with having two must-have traits to properly function as a boondps or healer (Spectacular sphere & Sphere specialist), I still consider it rather uninspired and I stand by what I was stating earlier: they could definitely be merged together. If either should disappear, what to do with the remaining trait to innovate on? Hence: how about merging both effects into Spectacular sphere (the middle column/major master trait), and turning Sphere specialist into the following: spheres no longer pulse boons (thus becoming only sources of damage & combo fields), but instead provide the entirety of their boons on landing the way quickness does already? It could create a meaningful functionality precisely to counter those mobile fights, whereas when it isn't needed and you feel bold, you could trait instead Empowered empowerment rewarding careful (insane?) play at managing your Elemental empowerment stacks. Honestly that idea could use work since I'm pretty sure I'm never at 10 stacks as Qheal, but it creates an interesting choice: playing it safe and providing reliably your boons on sphere activation, or taking that risk at losing some ordinary boon stacks/uptime for the sake of increasing your personal stats, including obviously your concentration and even healing if playing Qheal? Of course it doesn't solve the primary issues (especially stab, decouple it from the staff which doesn't work with cata mechanics or give us a different source of energy!), but I'd definitely find it interesting to adapt to each fight and even moreso as a challenge. Why not? The reverse idea could be feasible too: merging Spectacular sphere effects into the major grandmaster trait, thus making Spectacular sphere the actual replacement for my suggestion above. However the remaining master traits do not offer IMO an interesting choice: Evasive empowerment being a personal effect, it holds no interest beyond solo content in PvE and I can't tell if it's used in PvP/WvW (some input from such players would be welcome), whereas Empowering auras ("empower empower empower", sorry but I have to underline the redundancy even in the traits' names 🤣) is a purely damaging trait, might be interesting for boondps but Qheal doesn't care in the least about it. Empowered empowerment empowers (right, enough before it becomes a rolling gag) everyone, so I'd definitely be more interested in making Sphere specialist the blank slate to work from! Now on a side note (to decouple it from the reasoning above & my suggestion), I still agree the base quick duration from spheres is low, but am pretty sure removing the stop&go limiter (inability to produce energy while spheres are active) could incite at switching attunements more often for a more "bursty" boon provision, generating a whole lot more energy to cover -if timed well- the phasing (condis ticking if enabled)/heavy movement scenarios while having a more down-to-earth limitation: performing that burst means for a few seconds, your weapon utilities (thinking especially of CCs) are unavailable! At that point though I think spheres should be unable to produce energy themselves, to prevent having max energy 100% of the time since they'd be worth 6 energy each otherwise (6 pulses per sphere, *4 over a full rotation means 24 free energy merely from their activation - completely ruins the mechanic). One other limitation from this stop&go system I often noticed (even moreso as Qheal) comes from a global system that's been largely forgotten: combos! You definitely want to use blast finishers in your fire fields to provide at each successful finisher 3 stacks of might; however when you want to do so, the prime candidate for a fire field is your fire sphere, its deployment time triggering the stopping part of the energy system. Thus, the time spent at dancing between attunements to trigger your blasts overlaps with other sphere activations, either holding back on the next use (increasing overall your time spent unable to produce energy) either disregarding some of them depending your weapon setup (think of finishers from water dagger mainhand & earth warhorn), and you obviously cannot anticipate that since you need first the very fire field to be present! Hence, you can only perform such a combo when you're pretty sure your quickness will keep going for a while which is possible, but for all the reasons we exposed throughout the entirety of the topic, that rarely happens! So on this very idea for a Qheal cata, I'll let you imagine how it goes with water fields which you may want to (literally) blast away like your fire fields, for the sake of healing this time - let me tell you it becomes plain unfeasible, for having tried it (and don't get me started on resorting to the staff at any point, please; it doesn't work with the stop&go cata!). Food for thought; many issues converge and further reiterate the idea that Qheal cata is largely unwanted! Removing that stop&go limitation (and consequently the ability for spheres to produce energy) would make it much more feasible to work on your combo fields, and even possibly help the staff find an uncomfortable yet possible room in a Qheal cata setup, rather than being near interdictive as it is now! Try to picture it altogether: you could work on your combo fields with more ease, thus triggering the right effects more or less when you want (adapting to the fight's mechanics still is an essential), and even use leap finishers (think dagger mainhand) to produce auras which will feed your Elemental empowerment stacks. Then when feeling bold and resorting to Empowered empowerment (to double the bonuses at 10 stacks), improving your overall performance at possibly the cost of your boons provision, a possible lack on your end which might be resolved by your boondps/healer partner; when you want a challenge, you definitely pick elementalist! Just let my fantasy run wild, run free. C'mon! 😆

Fractals IMO are like open world - definitely the worst setting in which to play catalyst, simply because targets are too weak and die before you manage to hit it twice, even with multi-hit skills like Quantum strike (not to say, standing inside the orbs to get their full boons). On top of that the smaller hitboxes don't help on several warhorn skills, evading some Dust storms or the Lightning orb (then there are targets which skills make them move around, but that's much rarer so less of an issue). I don't care much for both modes as they're too easy to my taste, but that's why a lot of adaptation is involved; you don't always want to just stick to the same rotation resorting only to two spheres everytime - sometimes you just skip an entire element for the sake of throwing all three, knowing you won't be able afterwards to recover energy for a while (without surprise, the one I always skip is water)! Then you resort to the warhorn's Sand squall which is pretty much mandatory in those modes to at least try to have a decent uptime in your boons, disregarding all other offhand/two-hander options - sword is easy to pick up and works well on power builds, pistol is tougher but works decently too as your matching mainhand weapon. With that being said, don't misunderstand: I'm not saying it's all it takes to succeed. Rather, that's the most we can do as those two modes (fractals & open world) are poor matches for our limitations, although you could then extend such an issue to the whole elementalist archetype: you can't make use of much of weaver's vast arsenal of skills unless firing for nothing Weave self, you can't make full use of tempest's overloads since by the time you complete one the targets are rid of already, and you struggle at generating energy on catalyst. While frustrating I'm somewhat fine with it: if I wanted an effortless build, I'd play something else! If I succeed at it, I know it's not just the character carrying my gameplay, I've had my hand in making it actually work beyond theory. That's the very limitation of the energy mechanic; as long as spheres are active, you can't build up energy. This is merely a recycled warrior adrenaline system (hit to generate) with a stop&go cycle that makes it even more of a pain to manage than classic adrenaline, as we find ourselves unable to produce energy during a few seconds. I'd just wish the lack of inspiration at the time would be properly recognized and just turn the mechanic into the actual warrior thing it imitates, so we don't get such downtimes making us sweat and fear the next phasing in combat during which we're completely unable to do a single thing about our core mechanic! Of course warriors, and mesmers with their illusions know the same issue; however mesmers are only restricted to using three illusion-producing skills (which, as a main mesmer myself, know well enough to be able to tell it's not much trouble), while warriors always have if they really want to the core Berserker stance, with Tactical reload on top of that for bladesworns. I'm not saying that stance is such a great tool it should be a must-have; only saying it's an option during downtimes to avoid waiting a few secs producing adrenaline again. The last point above is exactly what I was relating to: the possibility of revising an augment skill for the sake of finding energy out of the blue, like warriors' Berserker stance, to help in situations where targets are either too weak, either phasing too often for the catalyst to find time building energy. My primary target would be Invigorating air since I don't find any use for such a personal tool (would be a different matter if it were group superspeed but it isn't) and nobody with PvP/WvW experience mentioned anything about that, so I presume it could be fine? Otherwise it could be Fortified earth, but that lengthy block is something valuable when playing some special roles (although I'd like it as an archetype-wide tool, not just cata-restricted) so much less of a fan of the idea. There's also cumulating two effects but it could prove excessive (blocking & energy recovery, without some lame passive condition like "must block to trigger energy recovery" - look at auras, we know it doesn't work in PvE and produces unexpectedly powerful results in WvW). That was somebody else's point actually (sorry for them if I don't read over the entire topic to find their nick); mine's about how impractical it is in many cases -especially those you mentioned like fractals- and I'm clarifying it above for the "uninspired" part. I'm pretty sure if the adrenaline-like concept was completely admitted, rather than putting a stop&go system on top of it to call it "new" or "unique" (I won't quote & point out some easy yet cruel "putting a hat on a hat" argument which the studios mentioned recently, since I have no idea how they feel about that) the sphere CDs would be enough of a limitation on their own; even resorting to arcane spec or alacrity, your attunement switches can happen every ~8s when your spheres are on a base of 15. You couldn't spam them blindly however you want on the first attunement switch you perform! One thing I'd wish on the side is for Spectacular sphere's increased AoE to actually be displayed whenever I try to bring up and target a sphere AoE. Despite the trait you see a green 240 radius before landing your 360 sphere, which sometimes leave you a bit playing a guessing game when allies are somewhat spread! Although I still think the spheres remain impractical, to be fair with other booners/healers I think we could stick with a 360 radius before asking for a range increase - that is, if all of our similar AoEs are actually standardized to 360 rather than having some tools still restricted to a 240 range (or worse, in tempest's case).

Could you provide factual examples? Like @ShadowKatt.6740 I get easily split open in two on an elementalist, whereas on mesmer I don't need any rifle, I just dodge and make use of whatever's on hand - offhand sword block, distortion, warden's projectile destruction, weapons' evade frames, utilities if I go after champions, and so on and so forth which I just can't match with my elementalist, except when running the mainhand sword. Well, to be fair I've been playing mesmer for years whereas I've been more seriously playing elementalist for a few months, so obviously there's quite a gap in my experience for both archetypes! With its easy access to vigor, I don't understand what you're referring to. Chrono might have the Well of precognition to instantly recover some endurance, but the new Dune cloak has an incredible effect over surviving! If you're blindly spending them to use ambush skills though, then indeed it's harder, hence why I referred to reactive play earlier -timing your dodges against enemy attacks- rather than going fully on the offense and end up as squishy as I feel playing ele (oh, in group content you're near unkillable, sure, but in open world against multiple targets it takes a bit more than that to survive, hence my question above).

Different experiences; I found out timing your evade frames would go a long way towards surviving, even moreso than the elementalist trying to facetank everything. But that's my personal experience; disagreeing's fine too! 😉

Those melee weapons involve dodges (blurred frenzy from sword, axes of symmetry from axe); elementalists are squishier than mesmer and use swords too, while their daggers are on a very short range - don't find it that much of an issue, even moreso if land spear has evade frames like the underwater one! 😋 That was kinda what I had in mind talking earlier about skills' aesthetics, like a yanyuedao wielder which would need ample movements to slice (since it isn't exactly a stabbing weapon), those movements justifying with mesmer shenanigans why it'd have evade frames.

Think I'd take anything at that point as long as it can have a somewhat decent cleave; hopefully a power melee weapon. Either wide swings as if wielding a yanyuedao (also known as guandao), either proper piercing over +/- 300 range forward/180 large by recycling underwater animations as if wielding a partisan/ranseur with large side blades, 'cause kitten looks. I like most of the underwater skills already, although I'd expect the spear ambush to work like Feigned surge (which reminds the sword ambush, but hey, gotta close the gap with those melee weapons) so that skill could definitely be changed. The Phantasmal mariner could offer something a bit different given how plain it is. What I'd definitely keep is the Vortex, even merge it with Slipstream to create some sort of melee version of the focus' Temporal curtain to make good use with more ease of a cleaving melee weapon (as well as freeing up a weapon skill to innovate)!

Could be a simple solution as well indeed; I tend to prefer a kit-like thingie even with a CD (like holo's forge) merely for ease of access and to oppose the "rigidity" in attunement switching on tempest/weaver, when some weapons such as the hammer can suddenly bring two CCs +one leap finisher on short CD to generate an aura, possibly to interact with related traits & aura share if it could restore interest in such a gameplay. But I'd definitely be fine as well with removing the grounded weapon and halving the CD in return, the very rare occasions on which I see a conjured weapon being picked up is because of using the interaction key when we're trying to get someone back up while on the opposite, sometimes I won't go get the grounded weapon because its location turned into an interdiction zone and/or movement during the fight makes it undesirable. To be honest I never managed to enjoy or be interested in any necromancer gameplay, so I know nearly nothing about reaper other than some CCs are built into their dps rotation, resulting in somewhat random results when it's time to land CCs if you disregard the flesh golem. I'm primarily thinking of group play so might/quickness uptime & health shouldn't be an issue, although it is when playing solo; being stuck in the case of power dps with sword is indeed a bit of a pain, however the scepter will get some attention in that regard by the 25th so it's more of a "wait & see" in this case. The utility slots flexibility, though, is indeed an issue for weavers... If weaver were performing that well, we'd get nerfed to the ground 🤣 Virtuoso can't really be compared IMO; it's badly over-efficient, and that's coming from the main mesmer I am. I'm not referring to the damages, neither do I mind much distortion & the many CCs available (even if you'd rather keep the signets passive for moar deeps, moar moar - here there's at least a tradeoff for resorting to the active version); what's more troubling is the amount of self-sustain & the ranged all-piercing attacks, the latter from which so many issues derive. We could mention the overall easier gameplay of virtuoso too, but honestly I'm fine with it: it enlarges the pool of players that can play harder content, instead of restricting it only to some sort of self-proclaimed "elite". Everyone gets to have fun the way they want to; if some use that to belittle or shunt out others, that's a player behaviour issue primarily. In our case, we don't reject players for a KO CM if they're playing something other than virtuoso simply because the timer allows it! To get back to the topic of utilities and link it with the previous quote, what I see as the main difference is the CC access, however again I'm keeping in mind group play. It's indeed a pain on weaver, I simply sum it up as "hard to play" because I tend to be prolix; it's easy to get sidetracked then get off topic - takes me a while to read myself over and remove several lines, even then the result isn't always there! 😉 I'm definitely not advocating for making weaver easier; the opposite, I play it because I enjoy its complexity that keeps me focused on a single screen minding everything happening there, instead of watching a movie on the side. However so far, comparisons have been made with characters relying on much shorter bursts over time than weaver's lengthy weave self; as indeed fewer fights encourage going melee or even allow a sustained dps, I'd locate the issue around that very elite skill when it takes a while to learn how to play an out-of-stance weaver, then the weave self version, then finding the confidence to adapt when something goes wrong with boons! To try to clarify and keep it within this single paragraph, IMO the expectation around the weave self loop contradicts the way several fights take place, and that's where weaver's current lack of performance beyond golem testing is found. I won't argue about self-boons when going solo; they're indeed ridiculous against many competitors. But for harder PvE group content which I play the most, the lengthy weave self loop slightly under 30s which you literally need to achieve to compete with many others is where your burst if found; if the boss phases, it's wasted! If the boss moves a lot, forget melee tools and expect some struggling with pistol+warhorn, which relies on several lasting ground AoEs (Searing salvo, Frozen fusillade, Wildfire, Dust storm)! If there are adds around, single-target ranged skills may get intercepted except for signets or the scepter's fire autoattack! If you use weave self to access your CCs, good job, you're now competing with boondps players for damages! And all of this is expected to be fit into a nearly 30s-long period, during which you can't really afford to miss on boons since it would lower your burst while it takes at best 72s to pull off another - if you can tell the target won't be phasing during the next ~30s. The unexpected rigidity of having all attunements going on a 4s CD at any switch prevents us from accessing otherwise built-in CC skills, which is one of the weak points of weaver; at the same time, some damaging options are disregarded because their attunements produce a drop in damages (looking especially at Natural frenzy since we mentioned sword a lot, capable of hitting like a truck but being disregarded out of a weave self loop)! Hence the result: we pale in comparison to classes that do not resort to a bursting move (or over a much shorter duration), we do not bring much CC, we depend heavily on boons, we compensate as we can with utilities focused only on damages, and that's on a squishy archetype. Nevertheless, don't misunderstand: I like it! Unlike my mesmer I haven't been playing that character for years - it's something I've wanted since PoF but only decided a few months ago to get around, so I sure won't claim to know it all about the class. All I can say is, from my observations I feel like the ordinary attunement switch of 4s is too long to fluently rotate on elements and find the right skill at the right time to carry my weight in any situation that, literally, catches me "off-stance". For the topic of CCs, I've been integrating Unravel (which is supposed to only help novices learn weaver, so I might actually still be at that level for this very profile 😋) on my power sword+dagger build instead of a damaging utility as I manage to achieve more satisfying results with matching cooldowns, on top of being overall funnier to my taste compared to the air autoattack spam; it has the added value of letting me instantly switch to full air in order to access my CCs. Air/earth on those weapons would be much better for that end, but it's a combination you (at least I) avoid and Unravel prevents it! Now for the topic of survivability, Unravel would let you access with ease any of your dodging skills in an "oh sh*t" moment as well, so I found it to be a decent solution in an emergency. With at least my impression of the issue being thrown down, the few solutions I could think of all involve working around attunement CDs, which puts in question weave self - thus may drift off too far away from the original concept and its limitations to keep it balanced. TBH I'd love playing constantly under 2s attunement cooldowns, I'm not one to complain about piano play - there are low action per minute builds; I enjoy playing a high APM one, turning weave self exclusively into a source of extra stats during a short duration which takes away a lot of flavor from it (without mentioning the balance work required as there would likely be more skills in use). Another harsher solution could consist in simply removing weave self entirely so most of our performance isn't tied anymore to that ~30s long burst, slightly ramp up overall damages to compensate its removal and reduce again all attunement cooldowns while providing a new elite skill that could find some new use; however it's even more unfeasible than the previous suggestion with even more balance work required on top of the creation of a new elite skill, so I didn't delve much into that. One more solution from other topics I read in this section could involve an F5 Unravel skill, although I'd consider it without the 5-sec long status preventing you from using dual attacks. Or again from other topics, a middle ground from my first suggestion: lowering CDs on a different attunement (encouraging the use of dual attacks) to 2s while the current primary attunement would go on 4s, so some of the best damaging skills from full attunements do not become too easily accessible, thus easing the balance work. Bunch of possibilities!

You're referring to some of the best power burst dps though, many competitors pale in comparison - but I get where it's coming from, just opposing how sudden their damage spikes are when our sword skills like Flame uprising or Pyro vortex need a few seconds to do their full effect. The representation I'd attribute more to the accessibility of the class (I mean, it's no mechanist or herald) and how unforgiving it is to mess up your attunements though! And the expectation of a successful Weave self. Having a full 30s window to make full use of it then waiting on its CD to get back at pulling another similar performance isn't feasible on several occasions. The character still performs well on many encounters, although I can only agree between those phasing often and the few promoting piercing attacks, weaver is rather low on the ladder.

While I have to agree it's a real pain to balance out boon duration against other stats unlike some competitors, you can definitely go 100% uptime so long as you experience the limitations on every fight. At least I manage that with 50% boon duration, best performances I've seen were players managing that with 20-30% bd; there's a lot of adaptation involved there, as you sometimes have to keep in store your multi-hit skills for the sole purpose of generating energy, said skills being often associated with those hitting the hardest such as warhorn's Lightning orb, hammer's Hurricane of pain or sword's Rust frenzy. It takes some time to learn which weapons do not match which fight; something like Sabetha's welcomes anything, but definitely not SH or TL (at least I never had satisfying results). There's a margin of error (of learning?); what I struggle the most with personally isn't movement during the fight, but rather targets phasing often such as AH or HT!

That's why I replied earlier in this topic to @rotten.9753 that something like Qheal cata was not a "meme build" IMO, but something that takes a lot more dedication than builds deemed performing as "best" currently. I'm also an oddball running an Aheal mirage (still consider myself a mesmer main before anything else) and for all the laughter directed at my gameplay, at least I make my weekly CM raids & strikes without needing a "meta" build to succeed 😉 That's what competitive splits are here for. 10 stacks of stab in PvE are utterly meaningless and don't bring anything to the player in any situation, when turning it into a group tool could make it find use the way many similar stab-providing abilities work. Again, a group tool <in PvE only>. Conjured weapons can't make it because of their CDs and how they vanish as soon as you let go of them, not to say when allies pick it up on your stead; the very system upon which they work is flawed IMO. I'd take engi kits instead anytime and even hope for such a change to happen, with possibly a downtime between each reactivation the way holo's forge does for whatever lore considerations if it must be. The only two current weapons somewhat working would be the hammer in catalyst's hands I described above, and the bow again in catalyst's hands when struggling with energy, both of which can easily be disregarded as soon as you've learned to handle situations with your ordinary weapon set instead. The only exception would be the elite greatsword to use a single skill on power damage dealers before discarding it, a shame for a 180s CD "elite" skill. Glyphs have already PvE uses. Renewal for resses, storms or lesser elementals for damage dealers (although you only want the fire one for the latter), finally elemental power that could honestly change since it's only used for... golem testing. Only one option there, possibly two through elemental harmony but healing skills aren't really targeted so far at other functionalities besides healing/cleansing, the only exception coming to my mind right now being the firebrand. Arcane skills also have their uses. The wave (AoE daze) has plenty of uses as long as you remember the concept of combos, which eles are very capable at producing with their many fields - similar thing about brilliance, for which I made a suggestion earlier. Power was denied as a group utility for PvP/WvW considerations if I'm not mistaken (might be wrong, lost track of several of such changes). Blast is a pure damage utility, then shield is our only aegis-like tool that enables several peculiar roles such as Deimos or Q1 encounters. I mentioned earlier possibilities for Arcane lightning, but right now it's largely an offensive, selfish trait on a hybrid spec that doesn't fit into pure damage builds, neither into support builds. See, things you deem useless out of a PvP view have use for PvE, the reverse being true as well. Again, that's where competitive splits could help because those game modes will NEVER play the same way where targets vastly differ, and trying to keep the same functionalities accross all game modes already proved impossible obviously - otherwise there wouldn't be splits existing! At release it was possible with simpler and much slower mechanics, today no more; that extra layer of complexity is now necessary to bring ele to the level of other classes. So long as that step isn't taken, the entire ele archetype will remain stuck between PvE & PvP tools not only distinguished by their utility type, but also merged into their build specs, always leaving more traits useless in one content or the other, ever reducing the range of possibilities!

Indeed, that's how I use it; what I had in mind is, it's a decent help on the side but not a focal point. When a single person goes down, several people ressing bring them back up in a moment, whereas should several fall Renewal of earth from the glyph can get three of them up; Arcane resurrection is a good trait, sure, and so are Evasive arcana/Elemental enchantment (could expand it to Elemental attunement although we got again the range issue, harmonizing all such AoEs to 360 radius like most healers would go a long way towards bringing any healer elementalist in line with competitors) yet all of those perks are far from mandatory, they're a convenient help at most filling a small gap on occasions. The small supportive boost from the 06/25 preview about diamond skin offering a group cleanse on any blast finisher is likely to make me disregard arcane spec in the near future, removing the near mandatory reliance on Cleansing water I felt on high condi pressure encounters, giving room for using more often Soothing power or even Powerful aura (the latter tied to earth's Elemental shielding). On the opposite though I misread Earth's embrace merging into Earthen blast - the barrier will be personal, not a group tool. Bit of a shame, could've been interesting! Don't discard Arcane wave; while it was more convenient before as an instant blast finisher at a distance (now a jump locking you into an animation), it can find plenty of uses from combos. CC on its own, Karakosa interaction, extra healing if blasted into a water field, 3 might stacks into a fire field for 40s (if 100% boon duration), area ice aura into an ice field (if you have any interaction with armors), 20s swiftness into a lightning field (not much but makes the difference in few occasions - think of Q2 CM) and I'll ignore the soft CCs, since in group play you shouldn't run out of it. That sort of interaction is one of the strong points of arcane spec's Evasive arcana - on top of water's healing+condi removal, the earth dodge is a blast finisher; that trait IMO is the most interesting of the entire spec. It's also the reason why I run Arcane brilliance on Qheal cata, although it could definitely see its extra healing from a successful blast finisher be made a group tool, so there's a real benefit beyond a few boons in ensuring a proper combo finisher. The Lightning hammer can also have surprising interactions on Qheal cata, since its autoattack chain ends with a blast finisher with the added value of providing two good CC skills (and some built-in self quickness if you need a quick burst to restart your energy generation). You provide the spheres for quickness & combo fields, then you just blast 'em all away for a while. It won't hold up to encounters with high damage pressure obviously, but otherwise is a very simplistic yet working method to produce effortless boons & healing (although restricted obviously to the conjured weapon's duration and whether allies pick up the weapon on the ground or not), healing being definitely noticeable in water sphere fields. You more or less play the way an Aheal willbender does doing that with the accompanying restrictions (proximity healing only); energy's a bit of a pain to manage in that case, however a single Firestorm does roughly work as good as hammer's Invoke lightning does (albeit much slower at taking effect, so you should anticipate Firestorm's cast). The method can be used on tempest, however only the fire & air overloads produce fields so it's not as reliable! Arcane power used to be a possibility even if having a very small impact, but no more, which is kind of a shame. That's something I 120% agree with, the question being the implementation. Without thinking it through, I'd associate it with Soothing disruption (catalyst having trouble providing regen) so the trait also alters cantrip skills effects: Cleansing fire is thus turned into a group condi cleanse where the might stacks would be based on caster's (ele) removed conditions, while Armor of earth could be made into a group stab tool primarily with three stacks instead of the actual ten (then either barrier, either protection boon - likely not both so it doesn't become excessive, barrier being what would interest me the most out of these two). Can't tell yet what I'd think of the changes associated with remaining cantrip skills, but I'd already be afraid of making it too powerful a trait against its competitors; then there are arcane skills which are harder to approach, with the current effets of Arcane lightning. A source of aegis in the lot would be definitely welcome as a solution to either keeping Aftershock on the side for that very purpose, either saving 10 energy and earth attunement CD at all times for the earth sphere. Still I must admit I'm not fond of tying such skill behaviour changes to a target spec, it turns these specs into must-haves. Some ground to think over!

My point was comparing heal cata to heal tempest; you don't play either of them because you want performance, otherwise you'd go druid/scourge/chrono/herald. You play either of them because you like what elementalist offers; I don't consider Qheal cata a mere "meme build" , it's a lot more reliant on combos that've been forgotten by "performers", and takes a lot more dedication (on theory AND in practice) to make it work. All encounters can be done without arcane spec, unless running encounters with players in learning (or plain careless). The extra concentration and boons on attunement change are welcome, but cata spheres already do a decent job at providing boons. Besides, the free geyser on ress supposedly isn't your job at first, while the healing dodge is more of a filler freebie than anything else - and we're getting standardized group barrier on earth spec in a few weeks seemingly (now, if they could fix the lame varying ranges accross all e-specs, earth stab on 240 radius is very small and could definitely go up to 360, then let's not talk about the many different tempest overload ranges - could definitely be standardized to 360 as well). Staff on cata heal is indeed disastrous, something I've related earlier (or was it in a different ele topic?). That thing also needs adressing, badly - in stab encounters I'd indeed never bother playing Qheal cata, it simply is disastrous with that weapon. I already did bother before, my support at the time was disastrous; forget it! Might be my interpretation but I think you're too focused on e-spec utilities; there are already a few worthwhile choices in base ele utilities (not all focused on direct healing and I'd welcome a base group condi cleanse or even light field, but oh well). Weaver has interesting dual attacks, especially on staff which I rely on when going HK. Well, maybe minus Monsoon (water/air attack, on phone so can't link wiki entry) because the thing doesn't buff its caster when it could prove to be a cleansing tool with the right water trait. The short attunement cooldowns could trigger often the arcane boon trait, and a small rework on the two useless PvE traits Elemental pursuit/Woven stride (can't tell for other modes if they're useful) could prove fun by either of them making Primordial stance pulse boons instead of conditions (why not proximity healing pulsations as well, rather than damages). Invigorating strikes could be made a group tool as well to make it interesting! There are possibilities, some I find interesting, but no way to tell whether it'd interest the team or not, and by presupposing a third e-spec would have access to either quickness either alacrity... too many ifs!

It already is, for the most. Instead of resorting to ordinary instant direct boons in a 600 radius or healing in varying radii, Qheal cata provides a bunch of combo fields to detonate with blast finishers & karakosa relic. Aegis is built into a tool available more often than Aftershock, while Rebound having (to my experience) no use apart cheesing some mechs, I use the superior elementals every time. Even ordinary boons like might or fury are easier to provide because of key overloads having poor range. Only Eye of the storm is something I envy; cata has no access whatsoever apart from the earth trait in 240 radius, otherwise from using the staff that's poor at boons and disastrous to build energy. It's definitely harder to manage Qheal cata rather than Aheal tempest, but dagger+warhorn make it a far more consistent boon provider with an excellent energy output. Whenever you have to switch to staff though...

As much as I'd love to see quickness on it, I don't really care for open world, targets fall to two skills usually. Champions take a little longer, but aren't much of a threat when running less of a glasscanon build with the proper weapons. Still, IMO traits that could easily be replaced in PvE only would be Elemental pursuit & Woven stride, which are utterly meaningless in that game mode. Compared to other traits on their respective lines, they would make the player drop either offense either defense for a quickness providing trait, without removing the usual options for damage dealing or doing HK on Deimos.

Even for PvE, damages on it could definitely be removed IMO if it were the price to increase its range to 1200. As Q2 pylon, anytime an ally drops the fire puddle a bit away from the others, it suddenly becomes really difficult to reach the falling orb then come back to the pylon without making the boss invulnerable. Dedicating an utility slot to Twist of fate is a bit of a shame when it doesn't serve any purpose (even towards your sustain) other than compensating a hypothetical mistake, while Flowing finesse (if using the pistol, and if finding the time to generate an air bullet while dual-attuning to air & water) has forced movement that can end up poorly. Might sound like a bit of a rant, but thieves' Shadowstep is 1200 range with a stunbreak (30s CD), mechanists' Shift signet (25s CD) is 1200 range with stunbreak/condi removal/passive effect, mesmers' Blink (20s CD) also has 1200 range with stunbreak. I simply feel like Lightning flash isn't in line with such comparable skills, despite the low cooldown - its weak single-target attack doesn't compare to a valuable stunbreak. The 06/25 update preview already relates Earth's embrace current effects (barrier on attuning to earth) merging into Earthen blast, so that's a start. While I'd definitely welcome it, any healer elementalist does benefit from two passive sources of healing per second (regen+Soothing mist, even moreso if traiting Soothing power) so by experience from other games and by using GW2 terms to make it comparable, cumulating barrier+regen+Sooting mist could prove too powerful a combination without gutting other instant healing skills... ☹️

It's largely dependant on player preference, I resort to hammer as Qdps cata in encounters that don't let you jump into melee that often or on targets that are somewhat a pain to follow (Mathias, Cairn for kiting the AoEs, Samarog if teammates rarely move the boss from its spears, Largos twins...). I'm getting used to condi Qdps pistol+warhorn, but in such encounters returning to the hammer makes me sure I can upkeep my boons!

That's only for the tempest; weaver & catalyst can make use of a power build. Well, tempest too, but it definitely doesn't shine in comparison to the two other e-specs! Viper is indeed your go-to option for maximizing damages; trailblazer does the job too through the toughness-to-condiD conversion of Strength of stone, while providing you a bunch of vitality & toughness to endure. Do be careful if you pick trailblazer gear in PvE; many encounters have their tank determined by toughness, so it can prove more trouble than it's worth and even ruin the organization of your group. The downside of trailblazer gear also lies in its complete lack of precision, hence very rare criticals that do not really help with triggering your condi sigils (if using them) and Burning precision. Your go-to specs for a condi build are fire & earth, improving burn & bleed. Here's an example in which you should remove the signet of earth to take the Glyph of lesser elementals instead for an optimal setup, but I really dislike the visual clutter they contribute to. A condi build isn't ideal for open world though, since targets are that fragile. It's "damage over time" after all: one or two power skills could be enough to get rid of a target in the second, where a condi build would have to build some conditions up then wait for all of their ticks to work their magic. In organized PvE however, conditions are ideal for most fights! Scepter is still a viable option (which I included in the build above) for non-SotO owners especially since from what I read of the june update preview, only the power coefficients should see an improvement, conditions aren't touched unless I misread it (it is said that the intent is to turn it into a power weapon, but I'm not reading "this is reworked" or "removed X condi stacks", only "improved power coefficient"). No guarantee of that though, again maybe I'm just misreading!

Alac healer or condi boondps; both builds are available on many sites of performers. Basically I prefer by far the weaver (and making my game more complicated 😆) for pure dps purposes, but the Adps tempest does share a lot with condi weaver (the weapons, the use of their skills) while the Aheal tempest may not be performing as good as several competitors (it's no herald boonball) but it works in all CMs (-ToF & HT CMs, which I haven't cleared so far). It can tank any of them as well, and the range of utilities -while limited- does cover your needs even if it's no blind spammer of aegis/stab (but hey, not all healers already are capable of spamming those two like might stacks). As Zeyeti said though, the boons output apart from alacrity are heavily tied to your weapons; dagger+warhorn performs better than the staff in that regard, but the staff currently still is the only weapon with which you could pass all fights in my experience (I mean, dagger+warhorn cannot provide stab and has little condi cleanse, so unless somebody else covers those in your stead forget those weapons for something like Samarog CM, SH CM, Q1 CM or even Q2 CM, tanking or not). Obviously from what I said above as healer, staff or dagger+warhorn because they're... pretty much all you can consider for such a role. The sword could be put to use in the less mobile & melee-packed fights (especially interacting with water's condi cleanse), but the few matching that description can already be handled by the ordinary weapon sets. Dagger offhand also provides massive condi cleanse yet comes at the cost of the powerful warhorn utilities, so... I revert again to staff when cleansing is required for a fight! As Adps condi, I always run the pistol+warhorn; again the latter for its ability in providing/upkeeping boons (on top of how best performing it basically is, against other offhands for a condi build) whereas the former is shadowing the scepter nowadays. The scepter was a good condi weapon, however with the pistol now live it already is seeing a coming update next month to be turned into a power weapon (y'know, the kind of very reactive attention a main mesmer like me would have loved to see for the mesmer mainhand sword, heh). For any power build though, as boondps or pure dps I simply don't consider tempest. The overloads are better tuned to condi damage or healing even if they're a bit impractical to use with their range, however the update preview will seemingly improve air overload damages so be patient for a month and maybe it'll prove worthwhile? Without going as far as saying it's a crappy idea, it's in the best case too early since again, power tempest isn't really a thing right now (oh yes, in open world anything goes, but you won't feel good when the person next to you clears its targets twice or thrice faster than you do). The end-of-june update should improve its standing but today it's a poor choice; besides as already said above, power builds are tied to a high crit rate (100% always being the ideal) to make use of their ferocity. Alacrity in open world isn't really valuable with how weak the targets are, champions included; quickness helps a lot more in solo, alacrity is more of a thing in an organized group. On top of that (since you were only mentioning open world), taking alacrity would deny your main extra source of damages which also improve the frequency of use of your overloads, so it isn't what you really should be looking for! Remember that ironically, the fire/earth overloads are melee tools which do not match the long-ranged staff, and air is barely better with 360 range. I found more use for the staff with a weaver and its dual attacks which also help offsetting the lengthy cooldowns, however the damages aren't there regardless, so I stick with other weapons unless healing (sword/dagger if going power, pistol/warhorn if going condi). Another paradox against the overloads' melee/close range effects is that an elementalist lacks pulling abilities. Whatever's gathered from the warhorn is ridiculous while the remaining skill comes from the Earth shield, which is... more of a condi (temporary) weapon on high CD with defensive abilities. Not much help; let your targets group up to make use of your AoEs before landing any immobilize! All of your shouts have a 600 radius or range, which is very comfortable for whatever use you'll have of them; they have a wide range of effects both on offense and defense, you definitely should remember their effects for your fights in open world. In any other mode much less, only a healer would have use for Eye of the storm or Aftershock! Finally, have fun before anything playing whatever you like! Organized content will not be tolerant towards anything & everything (as a CM strikes & raids player myself, if you end up barely pulling off 10K as pure dps I couldn't keep you since there are timers running) but anything goes in solo! Don't forget the other e-specs that are weaver & catalyst; weaver especially takes a while to learn to handle (and much more to master) but is very satisfying in its many playable options!