KingEsoteric.2067

PvE, Staff could use a lot of work to be more functional and fun. I prefer staff for the style and asthetic, but I mostly use Scepter/Focus or Scepter/WH because it's cumbersome in OW and underperforming elsewhere. Staff weaver in particular promises to be very fun conceptually, but the impacts aren't very strong and the cooldowns are long in PvE compared to everything else in the game. It doesn't seem to work well with either Tempest or Catalyst, either. Outside of following zergs in OW, it needs to be a weapon that can stand on its own, especially since it's the game's representative of the classic elemental mage style. To a player who loves that style like myself, running around with a sword or a hammer in Melee doesn't hit the spot. Changes I would want: Fire 1: increased projectile speed and 50%+ chance at projectile finisher. Fire 2: Increased power coefficient. Fire 4: CD reduced to 15 seconds Fire 5: Keep channel, but drop three large rocks with knockback from the center on last hit (defiance break). High Power coefficient, last hit is strongest, blast finisher, leaves smoke field on crit in PvE. Air 1: Change to standard small AOE around target, bigger damage. This skill is awful. Air 2: Higher power coefficient, Projectile finisher Air 3: CD reduced to 15 seconds, also grants fury to allies. Earth 2: Slightly faster cast time, 3/4s instead of 1 1/4s. Earth 3: CD reduced to 15 seconds in PvE and 20 in other game modes. Grants barrier or protection as well. Earth 5: Increase to 4 stacks of bleed, 2 in WvW/PvP. Fire/Air 3: Increase Power Coefficient in PvE only. Fire/Earth 3: Burning on Impact should be 5 seconds in PvE. Air/Water 3: Needs something, I never notice when I hit this button This would give Staff more reactive play, more damage out of the buttons people hit, a reason to hit buttons that don't feel like they do much, more finishers to play with Catalyst, and a touch more support. It's stuck in a hybrid of damage and support from 10 years ago because it can be obnoxious in WvW. If the weapon is supposed to be more supportive, then make it more supportive, but all the skills on it suggest a damaging weapon with modest support. It simply needs to be brought into 2023.

If you're trying to nerf Catalyst in sPvP, why are you taking down Weaver, Tempest, and Core Elementalist with it?

The big thing about Elementalist is that it's really powerful in Open World if you: Get some defense/HP on your gear and/or trait lines. Problem solve in real time People take specialized raid builds that are about maximum damage output and run them in open world with unpredictable incoming attacks and inconsistent support available to them. You will deal a lot of damage then fall to any disruption because you are not receiving the help that raid builds assume you will receive. Heart of Thorns will drill that idea into your head until you get it or swear never to return. No Elite spec needed to be successful out there.

I'm salty at the mismatch between fantasy and reality for the class as a whole. I like the theory behind the Catalyst kit, but I really don't want to play another bruiser character. I have Warrior and Guardian already. If I don't want to use Hammer, that elite spec may as well not exist. Elementalists are built like a ranged class but only excel when they willingly cough up that range because too many traits and abilities require enemies to be near. They don't have the flexibility that one might think because they pay too much for it; boon application is spread thin, heals spread thin, benefits of traitlines are often too limited. Feels like you can only ever almost play the elementalist you want, no matter what elementalist you want. There's no real reason for Tempest to feel so jank. It's a easy to use and one can get value from it with minimal fuss, but once you play it a while, it feels quite cumbersome at times. I didn't realize how much so until I unearthed my Warrior (Zerk & Spellbreaker) and Guardian (Firebrand). The traits feel like they were designed by someone paranoid that Elementalists would take over the Earth. Tempest's damage trait is for 7 seconds and you need to give up Alacrity for it. That needs to be 15 seconds, you're a Tempest with goofy range on your overloads, and you don't provide Alacrity. Elementalists don't have number problems, really, they have functional problems that numeric boosts are disguising.

Depends on what you're trying to do here. If you're committed to staff, the best version IMO is in fact Weaver. If you're not committed to staff, then it really doesn't matter so long as you're matching traits to weapon to playstyle. Condition Tempest, for example, is really easy to get good value from with a minimum of buttons and you get a four second break from pushing them every so often. If you're doing 2k damage with some minor burn, this isn't a spec issue, it's everything else. Either you're not hitting your other buttons, or you're hitting ones that do not take advantage of your stats (AKA, some abilities work better with power damage versus condition damage), or you do not have damage stats on your gear.