Upcoming 3/29 changes for Elementalist

[Eliam.3716]

March 29 Game Update Preview - Guild Wars 2 Discussion - Guild Wars 2 Forums

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Elementalist

Catalyst

In our previous update, we addressed the fact that the catalyst's pure DPS builds were simultaneously providing 100% quickness uptime for a party while doing among the highest damage output of any specialization in the game. As other boon support builds that provide excellent uptime on critical boons (such as quickness or alacrity) have less damage output than builds focused purely on damage, the catalyst was at risk of supplanting all other quickness providers in group content.

We addressed this by making trait and damage output changes quickly to prevent it from distorting the cooperative play meta-game. However, it left the catalyst's damage builds not meeting our goals for the profession; it's difficult to play well and is only dealing competitive damage on large targets or targets where you can stand inside their hitbox. That's not great! We want every profession and specialization to feel awesome, regardless of the size of your enemy.

We've prepared a list of changes to specific skills and effects to help reach these goals for PvE play. None of the following changes apply to PvP or WvW.

 

Key Issues

Issue 1

Hammer 3's orbiting elemental missiles each give a beneficial passive effect while active, but the skill usage pattern required to upkeep each one is very unforgiving. To address this, the duration of the elemental missiles and their effects in PvE are being increased from 5 seconds to 15 seconds. As before, activating a new one refreshes the timer on all of them. It's not only going to be easier to keep them up all of the time—we're also significantly increasing the passive benefits for having each active so that keeping them all up is a rewarding goal!

Rocky Loop and Icy Coil now reduce incoming damage by three times more than they did previously (from 5% up to 15%), while Crescent Wind now gives an increased critical hit chance (formerly 7%, now 10%), and Flame Wheel now increases all of the damage you do (formerly by 5%, now 10%).

Issue 2

Too much of the catalyst's damage is reliant on hitting as often as possible with Hammer 3's orbiting elemental missiles. This can make it hard to play consistently against small targets or in situations where you can't walk inside of your target's hitbox. To address this, the damage from Hammer 3's missiles is being dramatically reduced so that the catalyst is not reliant on keeping them inside an enemy's hitbox for effective play. Instead, we've packed all of that removed damage and a lot more into the other things that you're doing while they're up.

The hammer is a weighty weapon, and it should feel like it when you're crushing your enemies. All of your Hammer 1 and Hammer 2 skills will now deal more damage per hit. Grand Finale deals a lot more damage per missile now, too, so once you have all your missiles from Hammer 3 out, you're ready to launch an attack worthy of that preparation!

Issue 3

The Shattering Ice utility skill is a powerful source of damage, but fully taking advantage of it requires that you hit a target every 0.25 seconds—otherwise you miss out on damage you could have gotten from this skill. To address this, we're increasing the interval on this effect from 0.25 seconds to 1 second, with significantly increased damage. This makes it easier to reliably get the full damage possible out of this utility skill.

Catalyst PvE Updates

Hammer

• Singeing Strike: Damage coefficient increased from 0.67 to 0.9 in PvE only.
• Surging Flames: Damage coefficient increased from 1.5 to 1.8 in PvE only.
• Stream Strike: Damage coefficient increased from 0.7 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Water Rush: Damage coefficient increased from 0.9 to 1.1 in PvE only.
• Chilling Crack: Damage coefficient increased from 1.2 to 1.4 in PvE only.
• Rain of Blows: Damage coefficient per strike increased from 0.42 to 0.45 (4 strikes).
• Wind Slam: Damage coefficient increased from 0.72 to 0.9 in PvE only.
• Hurricane of Pain: Damage coefficient per strike increased from 0.513 to 0.6 (9 strikes).
• Stonestrike: Damage coefficient increased from 0.93 to 1.1 in PvE only.
• Whirling Stones: Damage coefficient per strike increased from 0.51 to 0.65 (5 strikes).
• Flame Wheel, Icy Coil, Crescent Wind, Rocky Loop: Damage coefficient reduced from 0.1 to 0.001 in PvE only.
• Rocky Loop: Duration increased from 5 seconds to 15 seconds in PvE only. Damage reduction while active increased from 5% to 15% in PvE only.
• Crescent Wind: Duration increased from 5 seconds to 15 seconds in PvE only. Critical Chance bonus while active increased from 7% to 10% in PvE only.
• Icy Coil: Duration increased from 5 seconds to 15 seconds in PvE only. Condition damage reduction while active increased from 5% to 15% in PvE only.
• Flame Wheel: Duration increased from 5 seconds to 15 seconds in PvE only. Damage and condition damage bonus while active increased from 5% to 10%.
• Grand Finale: Damage coefficient per missile increased from 0.7 to 1.0 in PvE only.

Utilities

• Shattering Ice: Damage coefficient per strike increased from 0.1 to 0.6 in PvE only. Chill duration increased from 0.5 seconds to 1 second in PvE only. Interval between strikes on the same target increased from 0.25 seconds to 1 second in PvE only.

Traits

• Empowered Empowerment: PvP split removed; effectiveness increase in PvE changed from 50% back to 100%, matching PvP and WvW.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Eliam.3716

[SeTect.5918]

This is awesome.

Tho I wouldve liked to see also easier access to Elemental Empowerment.
Also the sustain increase due to hammer 3 is nice, tho I wouldve liked even more tbh.
And making the elite skill better.

However this moves in the right direction.

Edited March 25, 2022 by SeTect.5918

[Bast.7253]

Hammer 3 is nice. The rest just look like slight damage increases on every ability to give somekind of illusion of major change when I doubt it will be that noticeable for anyone other than min/max raiders. 

I feel like this is kind of side-stepping the major issues. 

So, balance as usual!

Am I wrong for feeling this way? Is this going to make the spec feel like more than core ele with a damaging quickness well with a clunky energy mechanic? Even then I feel like it's a lot more than skill 3 that needed to be looked at. 

Maybe I'm being too bias and unrealistic here. Idk. 

[SeTect.5918]

2 minutes ago, Bast.7253 said:

Am I wrong for feeling this way? Is this going to make the spec feel like more than core ele with a damaging quickness well with a clunky energy mechanic?

No, it wont.

But it makes it at least not totally useless anymore. I mean how it is at the moment with 0 sustain and 0 dps.
I think this update will fix at least this.

Giving the spec its own identity surely wont happen in this update.
But solving some of its issues at least that makes the rotation easier and giving more dps and a slight sustain increase.

[gooddrakkarboi.4870]

Yes, it solves some of hammers issues. What still remains are the lackluster augments, the clunky and static use of F5 and the uninspired traitlines... so something like 0.8/4 was done...

[Coldtart.4785]

Once again confirming that ele was nerfed according to standards that don't apply to any other class.

[epothos.4831]

I really hope some of these QoL improvements are changed in PvP too 😞

[The Great Al.2546]

Now they just have to remove the energy mechanic, revamp the augments to do something meaningful if the augment + sphere match, and throw out almost all of the traits and actually have them feel inspired and actually impact gameplay, like holosmith line. 

[gooddrakkarboi.4870]

9 minutes ago, The Great Al.2546 said:

Now they just have to remove the energy mechanic, revamp the augments to do something meaningful if the augment + sphere match, and throw out almost all of the traits and actually have them feel inspired and actually impact gameplay, like holosmith line. 

Exaclty, it's like we're quarter way there. Hammer is kind of solved, now the mechanic needs an overhaul, the augments and the traits...

[crosknight.3041]

nice to see some of these changes but saddened they havent touched on the jade orb and the punishing energy mechanic, the majority of the utilities and the boring traits. also while i like the hammer 3 changes i still cant help to feel the skill itself belongs on weaver instead of catalyst.

atleast the hammer is mostly fixed, but wont fix the identity crisis the spec has in general

[Valtarius.8671]

Yea im still confused what catalyst is suppose to do? No identity of its own. Feels like a very clunky mess of Weaver and Tempest.
It would be nice if hammer had 900 range than 600 it has besides fire and wind

Edited March 26, 2022 by Valtarius.8671

[HotDelirium.7984]

5 hours ago, Bast.7253 said:

Hammer 3 is nice. The rest just look like slight damage increases on every ability to give somekind of illusion of major change when I doubt it will be that noticeable for anyone other than min/max raiders. 

I feel like this is kind of side-stepping the major issues. 

So, balance as usual!

Am I wrong for feeling this way? Is this going to make the spec feel like more than core ele with a damaging quickness well with a clunky energy mechanic? Even then I feel like it's a lot more than skill 3 that needed to be looked at. 

Maybe I'm being too bias and unrealistic here. Idk. 

Elemental Empowerment trait needs a disable or immobilize and no augments do that and only 2 air hammer skills and 1 earth hammer weapon skills does so they need to give one to water and fire at least.

[Bast.7253]

Just now, HotDelirium.7984 said:

Elemental Empowerment trait needs a disable or immobilize and no augments do that and only 2 air hammer skills and 1 earth hammer weapon skills does so they need to give one to water and fire at least.

I mean, air 4 and 5 are lame skills anyway. Air 5 having split damage and a wind-up to the stun with a projectile.. I guess the point is that you cast air 5 and hope they just stand there and wait to be stunned?

Earth and water are fine. Fire auto and skill 2 don't feel very rewarding and the 5th and final skill on hammer has a really long cast time on earth and fire that only really feel slightly better with quickness. 

Air 2 seems like it should be a whirl finisher and fire 4 should leave a fire field or something. 

It's all just a hot kittening mess. I mean you can work around it and find a playstyle with hammer but the fact is this spec is just so far from the quality and cohesion we've always gotten that it feels like it was just thrown together last minute. 

The fact that they left it like this from the beta tests just baffles me. 

I mean just comparing the mechanics of the spec alone versus some we got in this expansion - 
1. Specter got a shroud, barrier access, and a new way to play support.
2. Willbender got virtues that work differently than regular virtues as well as mobility.
3. Harbinger got a new blight mechanic and adjustments to the way shroud works, in addition to an elixir that grants all boons and a trait to pulse quickness - as well as elixirs effecting other players.
4. Untamed got a new mechanic that, as boring as it may seem to some, meant new ambush skills being added to each weapon type. As well as a new way to interact with the pet. 
5. Mesmer got a removal of clones in favor of a new clone mechanic that allows you to stock them out of combat.  (Less exciting example.)

6. Engineer got a pet - I mean this isn't super exciting as everything is pretty much loaded into an ai pet. 

7. Bladesworn got a new weapon, even though it's clunky, low damage, and bad - the gunsaber, in addition to a new off-hand AND 3 new skills on f2. 

8. Revenant got a new type of dodge and a complex dual legend with highly interactive utilities. 
9. Catalyst - the scraps of whatever they could piece together from auras, combo finishers that only work with the spec itself with a third tier minor trait. A stationary well with a needless energy mechanic that provides a combo field and ONE boon. And quickness randomly on air attunement despite all air attunement boons normally providing swiftness. They couldn't even be bothered to create a new attunement or separate the quickness from air. 

Catalyst is point blank the laziest most disjointed mess I've seen them release, and this expansion in general compared to what I've seen them produce over the years is far from the quality I was hoping for to instill faith in me about the future of this franchise. I get the circumstances weren't ideal but this spec, as fun as it might be spamming the same functioning abilities in all attunements and managing your ONE easily accessible combo field for not only damage but SURVIVAL, is a joke. 

Then again I'm still waiting for this spider boss event chain to start after 5 different instances and nearly 5 hours of checking in. It's only been a month and we've ONLY had collection achievements bug out since... Heart of Thorns? Is that when they started doing these collections? Bugs happen, I get it, but SURELY there is some lesson to be learned from the YEARS of similar incidents. 

Things probably won't change. I'm sure people are finding use for the wells but realistically, what are they using them for? Damage fields? The occasional combo field? Quickness in air only? 
So you're taking an elite spec for, often, access to quickness when multiple specs already exist that give out quickness in addition to other boons at a much more consistent pace without needing one specific attunement?

Why is anyone okay with this? Why are THEY okay with this? Honestly, why? 

I mean thanks for the shattering ice augment buff I guess. I mean we only had Primordial Stance and Glyph of Elemental Power essentially already doing the exact same thing, but at least one is locked into weaver. 

And sure, you can argue that the combo fields and finishers on the other weapons are their way of integrating them into the spec but ONLY because of Elemental Epitome.

Also, if the jade sphere naturally grants boons, why does a trait like Spectacular Sphere even exist? What is the point of this trait? To give fury PLUS quickness? As if people aren't already getting fury naturally from their own weapon skills? As if fury has EVER been difficult to get? I guess the point is to keep spheres down and cycle through them?

But uh, why would you do that when we already have Harbingers tossing elixirs and granting EVERY BOON AND PULSING QUICKNESS.

What the actual kitten is the point of trying to make this some boon support build in the first place?

[solemn.9608]

I stopped reading after "none of this applies to WvW or pvp"

Starting to genuinely kitten me off. What an absolute slap in the face.

[Nozdu.5971]

I'll say it again:

 

Hammer 3 orbs should go to F1/f2/f3/F4. Change atunement get the orb of the atunement

 

Hammer 3 would be the jade sphere deployment. No energy thing just on a cooldown

Edit: F5 would still have use as the grand finale

Edited March 26, 2022 by Nozdu.5971

[Avatara.1042]

1 hour ago, Nozdu.5971 said:

I'll say it again:

 

Hammer 3 orbs should go to F1/f2/f3/F4. Change atunement get the orb of the atunement

 

Hammer 3 would be the jade sphere deployment. No energy thing just on a cooldown

Edit: F5 would still have use as the grand finale

Um, what about the other weapons?

[Jski.6180]

Need to see what they are going to do in wvw and spvp. At the same time these "orb" changes or hammer 3 feel like power creep auras not saying that a bad thing its just with out real auras getting an update this seems to be where the class over all is going. At some point there going to be no reason for auras to remand what seems to be more armor effect (on being hit) then an REAL aura effect (being near) of these "orb" effects but sadly with out the support effect.

We need to see these "orb" effects take over all auras and on auras effects for the ele class. Its better for balancing and realty for playing an more activating class.

[Dadnir.5038]

I guess they stick to their nonsense of having to be within a sphere attuned to a specific attunment to get the bonus on augments...

And here I thought they wanted to make things easier, they just want catalyst to have a easier time using hammer specifically and hopefully making it the "meta weapon" for catalyst. That's disappointing.

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

It's a step in the right direction, and I thank the efforts. 
But yeah, just coefficients and % for Pve. Catalyst seems to still have no purpose but numbers on golem.

Edited March 26, 2022 by Zhaid Zhem.6508

[VPK.1796]

Gonna be nerfed again this summer 👩

[Caid.4932]

Encouraging.

[ScottBroChill.3254]

Like the changes, but hopefully it comes to pvp because the hammer is going to play completely different in both modes.

Really like the orb passive buff tho, going to be able take a lot of hits. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by ScottBroChill.3254

[scerevisiae.1972]

PVE only changes. sorry but i don't much care about PVE.

 

Please fix hammer so it's useable in WVW. 

 

It really irritates the kittne out of me that Catalyst was created without any regard for WVW players who've already been playing staff/sceptre/dagger for 9 freaking years.

Edited March 26, 2022 by scerevisiae.1972

[Trogs.1802]

11 hours ago, Bast.7253 said:

Catalyst is point blank the laziest most disjointed mess I've seen them release, and this expansion in general compared to what I've seen them produce over the years is far from the quality I was hoping for to instill faith in me about the future of this franchise. I get the circumstances weren't ideal but this spec, as fun as it might be spamming the same functioning abilities in all attunements and managing your ONE easily accessible combo field for not only damage but SURVIVAL, is a joke. 

Honestly you just sound like an entitled child that didn't get what they wanted and therefore the entire expac and all future content are ruined.

 

News flash, they are making changes to it, if they didn't care they would have just nerfed it and left it dead. 

 

Also, as you listed the other elite specs are interesting (at least to some degree) and they are fun to play with good gameplay. Sorry your favorite is a lemon, but there's other things to play and enjoy while they work this out. 

 

But I don't think this one elite spec mix up is doom and gloom for the entire IP as a whole. In a recent post they've stated they're committed to the future of GW2. More so than they have been. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. It takes time to fix a sinking ship. 

[Stallic.2397]

Yeah, I honestly don't understand how you would change the way a weapon works in only one game mode. These are good changes, don't get me wrong, but why not make it universal?? 

 

Also, I'm looking forward to pvp changes (and WvW cause inclusion) regarding catalyst. Seems like they nerfed catalyst and every pve player and their grandmother threw a fit. But when pvp players have genuine concerns, there's crickets chirping.