Elementalist is so disappointing, it's sad to see

[Wyrdern.4092]

I am honestly fine with condi sword doing slightly more dps than condi sceptre. I would still probably play sceptre anyway because it is just easier to execute with higher ping and slower fingers, and the range flexibility is just nice in general.

[Puck.3697]

7 hours ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

At one point they indicated changing underutilized weapons was a priority, but then they fell off the wagon.  But in the case of sword it doesn't need a rework.  It just needs a few little bumps to its condition damage to bring up to speed with power sword and condi scepter and it's fine.

Well yeah, when I last played I remenber sword being used in both power and condi in meta builds, but sceptre was most defintly not meta when I last played 😂

I remember using sword regardless of solo / condi / power. 

I'm guessing they just wanted scepter used though. 

I remember hybrid weaver ended up a rly good choice at one point, I really loved thst build. Which imho is a better path for ele. I dont see why a proffession whos fantasy is around the idea of everything being accessible via elements, is being balanced to strictly be power or condi. 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Puck.3697

[draxynnic.3719]

14 hours ago, Puck.3697 said:

This would make the very high end of the playerbase do ridiculous amounts of damage and clear content insanely fast though, 

However they could load more of its Damage into the easier parts of the proffession which would help the medium player achieve a higher amount of the potiental damage. 

I think the difficulty curve disparity in gw2 is too far apart imho however which creates this issue.

As long as it doesn't get to the point where regular groups start expecting perfectly executed elementalist rotations as standard for DPS roles, does it really matter if speedclearers can get an extra 5k out of a build which is otherwise difficult to pull off and highly susceptible to disruption?

By 'good player', I would be thinking the sort of player who regularly clears the content in question but isn't going full sweaty mode (well, unless it's HTCM). I'm not talking about the 'there is an order of magnitude difference between the best players and masses' people.

[Noodle Ant.1605]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

As long as it doesn't get to the point where regular groups start expecting perfectly executed elementalist rotations as standard for DPS roles, does it really matter if speedclearers can get an extra 5k out of a build which is otherwise difficult to pull off and highly susceptible to disruption?

its hard to say, depending on what number that 5k is added on to, it could possibly create a rift amongst top players who may feel pressured to always play ele to keep up. it also isnt terribly difficult for players at this level to pull it off anyway

the popularity in the higher levels can also trickle down and likely make unwanted downstate eles (who wont be doing much more dmg than before) more common for the rest of the playerbase

the future for the average ele player probably hinges heavily on the implementation of pistol as its the most likely to reintroduce a popular and modern range option that they might survive to finally deal damage on. the current popularity of scepter and staff makes me wonder if it will last if it doesnt make the meta, however

[Puck.3697]

7 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

As long as it doesn't get to the point where regular groups start expecting perfectly executed elementalist rotations as standard for DPS roles, does it really matter if speedclearers can get an extra 5k out of a build which is otherwise difficult to pull off and highly susceptible to disruption

Context will need applying im afraid. 

We live in a era of gaming where practicality isn't relevent. As a example we saw many many videos of Teapot showing builds that trivialise content, yet because it isnt "meta" in speed clears players won't touch em. 

The potiental is just considered far more relevebt. 

If elementalist was balanced on the actual players and at the very high end did 5k more dps then other options, pressure to play ele will be applied it dont matter if u actually manage 5k more then other options. It only matters that ur playing the "meta". 

Thats just the way players see things these days. The introduction of dps meters im afraid killed the aspect of "playing what u wanna play". 

This is the issue with class difficulty disparity I'm afraid. 

If the harder class feels "competitive" against easier options he feels bad because he's working harder for a same result. 

If the harder class is leading. It almost acts as a gatekeep for the majority as they will be pressured to play said class yet be reaching at a skill floor simply too high for themselves. 

The gap between the easiest and hardest class need reducing. You cant have a class that almost only attacks and then another that hits 28 buttons perfectly to achieve the same result. 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Puck.3697

[AliamRationem.5172]

4 hours ago, Puck.3697 said:

Context will need applying im afraid. 

We live in a era of gaming where practicality isn't relevent. As a example we saw many many videos of Teapot showing builds that trivialise content, yet because it isnt "meta" in speed clears players won't touch em. 

The potiental is just considered far more relevebt. 

If elementalist was balanced on the actual players and at the very high end did 5k more dps then other options, pressure to play ele will be applied it dont matter if u actually manage 5k more then other options. It only matters that ur playing the "meta". 

Thats just the way players see things these days. The introduction of dps meters im afraid killed the aspect of "playing what u wanna play". 

This is the issue with class difficulty disparity I'm afraid. 

If the harder class feels "competitive" against easier options he feels bad because he's working harder for a same result. 

If the harder class is leading. It almost acts as a gatekeep for the majority as they will be pressured to play said class yet be reaching at a skill floor simply too high for themselves. 

The gap between the easiest and hardest class need reducing. You cant have a class that almost only attacks and then another that hits 28 buttons perfectly to achieve the same result. 

Ele currently sits below a 5% combined play rate (according to wingman stats) - the lowest of any class.  This despite having the current top DPS benchmark along with two other builds listed in the top 10 on snowcrows.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

13 minutes ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Ele currently sits below a 5% combined play rate (according to wingman stats) - the lowest of any class.  This despite having the current top DPS benchmark along with two other builds listed in the top 10 on snowcrows.

 

I don't see that low play rate as a bad thing to be honest. It just means the class is not for everyone which I am ok with. Not every class has to be popular. So, if the balancing rate of average to hard core sweaters was made better with better dps I would be ok with that. I say let the hardcore do 5k more while the average does more in general. I doubt the play rate would change that much from now. (Not going after you with the rest of the comment. Only the first line was directed at your response.)

[Puck.3697]

5 hours ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Ele currently sits below a 5% combined play rate (according to wingman stats) - the lowest of any class.  This despite having the current top DPS benchmark along with two other builds listed in the top 10 on snowcrows.

Ironically tho Thief and Warrior have had the least hours played on them since PoF 😂, I remember in a post we found a old linked GW2 efficency and got all the differences in numbers for every class. 

However. 

Harder options are less popular in Any game regardless of balance. 

[Puck.3697]

5 hours ago, Doctor Hide.6345 said:

I say let the hardcore do 5k more while the average does more in general. I doubt the play rate would change that much from now. (Not going after you with the rest of the comment. Only the first line was directed at your response.

Ofcourse it would.

We are in a game where its pretty common for everyone to have every class maxed atleast once lol. Swapping chars is so convinent in gw2, ofcourse changing the meta will immediately cause changes in playrate 

Imho there are better fixes. Espically cause if u look at hours played on classes there are quite alot of eles about, they just don't raid. 

Invest more of eles damage into easier parts of the class so the average players dps increases without making the class overpowered. 

Buffing ele won't work, if u don't tackle the fact the player can't actually handle the class in raids. 

Itd just make Ele "meta" peoppe feel the need to play it and become frustrated, Ele is too hard for most players. Regardless of the dmg you add to the class it won't help them. They need the damage at the skill floor increased. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Puck.3697

[draxynnic.3719]

1 hour ago, Puck.3697 said:

Harder options are less popular in Any game regardless of balance. 

Which is the point. Wasn't too long ago that power deadeye was top of the table - but people weren't pressured into playing deadeye because everyone understood how hard that was to pull off in practice. 

The more complex elementalist rotations can fit into a similar regime. Last time I was regularly doing instanced PvE (been taking a bit of a break since SOTO), people were still happy to take riflemechs because while their theoretical damage was about the same as a boondps, they'd reliably get at least close to that theoretical maximum.

We have a situation where Arenanet can either balance according to a strict DPS cap, in which case nobody will use DPS elementalist (since only the top players can hit the cap, and even then they can still hit the cap much easier with other professions) or they can balance according to what experienced but not Snowcrows-level raiders, strikers, and fractalers achieve, and accept that the speedrunners might feel the need to play elementalist to scrape a few more seconds off their kill time.

Given that choice, I'd take the second any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Particularly since the SC-level players aren't going to be failing content if they aren't bringing the absolute top DPS, they just won't be setting records. Maybe it's fair to ask record-setters to master the more complex builds. It's the players in the middle where it's likely to be the difference between success and failure.

Now, there's a degree to which making simpler rotations for elementalist is certainly possible. There are fairly LI weaver builds, for example, that just bounce between two attunements. The nature of elementalist, though, is that any such build is going to have a sweaty rotation, perhaps with a few trait and/or utility swaps, that can eke out just that much more. If it's those builds where the caps are set, it suppresses the entire profession.

[Puck.3697]

12 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

We have a situation where Arenanet can either balance according to a strict DPS cap, in which case nobody will use DPS elementalist (since only the top players can hit the cap, and even then they can still hit the cap much easier with other professions) or they can balance according to what experienced but not Snowcrows-level raiders, strikers, and fractalers achieve, and accept that the speedrunners might feel the need to play elementalist to scrape a few more seconds off their kill time

I agree with the concept your pushing for however. 

Won't pushing more of its Damage into easier sections of the class allow less then snowcrows experienced players automatically do more damage?

Nobody is getting snowcrows level dps on any class, not even the easiest class options are, its just you can be half decent and put out a larger sum of its potiental dps. 

Elementalist just need the same realistically. 

Look at core, when elementalist was the most played class in the game when it was a caster with staff. Same with the huge boon of them at PoF launch again with staff weaver. 

If they push more of eles damage into its core meat of the class, It will by default allow the experienced player get far closer to its potiental dps, without introducing power creep. 

As the issue with just outright buffing damage is, eventually when the FoTM moves on they then have to buff another class further.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Puck.3697

[Eddbopkins.2630]

I main ele myself, the problem I have with it verse other classes is something you mentioned. Other classes do what else does but way easier. From the way boons are gained and given to the way you do the damage is just to easy for some classes verse ele.

[draxynnic.3719]

8 hours ago, Puck.3697 said:

I agree with the concept your pushing for however. 

Won't pushing more of its Damage into easier sections of the class allow less then snowcrows experienced players automatically do more damage?

Nobody is getting snowcrows level dps on any class, not even the easiest class options are, its just you can be half decent and put out a larger sum of its potiental dps. 

Elementalist just need the same realistically. 

Look at core, when elementalist was the most played class in the game when it was a caster with staff. Same with the huge boon of them at PoF launch again with staff weaver. 

If they push more of eles damage into its core meat of the class, It will by default allow the experienced player get far closer to its potiental dps, without introducing power creep. 

As the issue with just outright buffing damage is, eventually when the FoTM moves on they then have to buff another class further.

It would, but as long as the potential for sweaty rotations remains at all (and that's hard to remove entirely with how elementalist has been designed, especially with things like Weave Self in play), then if everything is being balanced according to Snowcrows golem benchmark numbers, elementalist is always going to be held back. There needs to be some allowance for the absolute top numbers to be a little higher on the hardest builds so that the balance can be in a state where the profession is competitive for the majority of the player base. (This principle doesn't just apply to elementalist, incidentally, but any profession with builds that has the potential to run exceptionally complex builds.)

Without that wiggle room, you end up in a situation where the profession is worthwhile for nobody, because most people can achieve the theoretical DPS, and those that can can still do so more easily (and possibly with more utility) with other professions.

Edited November 1, 2023 by draxynnic.3719

[Puck.3697]

2 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

It would, but as long as the potential for sweaty rotations remains at all (and that's hard to remove entirely with how elementalist has been designed, especially with things like Weave Self in play), then if everything is being balanced according to Snowcrows

Yeah it's potiental would remain, it just be worth less dps at the bleeding edge, as it'd have more dps front loaded. 

2 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

There needs to be some allowance for the absolute top numbers to be a little higher on the hardest builds so that the balance can be in a state where the profession is competitive for the majority of the player base

The problem is. You could buff the current state of elementalist by 15k and the average player won't see the benefit. 

If you look at wingman, average dps of elementalist is in line with every other class, the issue is ofcourse wingman removes the medium, as the middle player dont raid and to stack ele isnt even close to middle played its one of the if not the least played. 

When u look at the core dps loss by players, it's missing GCDs. Because the average player doesn't actually get every GCD in, ironically they miss alot of them. 

Elementalist espically weaver is incredibly fast, wirh alot of buttons to remember, with a low hp pool, the average player won't perform on the class regardless of the potiental, they simply won't survive the fight. 

Imho power weaver is not a incredibly hard atleast when I mained the proffession in PoF, however, players still failed to perform, the average even looking at a average raider, just cant press abilities that fast aswell as dodge mechanics,  

I dont think there is alot anet could do without damaging its skill ceiling to get the average raiders performance on this class, its incredibly fast, it has 4 sets of abilities with invisible cooldowns u cant visually see outside that element. 

Aswell as the lowest hp with the squishiest armour in the game, in all honesty I think ironically buffing its defensives / hp would actually help average raiders more then any dps buff. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Puck.3697

[AliamRationem.5172]

4 hours ago, Puck.3697 said:

Yeah it's potiental would remain, it just be worth less dps at the bleeding edge, as it'd have more dps front loaded. 

The problem is. You could buff the current state of elementalist by 15k and the average player won't see the benefit. 

If you look at wingman, average dps of elementalist is in line with every other class, the issue is ofcourse wingman removes the medium, as the middle player dont raid and to stack ele isnt even close to middle played its one of the if not the least played. 

When u look at the core dps loss by players, it's missing GCDs. Because the average player doesn't actually get every GCD in, ironically they miss alot of them. 

Elementalist espically weaver is incredibly fast, wirh alot of buttons to remember, with a low hp pool, the average player won't perform on the class regardless of the potiental, they simply won't survive the fight. 

Imho power weaver is not a incredibly hard atleast when I mained the proffession in PoF, however, players still failed to perform, the average even looking at a average raider, just cant press abilities that fast aswell as dodge mechanics,  

I dont think there is alot anet could do without damaging its skill ceiling to get the average raiders performance on this class, its incredibly fast, it has 4 sets of abilities with invisible cooldowns u cant visually see outside that element. 

Aswell as the lowest hp with the squishiest armour in the game, in all honesty I think ironically buffing its defensives / hp would actually help average raiders more then any dps buff. 

It isn't just about DPS.  Ele probably wouldn't be bottom of the barrel in class representation if their support options were any good.

Looking at tempest, I think loading a 25% damage boost into a single GM trait and then forcing them to choose between that and the alacrity trait will always be a dealbreaker for this build being a competitive boonDPS.  And when was the last time you saw a tempest healer?

For catalyst I've never played the support build so I'm not sure, but it's probably do with maintaining uptime and the energy mechanic.  Why does this spec even have energy?  It seems like a pointless restriction.

I think if they could make the support builds worth playing and we had good options for qcatalyst, alactempest, healtempest, and maybe another competitive DPS build or two on weaver ele would see respectable play time.

[Omg Im Target.3095]

Where is this anti-ele propaganda coming from? From self victimizing weavers to this...

[Nephalem.8921]

On 10/31/2023 at 9:37 AM, draxynnic.3719 said:

Which is the point. Wasn't too long ago that power deadeye was top of the table - but people weren't pressured into playing deadeye because everyone understood how hard that was to pull off in practice. 

The more complex elementalist rotations can fit into a similar regime. Last time I was regularly doing instanced PvE (been taking a bit of a break since SOTO), people were still happy to take riflemechs because while their theoretical damage was about the same as a boondps, they'd reliably get at least close to that theoretical maximum.

We have a situation where Arenanet can either balance according to a strict DPS cap, in which case nobody will use DPS elementalist (since only the top players can hit the cap, and even then they can still hit the cap much easier with other professions) or they can balance according to what experienced but not Snowcrows-level raiders, strikers, and fractalers achieve, and accept that the speedrunners might feel the need to play elementalist to scrape a few more seconds off their kill time.

Given that choice, I'd take the second any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Particularly since the SC-level players aren't going to be failing content if they aren't bringing the absolute top DPS, they just won't be setting records. Maybe it's fair to ask record-setters to master the more complex builds. It's the players in the middle where it's likely to be the difference between success and failure.

Now, there's a degree to which making simpler rotations for elementalist is certainly possible. There are fairly LI weaver builds, for example, that just bounce between two attunements. The nature of elementalist, though, is that any such build is going to have a sweaty rotation, perhaps with a few trait and/or utility swaps, that can eke out just that much more. If it's those builds where the caps are set, it suppresses the entire profession.

Power DD DE was extremely easy to pull of on most encounters. The problem was and still is that benchmark isn't everything. No burst, no cleave means builds like soulbeast performed better on most encounters despite having a lower bench.

Backstab is not burst even when reddit tries to convince me it is...

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

On 11/1/2023 at 1:52 PM, AliamRationem.5172 said:

It isn't just about DPS.  Ele probably wouldn't be bottom of the barrel in class representation if their support options were any good.

Looking at tempest, I think loading a 25% damage boost into a single GM trait and then forcing them to choose between that and the alacrity trait will always be a dealbreaker for this build being a competitive boonDPS.  And when was the last time you saw a tempest healer?

For catalyst I've never played the support build so I'm not sure, but it's probably do with maintaining uptime and the energy mechanic.  Why does this spec even have energy?  It seems like a pointless restriction.

I think if they could make the support builds worth playing and we had good options for qcatalyst, alactempest, healtempest, and maybe another competitive DPS build or two on weaver ele would see respectable play time.

 

I think it's the biggest issue, particulary on elem.
DPS traits are so insanely strong  in the modifiers PLUS a second effect (singularity, precision buff etc) that if you just want to take one other trait for personnal sustain or support you just cut your DPS in half.

And it seems they don't see it like this; next patch "Oh, we will give +15% on hammer #3 because you know, why just buff skills when you can put more modifiers everywhere ?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes you could give +15K DPS on elem and people still won't play it: but it all depends how you implemant the +15K DPS.

If you just buff modifiers out of control and people are still not able able to trigger and maintain all buffs because of absurd conditions (EE), or they die in two hits with no personal sustain, or Water/Earth still cripple DPS with the loss of modifiers, long cast (riptide, dagger #2 ...); sure nobody will play elem while you can play reaper / virtuoso / etc with easy DPS and insane sustain in your DPS rotation.
They really need to mix personal Sustain with DPS in a way, and "reduce" disparity in traits on same  major category.

For example weaver : just put a DPS modifier when you have barrier; so you could equip Stone Resonance or play Bolstered Elements and don't lose too much DPS because you actually can stay alive and maintain your modifier.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Zhaid Zhem.6508

[kharmin.7683]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:37 AM, Joncal.9623 said:

I honestly find the heavy focus on melee across all its e-specs, and also core, to be the biggest turnoff.

 

I believe that this is due to the game's change of direction toward instanced content (raids, strikes) in order to keep players close together for boon-sharing.

[Revan.2015]

Ele for me has a lot of flaws that make it pretty hard to enjoy and it starts with the concepts and what it is meant to be, a spellcaster. However, instead of being one all Ele weapons and all builds force you into melee range to be remotely effective minus the Staff.... we don't talk about the staff (this weapon and its associated skills/animations warrant their own thread). I like the battlemage aesthetic, so I was kind of dealing with the class so far, there are numerous mechanics that are just cumbersome that add to the displeasure of playing an Ele. 

For example, the not being able to weaponswap is a double-edged sword. Sure the logic behind it is that because of the 4 attunements it's not needed, but that fails in practice. Why? Because each Weapon has a set range associated with an element. So if you engage in combat with your staff out you are basically sol if you are forced into melee because staff has nothing that's effective in dealing with close-range fighters whether that's in PvP, WvW, or in PvE. This issue persists from weapon to weapon in different scenarios. You are in WvW and have your sword out but you're defending a fort and need to do long-range dmg? Too bad, sit there until you get out of combat before you can contribute anything. And the Attunements don't fix these issues because the skills under each are limited in range. A good example is hammer catalyst, Fire and lightning are mid-range and water and earth are short range.... which again if you need that 1200 range at any point too bad.

This isn't even talking about the DPS rotation and how having to break away from it to heal yourself or cleanse conditions is unforgiving or its severe lack of gap closers and disengages incorporated into its weapon skills despite being constantly forced into melee range. At the end of the day Ele is a soft spellcaster that is forced into melee range which then forces very limiting and specific builds (that still fall short in areas) to survive regardless of the e-spec in use and that limited build-diversity is what makes it off-putting and not as fun to play as other classes.

 

[Helgaley.3619]

On 10/30/2023 at 6:00 PM, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Ele currently sits below a 5% combined play rate (according to wingman stats) - the lowest of any class.  This despite having the current top DPS benchmark along with two other builds listed in the top 10 on snowcrows.

Wingman doesn't account for pvp, wvw, and open world, though, and according to gw2efficiency, it's actually number 5 for playtime: https://gw2efficiency.com/account/player-statistics

I think ele is numerically balanced in terms of output relative to the other professions, but it has a lot of design issues that Anet hasn't really acknowledged as far as I'm aware. It's squishy, the rotations are complex, it has to use melee weapons to have competitive DPS in instanced content, and as many others have said, ele just takes more effort for the same or even less results than other professions in similar roles. Lots of people (myself included) play ele because it fulfills the staff wielding mage archetype, but for instanced content, why would the average player take a profession that takes is high risk+ high effort but can't do anything better than any other profession? 

The average player is not going to achieve the DPS benchmark in instanced, but since the class is so squishy and unforgiving, they're probably going to end up in downstate. It almost incentivizes players to bring other professions because not only can they achieve the same results for less effort, there isn't as much risk of them becoming a burden to the group because they made one mistake and got one shot. 

It doesn't matter how many small adjustments Anet makes to the numbers because that doesn't address the design issues. Even when they added quickness and alacrity, doesn't it seem like alacrity would have more synergy with the catalyst orb mechanic while tying quickness to shouts would be far less cumbersome and forgiving for tempest? And why does such a squishy class have to use melee weapons to have competitive DPS? Is it really still necessary for the ele to not be able to change weapons in PVE content at this point in the game? 

The design issues are just so asinine and glaringly obvious that it's frustrating Anet hasn't even acknowledged their existence. 

 

[AliamRationem.5172]

16 minutes ago, Helgaley.3619 said:

Wingman doesn't account for pvp, wvw, and open world, though, and according to gw2efficiency, it's actually number 5 for playtime: https://gw2efficiency.com/account/player-statistics

I think ele is numerically balanced in terms of output relative to the other professions, but it has a lot of design issues that Anet hasn't really acknowledged as far as I'm aware. It's squishy, the rotations are complex, it has to use melee weapons to have competitive DPS in instanced content, and as many others have said, ele just takes more effort for the same or even less results than other professions in similar roles. Lots of people (myself included) play ele because it fulfills the staff wielding mage archetype, but for instanced content, why would the average player take a profession that takes is high risk+ high effort but can't do anything better than any other profession? 

The average player is not going to achieve the DPS benchmark in instanced, but since the class is so squishy and unforgiving, they're probably going to end up in downstate. It almost incentivizes players to bring other professions because not only can they achieve the same results for less effort, there isn't as much risk of them becoming a burden to the group because they made one mistake and got one shot. 

It doesn't matter how many small adjustments Anet makes to the numbers because that doesn't address the design issues. Even when they added quickness and alacrity, doesn't it seem like alacrity would have more synergy with the catalyst orb mechanic while tying quickness to shouts would be far less cumbersome and forgiving for tempest? And why does such a squishy class have to use melee weapons to have competitive DPS? Is it really still necessary for the ele to not be able to change weapons in PVE content at this point in the game? 

The design issues are just so asinine and glaringly obvious that it's frustrating Anet hasn't even acknowledged their existence. 

 

Allowing ele weapon swaps would lead to really stupid rotations, though.  It's already bad enough with the meta condi scepter and power sword just rotating back and forth between fire and earth or fire and air.  If you add another weapon set they'll probably end up rotating fire on one set back to fire on another set while paying a stupid price for using any utility outside of fire, of which they'll have twice as many as they're supposed to have so they'll just nerf everything to be half as effective.

[Helgaley.3619]

22 minutes ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Allowing ele weapon swaps would lead to really stupid rotations, though.  It's already bad enough with the meta condi scepter and power sword just rotating back and forth between fire and earth or fire and air.  If you add another weapon set they'll probably end up rotating fire on one set back to fire on another set while paying a stupid price for using any utility outside of fire, of which they'll have twice as many as they're supposed to have so they'll just nerf everything to be half as effective.

Maybe. Ele needs a way to deal with phases where you have to weapon swap from melee to ranged and vice versa. Redesigning conjured weapons to function like engineer kits would be nice, but that's another idea that has been floating around for years without Anet acknowledging it. Lol. 

[draxynnic.3719]

1 hour ago, Helgaley.3619 said:

Maybe. Ele needs a way to deal with phases where you have to weapon swap from melee to ranged and vice versa. Redesigning conjured weapons to function like engineer kits would be nice, but that's another idea that has been floating around for years without Anet acknowledging it. Lol. 

Yeah, I was just about to observe that conjures seem intended to perform that role, but are so awkward to use in practice that they just don't.

9 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I believe that this is due to the game's change of direction toward instanced content (raids, strikes) in order to keep players close together for boon-sharing.

There has been a trend in the more recent strikes to have phases that force the boonball out of melee range, at least temporarily, which rewards having access to range. In most cases, though, they're among the few cases where hammer's 600 range and slow projectile speed allows them to be a decent standoff option, although some cases like Old Lion's Court do require more range.

[Nephalem.8921]

15 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I believe that this is due to the game's change of direction toward instanced content (raids, strikes) in order to keep players close together for boon-sharing.

Cvirtu, harb and specter are all mostly ranged and very strong in raids/strikes. Anet stopped giving ranged builds dps penalties for being ranged. Or for having utility. Insanely smart move by anet. That is how they created 20%+ cvirt playrate which is totally fine apparently.

It is only bad when ele does it.