[instance PvE] Should we buff Fresh Air?

[BenaSPACE.6028]

On terms of PvE I feel fresh air ends up taking a back seat to bolt to the heart, which is kind of understandable. Ferocity is nice, but for most builds, 250 ferocity can't beat what is effectively a 5% buff over the course of a fight. 

Likewise, Elementalist does face a crit-cap problem when it's not playing weaver or catalyst. Ergo, I would propose a small change to buff it:

Add 250 precision on top of the ferocity for fresh air. 

[Stallic.2397]

I've been experimenting an various builds and Ele does face a precision problem. The fury traits don't help since 20% just isn't enough, and its only a 50% frequency rate. 

I would advocate for more precision but it shouldn't be fresh air only cause fresh air triggers on crit, so if you already have a crit problem, fresh air wont effectively solve it. 

Edited April 10 by Stallic.2397

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

I'm not so sure.  The  times since we were trying out Fresh Air vs. BttH were awhile ago, but I remember that Fresh Air's damage loss was very minor.  For example, this somewhat out-of-date video has Fresh air being a mere 100 DPS behind BttH.  This is weaver focused, though.  The other specializations don't make as great a use out of Fresh Air as weaver does.

It would be nice to have some updated numbers on this.  I can understand the trait not being as useful on the other specs, since those hang in their respective elements longer.  But,  if Fresh Air remains the DPS competitive yet greater flexibility option for Weaver, that is a perfectly fine place for the trait to be.  We don't want to completely invalidate BttH.  

[thetwothousand.5049]

I honestly don't mind FA being in the state that its in, assuming that what Blood Red Arachnid brought up is still accurate. I assume it is because I can't think of any of the changes that have been made that would impact the DPS gap between the two.

And I do think that gap is healthy for the game. Fresh Air is the weaker DPS option but grants a huge increase in flexibility for defense, CC, or just resetting your rotation for what ever reason. BttH is a stronger pure DPS, but has a stricter gameplay and penalties for tradeoffs. With the DPS gap between the two being so small, but defined, it allows for both to exist competitively in the meta.

If FA was buff to be on par or superior to BttH it would take over the meta entirely, which wouldn't be healthy for the game and would inevitably lead to a nerf. And frankly I don't know that I trust anet to buff FA, and then simply revert it to its current state if it was too strong. Its better for everyone I think if both traits stay as is, and I say that as someone that has been playing FA weaver in pve since PoF launched.