What does the dervish mean for the elementalist?

Well, from what I have read, I picture the dervish being a pbaoe type character. In a way this is good for the elementalist, because that pretty much assures that there will be a lot of mob groups in ch3 (nice for nukers). However, I think this class pretty much kills the geomancer as an offensive profession. Because this character is a melee-type character, he will have better armor than the elementalist, and we know that he will have protection and healing abilities. I think overall this is bad. Water is already pretty much a support build, and earth, already on the verge of turning into an all out support build, is pretty much so situational (no mesmers around!) that it is only good for its wards. Air really isn't that effective in PvE, so it appears that fire will still be the way to go in ch3, unless the new skills drastically change things.

There's a good chance there will be alot of large mobs in Nightfall (probably why fire was yet again buffed)
I'm hoping the dervish will deal less pbaoe damage, but more constantly than the Elementalist. So E/D & D/E should be a good choice for some big close range damage.

geomancers will never be replaced because of their situational abilities. the dervish is an assassin\warrior mix. so low armor with the ability to dodge attacks. they can't dodge spellcasters so meh no biggie. the only thing they will be good for is farming it seems. a dervish can't tank so what else is left for it to do? hit and run for a longer period of time. also in PvE how often do you get a nice packed group where a dervish can be maximized? not very often and in the cases where a good tank can pack em in why use a dervish when you can have a spell caster SS or Nuke em. I'm not to worried about them at all...although they seem fun to farm with though as a secondary profession.

pegasux, I agree..unless they have a much bigger pbaoe or aoe range than elementalists, i would rather be a caster and stand back and nuke aoe spells.