Do more with glyphs

Glyphs were originally advertised as the cool signature thing the elementalist can do. They haven't really turned out to be that signature, however. They're useful, but not anywhere near as characteristic as spirits for the ritualist, chants for the paragon, or life-stealing for the necro. I've always felt glyphs could have been better.

Recently they have given them a boost by making them apply to more than 1 spell in a chain. The best example is the Glyph of Elemental Power, which wasn't very useful when it only applied to your next spell, but is very useful now as it applies to your next 10 spells.

Still, I think they can do a lot more with glyphs. They could make it so that when an ele casts a spell, it's the glyphs that really decide the effect it has. Some examples:

Glyph of Ethereal Magic
Elementalist - No Attribute
Energy 5
Glyph
Cast time: 1/2 sec
Reuse 30

Your next offensive element spell deals double damage to spirits.

Glyph of Frost Fire
Elementalist - Fire Magic
Energy 5
Glyph
Cast time: 1/2 sec
Reuse 15

Your next 3 offensive fire spells deals cold damage instead. 50% chance of failure with 4 fire magic or less.

Glyph of Girth
Elementalist - No Attribute
Energy 5
Glyph
Cast time: 1/2 sec
Reuse 45

The radius of your next area of effect spell is increased by 1 catagory.

Glyph of Shock
Elementalist - Air Magic
Energy 5
Glyph
Cast time: 1/2 sec
Reuse 20

Your next 1...4 offensive air spells interrupt their target's action.

Glyph of Stamina
Elementalist - No Attribute
Energy 5
Glyph
Cast time: 1/2 sec
Reuse 15

Your next spell costs no energy but causes exhaustion. If it already causes exhaustion, it causes double.

I'll go one further; imagine if attunements were designed as glyphs (with lower recasts). Suddenly attunements are no longer a brainless affair. Irremovable, but since one can only have one glyph at a time, there is a tactical choice in ones use of glyphs. I think it would breathe life into playing an ele, having to decide whether to have that long-lasting glyph that gives you back energy or switch to that glyph that makes your spells recharge quicker; or use that one-shot glyph that makes your next earth enchantment reapply when it's removed; or that glyph that makes your water hexes last a bit longer.

I understand nothing is currently broken here, and some may ask, "why fix it?" but I just think it's a shame that they never really took advantage of such a cool game feature as glyphs. The elementalist seems a bit flat to me, laking that character that the other classes have. For Guild Wars 2, I'm hoping they lower the casting time of glyphs and give them a huge amount of versatility. If they did that, they could even get away with just giving elementalists generic spells only.

Two things, if they did that then energy management for eles would die unless they fiddled with energy storage.

That and I think it sounds like a great idea and such but to be honest it doesn't seem like Anet will bother =\ I guess in a way attunement is what makes the eles what they are...

/signed on your new glyph ideas, /notsigned on attunes being glyph yuck, that would make eles further get raped in the ass via energy, they already got exhaustion kicking their asses + tons of 25e skills, and now there is going to be atrophy to rape them no thanks

I'm kinda posting this in hopes it gets worked into Guild Wars 2, assuming they also like the idea. It's probably too late for GW:EN already.

Here's hoping though!

Regarding the attunements, I personally think it's a great idea (if the recharge time was reduced) because at the moment they're kinda brainless as enchantments. You just put them on your bar, cast and forget. It's a part of your build that you never have to think about. As, glyphs it's more interesting. If you'd like to keep your attunements up, you just simply choose not to use another glyph. On the positive side, they cannot be stripped. On the negative side, you cannot use other glyphs without losing the attunement.

And anyway, energy management isn't a problem for every build, just some builds. In fact, energy management might even be easier if they just put in a bunch more glyphs geared towards it.

Cold Damage? Ewwww... i was hoping it'd be something like "Your next 3 spells cause burning"
Hmm.. Nah not a fan of this one.. Maybe.. Your next spall doesnt cause Exhaustion but costs double (maybe tripple) its basic energy cost? That'd be more fun.
Now that is an awsome Glyph, /Signed, i'd honistly love to see some more Glyph's being used in the game.

As for the Attunement thing, i play an Ele and i honistly don't think there is anything wrong with them =/ Their fine how they are.. fair enough it can be stripped but just part of the game, learning to manage your energy and if it is stripped to try and deal with it/work as a team (Talking PvE anyways, PvP i can imagen it being very painful, but your an Ele anyway, ya don't need Energy managment in PvP since your squishy and will die soon anyway XD tehee j/k <3), also if we made it into a Glyph and you juggle using different ones thats gonna be an extra 5energy each time you use it as apposed to one easy payment of $9.99!..i uhm mean, 10 energy for the whole 60odd seconds. /unsigned, sorry, Since even if we change it from an Enchant what about (e.g.) E/D's? Mystic Regeneration will be losing out alot, aswell as other Enchant related spells, i vote just leave it how it is, as ya said; "why fix it" ^^; hehe :P

THat Girth Glyph thingy would rape lol.
But /signed
It's a nice idea.

/signed

Eles glyphs could certainly be a bit more flushed out, but there several glyphs already that are used in almost every ele build (GoLE).

/signed for the glyphs
/unsigned for the Attunement thing, leave it as it is, it's fine.

A glyph that eleminates the exhaustion of a spell but doubles its energy cost is a decent idea too.

I'm not really concerned if people like some of my suggested glyphs or not. I'm more concerned about the idea of making glyphs the ele's backbone. The reason I suggested Glyph of Frost Fire for example is to show that glyphs can make the ele more flexible. If suddenly an ele finds himself against a situation he didn't expect (like, for example, a strong fire defense) he can rely on his glyphs to give him that flexibility.

I'll give you another example:

Glyph of Distribution
Elementalist - No Attribute
Energy 5
Glyph
Cast time: 1/2 sec
Reuse 10

Your next offensive spell deals a third the damage but deals that damage 3 times.

This is basically a way to get your next spell around Protective Spirit or Shelter.

Imagine having just 3 generic damage spells and 4 glyphs. A glyph to change your spell into an interrupt, a glyph to add a useful condition, a glyph to manage energy, and a glyph to improve area effect capability. The idea is not to necessarily improve the power of the spell, but the versatility.