Why only one elite skill?

Every time I try to put one more elite skill into my skill bar the other one jumps out meaning I can only have the one elite skill in my skill bar. Isn't this a bit silly?

I have noticed people recommending skill set ups and they have more than one elite skill, how are they doing this?

You can only have one elite on your bar at a time (hence, elite).

You can however get multiple elites on one bar by using the signet of capture (for unlocking new elites) - however they'll only stay while you're in the explorable you capped them in.

Alternatively there are some fun mesmer skills that will "steal" elites (ie. arcane mimicry), but that's not quite the same

I suppose that's okay, if its the rules of the game, I just thought it was my game that was broken or something that I was overlooking.

I'm thinking you're looking at an outdated skill icon of Lightbringer Signet, which used to be elite but isn't anymore.

Also, elites are more powerful than other skills and can be buffed/nerfed in the knowledge that they won't be able to be used with other elites. If it was possible, there are some combinations with elites that would be seriously broken.

if designing mechanics vital to the competitive balance of a game at the expense of your ability to feel like an uber mega gosu pve god is silly then yes.
(^that means the answer is no.)

Like others have mentioned elites are too powerful combined, often enough they will be the keystone of a build and all other skills will be built around them. Most builds are named after their elite skills as well.

EDIT: Concerning having more than one elite, it can be done. But often the conditions are too specific to be useful, or it will chew up a large portion of your skill bar.

Maybe you are looking at builds people made online where they put more than 1 elite in. The only other ways to get more than 1 elite is Arcane Echo/Echo/Arcane Mimicry/Signet of Capture.

If you're seeing a build code with more than one elite in the bar it was probably done with the teambuilder program. It can't actually be used in game if it's like that but it can be sent through the templates.

And more than one elite would make this game even more broken.

It's just how the game works.

Copy and paste this build code:
OghogwJsCvwMMIHyi8sM0GWM2h1GbfETdA

It's called "Solo Farm"

Sorry, but where shall I paste it?

Imagine, if you will, having 8 elite skills on your bar. Now THAT would be silly. Next, imagine allowing the bosses to use 8 elite skills. because if YOU could use that many, it's only fair to let the foes use that many.

Seriously though, the skill-balancing in the game is very clever, but also fragile. It is based on the system in Magic The Gathering. Under the rules that they have in place, you can use any combination of primary/secondary professions, and create builds that are relatively similar in strength.

Now, of course there are good builds and bad builds. The point is, you have access to what you need to have a fair fight with pve or pvp foes based on the system that is in place. When particular skills stand out too much (particularly in pvp) they sometimes will decide to "nerf" the skills, attempting to discourage their overuse and bring things into balance. When particular skills are underused, they occasionally decide to "buff" them, encouraging players to come up with new builds to utilize these improved skills.

This process is challenging for the developers, because no matter what they change (or choose not to change), there are many unhappy players that wanted the opposite of what they decided to do. In the end, though, their goal is to keep the game balanced, whereby people can use a variety of builds to compete effectively in pvp and pve.

Whether they've achieved that is another matter.

People do ping skill bars that are either 8 elites, or 8 copies of the same elite. It's funny, but completely unusable. They just used the templates to make it look like a real skillbar.

From within Guild Wars, press K for your skills & attributes window, click on the load/save icon, then click "Template code." Paste it in there.

Play PVP then tell me its silly to have only one elite...