GW gear abbreviations / questions

hi all. i just began playing GW : PvP Access Kit a bit ago, and in doing my own research, i hit a few minor snags when looking over equipment information. the build i am looking to obtain, recommends the following armor sets for an elementalist:

Survivor's, Rune of Sup Vigor
40/20/20 Enchanting Set
40/40 Water Set
Defensive Sets

i intepret this to mean:

survivor insignia on all armor, rune of superior vigor (+50hp)
a two-handed staff with 40% cast, 20% rch, 20% enchant bonuses
a wand and offhand with 40% cast, 40% rch
??? i don't know what "defensive sets" means, exactly.

i got all of this through the PvP Armor window, except for "defensive sets" - what exactly would that involve?

additionally, in terms of playing style, how does one quickly switch between sets of gear in this game? presumably one would use the 40/20/20 enchanting staff to self-buff with enchantments, then switch to the 40/40 water set in order to attack. is this accurate, or no? and, when would one want to switch to the "defensive sets" instead of regular armor (with survivor's insignia, etc)?

it's been difficult but i've managed to find most of the information on my own, so i'd appreciate some help if anyone can quickly answer the questions i asked above. thanks!

Im pretty sure you got everything right.
A "Defensive Set" is a shield with +30 and an inscription of your liking (casters would probably go with -20% Daze Duration, were as a melee class would use -20% Cripple or Blind Duation). The other half of your defensive set is any weapon of your liking, usually with +30Health and +5 Energy).

awesome, thanks. final question, how do i quickly switch between all those things? i didn't find an easy way to do it through the inventory (in other games, right-clicking armor will quick-switch it). thanks!

There is no shortcut to quickly switch between armor sets, but you can save your armor set as a template to load later.

With weapons, you can switch between four sets of weapons with the default keys of F1 through F4. When you save your armor as a template, your current weapon set is also saved with it.

It seems that many PvPers have a lot of different shields for various purposes (+10AL vs. Fire, Cold, Lightning, etc., -20% Cripple, Dazed, etc.). There is no easy way to switch between all of these shields except by swapping them while they are in your inventory.

Press "I" for Inventory panel and you will see a button Weapon Sets. This will open another small panel where you can check off weapon sets 1-4. In the lower righthand corner of your screen will appear the three additional weapons set "containers", numbered F1-F4.
You click on each one and in your inventory screen drag (or double-click) the weapon, offhand or shield you want.

This will store 4 weapon sets that can be switched by using the F1-F4 keys or by clicking on the "container".

For the defensive set, you could also opt to have several different shields, each with +10 armor vs. a specific type of damage (piercing for rangers, slashing/blunt for warriors, +10 vs. fire/cold, etc) as the inscription. You should also have a lesser daze duration just in case you encounter such a build, but you'll most likely spend most of your time in your slashing shield. The shields allow you to swap equipment on the fly based on what type of damage you are up against so that you are the best equipped no matter the conditions. Also, the weapon you want to use in your defensive set is usually +5 energy as the inscription, and +30 health. The other mod on the weapon doesn't matter (but don't use zealous or vampiric).