Constructive Elementalist Ideas

Nerf rangers then down to the energy storage level. Take away pips of regen for extra levels of expertise and no zealous weapons.

I aknowledge that nerfing rangers like that is a horrible idea, but to put it bluntly, you really need to step back and take a greater perspective of the situation. Elementalists must use ether prodigy to match ranger efficiency without the ranger using a single skill slot devoted to it. Also note that a elementalist takes damage from keeping high energy while using ether prodigy, lose all enchantments, and can exhaustion lock themselves if used constantly to maintain the parity with rangers. Rangers are also not forced to juggle things like exhaustion ruining any kind of long term benefit from high use exhaustion causing skills. You can look at it another way as well, should rangers take 70-100 damage whenever their energy bar is over 50%?

Giving elementalists natural energy regen equivilant to the natural efficiency of rangers would be too much of a boost in all likelyhood. A smaller nudge like other posters and myself have suggested wouldnt be that bad of a idea. It wouldnt cause eles to replace monks, as monks are more effiicent healers anyway. It wouldnt replace ritualists using spirits, due to the hp and durations involved. It wouldnt replace hex builds, due to the nature of the hex durations and removal without fast casting to help deliver them. It would add no synergy to minion master builds. It would require slight tuning towards ether prodigy specifically, but thats about it. Rangers would still be more effiicent, energy has little to do with adrenalin, and elementalists hardly have the hitting power bonuses that a assassin primary has.
119 damage delivered once every 33s is a laughable source of damage and can be dodged by anyone with a run speed boost. It also only does that much damage if the target is not a warrior, ranger, in the range of shelter, under the effect of prot spirit, while protected by a mantra, and so on.

Necros on the other hand can do damage through prot spirit unmitigated, in addition to having things like desecrate enchantments and feast of corruption which hit hard and are aoe, while being free from the constraints of things like exhaustion that would be linked to a similar skill from an elementalist.

Mesmers can do less damage, but will bring down things like prot spirit or deny energy at the same time, while delivering the attack faster and more often.

Then you have things like rangers spiking for 200-250 damage in the time it takes to cast a lightning orb, never mind a meteor. Hammer warriors hitting in the 70-90+ range with just irresistable blow. This is in addition to the combos assassins posess. This is not even going into conditions or adrenalin spikes.

The only profession that really comes to mind that doesnt nuke better than a elementalist outright, is probably the monk. Air of enchantment smiting is rather efficient, even if cumbersome.

To make an arguement for AOE making up the difference is fairly laughable, because players tend to not bunch up when presented with attacks like fireball and others. Furthermroe the AOE on these attacks are so pitiful that they cant even strike targets behind the caster at point blank range, never mind the fact that even fireball can be dodged entirely without a run speed boost. Then you have operating spaces such as the aggro circle, which is more than 2x the size of a ward (aka "in the area" the biggest aoe possible). In this space, there will be people moving around and in all likelyhood no where near each other.

All other classes have added energy armors, to help them with energy heavy builds. Elementist doesn't need that because he is a energy heavy class. I thought it would be great if they added something like Exhaustion management armor for Elementist. Elementist don't have any armors which help them with energy yet, instead of armor with more energy, they could have armor with -1 exhaustion on each piece, 60 armor, and no other stats.

Or they could simply have a single armor piece with 2 or 3 exhaustion reduction, simular to many classes which have armor that helps them with a particular skill type, like knockdown gloves and Corpse cast speed boots.

Another idea, right now Exhaustion recovers at a rate of basicly 1 regeneration, like a single arrow of energy regeneration, if that could be bump that up 1 or 2 points that would greatly improve Exhaustion as well. Either Energy Storage could increase Exhaustion regeneration by one point at 5 and 10, or 6 and 12, or 8 and 16, which would make exhaustion a lesser condition for Elementist only. Or they could add some new Exhaustion management skills which increase Exhaustion recovery or cut off some exhaustion.

I had an interesting Exhaustion management idea, a fire skill which sets the elementist on fire for X seconds and recovers exhaustion at 4 points per 3 seconds (3 more points or the same as caster energy regen. It may need to be an enchantment which does 7 degen instead of burning to include both effects, but that is of little consequence. Or an Energy Storage Elite which increases energy regeneration and exhaustion regeneration by 3 points, but cost alot of energy.

it doesn't make since because i don't see any spell that causes poison at least in the earth line