newb advice needed(long)

im pretty new to this game but not gaming, play d2 & sacred, but i am having a bit of a hard time.not that i mind hard, it just seems a little much some times.
anyhoo, i have a lvl 11 elementalist/monk,stats:
life 250/energy 62
firemagic 10
energy storage 6
healing 3
lvl30 pyromancers armour+1 major fire rune oh and a jewel in her head,forget stats?
jewled chakram energy +4 health +18 while hexed
earth wand energy +10 regen -1

i did as much as i could pre searing (lol, didnt know there was anything else till i read theforum) and got as many skills as i could.did al the quest i think.
i have been wandering around solo plus mercs but have come to a bit of a halt. i'm currently at piken square trying to do the garfang? quest. i got most of the way on my own (to the pyramid)but get badly outnumbered and then killed.tried luring the monsters one or two at a time but they all just seem to mob me anyway. tried this about six times on my own.
last night i partied with some nice peeps who suffered from my ineptitude, sorry to whoever that was. but i got kiled,again and again. -60 death penalty meant i was getting kiled in 2 hits from anything.mostly it was char archers that i couldnt get away from.we gave up.
i dont feel that i do enough damage, i get killed far too easily from monsters that give little or no exp and enegry regen seems a little slow.
am i in the right area for my lvl?
are mass deaths like this common?

spells i currently have loaded are: aura of restoration,fire storm,flare,glyph of lesser energy,heal area,orison of healing,purge conditions,ressurect.

any advice gratefully recieved

Welcome to Guild Wars!

As an elementalist, you ARE the huge damage dealer - BUT you must stay far back from the warriors' business. Wait for them to engage the enemy, hopefully bunching them nicely for you, then cast your Firestorm.

Flare uses up your energy really fast because it has a short recharge time. Use your wand a few times in between.

The wonderful spells Lava Font, Phoenix, and Inferno (you probably don't have that one yet) should be used strictly for defense - don't run up to a monster and cast it. You are asking for it if you do it.

On my elem, I beefed up energy storage at least as much as my fire magic. You never know, as an el/mo, whether you will be called upon to be main healer in your party.

Did you know your major fire rune is negative health? Try adding at least a minor vigor rune to another piece of armor to offset this.

Garfazz Bloodfang can be done with the right group at lvl 11, but it is a tough one. Lots of monsters wandering around. Even if you have a "nice" group - do they communicate, and call targets and focus fire? These are important things to know how to do to have a successful quest.

Good luck and hope that helped.

the other thing is ... you are ... or at least should be .... one of the damage dealers ... so check your skills because you have listed far to many non-damage dealing skills in your current bar.

if you have been top grendich courthouse (north of nolani academy) you can pick up immolate and phoenix. Other wise try the following replacements:

aura of restoration = not needed switch with healing breeze
heal area = (was I the only one that saw this pve no-no!)
purge conditions = replace with damage skill

att: fire = 8, energy = 6 healing = 4, air = 4 (i think, maybe 3)

skills: healing breeze, Orison, glyph of lesser energy, fire storm, flare, lightning javelin, blinding flash, ressurect

then use this like so ... join a monk,a and at least 1 tank, 2 preffered. Let them tank the group while you drop fire storm, then use your flares (Lightning javelin can be replaced with some other attack skill i just threw it in there).

make use of your glyphs on the fire storm, breeze, blinding flash and Orison are your defense ... CHARR hit elementalists hard. They really do. Elementalists have the weakest armor and you will die in like 5 hits without any defense.

If that fails, you can play a role as a healer and find a group of higher level players with damage skills.

heal area is just taking up space there. it heals everything close to you, even mobs. try to use healing breeze instead.

when you get attacked, try not to run away from the warriors, run towards them and drag the mobs to the warriors.

good luck

I'd drop the Air completely and focus on Fire/Heal. Blinding flash doesn't last long enough, or have a small enough cost to warrant 4 air just for it. Replacing it with Aura of restoration wouldn't hurt if you're the only healer.

Also, always remember to call targets when playing with the henchies as they will have less of a tendancy to get spread out.

Just relentlessly attack your primary target, and look for 'pesky' things you can do to the other mobs with the rest of your skills until it's time to move on to a new target and you should find the henchies stay nicely focused this way (for the most part, heh)

my advice to you would probably be to find atleast one experienced player to lead your party and listen to everything that person says like your life depends on it cuz it does. Also, I would say that while you are going through the game it is usually best w/ your elem to stick to fire until you are comfortable enough to switch to air which is the popular choice for dmg dealing in pvp. Most of the fire skills you will be using througout the game are aoe skills and single target "catch him on fire" skills. Oh yeah and the whole fighting char thing. Probably one of the hardest things you will do as a new player until you get the hang of the game. Along w/ finding someone to lead your party also make sure to purchase new armor whenever it is available to you(right now armor from ascalon is best for you) cuz you dont wanna get caught fighting char w/ your presearing 5 armor clothing. Later on in the game you will find that w/ your experience you will not have to purchase armor everytime you see it and you will be able to space your purchases out much farther. well have fun and i hope my post has helped.

Well sadly with my ele/nec when i got to piken square i was lvl 17 . i didnt go when i was earlier cuz the charr on the way there was pwning me so i said i would come back later but forgot about it until later. way later. so it was easy for the most part. Alethas ashes i somehow did get a -60 on it. And yes. go with fire and energy storage and whatever is left put in healing. healing breeze with 0 in healing i think is at 5. thats plenty for the amount of health u have now. Take max people with you if you have that much trouble. Henchies arnt always the smartest so try to get real people. Hope that helpd and wasnt confusing.

I had an elementalist/monk for my first character so I spent the most time learning about her. So here are the things I see, I'll just pick through everyone's comments and add my own.

If you have a major fire rune on, you need need need a vigor, i would go for major but minor will suffice if you are a poor lowly newb. Because that major takes off -50, and eles dies so fast, it's really key to have as much health as you can. But yeah it's good to have major fire, you will need it later on.

As far as what stumpy said, I think I agree more with Orochim. You don't need to stretch yourself so thin with your attribute points. Stick with fire now, you get the most spells for it in the beginning, and if something else appeals to you you can always switch to it later. Or if you want to be different and start now, just make sure you have a majority of your points going to whatever your damage is. Eles are known more for their two or three attribute builds.

Build up your fire to max and put the rest in energy storage, and whatever is left can go to healing, yes. But honestly if you want to be effective I would focus more on doing damage than healing, because if you do both it's going to end up sort of half assed. Know what I mean? You have to sort of learn to trust the monks, they are your best friend.

And like almost everyone said, let the warriors take the damage. Never run up to a mob, it's instant death for an ele. Stay a great distance back and request that the warriors herd the mobs for your aoe. Aoe is key! I find that casting firestorm, meteor shower and then searing heat will take out a mob extremely fast. But you will find your own way. If you need more help, message me ingame. Hope I helped!

WOW! thanks for so many replys where can i get a vigour rune?, not seen those for sale so far.

Just check any a rune trader at any major town or arena. They usually go for around 250-500 I find.

Runes should be sold at the rune trader. There is one in Ascalon, and I believe he/she is placed near the armor/weapon crafter people. You may not see it at first, but you can scroll down to see more runes (I did not know this until Lion's Arch...)