Jenny.4831

Hi everyone, I've been having a lot of trouble lately with my Elementalist and thought I'd try for something sturdier. Plus, my poor Ele keeps getting wrecked by everyone she meets, especially Reaper Necros, and decided I wanted to try my hand at it in WvW. I cannot 1v1 for the life of me, let alone 1v1+. Now, objectively, I can honestly say I am not that good at this game and that is especially true in pvp situations. I was terrible in WoW and I'm terrible in this when it comes to that sort of content. Rather than stay away though, I am trying to get better so I can enjoy it more. Besides, I want a set of legendary armor and I need a lot of skirmish tickets for it since I don't raid. I know from past experience Reaper Necro works really well in PvE, which I am also having issues with on my Ele, and am very close to giving up on her and switching to Necro full time. Thematically, I love the Elementalist even if I'm not in love with the game play of it. This is especially true of Weaver. I'm just getting too frustrated to really continue with it and games are supposed to be fun. Anyways, this is a build I constructed using the build editor that I thought might work and I'd appreciate any feedback you can give me. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PSxAEd3lVUxO6YKpMv8WZlOyXntbA-zRRYDR9KQMc+lRgVVmpqffgA+tdaEwrF-e Gear wise, this is what I have available at the moment: Ascended full Marauders (light armor, trinkets, ax, focus, warhorn, scepter, staff [in the form of Bifrost])Ascended full Celestial (light armor, trinkets, staff [in the form of Bifrost]) I would need to acquire the Valk amulet from S3 (I have enough S3 currency for a complete trinket/back set so no issues there)I would also need to craft the Valk GS, Ax and Focus, that or reforge the Ax and Focus. I do not have an ascended GS at this time but I have enough mats to craft one. Thank you in advance, Jennifer

Hey everyone, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to respond to my outlandish idea. Suffice it to say, I was not impressed. Granted, I went the cheap route and used the Dire exotics I had already crafted along with some relatively inexpensive TP trinkets in order to keep the cost down. So glad I didn't burn my S3 currencies or the mats on ascended gear. Even though such gear would have had better numbers, it wouldn't be enough of a difference to make it worth playing. Just to highlight how bad it felt, I even switched over to Weaver for a bit to see how it fared against normal DF mobs (which is where I was testing the Dire Tempest as well) and I don't like Weaver. It's just not something I'm comfortable with. Oh sure, 24k health and 2700 toughness on an Ele was nice, but it wasn't fun. I think I would rather go back to my full marauders Fire/Air Fresh Air Tempest. Condi-scepter sucked, just as a few of you said it did, but power air scepter/warhorn is nice and I can work with that. This experiment is henceforth terminated, thank you. -Jennifer

I have a question regarding condi-Weaver. Is there any real value in trying for high bleed duration as well as burn? I was messing around with the build editor the other day (same time as I was messing with the burn Tempest actually) and came up with a build that had 95% burn duration and 65% bleed duration using a mixture of dire and trailblazer. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGBBwix3lZwkYXsImJOKPmvbA-zRRYcRfjM4woIV6qCnpBEfaA-e I suppose if you have the laurels to burn, you could socket expertise in the infusion slots and get 100%/70% or add about 60 more condi damage. At least, I think there are +4 expertise infusions, I might be wrong about that. -Jenny

Hmm, suppose I could convert my Cele gear into something more useful. It would save on costs associated with crafting the base armor. Something to think about for sure, though I do wonder if I should try for Minstrels insignias or just use it for the Dire set (or some other stat).

I have just about all of the LS3 currencies I need for the amulet, earrings, rings, back piece and mouth breather. I'm short a mere 29 bloodstones so I'm not concerned with that and will have that in short order. Before anyone says I don't need to bother with a mouth breather, I'll say this: I have more than 1,100 berries and 32,000 unbound magic. I have more than enough for the extra piece. As for fractals, I wouldn't be able to use the Cele or Dire gear anyway because of the toughness issue. My only recourse there is the ascended Marauder's gear I've been using for my fire/air FA Tempest build. Fortunately, I have enough +9 agonies to account for most of what I would need for T4. (135 before potions and the mastery thing) My personal fractal level is 23 or something pathetic as I really haven't done too many of them. Something I want to change in the future. I do wonder what I can use my Cele set for though, maybe a hybrid damage dealer/support aura Tempest in WvW. Then again, maybe I need Minstrels there and be more heals/support and less half and half. Another ridiculously expensive project and unlike the Cele, I have nothing for it at this point except Bifrost. I'm almost done with Meteorlogicus 3 for my scepter builds, so there is that as well. No need to bother with an ascended dire scepter though I will want a focus and warhorn. Jenny

Thank you for your thoughts. Something I neglected to mention in my original post, and I'm not sure why other than I forgot or didn't think about it, is I have a set of ascended Cele armor and trinkets already. What I lack are the weapons. As for Dire, I have exotic armor and weapons sitting in my bank. I presently lack the sigils (not an issue) and the trinkets. Guess I was wondering which way I needed to go, Cele weapons or Dire trinks until I can make the Dire ascended armor and weapons. I know, open world pve I don't need ascended but I like the pink font color and extra stats too much not to. Some time down the line I plan to make legendary armor through WvW as well, though that will take me quite awhile. I also hope this build (Dire version I suppose) will be viable in WvW in some way. Jennifer

Hello everyone, I was in the build editor earlier and created something which seems to look good on paper, at least to me. Before I go to the ridiculous expense of actually acquiring the gear, I wanted to get some outside opinions from more experienced players. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGBFsE26WZEsL2CrhVij6zVbD-zxQY1IunHNQZkQV0bq4wsQ/nG-e Before this, I've been playing a marauder fresh air Tempest and while it is effective, it's also somewhat squishy and I have trouble with things I feel I shouldn't be having trouble with. I thought some extra toughness and a mixture of power/condi would help but I don't know. I've never really played a condi oriented Ele before. Before someone tells me I shouldn't even be using marauders and zerkers is the only way to go, I'll say this: There is no way in hell I'll do that. I feel vulnerable and have enough problems as it is, I don't need to make the situation worse. Weaver is a lost cause, as the constant switching of attunements from one half to the other drives me crazy and I wind up getting frustrated to the point of tears. Actually, I despise Weaver so it's likely I'll never play it. I certainly won't play it much unless I suddenly become a masochist, which I don't see happening. I may dabble on the piano, but I don't want that in a video game where I need to pay attention to everything going on the screen as well. My primary objective is open world pve and story. I dabble in WvW some too and thought maybe this would work as part of a group. Anyways, I would appreciate some feedback as I would prefer to remain an Ele main as opposed to switching over to the Necro/Reaper for a less frustrating experience. Thematically, I like the Ele a lot better as I've always favored using elemental magics as opposed to death magics in video games. In WoW I was a Mage before I decided I wanted to have a healing spec and went Druid. In Diablo 1, 2 and 3 I was the Sorceress/Wizard class. I tried other things of course, but always went back to the elemental spell casters. Thanks in advance, Jennifer

Hi, It is not my intention to hijack this thread, but I do have a relevant question regarding pve Weavers. Rather than create a new thread though, I figured I would ask it here. It may even help the original poster, I don't know. Anyways, I was wondering if perhaps Celestial armor with Balth runes would be an efficient way to play a hybrid power/condi Weaver. Specifically sword/dagger or sword/focus in your face type Weaver as opposed to Dire and/or Dire/Trailblazers. I have a set of Cele ascended already and if it would work just as well, better, or maybe slightly worse, then I would probably just use that rather than spend the resources required for ascended Dire/Trailblazer and S3/S4 trinkets. (I have a full set of Cele trinks as well.) Also, I would like to be able to use a staff for events or whatever as I spent a lot of time and effort making Bifrost and I'd like for it to have a place. Granted, I use the staff on my marauder Tempest build along with scepter/warhorn for a more power-based ranged fighter. -Jenny

My main is an Elementalist. She has her survivability issues, which can be frustrating, but no other class quite does it for me. I detest the plate look and leather isn't much better. Already, that limits me to one third the choices. Besides, I always play casters in these kind of games. My WoW main was a Druid in which I spent 95%+ of her play time as Balance, 4.5% Resto and the last 0.5% Guardian/Feral. Anyways, back to the Elementalist. I dabble with Weaver every now and then, but I'm usually a Tempest rocking my shiny new Bifrost. The rainbow trails are just so pretty and I find I don't really want to use anything else, even though I have a scepter/warhorn on switch. My current setup with her is full Marauders (weapon, armor, trinkets) with pack runes along with Fire/Air/Tempest specializations. She seems to do alright in open world/story which is my primary focus anyway. For WvW, the few times I go in there, I typically use my Celestial gear and play more of a support Tempest role. Been awhile since I've checked, but I believe her specs are Fire/Water/Tempest. The Celestial gear is also what I use on the Weaver when I dabble with that. I have a set of Minstrels I sometimes use as well, depending on whether I'm in full support mode or hybrid support/offensive mode. Probably bad on my part, but I don't like feeling useless and full support isn't necessary when there is little to no opposition. I would not say I'm particularly skilled in this game. Heck, the War Beast/Balthazar fight at the end of PoF saw me going down probably 30 times. -Jennifer

I loved my Night Elf Druid in WoW. Not only because she had access to every role, but because she could turn into different plants (tree form), animals (bear, cat, bird forms) and humanoids (base and moonkin form). And while Guardian has the 'do everything' ability in this game, I really despise the plate look so I can't bring myself to play it.

Update: I decided to give the Weaver another chance and I'm so glad I did. I've been having a lot more fun lately playing sword/focus Weaver. Every once in awhile (as recent as last night), I dabble using dagger offhand instead of focus for a more aggressive playstyle and to help offset my defensive heavy gearing. As things stand right now:Full Ascended Celestial Armor and Trinkets with Vampiric RunesExotic Marshall Sword main hand with ?? and Sigil of EnergyExotic Marshall Focus or Dagger offhand with Sigil of EnergyExotic Marshal Staff on switch with ?? and Sigil of Energy ?? I think Sigil of Night or something like that is in there now, not sure really what I should be using. My crit chance is not very high (~35%) so I wouldn't want to use anything based on crits. I don't remember the exact numbers, but they're something along the line of: 2,100 power, 1,500 toughness/2,400 armor, 22,300 health, 35% crit chance, 200% crit damage (using air line instead of arcane), 800ish condi damage, 800ish healing. Under this setup, I don't feel nearly as squishy as I have in the past. Since it's a very 'in your face' sort of play style, I appreciate the fact I can go toe to toe with mobs and not feel like I'm going down. The additional toughness, healing power, and heal from kills has been very helpful keeping my average at best skilled posterior generally alive. I briefly considered switching to a different stat to speed things up, but realized I would lose too much survivability and I'd be back to my original problem, finding something I can enjoy and survive on. Before last night, I was running Fire, Arcane and Weaver. Last night I switched out Arcane for Air. I like the results so far, as it doesn't really feel like I've given up all that much survivability (though I will miss Final Shielding) and have more firepower so things don't take as long which was why I was considering switching armor/trinkets stats to begin with. Then again, the nice thing about traits and specializations is that they can be changed. If I start having problems again, I can simply go back to my more defensive setup. That or actually get good at playing my class which would be preferable. As far as progress, I've been going in order and am in the Lake Duroc (sp?) section of season 3. It was partially because of some trouble I'd been having with the White Mantel folks that I was considering a more offensive stat setup. Though now I'm not so sure... -Jenny

My favorite, thematically, has always been and will always be the Elementalist. Even when I first started this game way back when it first came out, it was my favorite. I then left the game for years until coming back May of 2019. When I returned, I wanted nothing more than to main the Elementalist again. Unfortunately, do the class's inherent squishiness and my own lack of talent (things I am still plagued with generally), I found it difficult to enjoy it and wound up switching to other classes. Despite this, I still found myself coming back to the Elementalist, wishing I could make it work and that I could enjoy it again. I stuck with it for awhile, managing to get 100% map completion for the first time ever (something my then goto-main [Mesmer] hadn't achieved). The problem as I saw it, my power-based Chronomancer wasn't fun with the greatsword nerf (and yes, I feel the loss of cripple and the return strike on gs4 to be nothing but nerfs). Tempest was amusing, and generally safe, but it was getting tiring. Finally, after a lot of consideration, I finally decided to give Weaver another chance. I figured its chaotic play-style would put me off like it had the last time. I was wrong. After practicing and completing LW2 as a sword Weaver, I fell in love with the class all over again. I can't imagine not playing my little pyromaniac now. In fact, just earlier tonight I tried playing my Mesmer again (which I have rebuilt into a condi-Mirage), I found the lack of shifting skills and attunements boring and slow. I had gotten used to the fast pace, in your face action of a sword fire Weaver that everything else pales in comparison. Long story short, I, Jennifer Moonchild (character name), am a Weaver for life [i think lol]. I've always been a bit of a flake, so we'll see what the future brings, but here's hoping I get better at Weaver so I'm not an embarrassment. Regardless of my skill level, I am having fun in this game again which I am thankful for as I was beginning to wonder if I ever would again. It may not be optimal, in fact I daresay it is not, but here is what I am using presently: Ascended Celestial Armor with Balthazar runesAscended Celestial TrinketsExotic Marshal Sword with Sigil of Agility (to help my less than 50% crit chance)Exotic Marshal Focus with Sigil of EnergyExotic Marshal Staff on switch for group events (with both Sigils mentioned above) Fire, Arcane, Weaver With this gear, I feel less squishy than I did before with Marauders. I have 21k health, 2400 armor and can take several hits before I even start to get worried, let alone killed. It works for me because it allows me to survive mistakes (and the fact I'm still learning) a lot better than anything else I've tried. Also, with the power damage, things die quickly in the overworld since I'm not solely relying on condi like I was with Dire or Trailblazer. I feel well rounded with this gear as I can make use of every stat between my barriers/heals, condi/power damages, and the health/toughness to survive. At this point in time, I have not even started HoT, LW3, PoF, LW4 and Ice Brood, so even though I can make an ascended sword (mats wise), I don't have access to the Marshal stat recipe. If I do make a sword, and focus for that matter, I am not sure what stat to use. I don't really want to make Celestial weapons, as I feel my weapons should be more about dealing damage than protecting me. Zerker I suppose, but ferocity isn't all that helpful given my 42% precision. Assassin has the same problem, though it would boost my precision more than zerker would at the expense of power. Viper might be a possibility as power and condi are its largest stats along with some precision for my weaker crit and expertise to raise my burn duration from 70% to ??%. -Jenny P.S. I wanted to show you all a picture of my Weaver, but I can't seem to figure out how to do it. I have a screenshot of her by a waterfall, but the picture isn't on a website or anything, merely in my guild wars 2 screenshot folder.

Thank you for your responses. For the past several weeks, what little I play, has been spent on my Tempest. I crafted a set of Dire gear to try a burn build, but I find staying with power seems more efficient. I tend to have a little easier time surviving because things die faster. That said, I've been having trouble surviving things my old Mesmer handled a lot better. Since the update though, power GS Chrono seems to hit like a wet-noodle and it's not particularly fun. GS4 used to hit twice and it was really satisfying when I lined things up correctly and the group of mobs got hit twice. The loss of cripple hurts. Maybe things have improved since the update? I tried it the day of and haven't touched it since. Power Mirage, well, that was fun too but it faces the same issues mentioned above because A-nerf had to make it less fun. I haven't tried condi-Mesmer. I suppose I could create another set of Dire armor/weapons along with torment runes and see if it's any better. While the one dodge thing is crap, I haven't touched WvW in months so it wouldn't really be an issue for my primary game mode. I'm not married to my Marauder Scepter, it's simply the first ascended weapon I've made and it was for a power Tempest. Probably not something I would use on a Mesmer, condi or not. For the trinkets, I have sufficient laurels and guild commendations but I'm lacking the fractal relics. Also, looking at the list I didn't see any that I would want to use for what I was trying to do. I don't want to jump ahead to LW3 either. I figured my Celestial ones would suffice for the time being. I have Trailblazer (exotic) unlocked, but the thought of spending over 100g to make it is incredibly off-putting. I'm 500ish currency short of the ascended version. Those Lilies are horribly expensive... Guildies mentioned something about using Karma of which I have 1.15 million of, just don't know where I might be able to buy it, if I even can. Bladed Armor I believe was mentioned as well, but I don't know anything about that either. Another question, is Trailblazer even worth it for a condi-Mirage or would I be better off with Viper's? (Squishiness aside, something I do have an issue with but I'm trying to plan for long-term.) Biggest question of all, will I enjoy it. I know that is not something anyone but I can answer. All I know is I have little interest in playing these days due to indecision, squishiness and seemingly weakness on account of my Tempest and the uncertainties of a condi-Mesmer... I couldn't even finish leveling a Necro, whereas I could easily the Ele and Mesmer, so I don't think Necro is realistic for me. -Jenny

Hello everyone, As the title says, I'm looking for advice regarding what clothy to play. I don't like the look of plate and leather is meh at best. I really like the clothing options I have available for cloth and that's what I'd like to stick with. The problem is, I'm not really sure what to play that actually has value in the open world pve, story, fractals, raids, and wvw after the massive overhaul. I've never tried the pvp/arena matches in this game and have never been any good at pvp in other games, but I can follow a zerg or group of guildies easily enough (once I get the warclaw anyway). I don't want to be a hinderance to other players though, so I'd rather play something that is not only fun (otherwise what's the point) and can bring something to the table. I prefer ranged, but I know melee will be necessary for boon-sharing, healing and the like. Ideally, I'd like to be able to solo things as I will spend most of my time doing open world and story. I have yet to finish LW2 and I've never done HoT, LW3, PoF, LW4, LW5? with the exception of gettting the glider, raptor, bunny, jackal, skimmer and some mastery points. I have a lot to do. My ascended gear is limited:Full set of Marauder cloth armorFull set of Celestrial Trinks with infusionsFull set of Zerker Trinks without infusionsMarauder Scepter I'm not very good at piano play despite how much I dabble, so I'm a bit wary of Weaver. I wouldn't consider myself a talentless hack, but I'm not good at this game either. I guess I might be average at best? I don't know. Anyways, if anyone can offer some suggestions of things that might work for a mediocre player like me who will spend most of her time alone but doesn't want to drag others down, I would appreciate it. -Jenny

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I tried the modified build (using the burn signets and the like and dumping arcane) in open world VB just to get a taste of lesser HoT content. It didn't work particularly well. Not only was it painfully slow, I went down a few times I shouldn't have. Switched back to my Marauder build and it was quicker and smoother. In order to test it, I crafted Dire weapons and armor, used Balthazar runes (which oddly enough on my character sheet said 50% before adding 20% from a sigil in my weapon and trait in the fire tree) so I had 90% burn duration. I looked at the laurel trinks for something that might work, but there weren't any with the exact stats I wanted and didn't want to use up too many resources for this experiment anyway. Suffice it to say, I doubt this will be a thing for me. I didn't enjoy it at all. I wonder if I would have the same problem on a condi-Mirage or if it would be the same experience, slow and ultimately feeling worse with seemingly less survivability. Quite possible I was doing it wrong, but I really didn't think it would be so horrible. -Jenny