Revisiting the Elementalist
Jul. 12th, 2015 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoGot inspired by cashew's trials in starting a new elementalist... or maybe nostalgic is more like it. I went back and re-watched my old ele Personal Story recordings. Man, was I embarrassed by my skill back then. Of course, that was also within 2 weeks of the initial launch of the game. So I would certainly hope I'd gotten more skilled at playing the game in general, and ele (my main) in specific, since then.
Still, assumptions aren't proof, so I finally decided to roll a new ele to check out the experience the second time around. Also, to experience the New Player Experience changes to the game, since all of my characters were created before that update.
I had started a sylvari ele, more to experience the NPE and to fiddle around with character creation settings (in eventual preparation of my sylvari revenant). Then today I managed to start a human elementalist with the same Personal Story options as my main, and get her to level 21 within a single day.
Overall, levelling under the NPE feels pretty painless. Yes, utility skills and class mechanics are gated, but those in particular are unlocked pretty fast. Elite skills are still unlocked at lvl 30 like the old system anyway. Traits are a bit more strictly unlocked, so the mid levels might be where things get tougher... I dunno we'll have to see.
As for the human ele no. 2's personal story, I pretty much breezed through it. I remember dying over and over again in the 3rd ep of arc 1 (noble arc). Ditto the last ep of arc 2 (circus arc). Here, ep 1.3 was completed without a hitch. And 2.4 was over in like a minute.
The difference? We'll it's not the build certainly. The original character had access to more skills during 1.3 than my new ele (which didn't have earth attunement and only had 1 utility at lvl ~10). But the main difference I guess is that the first time around, I was just randomly mashing buttons. Whereas now I'm familiar enough with ele skills to know what utility to go for and what rotation of skills to synergize.
Gear might have also played a role, I think. In the original run I didn't have much money, didn't use the TP, and only got my gear through drops and karma vendors, and much of it with vit/toughness speced. In the new run I pretty much buy a new set of blue or green gear every 5 levels, and it's pretty much power power power only. That probably makes a significant difference, what with PvE being very much a zerker's game.
For now I've parked both characters at the end of the Sharkmaw JP to see what results I get in terms of silver doubloons out of the chest. Eventually after they hit level 35 (cap for doubloons) or after I lose patience, I'll probably delete the human and continue a bit further with the sylvari to see how the mid-levels plays out.
Still, assumptions aren't proof, so I finally decided to roll a new ele to check out the experience the second time around. Also, to experience the New Player Experience changes to the game, since all of my characters were created before that update.
I had started a sylvari ele, more to experience the NPE and to fiddle around with character creation settings (in eventual preparation of my sylvari revenant). Then today I managed to start a human elementalist with the same Personal Story options as my main, and get her to level 21 within a single day.
Overall, levelling under the NPE feels pretty painless. Yes, utility skills and class mechanics are gated, but those in particular are unlocked pretty fast. Elite skills are still unlocked at lvl 30 like the old system anyway. Traits are a bit more strictly unlocked, so the mid levels might be where things get tougher... I dunno we'll have to see.
As for the human ele no. 2's personal story, I pretty much breezed through it. I remember dying over and over again in the 3rd ep of arc 1 (noble arc). Ditto the last ep of arc 2 (circus arc). Here, ep 1.3 was completed without a hitch. And 2.4 was over in like a minute.
The difference? We'll it's not the build certainly. The original character had access to more skills during 1.3 than my new ele (which didn't have earth attunement and only had 1 utility at lvl ~10). But the main difference I guess is that the first time around, I was just randomly mashing buttons. Whereas now I'm familiar enough with ele skills to know what utility to go for and what rotation of skills to synergize.
Gear might have also played a role, I think. In the original run I didn't have much money, didn't use the TP, and only got my gear through drops and karma vendors, and much of it with vit/toughness speced. In the new run I pretty much buy a new set of blue or green gear every 5 levels, and it's pretty much power power power only. That probably makes a significant difference, what with PvE being very much a zerker's game.
For now I've parked both characters at the end of the Sharkmaw JP to see what results I get in terms of silver doubloons out of the chest. Eventually after they hit level 35 (cap for doubloons) or after I lose patience, I'll probably delete the human and continue a bit further with the sylvari to see how the mid-levels plays out.
