Hello friends and fellow Elementalists!
Boom is my name, 60th Season Elementalist. The recent rework missed the mark, in my opinion, and I believe I know what the community wants. Let's dive right into the details and discuss the why and how we might course correct throughout this post, beginning with some spells we might gain and/or keep...
Spell Gained:
Level 1 Spell - Summon Elemental
This is initially a colorless Elemental - a blank canvas of sorts with which the Elementalist will infuse Earth, Fire, Wind, and/or Water magic to produce powerful spells that devastate their opponents and/or aid their allies. How these Elementals will be infused with these magics will be discussed shortly, below.
ELEMENTAL PET CHANGES - The pet no longer has any passively built in spells associated with their summoned element (since it is now summoned as a blank canvas). In exchange, they will be gaining a slightly increased Max Hit Damage (scaling appropriately per level).
Spells Kept:
Minor Elemental Fury
Rejuvenate Elements
Elemental Empowerment (CHANGED) - Empower your Elemental Companion with the power of the elemental planes for 3-5 minutes (scaling per level), increasing their Strength, providing them with Secondary Haste, and healing them over time for a slight amount in well-spread ticks (2% every 2 ticks, for instance - this would result in a pet receiving between 30% on up to 50% of their life over the duration of the buff, according to our above stated duration scaling).
All of these spells should scale to level 60 and should be purchased from Guild Merchants, just like mostly every other spell in the game.
Spells Removed:
Bolt Line
Companion Smite
Damage Shield
All Summoned items (except bandages!!!)
So, what have we just done? Our pet is no longer broken into (4) separate Elemental varieties (cutting down on spell bloat, mind you). The pet is now a Colorless Being, that we get to infuse and manipulate with our Elemental Powers!! (Cool, right?!? RIGHT?!?) Now you might be thinking, "OK, great... my pet is weaker than before without those spells, and I have no Direct Damage spell at all? What gives?" Let's keep going...
Elementalist Quest Lines - Introducing Horizontal Progression
One of the least developed portions of the game as a whole currently is the lack of potential gain from horizontal progression routes such as class-related quest lines that result in impactful items. This line of quests would allow the Elementalist access to Staves of each element that they would wield in order to infuse those elemental magics into their pets!
Level 10 Quests
Apprentice's Staff of Flowing Water
Begins from the Elementalist's Guildmaster. The Elementalist embarks on a dangerous quest to retrieve the staff (designers do your thing, you've got free will and free reign here, heh)!
Once completed:
The Elementalist can purchase new Water Elemental spells from an involved Quest NPC.
Wielding the Apprentice's Staff allows the Elementalist to cast their newly attained Water spells, with the caveat of only being able to load 1 Water spell onto your spell bar at a time (this number will increase as you progress through the quest line).
MUST have the associated elemental staff equipped in order to cast the spells of that element. Important Note: Each staff is 1H Blunt, and the Elementalist is able to Dual Wield their Elemental Staves - this will provide build diversity and allow the Elementalist to make interesting and impactful decisions with what spells they choose to use.
There should be more spells available than what I am listing, I just provided these to offer some insight as to what I think each element should represent.
Water Spells
Trident of the Flowing Tides: Summons a Trident of Flowing Tides for your Elemental Companion to use in combat. On hit chance to proc (X) additional damage. Applies a snare effect if Tears of the Tidemother or Waters of Purification are active.
Tears of the Tidemother: Bathe your group in the Tears of the Tidemother, increasing their base Health Regeneration by X for 60 minutes (scaling with level, stacking with other forms of Health Regeneration).
Waters of Purification: Bathe your group in the Waters of Purification, increasing their base Mana Regeneration by X for 60 minutes (scaling with level, stacking with other forms of Mana Regeneration).
Apprentice's Staff of Stalwart Earth
Earth Spells
Earthen Bulwark: Empowers the Elemental Companion with an Earthen Bulwark that grants (X) AC, Agility, and Increased Health (based on the Elementalist's Intellect) for 30 minutes.
Granite Aegis: Empowers the Elemental Companion with a Granite Aegis that heavily negates incoming Physical Damage (percentage damage reduction scaling per level) for 10 minutes.
Hands of Stone: Empowers the Elemental Companion with Hands of Stone that makes the Elemental Companion attack slower but gives them a large Strength and Threat Generation bonus for 60 minutes.
Apprentice's Staff of Swift Wind
Air Spells
Cloak of the Winds: Envelop your group in a Cloak of the Winds, allowing all physical basic attacks a chance to strike again for 60 minutes.
Gale Slash: Empowers the Elemental Companion with Gale Slash, striking its target with gale force winds every 8 seconds for X damage (based on the Elementalist's Intellect) and stunning them for 2 seconds for 60 minutes.
Zephyr's Fury: Empowers the Elemental Companion with Zephyr's Fury, increasing their Dexterity by X amount (scaling with level) for 5 minutes and unleashing 4 furious blows to their target upon use.
Apprentice's Staff of Blazing Flame
Fire Spells
Embers of the First Flame: Bathe your group in the Embers of the First Flame, providing them with a Fire Damage Shield (scaling with level) for 60 minutes.
Dragon's Breath: Empowers the Elemental Companion with Dragon's Breath, pulsing X Fire Damage (scaling with the Elementalist's Intellect) in a cone in front of your Elemental Companion every 6 seconds for 60 minutes.
Tyrant's Flame: Empowers your Elemental Companion with Tyrant's Flame, commanding the Elemental Companion to cast Tyrant's Flame on a selected target for X Fire Damage (scaling with the Elementalist's Intellect).
Important Progression Notes:
Apprentice's Staff Quest unlocked at Level 10 and allows for 1 spell to be memorized and used for that element.
Adept's Staff Quest unlocked at Level 25 and allows for 2 spells to be memorized and used for that element.
Master's Staff Quest unlocked at Level 45 and allows for 3 spells to be memorized and used for that element.
Elementalist's Epic Staff Quest unlocked at level 55 and allows for 3 spells to be memorized and used for EACH element of their choosing, up to 9 spells total - this stave's quest line results in the fusion of the 4 elemental Master Staves (requiring all 4 Master's Staff Quests to be completed in order to be fused).
Quick Recap - What Have We Done?
- Pet is now a blank canvas that changes to suit our needs during/out of combat.
- Subsequently, this has given the player the opportunity to make meaningful choices on which elements/spells to use, selecting abilities that best fit their group's needs.
- Added meaningful built-in horizontal progression through the Staff Quests.
- Made each element more distinct in its role.
- Provided scalability by tying meaningful abilities directly to the Intellect of the Elementalist.
Ending Note
By making our pet a conduit to express our Mastery of the Elements through, there are endless possibilities in this concept. Countless synergies and interactions can be made between spells, for much needed depth and dynamic gameplay. I hope this resonates with all my fellow Elementalists. Please provide any feedback or thoughts on how you could improve these ideas.
(PS, don't get hung-up on any details, this is just conceptual foundation stuff)
All the best,
Boom (and friend)
