New Functionality

In addition to doublecast skills, we are also allowing some Elementalist elites to have functionality usually covered by other professions. Because these skills are elite, we feel it’s OK to blur the role of the Elementalist a bit, as long as this functionality meshes with how the Elementalist normally plays.
Mist Form reduced cost to 5 Energy; changed functionality to: “For 10…45 seconds, you take 33% less damage from foes under the effect of Water Magic hexes. Whenever you cast an elemental spell, all non-spirit allies in earshot are healed for 50…250% of the Energy cost of the spell.”
Mist Form split for PvP; reduced cost to 5 Energy; changed functionality to: “For 10…45 seconds, you take 33% less damage from foes under the effect of Water Magic hexes. Whenever you cast an elemental spell, all non-spirit allies in earshot are healed for 50…250% of the Energy cost of the spell. This spell does not heal allies above 80% Health.”
While its previous effect was fairly strong against martial professions, Mist Form had almost no effect against casters, and its one-dimensional functionality made it a difficult choice to take over most damage-dealing elites. It could also be very frustrating to use without removal. This update changes the skill into a defensive skill that also provides healing to your allies. In order to emphasize the Elementalist nature of the skill, though, the healing and damage reduction conditionals encourage offensive spell use. To prevent stacking in PvP, this skill has been split.
Thunderclap reduced recharge to 8 seconds; reduced damage to 10…50; added 25% armor penetration; changed functionality to: “Create a massive shockwave at target foe’s location. Deals 10…50 lightning damage to target and all adjacent foes. Struck foes are interrupted and suffer from Cracked Armor and Weakness for 5…20 seconds. This spell has 25% armor penetration.” Due to the delay in the Dazed application, Thunderclap tended to be a poor choice as an interrupt skill, and the long recharge coupled with only hitting a single target made it a poor damage skill as well. Since Air Magic already has good AoE damage options, we’ve changed this skill to be more of an elite interrupt and condition-application skill. With a 1-second cast time, this skill won’t outclass Mesmer interrupts but will provide bonuses for skilled Elementalists who read their opponents.
Ward Against Harm changed functionality to: “Create a Ward Against Harm at this location. For 5…15 seconds, non-spirit allies in this area have +1…3 Health regeneration, +12…24 armor, and an additional +12…24 armor against elemental damage. This spell is disabled for 20 seconds.”
Ward Against Harm split for PvP; increased recharge to 30 seconds; changed functionality to: “Create a Ward Against Harm at this location. For 5…15 seconds, non-spirit allies in this area have +1…3 Health regeneration, +12…24 armor, and an additional +12…24 armor against elemental damage. This spell is disabled for 30 seconds.” With Ward Against Harm we are again trying something slightly different. We’ve given this skill a small party-healing aspect similar to how Water Magic skills function in Guild Wars 2. We hope this can provide another appealing source of party-healing utility on the Water Elementalist. Additionally, the bonus armor is now applied to all elements instead of just Fire Magic. We feel this is necessary to make it useful outside of areas like the Fire Islands. We’re concerned about this skill’s effects in PvP, so we’ve split it and may make further changes after seeing how it plays out.