Ice savvy or earth savvy is the way to go?

[HastyPudding]

You are making it sound like a particular savant can ONLY cast spells from its chosen element. What is to stop an earth savant/ice secondary sorc from rapidly throwing down otilukes, acid rain, cone of cold, acid blast on a group of webbed critters? I think that qualifies as 'massive AoE damage'. One particular savant type is no better or worse than another for killing trash and spamming AoE spells. Player skill, spell selection and proper targeting is what kills trash fast, not air verses earth, etc.

And why do others make it sound like earth is superior to everything when it comes to damage when it clearly doesn't match the numbers of either air or water and takes twice as long to kill things?

Regardless of what savant you pick, and regardless of what spells you spam, air still has the superiority of killing trash mobs very quickly by using ONLY lightning spells, thus maximizing the damage due to the savant's inherent caster level bonuses, and thus using less SP-per-damage ratio in doing so. Just as nobody expects to hit the crits of a metamagic'd polar ray of a water savant, too, or be as good at damage over time and persistent aoe's as an earth savant.

It always comes down to DC's, which is the air savant's weakness as it is 99% reliant on evocation DC's for damage, and because without past lives or good gear, it doesn't function well. Thus, people pass over it and say its not worth doing because they do not put the time nor the effort into doing so. I'm just tired of this epic hate for air savants and people just press the easy button, which is arguably the earth savant due to the sheer mass of persistent AoE's it has and no dependance on DC's like the other 3 savants. Water is caught in between the two.

[AtomicMew]

And why do others make it sound like earth is superior to everything when it comes to damage when it clearly doesn't match the numbers of either air or water and takes twice as long to kill things?

Regardless of what savant you pick, and regardless of what spells you spam, air still has the superiority of killing trash mobs very quickly by using ONLY lightning spells, thus maximizing the damage due to the savant's inherent caster level bonuses, and thus using less SP-per-damage ratio in doing so. Just as nobody expects to hit the crits of a metamagic'd polar ray of a water savant, too, or be as good at damage over time and persistent aoe's as an earth savant.

It always comes down to DC's, which is the air savant's weakness as it is 99% reliant on evocation DC's for damage, and because without past lives or good gear, it doesn't function well. Thus, people pass over it and say its not worth doing because they do not put the time nor the effort into doing so. I'm just tired of this epic hate for air savants and people just press the easy button, which is arguably the earth savant due to the sheer mass of persistent AoE's it has and no dependance on DC's like the other 3 savants. Water is caught in between the two.

I love my air savant for the mobility and survivability, but I'm not going to fool myself into thinking her spell selection is better than an ice savant.

It's not about putting in the effort or past lives to get high DCs. Every savant can put out AoE DPS. A meteor swarm (especially in shiradi) is just as good if not better than your chain lightning anyway. Every savant has so many options that air simply does not have an advantage when it comes to AoE DPS. On the other hand, air has a significant disadvantage due to being pigeonholed in to reflex based spells. You will never have high enough DCs to be no fail against EE evasion mobs. Your chain lightning will occasionally fail against evasion mobs. However, polar ray will never fail.

Furthermore, not everything clumps up into nice little lines for your lightning bolt to go through and chain lightning has a target limit. Sometimes mobs are even spaced out and need to be nuked individually. Air, by a large margin, has the worst targeting mechanics and the worst single target damage. Ice savant has polar ray, earth has black dragon bolt and even fire has scorching ray. You can't just focus on one type of situation where air excels and claim it's a better choice than others.

[HastyPudding]

...and yet you see more than a fair share of air savants at epic levels. There's no way to make a heavy DC-specced sorcerer, but with epic destinies you can come close. Sorcerers just aren't specced, in general, for epic elites; even wizards are reduced to CC and no-save spells like polar ray and the DoT's, and clerics and FVS are all but forced to become healbots in groups.

I can't stand running a divine or arcane in epic elites, as it just takes far too much effort, where other classes can go in and do their thing, regardless. I hesitate to say 'not fair' but these new EE quests are brutal for spellcasters.

[AtomicMew]

...and yet you see more than a fair share of air savants at epic levels.

That's because air savants have wings, not because their spell selection is good.

There's no way to make a heavy DC-specced sorcerer, but with epic destinies you can come close. Sorcerers just aren't specced, in general, for epic elites; even wizards are reduced to CC and no-save spells like polar ray and the DoT's, and clerics and FVS are all but forced to become healbots in groups.

I can't stand running a divine or arcane in epic elites, as it just takes far too much effort, where other classes can go in and do their thing, regardless. I hesitate to say 'not fair' but these new EE quests are brutal for spellcasters.

I don't really agree when you say that sorcerers can't be specced for EE. Well geared sorcerers in the right destinies still generally come out on top of the kill count. Heck a few people even solo these quests on EE with casters.

[Lord_Thanatos]

That's because air savants have wings, not because their spell selection is good.

Just ask every air savant if they would still go air savant if it didn't have KD immunity or wings.

[cheekysmile]

Standard answer is it's all about playstyle.

I would probably say that ice is best for a first time sorc because it's simpler tactics. Uber single target blast, nice aoe and dot the bosses.

Acid is good when you get the hang of webbing as you go. I actually like it at lower levels as most things tend to be either/or fire/ice resistant at that stage. Just saves thinking

Elec is zergtastic when you have the DCs. With a few past lives behind you the performance upgrade is noticeable.

Once you've mastered all three, pick your favourite and use them all together with your developed skills to be a nuking god

[Tid12]

Just ask every air savant if they would still go air savant if it didn't have KD immunity or wings.

That made me laugh.

It's like asking every water savant if they would still go water if they didn't have Polar ray or Frost lance (because that's what an Ice savant is about).

The really only thing that Air is missing is a AoE DOT spell. Give that to sorcerers and I'm not sure Water savants will stay the same

Or, actually, the main urgent problem that Devs should solve is the MCL/CL/Capped problem with spells.

[Purkilius]

Or, actually, the main urgent problem that Devs should solve is the MCL/CL/Capped problem with spells.

Could not agree more

[Lord_Thanatos]

That made me laugh.

It's like asking every water savant if they would still go water if they didn't have Polar ray or Frost lance (because that's what an Ice savant is about).

The really only thing that Air is missing is a AoE DOT spell. Give that to sorcerers and I'm not sure Water savants will stay the same

Or, actually, the main urgent problem that Devs should solve is the MCL/CL/Capped problem with spells.

Uh, no? Its not the same as polar ray, one is a spell that every single arcane can learn and use and the other is a unique ability to air savants.

It's more like asking water savants if they would stay water savants without icy prison. And I imagine for most of them, that's a yes.