[Neraphym]

The book trick has been nerfed. This is probably because the Ritualist class can effectively 'summon' itself a book any time. I'm 100% sure of this, as I have just done a Fissure of Woe ran, and the book trick failed to work. It also turned out to be my best run, as I got 5 shards. I have also heard of +5 energy sword drops (making the once extremely expensive HoD sword obsolete), but I cannot confirm this.



Other nerfs include:


Minion Masters (at 16 death magic), can only maintain 10 minions at a time now (boooo).

Verata's sacrifice now only lasts 10 seconds and takes a minute to recharge.

Ettins no longer drop rares like they used to (boooo!)

[Aaron]

I heard the book trick was nerfed, but not the others. Ugh, everyone is getting punished .

[Moogalite]

the ettins not dropping golds is not true it was a bug for a few hours and they fixed it

[Goto]

Sounds like they're having quite a few balance issues, bad luck about the nerfs though.

[Neraphym]

What I don't understand is why AoE spells were nerfed. Not only that, half of the new Elementalist spells are AoE, so they basically made half the new spells useless. Anet seriously needs to stop nefing skills.

[Ariana]

I'm sure that they are working to rebalance right now. In a few weeks, we may see one of those big updates with a rebalance list. But has anyone seen that Shock Arrow (not the real name) Aeromancer Elite? It has almost no recharge time, and deals a lot of damage...to me at least. Found it on a boss out in Luxon Land. Not to mention, those bosses are mean...

[Aaron]

All the monsters in the Faction zones are mean .

[Neraphym]

Shock Arrow
E: 5
T: 1
R: 1
Send out a shocking arrow that flies swiftly toward target foe, striking for 10...30 lightning damage. Shock Arrow has 25% armor penetration.

Note: at 16 air, it does 37


This isn't an elite, but neither of the factions air elites have any of the qualities you described, so Im guessing this is it. It's the air version of flare, and it's really good.

[Ariana]

It was hitting me for over 150 (AC:60) and I didn't have any hexes on me. And when I watched him use it, it was outlined as an elite. Could have just been a graphical bug, since they're getting around to fixing some of those. But then again, he was level 28. *wants to borrow his attribute points*

But the description is about right. And he used it with the same casting time as flare. I hate that Necro boss out in Luxon land, the one you have to behead. He makes me angry. Grr.