Idea Making Elf More Viable

Elf.
Elf is the most recently added class in Capture the Flag, or CTF. It can be very fun to use if used right, but is also downright fragile.
Elf has more armor than ninja and the same as mage, with the exception that mage has an infinite healthpool that can be used at any time, as long as there is no cooldown. Also, mage has a variety of other tools to get away from opponents if need be, and the damage spell can be used as a restraint by itself.
However, the topic of this thread is not to bash on mage, personally, I like mage how it is. Fun, useful in most situations, and has a decent skill curve.
Elf, on the other hand, has a very large skill curve, useful in a leaniant selection of situations, and can be fun if used right.

Here are my opinions/thoughts on elf and what to do with it.

Spoiler: The Armor

Elf's armor is the same as mage's, with the exception of a different color. Not too squishy, and not too bulky. It can take a few hits before death.

Spoiler: The Sword

The Elf's wooden sword is perfectly fine, dealing 6.5 half hearts per hit, about as much as an iron sword. This makes it an effective weapon for quick defense.

Spoiler: Abilities

This is where the real fun begins. Elf's abilities aren't completely useless, but aren't as useful as they could be. We'll start with pure element.

Spoiler: Pure Element

Pure element is a fantastic idea for dealing with opponents that have either high armor or high health. On the 2nd consecutive shot with a fully charged arrow, pure element deals 6 hearts of true damage. However, there aren't that many instances where an elf would truly rely on their pure element. Sure, it can be useful when dealing with pesky random heavies or medics, but it feels as if it's missing something. Shooting soldiers w/ the pure element requires much more skill than shooting a heavy, as the soldier can utilize nearby structures to it's advantage. More experienced players can easily evade arrows and get close enough to deal a high amount of damage to the elf, as it has no punch. An elf's main way of escaping is using the air element, which would be in short supply due to the consumption of arrows from the pure element.

Spoiler: Earth Element

The Earth Element can be useful for assisting the escapes of ally players, however it requires a direct contact shot to actually slow down a player. My suggestion: Any enemy who is in the radius of the earth element receives slowness II for 4 seconds, in addition to the damage that may come from the blocks. If a target is hit by the earth element, the same effect occurs as in place today.

Spoiler: Air Element

The Air Element is a great escape tool, as it allows the elf "flight" for a limited time. This gives elf a great mobility boost, as it can scale buildings if it has a required amount of arrows. However, keeping in mind that CTF is a very hectic game, one can assume that an elf will most likely have 1/2 - 2/3 of their 10 arrows. On the cons side, the air element is advertised as this: "Launch yourself (left click) or your enemies (draw and shoot)". The "draw and shoot" function of the air element is severely obsolete, pushing enemies back about 1 block at most. It's almost as if you receive half of the knockback a snowball does, minus the web.

Spoiler: Water Element

Water is the natural opposite of fire, making it a direct counter to pyro. Shooting an arrow will cause an "explosion" of water, extinguishing yourself and teammates. The radius of the water depends on how far the player pulls back their bow. Elf was designed as a support class, a choice to support your team without having to play medic. With the support idea in mind, in order to help elf stay alive longer and keep their teammates fighting for a longer duration, I feel that elf should have regen II added the the water element, so whenever the elf or an ally is affected by the water, they receive additional support to keep the fight lasting a bit longer. Regen II would last for about 8 seconds, as regen II heals 1 half heart every 1.25 seconds, equating to a total gain of 4 hearts. This means that allies could be healed by an elf, but with contrast to medic, chemist, and mage, the healing process happens more slowly and keeps the target open to attacks by the other team, rather than an instant health process.

Spoiler: The Shield

The ability for elf to have a shield that reflects all enemy projectiles is fantastic and very useful in most situations. Archers, chemists, medics, ninjas, pyros, and even other elfs could be brought to a halt with such a tool. And the experience bar is very balanced too, so that an elf would need to strategically plan when and when not to use their shield. However, I am not sure as to wether this is intended or a bug, but an elf's exp bar is completely set to 0 when they spawn. If the exp bar is set to full once they spawn, they can become a viable counter to spawnkilling archers and pyros.

All in all, elf is a class that requires an immense amount of skill, but if played right, can be somewhat effective. With the proposed changes, elf can become a more reliable class for a player and teammates, and more manageable when playing in an everyday round of CTF. Elf could finally find a home in CTF official matches, as their reliance would become more apparent, and more people would start playing it.

tl;dr
Elf is a fun but squishy class. Easily killed by most others, it can be very hard to use and it's abilities aren't exactly up to par. Please read above if you think you have missed anything and would like to debate about this with me.

 

Regen wouldn't be able to be re-done until the first regen goes away.
In other words, elf would use their regen to get 4 hearts over 8 seconds. They could not shoot another arrow and replenish those 8 seconds until the first 8 seconds were gone. So you can think of the regen as a cooldown- in a way it has a 8 second break inbetween regens.

 

This would make elf even more squishy than it already is. Regen II is very slow compared to the other methods of healing in this game, healing 4 hearts in 8 seconds. In the fast-paced game that CTF is, 8 seconds seems like an eternity. If we were to remove the steaks, elf would need a serious armor buff.