The folks over at Guild Wars have posted another edition of their State of the Game article series. This week's article takes a look back at various changes that have been made to the game over the years and asks the question, "Do you remember when?"

With frequent updates and skill balances exploding into the fluxing metagame, Guild Wars players have marched through numerous game permutations, some drastically different than others. Veteran players will most likely recall these tales from earlier days, but do you remember when...

1. Lightning spike actually used Elementalists with lightning skills?

The first dominant lightning spike build consisted of several Air Elementalists with Chain Lightning. They'd queue up the skill and stun enemies into submission by dropping two or three players with the first volley. Over time, their popularity faded and Mesmers, with their fast-casting ability, took up the lightning spike role, firing off skills like machine guns. But Mesmers relied on elite skills from the Elementalist line, and a set of skill balances made it too hard for anyone other than a primary Elementalist to use those skills. Eventually Ritualists moved to the forefront of lightning spike. They had their own skills for spiking, so they didn't have to depend on a secondary profession. And, unlike Elementalists, Ritualists had the advantage of varied defensive and healing skills.

Read the full article here.