this is unfortunatly true in pub games where basically anything goes. any elemental attack is liable to be nerfed to oblivion. its depressing that absorb equipment has so narrowed the range of pub-viable builds.
on the up-side, i can still have a lot of fun with my fire-sorc, but i just accept that i'll regularly be asking people to unhost me once they've pulled out their sorb. it's kind of hard to kill someone who tanks 40k meteors, gets healed by 19kFB's and can 1-2 hit-kill me.