Guild Wars 2

A legit question. How can it ever be balanced if every other attribute is weaker than raw DPS (albeit through power or conditions)?

The base idea of GW2 combat is abandoning the holy trinity of dps, tanking and healers. So you are in the wrong game if you search for these options …
Get rid of tanking and healing leaves the only option viable: dps.

ps: the “new trinity” would be damage, control and support, but in pve its still mostly just dps.

Control & Support in this game are mostly Skillside, not or barely Statside (if you leave boon duration out of it). The best thing anyone can do is to get:

• High power (coupled with prec/crit) or condition damage
• Average to high toughness
• Low to average vitality and healing

One class has both a high base armour and base health, as well as the highest base damage. That class is called warrior. It can invest nearly solely in Power/Condi, ignoring toughness and vitality because they’re high in any case, making it stronger than any other class. On top it has high control through stuns.

Dalanor.5387:

The base idea of GW2 combat is abandoning the holy trinity of dps, tanking and healers.

This is also why Anet devs aren’t sitting at the top of ivory towers, with the game making billions of dollars.

There is no depth without roles. No depth = very little replayability. Without replayability, an MMO has no legs to make long term profits.

No real vertical gear progression, would have been enough to keep it fair. No roles, ruins the game.