Guild Wars 2

So after getting my engineer to 80 and doing many dungeons, I decided to start on a support spec guardian. The problem I am running into is that support is nowhere near as efficient as raw damage and might stacking. Seems like the only real thing I contribute with my Guardian is #4 Staff for the might. My Engineer can provide might as well (tho not on a sweet sweet 20 second cool down) and the damage is much better. Sure I could probably spec my Guardian more into damage, but I could also just play my Engi if I wanted to do damage.

Anyone else finding that support just does not stack up to pure damage and might stacking?

Isn´t support just that?
Stacking boons on allies, conditions on enemies and keeping other safe by keeping enemies off of their arses.
Healing is an after thought prettymuch, to be dealt when people aren´t in mortal danger.

Also +healing scales pretty bad, so it might not be worth it to go fully into it.

What your describing is basically support. Your supporting your mates by stacking Might, and stacking conditions on the boss.

I found out support is not just about healing, but doing things that keep my mates from dying. If its just me doing walls of reflection, shielding, and spamming boons on my mates, thats what supporting is =)

I am running a support build guardian and like the poster above me pointed out, its extremely viable in dungeons… Boons, Symbols, removing conditions, Aegis-stacking on allies, ressing… I do all of that during a fight.. If an ally is down, I proc an aegis, start ressing him, and as soon as he is up he gets Aegis from me which keeps him alive until he can dodge away from trouble.

My POW,VIT,TOU.build with bow and banners works wonders in dungeons

yes I agree with you

I thank Anet so much for finally giving us this with HoT, we will be able to heal and be even more viable than we already are.

All it takes is the dumb pugs to realise that we were actually carrying them and not the other way around.. I cant wait for HoT healing

Staff #4 is not supportive. It is detrimental as it will override might generated by eles/warriors which last a long time. Don’t use it.

respectfully holds laugh at sucessful bait

applauds

That was masterful. Nice choice.

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

respectfully holds laugh at sucessful bait

Well done!

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

respectfully holds laugh at sucessful bait

…I’m amazed. 10/10 points for you.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

I’ts funny that people are commenting on a 2 y/o post. Bravo

kitten. First time I’ve fallen for it before.

:(

Purple Miku.7032:

Staff #4 is not supportive. It is detrimental as it will override might generated by eles/warriors which last a long time. Don’t use it.

Pretty sure it doesn’t though? Short boons in general don’t overwrite longer boons, don’t see why staff 4 should be an exception. Have you tested this yourself?

kitten it guys stop making me think the forums are active.

Rag.3258:

Purple Miku.7032:

Staff #4 is not supportive. It is detrimental as it will override might generated by eles/warriors which last a long time. Don’t use it.

Pretty sure it doesn’t though? Short boons in general don’t overwrite longer boons, don’t see why staff 4 should be an exception. Have you tested this yourself?

Lulululul, stahp it!

/slaps lightly with handkerch—-rev’s staff

Rag.3258:

Short boons in general don’t overwrite longer boons, don’t see why staff 4 should be an exception. Have you tested this yourself?

New boons overwrite the oldest stacks, same with old style conditions(Pre-patch, vuln still gets overwritten). So the first 12 might stacks are going to get overwritten, you lose ~7-8 seconds on those first 12 stacks.

SlyDevil.3952:

Rag.3258:

Short boons in general don’t overwrite longer boons, don’t see why staff 4 should be an exception. Have you tested this yourself?

New boons overwrite the oldest stacks, same with old style conditions(Pre-patch, vuln still gets overwritten). So the first 12 might stacks are going to get overwritten, you lose ~7-8 seconds on those first 12 stacks.

I don’t know how you got to this conclusion. I just checked again, these are the three tests that I did:

1: 1 Guard@100% might duration, 1 ele@175% might duration. Ele stacks 18 stacks of might, then guard does empower. Might goes from 18 to 25, then drops back to 18 shortly after and all the 18 stacks drop off roughly the same time a long while later. Looks like empower only added 7 stacks. PvP-Environment.

2: 2 guards@100% might duration, 1 ele@175% might duration. Ele stacks 21 stacks of might at the same time as both guards empower. Might goes to 25, then quickly drops to 21, then stays at 21 for a long while before dropping to 0 quickly. Looks like 2 empowers only added 4 stacks. PvP-Environment.

3: 1 War@160% vuln duration, 2 wars@100% vuln duration. 1 War stacks to 24 vuln, then other wars shout OMM. Vuln goes to 25, then visibly drops to 24. Looks like 2xOMM only added 1 Vuln. PvE-Environment.

(4: 1PS war@145% might duration, silverwastes. Mapwide carrier bonus of 25 stacks might for like a minute gets applied. Keep attacking, stop attacking, Might stays on. PvE-Environment, noticed a few days ago.)

All those tests look like gw2 is intelligently kicking stacks, which is exactly what it looked like in my previous test. Honestly I think you didn’t check your facts at all, which would be pretty annoying, but please tell me if and how you did.

Rag.3258:

…

All those tests look like gw2 is intelligently kicking stacks, which is exactly what it looked like in my previous test. Honestly I think you didn’t check your facts at all, which would be pretty annoying, but please tell me if and how you did.

Some time ago (a year or so) on my last test newer buffs overwrote (longer) older ones. They might have changed it but never said so in the patch notes. A test which would prove it conclusively would be:
- get 2 staff eles, 2 instant blasters (warriors with wh ie), 1 guard (staff).
- no traits, naked (except necessary weapons, preferably white ones)
- have the eles + blasters blast to 25 in <2s.
- guard empower
- check in 10s if might drops of

Bohantopa.5729:

Rag.3258:

…

All those tests look like gw2 is intelligently kicking stacks, which is exactly what it looked like in my previous test. Honestly I think you didn’t check your facts at all, which would be pretty annoying, but please tell me if and how you did.

Some time ago (a year or so) on my last test newer buffs overwrote (longer) older ones. They might have changed it but never said so in the patch notes. A test which would prove it conclusively would be:
- get 2 staff eles, 2 instant blasters (warriors with wh ie), 1 guard (staff).
- no traits, naked (except necessary weapons, preferably white ones)
- have the eles + blasters blast to 25 in <2s.
- guard empower
- check in 10s if might drops of

New might with a shorter duration than old Might won’t overwrite. Have eles prestack to 25 and then have a PS warrior do 100b. Your might wont drop off after 6 seconds.

Well, woohoo? I guess.

The problem is when short boon are first and they limit the longer boon. Like if a guardian empower and then a ele stack 18 stack. The group will quicly drop to 13 stack and not 18.

Thaddeus.4891:

The problem is when short boon are first and they limit the longer boon. Like if a guardian empower and then a ele stack 18 stack. The group will quicly drop to 13 stack and not 18.

Well I tested that just a few posts above your post and thats just not what happened.

No you tested when the ele stack might first and then the guardian stack shorter might on top of it. I’m talking about the other way around.

Thaddeus.4891:

No you tested when the ele stack might first and then the guardian stack shorter might on top of it. I’m talking about the other way around.

2: 2 guards@100% might duration, 1 ele@175% might duration. Ele stacks 21 stacks of might at the same time as both guards empower. Might goes to 25, then quickly drops to 21, then stays at 21 for a long while before dropping to 0 quickly. Looks like 2 empowers only added 4 stacks. PvP-Environment.

:|

The misunderstanding is that “at the same time” implies a race condition and doesn’t indicate which actually proc’d first.

Ya. You would have to make the Empower first and then the ele stack might and see what happen.

So they did change it, nice.

Thaddeus.4891:

Ya. You would have to make the Empower first and then the ele stack might and see what happen.

Jup that would be a nice test, dont even need a guard, get a ps warrior with the trait might on heal.