Guild Wars 2

This is a suggestion for the future raid (which will probably take some time but still).

Compared to other mmo’s , GW2 has a different combat style. The holy trinity (tank,dps,healer) is less visible (which isn’t bad at all, it’s something different imo).

However, in my opinion, the current bosses greatly lack a certain strategy that revolves around healers. Druids are currently your goto healer (not much diversity for this role), and even then their role is largely support with buffs and a few heals.

I would really like for a future boss to require 1 or 2 dedicated healers to keep the group alive, adding a new combat dynamic to the fights.

What are your thoughts on this?

My thoughts is that many bosses already need a healer. Well… in most cases, there are always groups that can have a berserker Ele or druid healing and only rely on this. Those groups are the same that defeat Gorseval without updrafts since long or can low man pretty much every encounter…. these are outliers!
For the rest, every group has a dedicated healer in term of build and/or gear. Sure druid are more present but only because their buffs are mandatory and when played as support DPS character, their DPS is not competitive.
It is like tank mesmer, a great support with bad DPS but mandatory… give a spot where his dps does not count.
To finish, there is few diversity in healer role because the sate of the game does not allow many profession to have a good, effective build. Ele and druids are top tier, you could argue Rev and guard could have a spot but they lack the flexibility of the other two who can heal two spots. The rest is pretty bad atm.

So…here’s the thing.

For their to be something other than a druid healer, you need more than just another class that can heal well.

Since rangers deal pitiful DPS in their most damage-oriented builds and deal even less when they fill up with all the damage buffs that groups want them for (spotter, spirits, glyph, etc.), they will never be taken unless their terrible DPS is offset by their buffs (which it is). However, if you’re going to take a low DPS class just to get their buffs, you might as well have them heal and if they’re healing, you don’t really need anyone else to heal (for most bosses on most comps).

This is why eles have continued to be unpopular as healers in raids, even though they can technically heal better than druids.

As it stands, the best I could expect for healer diversity would be if revenant became a good enough healer using Ventari with a build that could maintain boons on the same level with the current meta rev build. In this case, you’d still have a druid with all the same buffs, but they would just run a DPS build.

No, it’s not something that works for GW2 and nothing ANet wants to do (“We don’t want you to have to wait for your healer to come online”)

My group has been switching to a comp with 2 (full)healers for the past few weeks and we’re comfortably oneshot’n every bosses now – no updraft Gorseval included. It is possible to play with “more” healing in the current raids without the need to specifically design a new encounter around the healer. However, is it possible to demand that play style in any raid groups out there? Eh, it’s up to you to convince your group or play with like-minded people.

Dahkeus.8243:

So…here’s the thing.

For their to be something other than a druid healer, you need more than just another class that can heal well.

Since rangers deal pitiful DPS in their most damage-oriented builds and deal even less when they fill up with all the damage buffs that groups want them for (spotter, spirits, glyph, etc.), they will never be taken unless their terrible DPS is offset by their buffs (which it is). However, if you’re going to take a low DPS class just to get their buffs, you might as well have them heal and if they’re healing, you don’t really need anyone else to heal (for most bosses on most comps).

This is why eles have continued to be unpopular as healers in raids, even though they can technically heal better than druids.

As it stands, the best I could expect for healer diversity would be if revenant became a good enough healer using Ventari with a build that could maintain boons on the same level with the current meta rev build. In this case, you’d still have a druid with all the same buffs, but they would just run a DPS build.

This is all correct, I just want to add that the level of support buffs that druid provides in raids is completely insane compared to every other class. Even if in the future class a got a healing elite spec, it wouldn’t be able to compete with druid unless it were given comparable traits and skills. Just Grace of the Land and Glyph of Empowerment give a 26.5% damage boost to all affected allies. That alone makes them better for DPS support than every class besides chronomancer. And on top of that they have spotter, frost spirit, and sun spirit.

If you like healer ele/rev/whatever then more power to you, do what you want, but there is nothing in the game that is even remotely close to being as effective as a druid in terms of DPS support while providing a reasonable level of healing. This is why many groups run a 4-4-2 comp which brings 2 druids even though only one is needed for healing.

Dinosaurs.8674:

Dahkeus.8243:

So…here’s the thing.

For their to be something other than a druid healer, you need more than just another class that can heal well.

Since rangers deal pitiful DPS in their most damage-oriented builds and deal even less when they fill up with all the damage buffs that groups want them for (spotter, spirits, glyph, etc.), they will never be taken unless their terrible DPS is offset by their buffs (which it is). However, if you’re going to take a low DPS class just to get their buffs, you might as well have them heal and if they’re healing, you don’t really need anyone else to heal (for most bosses on most comps).

This is why eles have continued to be unpopular as healers in raids, even though they can technically heal better than druids.

As it stands, the best I could expect for healer diversity would be if revenant became a good enough healer using Ventari with a build that could maintain boons on the same level with the current meta rev build. In this case, you’d still have a druid with all the same buffs, but they would just run a DPS build.

This is all correct, I just want to add that the level of support buffs that druid provides in raids is completely insane compared to every other class. Even if in the future class a got a healing elite spec, it wouldn’t be able to compete with druid unless it were given comparable traits and skills. Just Grace of the Land and Glyph of Empowerment give a 26.5% damage boost to all affected allies. That alone makes them better for DPS support than every class besides chronomancer. And on top of that they have spotter, frost spirit, and sun spirit.

If you like healer ele/rev/whatever then more power to you, do what you want, but there is nothing in the game that is even remotely close to being as effective as a druid in terms of DPS support while providing a reasonable level of healing. This is why many groups run a 4-4-2 comp which brings 2 druids even though only one is needed for healing.

Yea…agreed. This is one of the reasons I abandoned ranger. When the game released, it really looked like it would be ranged pet DPS class. Fast forward to 2016 and ranger is now buff bot that transforms into a healer periodically with terrible damage that’s at least less terrible than other classes when they go full healing.

Not to say that this is a bad thing, as it’s something I know some people really enjoy, but it’s a far cry from what it looked like it would be when the game released and it’s definitely not my cup o’ tea.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

No, it’s not something that works for GW2 and nothing ANet wants to do (“We don’t want you to have to wait for your healer to come online”)

Are you sure?

Irenio during Druid reveal at Twitchcon…

“Bringing heavy healing to GW2, unlike anything you have seen before. Strong support, very powerful in upcoming raids and WvW. Can sustain a zerg train of 20-30 players in WvW.

Upcoming content will have stuff that you can’t just dodge to survive.

Berserk meta is going away."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ZHhJQn0B8

Improving professions and roles adds depth and longevity to the game. It also allows the developers to create even more challenging content and combat.

Dahkeus.8243:

So…here’s the thing.

For their to be something other than a druid healer, you need more than just another class that can heal well.

Since rangers deal pitiful DPS in their most damage-oriented builds and deal even less when they fill up with all the damage buffs that groups want them for (spotter, spirits, glyph, etc.), they will never be taken unless their terrible DPS is offset by their buffs (which it is). However, if you’re going to take a low DPS class just to get their buffs, you might as well have them heal and if they’re healing, you don’t really need anyone else to heal (for most bosses on most comps).

This is why eles have continued to be unpopular as healers in raids, even though they can technically heal better than druids.

As it stands, the best I could expect for healer diversity would be if revenant became a good enough healer using Ventari with a build that could maintain boons on the same level with the current meta rev build. In this case, you’d still have a druid with all the same buffs, but they would just run a DPS build.

Healer rev and ele is probably the best healer imo, but unless raids require TONS of passive sustain then none will run them, just make the message run healing gear and spam mop…..