Guild Wars 2

I can understand why people like to play as a healer, but Iam glad GW2 got rid of that role. I found being a healer very boring.

so in other MMO’s with the trinity system I would never choose a class that was able to heal. As when I had a Cleric the guild always wanted me to make a 2nd heal build for when they couldn’t find a healer even though my main build was for dps. I always ended up being their healer, otherwise we couldn’t do a dungeon. I was so bored.

Thank you Anet to do away with the trinity. It is an awful system where you sit around allllll night waiting for essential classes to come online. And then have everything depend on this one healer and you can’t do anything about failing the dungeon because you didn’t know the healer was no good. To exit the dungeon and wait again for a new healer. The trinity where you are forced to play in constant parties and many people play with people they don’t like, but only because they are good healer / good tank etc. etc.

Now, if you want a more healerish profession you can best play guardian with staff and healer build. My guardian can do virtue of resolve which is like a minor group heal and empower (staff skill giving about 2000HP every 20s) which is like major group heal (given you have a staff with heal)
you can have mace & shield as second weapon swap where you heal while you hit.

Something that folks around here will never understand is that there are players that enjoy healing. They enjoy tanking. They enjoy these varied gameplay options outside of “pew pew pew” all the time. It made for depth and replay-ability.

Instead what we’re stuck with without combat roles is a button-mashing free-for-all that in no way satisfies the urge for true team play, especially in PvE.

Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have a use for players playing together – it’s satisfactory to play “along side” others where it doesn’t matter what each other are doing. It’s a solo game with other people around, and the combat reflects that. Not team play in any way, shape or form.

I like the way this game is setup.

I can start with my ranged attacks and while waiting for them to cool down, switch gear and charge in for some melee action. My health bar getting clobbered? Time to drop a healing spring or do a quick avoid and get back to ranged distance. Repeat.

Those with Pets can send their pet in to ‘tank’ while the party spams the crowd with ranged effects.

So in one battle I’ve sent my pet in for tanking, played ranged and melee as well as healing for myself and pet as well as those within range of my spring.

The great thing about this game is that I’m not locked into any one given play style. I like that.

MaRko.3165:

The great thing about this game is that I’m not locked into any one given play style. I like that.

The truth is every modern MMO affords you that. What’s lacking here it the varied playstyles if you prefer a combat role. That, to me, makes it very mediocre when it comes to team play – what MMOs are supposed to be about.

Zeldain.5710:

Instead what we’re stuck with without combat roles is a button-mashing free-for-all that in no way satisfies the urge for true team play, especially in PvE.

The issue is that some players, typically those who are too stuck with how other MMOs work, cannot adapt to the GW2 combat system. It creates a very clear pattern: the players who complain that everyone does only DPS are the same who complain about everything being button-smashing who are the same that complain about dungeons being only about death zerging bosses from waypoints, who are the same players that always skip Kholer in Ascalon Catacombs with the argument that parties always wipe when fighting him.

The combat in GW2 is significantly deeper than the boring and predictable “tank – healer – DPS” model found in other MMOs. The issue is that players who don’t accept anything other than said model are not willing to understand how GW2 really is. The good thing for them is that there are half a dozen other MMOs exactly like what they want out there (and in truth, they are probably looking for a copy of their first online world, whether they realize it or not). The bad news for them is that GW2 has been made for everyone else.

Zeldain.5710:

……

Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have a use for players playing together – it’s satisfactory to play “along side” others where it doesn’t matter what each other are doing. It’s a solo game with other people around, and the combat reflects that. Not team play in any way, shape or form.

You need to work together to do the dungeon. Tell people who do fractals level 10+ they don’t need to work together in GW2. In trinity games the DDs do only pew pew and sleep otherwise and the bulk of the work is done by the tank and the healer (classes only too few want to play, thus endless waiting). And once you choose to be healer you will always be the healer. In GW2 I can choose my role on the spot. I can and I do support my party at times. In WvW I use a long range setup, in dungeons I use a support healer buffer / damage setup in weapon swap, in sPvP close combat high defense build.

Raf.1078:

Play how you want to, but there is no actual “need” in GW2 for 1/3 of the Trinity.

It has it already though… DPSers. Which is why our guild now calls it a MMOAPG (A for action as there is no roles.
The down side of it all is the fact that even with guildies and being a social person that wants to play with others the dps only thing isn’t much fun in dungeons where it soon becomes “Kitten you all, your on your own! I’m looking after number 1!” …How friendly! Nobody cares, and it’s making player look selfish and greedy (imo).

Play mace/focus guardian coupled with altruistic healing trait and not bother dodging cause you heal for more than boss/mobs can damage unless you get overwhelmed in that case just blame the the scrub team your with, enjoy.

Quaz.4931:

I remember a Dev article/Vblog talking about healing is the worst type of support and that CC and proactive protection was the best. Well GW1 did that really well, you had prot monks, blinding-based or ward eles, anti-melee necros, mesmers with anti caster spells etc…

GW2 seems really lacking in it’s support aspect, and any healing/support you give is often just spammed on cooldown, rather than a precise time. There is no protective spirit/infuse in this game. There aren’t many interupts and they don’t “feel” as good as in GW1 (guess thats my opinion though). Oh and lets not forget all bosses are resistant to CC effects, so you can’t really support via CC on any boss.

All in all, there is very little in the way of healing/support in this game, and any healing/support there is is often not very skill oriented, just cooldown oriented.

I definitely know what you mean by the “feel” of it. Playing ranger in RA in GW1, interrupting the WoH of a monk in full obby and proceeding to wreck the other team just felt good. You knew what role you played and the combat wasn’t homogenized. In my opinion, GW1 had a better chance at being an esport than GW2 will ever have because they’ve dumbed it down too much. I really dont understand what they meant by saying the skill system in GW1 was too complex and hard to learn to be an esport. It’s better than having its’ predecessor be so braindead, casual, and boring that no one even wants to play it.

lothefallen.7081:

Quaz.4931:

I remember a Dev article/Vblog talking about healing is the worst type of support and that CC and proactive protection was the best. Well GW1 did that really well, you had prot monks, blinding-based or ward eles, anti-melee necros, mesmers with anti caster spells etc…

GW2 seems really lacking in it’s support aspect, and any healing/support you give is often just spammed on cooldown, rather than a precise time. There is no protective spirit/infuse in this game. There aren’t many interupts and they don’t “feel” as good as in GW1 (guess thats my opinion though). Oh and lets not forget all bosses are resistant to CC effects, so you can’t really support via CC on any boss.

All in all, there is very little in the way of healing/support in this game, and any healing/support there is is often not very skill oriented, just cooldown oriented.

In my opinion, GW1 had a better chance at being an esport than GW2 will ever have because they’ve dumbed it down too much.

Again, it’s a matter of some people not understanding how the game works. Using the post you were quoting as an example:

1) Spamming support on recharge is more often than not a waste. As a Guardian fighting Kholer in Ascalon Catacombs, for example, using “Stand Your Ground!” before the boss’ pull attack as opposed to on recharge could be the difference between a party wipe and killing the boss with ease. Likewise, using the Guardian’s staff skill 5, Line of Warding, on recharge, is extremely useless, while knowing when and where to use it can result in blocking a large amount of enemies and thus increasing your group’s survability.

2) Bosses are resistant to interrupts, not immune. With a minimum of team work, you can time your party’s interrupts to prevent the bosses from using their main attacks. Again in AC, using well coordinated interrupts to block the Colossus’ scream is a very effective way to play… If you can play that well. If you simply spam skills on recharge, though, you can’t reach this kind of efficiency.

Ah yes, team work. Without any effective in game means of doing just that. Because the only in game means of coordinating it all is via the chat. Except that the game is designed to always keep us moving, so the chat becomes unworkable. Meaning that the only ones that really can do teamwork are dedicated parties/guilds with third party voice chats and similar.

idk, i dont see why people hate on the HolyTrinty…I do miss playing a healer or at least having a decent aoe heal stares at ele water heals. ya im talking about u…those heals dont even tickle!

People are commenting “ya but then u would have to sit in town saying looking for healer or tank for hours” …cus people arnt already sitting in town going " Looking for X more, no necros-rangers" lol…same ol stuff, now if only they added a party finder

Hoping they release the Monk profession, maybe with some better aoe healing options, but im not very familar with the monk mechanics of GW1 so idk

Erasculio.2914:

The good thing for them is that there are half a dozen other MMOs exactly like what they want out there …

Idle talk. Name a couple. Or just one. Only one that allows to level without killing, offers a crafting system and has lively nice chats between NPCs in a wide, well-simulated fictional world.

You see? Idle talk, that there are “so much others”.

lothefallen.7081:

I definitely know what you mean by the “feel” of it. Playing ranger in RA in GW1, interrupting the WoH of a monk in full obby and proceeding to wreck the other team just felt good. You knew what role you played and the combat wasn’t homogenized. In my opinion, GW1 had a better chance at being an esport than GW2 will ever have because they’ve dumbed it down too much. I really dont understand what they meant by saying the skill system in GW1 was too complex and hard to learn to be an esport. It’s better than having its’ predecessor be so braindead, casual, and boring that no one even wants to play it.

Wow their reason for GW1 not being an e-sport was it was too complicated? That is terrible reasoning,

1: GW1 was not actually that complicated after you have learned some keys roles (frontline/midline/backline/runner)
2: I am pretty sure starcraft and DoTA have far more build options and tactics than GW1 ever did – ya know those games designed specficially for e-sport?

If anything I would have said GW1 was too SIMPLE to be an e-sport. GW2 is even more simple, and if the game revolves around short engagements determined by who rolls the best (no matter the class) then I don’t see gw2 becoming an e-sport at all lol. I have no dabble in the pvp much, because the game is young and that means there is probably loads of imbalance, but I have never heard “simple” being the way to make an e-sport lol.

Back on about support… yea a guardian can use stability for that boss in AC, one boss in the whole dungeon you have to time a support skill to avoid damage? It is more efficient to hide behind the pillers and roll away when he gets too close, no teamwork needed. Like most things in this game, it is more efficient if you play like a solo player passively gaining group buffs.

MistyMountains.3751:

Hoping they release the Monk profession, maybe with some better aoe healing options, but im not very familar with the monk mechanics of GW1 so idk

Or simply make Healing Power actually make a difference, so that trading power or other damage related stats for do not feel like a self imposed nerf.

Although there are no dedicated healers like many other MMOs you can carve out a niche for yourself as a healer in this game, particularly if you like dungeon running. I have a guardian with lots of healing and have found myself invited to groups over and over simply because I have some good buffs and a decent amount of healing in my spec. Most players tend to spec damage and a bit of mitigation, so finding someone that has decent healing capability is a rarity it seems.

MistyMountains.3751:

idk, i dont see why people hate on the HolyTrinty…I do miss playing a healer or at least having a decent aoe heal stares at ele water heals. ya im talking about u…those heals dont even tickle!

People are commenting “ya but then u would have to sit in town saying looking for healer or tank for hours” …cus people arnt already sitting in town going " Looking for X more, no necros-rangers" lol…same ol stuff, now if only they added a party finder

Hoping they release the Monk profession, maybe with some better aoe healing options, but im not very familar with the monk mechanics of GW1 so idk

Just wait a bit. If the forum is any indicator at all, the game demographic has already shifted a lot from GW1 enthusiasts and people being hyped by the “manifesto” marketing to the standard MMORPG enthusiast. And a company has to feed its targeted customers what they want. I predict a full healer class (more probable as you can sell such “unlocks” nicely in the cash store) or a boost of healing abilities to create full fledged healers by mid 2013 at the latest. Along with mounts and stuff.

Quaz.4931:

lothefallen.7081:

I definitely know what you mean by the “feel” of it. Playing ranger in RA in GW1, interrupting the WoH of a monk in full obby and proceeding to wreck the other team just felt good. You knew what role you played and the combat wasn’t homogenized. In my opinion, GW1 had a better chance at being an esport than GW2 will ever have because they’ve dumbed it down too much. I really dont understand what they meant by saying the skill system in GW1 was too complex and hard to learn to be an esport. It’s better than having its’ predecessor be so braindead, casual, and boring that no one even wants to play it.

Wow their reason for GW1 not being an e-sport was it was too complicated? That is terrible reasoning,

1: GW1 was not actually that complicated after you have learned some keys roles (frontline/midline/backline/runner)
2: I am pretty sure starcraft and DoTA have far more build options and tactics than GW1 ever did – ya know those games designed specficially for e-sport?

If anything I would have said GW1 was too SIMPLE to be an e-sport. GW2 is even more simple, and if the game revolves around short engagements determined by who rolls the best (no matter the class) then I don’t see gw2 becoming an e-sport at all lol. I have no dabble in the pvp much, because the game is young and that means there is probably loads of imbalance, but I have never heard “simple” being the way to make an e-sport lol.

Back on about support… yea a guardian can use stability for that boss in AC, one boss in the whole dungeon you have to time a support skill to avoid damage? It is more efficient to hide behind the pillers and roll away when he gets too close, no teamwork needed. Like most things in this game, it is more efficient if you play like a solo player passively gaining group buffs.

GW1 has too much diversity to be an e-sport game. Due to the sheer number of skills available it’s extremely difficult to balance. I think this is the reason why Arenanet watered down the skills in GW2, because they wanted something that would work for e-sport.

Mandrax.7342:

GW1 has too much diversity to be an e-sport game. Due to the sheer number of skills available it’s extremely difficult to balance. I think this is the reason why Arenanet watered down the skills in GW2, because they wanted something that would work for e-sport.

Ah I agree with that, but that wasn’t really the combat system, that was the skill system specifically. Which means if they just released less skills and didn’t let people have secondary proffessions, the game would work fine as an e-sport (imo) Which they could have done in GW1, as they had an arena that only let you take certain skills that changed each day. (or official turnies just had rules on what skills a character could bring).

The problem is not lack of teamwork, zero teamwork in anything other than a zerg is a wipe. The problem is you want to focus on one small aspect of the game that has been spread out over all classes. So this game is not for you and move on. Why do you really think they will change this? It works for the majority of people, some better than others true but it does work.

I’ve noticed that folks complaining about lack of teamwork also are the same ones refusing to change their playstyle.

Folks, please stop being hyperbolic and refusing to learn the new system. If you understood the new system, you’d know how players can work together.

I’m someone who always plays healers in MMOs, but I managed to adapt. It often ends up that I end up cleansing, my roomie does direct heals, another will drop prot stuff, etc. It’s not all on me to keep everyone alive, it’s up to everyone to do so, and good groups will work together.

Saying, “But I like to be the one to keep people alive!” is in no way about teamwork; you’re actually trying to STOP others from working together to keep the group alive.

Hickeroar.9734:

Support Guardian or Support Warrior. There’s no “healer” class perse, but you can effectively play the role that way. I throw around heals like crazy using a a build closely based on this: http://www.noxxic.com/gw2/guardian/support/pve

Check out the stat priority and core build links on the left.

“Like crazy” relative to a complete non-healing spec, but is a laughable amount of heals compared to actual effective healing. LOL @ a couple shouts on 30s cooldown that heal for 1/10 of your hp…somehow I don’t think that’s what the OP has in mind.

Lionaeron.5724:

Play mace/focus guardian coupled with altruistic healing trait and not bother dodging cause you heal for more than boss/mobs can damage unless you get overwhelmed in that case just blame the the scrub team your with, enjoy.

Heal yourself you mean. We’re talking about supporting your team, not keeping yourself alive by giving your team negligible buffs while you exploit a single tactic that could easily be nerfed at some point.

It’s general best to read about the game before buying it. No holy trinity is a very conscious design decision, and has been there since the beginning.

I’ve always played a healing class and am quite happy with Guardian and Ele to fit that support role. I’m finding it much more manageable in the redefined role.

Sylv.5324:

Folks, please stop being hyperbolic and refusing to learn the new system. If you understood the new system, you’d know how players can work together.

It’s not very polite to impute others being kind of a mathmatical function or other nasty things, you know?
You will have a hard time to prove that I don’t understand the new system, and without that proof, you shouldn’t assume my own knowledge about myself being wrong. Thus it’s not refusal, stupidity, dementia, lazyness, lunacity or whatever – I know the new system and I found that I am missing something about (please spend attention) player interaction.

I can play a damage dealer as well as I can play a supporter and / or an healer. But I miss player interaction when everyone is only busy with doing damage. And the possibility for teamwork in GW2 is approximately as good as the possibility for playing a tank: yes, if you overcome all the limitations and obstacles of the system, then you can do so. But it’s usually better to play as the game mechanics supports, and maybe give the developers a hint that there is space for improvements.

Star Ace.5207:

Raf.1078:

Star Ace.5207:

Raf.1078:

There probably is no place for a true healer in this game. Best you can do is play support. But even then you’ll need to add to the overall dps of the group to make it efficient.

Hey….I played heal classes in almost all previous games. But I won’t pigeonhole myself into saying thats the only type of play I enjoy.

Even with minimal power, a healer/support “type” of player will still ALWAYS add DPS, however little, thus he/she will always be welcome in any party of mine. Efficiency will never trump having fun, and players only have fun when the game and playstyle suits them, not when forced to follow a “necessary” meta playstyle (such as “DPS”.)

I do not mean to argue/offend, though.

We are discussing the archetypes, not any particular person. As a casual gamer, I’ll not turn anyone away based on their build…but that said.

Speccing your character to pure heal in this game deprives any group of a fully functioning group and deprives yourself of the ability to solo. So why try to shoehorn another game’s playstyle into a game that operates differently?

Play how you want to, but there is no actual “need” in GW2 for 1/3 of the Trinity.

Having max healing power in no way constitutes playing a “healer role” ala GW1 and other games. I do not care for the so-called “trinity”, nor have any use of it, and actually welcome GW2’s system. I just don’t think it’s all about DPS EITHER, and if a player wants to heal/support me, I will respect his/her choice in playing whichever way he/she wants, not in a “must have”, “efficient”, “speedrunner” way, as I am sure he/she will still attack the enemy while providing superior buffs/heals (either direct or over time) to the whole party.

Again, I do not mean to offend, but this:

“Speccing your character to pure heal in this game deprives any group of a fully functioning group and deprives yourself of the ability to solo. "

is your opinion and own bias, not in any way a real assessment AT ALL. In fact, I soloed efectively all the time with such builds and gear, and made my teams better (of course, I probably would have been “deadweight” for you, but that’s another issue.)

I still have my Exotic Magi’s armor ready for use, though am using Knight’s armor with Cleric’s trinkets for a bit more power and toughness with just a bit of loss of healing power.

Note that I am not boasting of anything, just letting you know that your statement (I.E. personal preference) is not true for everybody out there. Just make sure to avoid me in your parties, so I don’t “slow you down” with my “inefficient”, “non-elite” playstyle. :P

In short, I do agree there’s NO need for a healer role, because it can’t be possibly fulfilled anyway (at least not in a strict, “trinity-esque” way)-that doesn’t mean that one cannot focus on Healing Power and buff builds, though, as one can keep attacking while supporting your allies.

Take care, let’s just agree to disagree, as I doubt we’ll convince each other, and it’s not worth the debate.

Opinions are like kittens, we all have them. All I’ll add is I like not “needing” a healer for tough content. I don’t miss trinity type play at all.

I just want to chime in and say that although I’m sorry for the OP feeling like they have no role in this game, adding the ability to have dedicated ANYTHING in this game will kill the PVE experience very quickly for players like me.

I came here for 2 reasons: Lack of vertical progression and lack of dedicated role based combat. So far ArenaNet has started to fudge with principle A which has made my play time more than a bit tedious due to the fact that half the player base is in LA or FotM so some zones are barren. If they remove the second principle, I will leave and I guarantee that the uproar from the playerbase as a whole will drown out the screams from the Ascended Gear threads 1000 fold.

The feeling of independence and utility I have in this game is unparalleled. My characters feel more complete and capable than in any other MMO I’ve ever played, short of City of Heroes.

But despite what the detractors say, there is still an incredibly strong interplay in group content. Anyone who says they can’t make combo fields work for them seriously doesn’t know what they’re doing. I’ve seen teams make use of them to amazing effect. Groups with Rangers and Elementalists dropping water fields and having Warriors use their “Plant Banner” blast finisher on repeat by picking their banners back up over and over. I’ve seen how fast a condition Necro can burn down a boss (literally) when he has someone else set up a fire field for him to slap down some burns with, on top of his own poisons and bleeds.

And that’s not to mention the HUGE Guardian tool box of support on Staff or the survivability of a well built regen Thief and their aptitude for quick and frequent rescues of downed teammates (yay for Shadow Refuge).

If you give classes the ability to heal to the point of being a dedicated healer, you lose the reason to use these aforementioned techniques. Its easier to just click “give Warrior-tank 8k HP” and be done with it. That’s just wrong and it will be the reason that I leave the game for good.

If you bought this game and didn’t know what you were getting into then shame on you. There is nothing lacking here when it comes to potential for teamwork. Go on Youtube and watch what coordinated teams are capable of.

I play a support Staff Ele and I love it. I focus mainly on slows, stuns, knockbacks and immobolizes for my friends with a little bit of healing. I love it (:

A helpful hint. Cleric’s insignia, press 6, healing utility skills tied to traits.

Problem solved.

I always play healers, WoW/WAR/TOR/LotR. PvP, PvE, raiding or soloing. I tend to play tanks a lot too.

And I do tons of healing and group support on my Engineer. You cant sit back and /afk spam keys to play like you do as a healer in “traditional” MMOs, but Ive never played a game with a more active support role than GW2.

I kite, I CC, I put out healing, I remove conditions, and I do all that while I target assist to help burn down targets. Dont like that? Not really the game for you then, which is fine. Not everyone needs to enjoy the same things, and not every game needs to cater to all people(nor should they!).

I wouldnt like LotRO to have GW2 combat, it would ruin the experience. Just like how it would ruin GW2 gameplay to have fixed class roles, where instead theyre more like fixed playstyles.

If you want to play support in GW2 then play with a support build, there are many.

Why? Healing was incredible boring in WoW. Yes, it was a good feeling but the system behind it was beyond awful, especially in PvE.

Also there are so many games with the trinity, why don’t play one of those? GW2 is extremely fine without healers, especially PvP (Well, after they nerf D/D-bunker eles).

I also was a healer in many other mmorpg’s and had mixed feelings about the no trinity in GW2. It’s still there though, there are ways to make a healer/support build but it sure won’t be played in a traditional way, which is not a bad thing, we healers just have to get used to a new way to help others in our group.

I knew full well there would be no more trinity in GW2, but I didn’t realize how much I’d miss it, personally. Nothing ANet can do about my preferences there. I know there’s a place for a gamer like me, and that’s GW1

Hawks.5736:

You cant sit back and /afk spam keys to play like you do as a healer in “traditional” MMOs

This may be off topic, but you’re saying you healed in raids in WoW and you just spammed heals? You didn’t dps, cc, interrupt, decurse, kite adds, stay out of fire, stack or spread out, time your heals perfectly either for the 2 secs your tank was healable or in between boss hits? It’s easy to call WoW raids faceroll in retrospect, I guess…

Meret.5943:

This may be off topic, but you’re saying you healed in raids in WoW and you just spammed heals? You didn’t dps, cc, interrupt, decurse, kite adds, stay out of fire, stack or spread out, time your heals perfectly either for the 2 secs your tank was healable or in between boss hits? It’s easy to call WoW raids faceroll in retrospect, I guess…

I wouldnt worry about what he said to much, Heh… anyone who claim to be a “true healer” and then say its just all about afk spam heals, well, tbh, he never been a healer at all, thats a dps talking, or a bad tank.
Anyone who has played as a serious healer know the blame game they love to do. saying that we “healers have such a easy job just standing in a corner watching the green bars” :p

Anything to take the blame off them. Yea granted, if I did one of the easier exp dungeons in a game, and most of us are over geared (to help a guildie or such), then yes, it could go a bit on auto pilot, but other then that, healing is everything but, “standing in a corner and afk spamming heals”…

Teabaker.9524:

Why? Healing was incredible boring in WoW.

Boring for you. Healing in PvP is super fun and it’s pretty sad that it isn’t available in GW2, and especially ironic given there are “tank” specs for GW2 PvP.

Yaki.9563:

Teabaker.9524:

Why? Healing was incredible boring in WoW.

Boring for you. Healing in PvP is super fun and it’s pretty sad that it isn’t available in GW2, and especially ironic given there are “tank” specs for GW2 PvP.

Well until a mesmer hit you with Backfire and Migraine then healing was the opposite of fun. GW1 pains XD

Meret.5943:

I knew full well there would be no more trinity in GW2, but I didn’t realize how much I’d miss it, personally..

Hawks.5736:

You cant sit back and /afk spam keys to play like you do as a healer in “traditional” MMOs

This may be off topic, but you’re saying you healed in raids in WoW and you just spammed heals? You didn’t dps, cc, interrupt, decurse, kite adds, stay out of fire, stack or spread out, time your heals perfectly either for the 2 secs your tank was healable or in between boss hits? It’s easy to call WoW raids faceroll in retrospect, I guess…

Agree’d. People with no experience in raiding just like to throw random comments around as if they actually know the full story. I’ve been a main tank for years in WoW with offspec being healing and I main monked/sin in GW1. GW2 has the least amount of team work I’ve ever seen in an MMO.

Healing isn’t just standing around afk, far from it. Fact is, ANet could have implemented healing just fine and the combat would still be fun and active and more diversity would be there but we all know GW2 is all about not having options so..

TabMorte.5297:

You can do a healing engineer too. There’s LOTS of healer options if you want to be one.

Actually i have found Engineer to be the best and closest class to healer you can get in GW2, people say its guardian, Engineer makes a thousand times better Support Healer any day.
Here are some links to Builds for support Engi

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqal0pSXnwyuF17ISIFSogBSheVXieofWGlB
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUlIqqbnwSXF1LJRoCJG0j6j3+KSxjr8nCsF;ToAAzCpoMyYkwIrROjkGNWYSC

Atleast you dont get bashed now that the party gets wipped or you dont have to say: please can you get out of the void zone?

(not sure why I can’t quote comments atm)

@JemL

You also don’t get kudos for saving butts through tough fights. Or, even the satisfaction that without you—no matter what your role is—the team would have gotten nowhere.

As for getting bashed… sometimes you just have to have thick skin. Unless it’s a true Leeroy situation, any jerk will decide to blame others without justification.

I love the pure support role in mmorpgs. I have no problem with gw2. Different game I see no need to bend it to my play style.

There’s not really a holy trinity so much, but there are still healers. They just aren’t the be-all-end-all method of damage mitigation. They are simply an option. Heals fall into the role of support along with status debuffs and buffs. You need to use all of them to be effective, and all classes have some means of using them. While building to be the healer may not technically be completely feasible, building for support definitely is and you will definitely notice a difference in doing so.

TANKING is also very much alive. We call them “bunker builds” in this game, but the concept is pretty much the same. There isn’t a lot of ways to manipulate “aggro” in this game, but you can always just… you know, physically stand in the way of an enemy and a friend.

Nekroseth.5186:

Totally fully agree.
Basically you should have given all classes all roles if they want to, but still keep the current game play where we dont need to take any role at all. THis way all would be happy.
You could take up a role, but would not be forced to take any up at all. You could complete anything without any role still.

Some would argue they have support roles for all classes but really they don’t not all classes heal the same when in support roles and some only remove conditions, not the same as healing I’m afraid I agree with you there.

tigirius.9014:

Nekroseth.5186:

Totally fully agree.
Basically you should have given all classes all roles if they want to, but still keep the current game play where we dont need to take any role at all. THis way all would be happy.
You could take up a role, but would not be forced to take any up at all. You could complete anything without any role still.

Some would argue they have support roles for all classes but really they don’t not all classes heal the same when in support roles and some only remove conditions, not the same as healing I’m afraid I agree with you there.

“Support” does not specifically mean “healing”. Damage mitigation comes in a lot more flavors than just green text.

Even though I like the notion of getting away from the trinity, It feels like a lot of times game developers do so in a fashion that’s not particularly well thought out.

To me, the goal should be to break both parts of the holy trinity— ie the roles of healer, dps, tank aren’t necessary to play content anymore, and there’s more than just healer, dps, and tank available as roles.

Ironically, the only games that really have come close to this ideal, in my mind, is City of Heroes and Eve online. With the latter you have dps, both in the form of ranged and melee, as well as tanks and healers. except the healers are (or were) really more built around reducing damage and buffing allies or debuffing enemies than direct healing, although that was also an opinion. Also included was the Controller archetype, one of the rare times I’ve seen Crowd control done right in a mmo. Most devs seem more or less afraid of the idea of CC and tend to shy away from it, or have CC that’s so weak or easily countered (ie as in this game, where bosses all have inherent boons that resist CC. Yes, they can be stripped, but only by wasting CC on them.)

What this meant was you could run a group made up of only DPS (although that was difficult), or you could run a group without a tank, using a controller in his place.

With EVE Online, there’s a great number of ways to build a ship, and while some set ups on some ships are more effective than others, due to inherent ship bonuses to certain things (such as Jamming) and some specialist ships could mount specialized modules, there’s a great variety of ways to play the game, and what role you play in it. You could run do support by draining enemies’s Caps, or jam them, etc.

TL;dr version; I applause Anet for building a game away from the holy trinity, but I think it was a mistake to hard code and balance the game so players can’t play as they want. I realize there are certain builds that exist that allow for healing, but in some sense they almost feel like quirky builds that just managed to slip into the game by accident, rather than by design.

GW2 is not for gamers it is a CASUAL SANDBOX of an MMO there is nothing to keep people who like challenges other than how long can I grind.

wookie slayer.4259:

GW2 is not for gamers it is a CASUAL SANDBOX of an MMO there is nothing to keep people who like challenges other than how long can I grind.

It’s definitely not a sand box that’s an insult to all those sand boxes out there.

I too am use to being a healer and a buffer, but I assumed that these things would not be needed. They are needed, the mechanic of falling to the ground and needing to be picked up constantly makes everyone in the game feel like a failure. That’s not heroic. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something and in this case I believe this game still needs healers and buffers or at least improve everyone’s survivability.

I hate the fall down mechanic down because I see it as a crutch for the game. A quick solution to getting rid of trinity.