Guild Wars 2

Now that Rev is fast earning the title of best support profession in the game (i.e. glint/ventari plus Staff/Shield), what hope is there left for the Druid seeing as the likelihood (and most wanted by Ranger community) is that it will be a support+control based elite?

Taking Raids as an example, the Druid will have to be as good, preferably better, than the support Revenant for them to stand a chance of being invited into Raiding and dungeon parties.

Druid is the one opportunity for Rangers to be finally granted a place in the “viable professions” group. if it is going to be support/control-based, it will have to be something special to compete with what we’re already seeing. In other words, when HoT is released and Raiding parties are in full-flow, Druids need to be wanted in parties – we need to be seen as the, or one of the, go-to specs for that particular role.

If it isn’t support/control… then whatever it is needs to genuinely bring some solid value to a team environment.

Druid will probably join the Reaper club of ‘not really bad, but only worth it to fill the last 2-3 spaces of the raid group’ classes. Please, draw a number!

Druid doesn’t have to be as good as the herald at support. They just need to bring a different sort of support than the herald.

Maybe druid will get a unique debuff it can put on enemies that drop their damage output by 25% for it’s duration. Maybe druid has really strong AoE poison application abilities that allows it to maintain low stacks of perma poison on large groups, and the raid mobs happen to rely more on self healing and healer mobs to keep them alive. Maybe the druid has a strong group pull and bind skill along with a thorn wall skill that makes it really good at separating groups from one another.

We really have to wait and see what the druid has before we know if it will be wanted. We also have to wait and see what the raids will even need us to bring in the first place.

Yeah I get what you’re saying and I agree, but the main point is being wanted. I’m personally less concerned about what the Druid will actually do, and more concerned about how much value it brings… and of course how fun it is to play!

So what you’re saying is, Druid has to be good, or else it won’t be good..?

Fyrebrand.4859:

So what you’re saying is, Druid has to be good, or else it won’t be good..?

Not sure where you read that..?

I’m saying Druid has to be good else it’s going to be another unwanted, unviable addition to an already unwanted Ranger profession.

Rev support is boon, so a redundant type that has a lot of competition. Druid just needs to have something like warbanners or like ranger spirits. Something that stacks on top of boons.

Also wth, reaper has so many debuffs and is very hard to kill. I’ll be always sure to have one in my group

Meanwhile, the support guardian is crying in a corner.

Chameleon Dude.1564:

Meanwhile, the support guardian is crying in a corner.

Support guard respecd to greatsword burn guard is destroying things left and right.

Game is pretty much set on support. Druid just needs to bring extremely high dps, which it likely won’t.

It doesnt nesesarily need to have superior booms than revenant, since from what we know is that they affect multiple targets while “swapping aspectos” it might be a new kind/style of buff that stacks alongside normal booms, just like warr baners

Thz.7569:

Game is pretty much set on support. Druid just needs to bring extremely high dps, which it likely won’t.

Or will it?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well you’ll find out in the next month.

Personally in pvp, I find the ventari skills to be kinda bad (tablet micromanagement while having your face being crushed), but the glint skills to be really good. The whole point of revenant is to take the legend playstyle and specialize to the extreme with it, while glint is the only legend that seems to be good on any build since its support potential is really nice.

As it stands though Herald support is weak when it comes to rezzing, since radiant revival isn’t that great unless the enemy is dumping a poop ton of cleave. Ranger already has the nature spirit, so its already better at rezzing than the Herald.

I did write in another post that carrion mallyx/glint herald feels alot like the old spirit ranger, because it has so much AoE protection, a fair amount of burning and can 1v1 well and support in teamfights through boons. I’d argue that its better than the old spirit ranger in every category besides rezzing/healing.

I just thought that was an interesting comparison to make.

BIGHARSHNESS.3510:

Thz.7569:

Game is pretty much set on support. Druid just needs to bring extremely high dps, which it likely won’t.

Or will it?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, no it wont…

See exhibit A.

A: The pet exists.

Shiren.9532:

Revenant best support in the game? So the two most important boons in group content in PvE are might and fury. Revenant isn’t best at either of these – warrior and elementalist fill these rolls completely on their own. They do this while bringing either banners or some of the highest DPS in the game.

So assuming every party will still want a PF ele (even if you don’t need Fury, the trait boosts Lava Font DPS) and a warrior (Empower Allies and banners) the revenant will not be needed for either might or fury. Ele will always be needed as long as Ice Bow isn’t nerfed and warrior will still be needed as long as banners are around.

Suddenly every group composition no longer needs either might or fury. What’s left for the revenant to do? Protection? Regeneration? Glint isn’t that good in groups. The F2 might be, but the other tools are being provided by core professions more effectively than the revenant.

Mallyx is probably the best niche the revenant has for support – condi management and that’s situationally useful. At best I’d describe revenant as a Jack of All Trades profession when it comes to support.

When it comes to druid, set yourself up for disappointment. ArenaNet is butting heads with the high end PvE community when it comes to profession balance. ArenaNet seems to think it’s OK for certain professions and compositions to be significantly more powerful than the best offerings from other professions. More clearly, ArenaNet seems to think it’s “good enough” that content can be completed with the best builds from certain professions and doesn’t seem too concerned that the content is being played with that in mind.

Assuming raids end up being anything like dungeons or much of GW2’s other group content, druid doesn’t want support – it wants DPS. Healing would almost certainly be the absolute worst thing that could happen to the druid. Support in the form of DPS buffs, reflects and other skills which speed up content – that kind of support would be fantastic. Judging by what they did with the reaper (or didn’t do I should say), it’s highly unlikely the druid will offer solutions to desperate rangers wanting to group with other players as equals.

Lol, Rev can’t supply fury/might? You’ve obviously not played mace with herald then. Cause I can practically perma 25 stacks of might and fury, AND if kitten hits the fan switch to pulsing protection and regen while the fury and might VERY slowly fall off.

Chameleon Dude.1564:

Meanwhile, the support guardian is crying in a corner.

Yep. Which is pretty much why I’m rerolling Rev. I’ve been getting chills this weekend playing Rev cause the facets and feel of the class reminds me of Dervish in GW1, and Chanter in Aion. At this point it just plays better and feels better than the historically “in a good place” Guardian.

Hopefully, they will do something good. I’m only saying this because people love their rangers. I’m a WvW player and it’s super annoying seeing so many rangers when they could be playing an ele, necro, or engi, classes that have better support and dps. I’d even rather have a thief than a ranger. If they give the ranger some good aoe dps, then great, I don’t have to hate my fellow rangers anymore.