Guild Wars 2

Given the way GW2 was made there is no place for a healer or a tank in a group. The reason why I say this is that healing is useless and there is no effective way ingame to control aggro. Am I the only one worried about the druid for my ranger?? Judging from the name it wont probably out dps the ranger we currently have, cause when I think about a druid what comes to mind is either dots or healing and none of those are better than zerk stats.
I might be wrong but someone else might share my concerns.
Dont judge my spelling Im from Argentina jaja.

1. It is not said that the druid is a healer specialization
2. If it is, then you would have a point for the game how it is right now but:
There are AI changes incoming with the expansion and this will probably mean that [pulling the mobs into a corner and] killing them fast will not work anymore.
Fights are most likely going to be more interesting and there is a high chance that healing / tanking will play a big role when the expansion hits.

What makes you think the druid has anything to do with healing? The Druids were simply humans who left society to become one with the Maguuma jungle, so a ranger having a druid specialisation would simply be using attacks that have something to do with the jungle and a synergy with nature.

Druid to me as far as damage is concerned will be more like perhaps a elementalist or something of that nature. The source of power will make the difference. Drawing on the spirits of nature for example to deal damage is easily something that could be considered druidic in and MMO. Don’t get sucked into “popular” roles/build’s from another mmo that has druids because we are working with a difference system. I expect that when wielding a staff we will have animist type magics that do damage and perhaps even heal (water ele’s do this why not druids). Ele’s do good dps so the druid easily should be able to as well.

1. At no point did I say that it will be a healer specialization, what I clearly stated is that the first things that come to mind when someone mentions druid is either dots or healing at least in my opinion.
2. Healing might eventually work, I honestly dont think it will seeing how the made multiple changes to healing power and healing in general and they did tiny to no difference
3. In terms of tanking there is nothing they can do, there is no aggro meter or or anything to support that in game. Introducing that would be a huge game changer affecting the game in every aspect (armor, skills, classes, etc).

Does a ranger with a staff sound like straight up dps?? I dont think so, its either healing or dots

I could totally see it being like earth ele, but if thats so why would they even bother making a specialization that is already in game? seeing how the ele already fills that role I would be waiting for something different

It will most likely be some form of magical class no doubt. It could also be more like a nature based guardian. Also we really at this point don’t know what effect these specializations could have. it could even be similar to staff necros only but instead of marks they use spirits (which would actually be quite interesting i think) Ah yes the joys of speculation.

the only reasonable speculation about druids is that they’ll be more nature magic centric. we can’t reasonably speculate that they’ll suddenly put healers in the game “because other games have characters called druids that are healers”.

i mean, the ranger in GW2 wields swords, axes, and greatswords. it even has a torch to set stuff on fire. it’s clearly not the same “we didn’t want to name it archer so we named it ranger” from other games, so why would its specialization fall in old tropes?

jacim.5904:

I could totally see it being like earth ele, but if thats so why would they even bother making a specialization that is already in game? seeing how the ele already fills that role I would be waiting for something different

Na, I’d say that the Druid would be more focused around plants and nature spirits than earth.

I can see the Druid specialisation:

• being focused around support (cleansing, healing) and control (mainly rooting).
• Additional skills would be focused around the Spirit and Wilderness Survival lines.
• traits are focused around the staff, Spirits and Wilderness Survival.
• potentially allowing Spirits to become Ranger pets.

jacim.5904:

I could totally see it being like earth ele, but if thats so why would they even bother making a specialization that is already in game? seeing how the ele already fills that role I would be waiting for something different

earth ele is more about quakes and rocks and hard, pointy things, whereas druids would be more about vines and plants and whatnot (hell, the one druid attack we’ve seen is a bunch of vines, and rangers already have entangle and a bunch of nature spirits, not to mention healing spring).

similarly, air ele is more about lightning and storms than wind, which is a shame, because wind magic is usually my favorite type of magic. maybe the ele specialization will give them a mainhand that focuses on wind magic on air attunement, then i can wield that with a focus and be a happy camper.

Just to be clear I appreciate any and all kinds of responses. I really enjoy the game and seeing how none of my friends are gamers this is where I come to when I need to talk about the things I like.

I like healing in GW2. Too bad it’s not as rewarding to play as the DPS is. I mean none of the roles that Anet talked about early on are as good as DPS.

without support dps dont survive the only role thats neglected is control but thats since anet put unshackable on all of the kitten bosses

Why it is all about pve and not some pvp and wvw? I seriously dislike the pve only focus of specializations and I hear druid healer doesn’t even come to mind, I think AoE bleed,cc,boons and AI seeds.

Sagat.3285:

Why it is all about pve and not some pvp and wvw? I seriously dislike the pve only focus of specializations and I hear druid healer doesn’t even come to mind, I think AoE bleed,cc,boons and AI seeds.

the only PvE focus of specializations is in the discussions, which is how any discussion on skills and meta goes outside the PvP and WvW forums. it’s been confirmed they’ll be playable in all game modes.

Why would it be either healing or DoT-focused? I would think it would be more control focused. Snares, weakness, perhaps Swiftness for allies…

BrunoBRS.5178:

Sagat.3285:

Why it is all about pve and not some pvp and wvw? I seriously dislike the pve only focus of specializations and I hear druid healer doesn’t even come to mind, I think AoE bleed,cc,boons and AI seeds.

the only PvE focus of specializations is in the discussions, which is how any discussion on skills and meta goes outside the PvP and WvW forums. it’s been confirmed they’ll be playable in all game modes.

I meant by the players not Anet, but until they announced different system for the HoT mobs and pve in general the community doesn’t have to worry about roles, they are aware of what they created.

My initial impression of the druid -based on the current pve zerker metagame- is that it will be completely useless.

It might be fun to play in pvp though.

ah magic classes useless much like elementalist then i recon

People really have to leave the WoW mentality behind.

The healing/DoT focus is probably mostly from WoW. I’m more used to druids from D&D, where their major themes are animal companions, wildshape (basically shapeshifting into animals) and lots of summon nature’s ally spells. Incidentally they were also closer to that in another popular game – Diablo 2 – except with a heavier focus on wind/volcanic spells.

The only thing “druid” has to mean in typical fantasy is that the special powers are nature-themed. There aren’t very many domains that can’t be fit into that somehow or other.

Personally, from what I am reading, it seems to me that a great of posters have an irrationally preconceived notion that druid relates to healing. I think the first thing you have to do is drop the preconceptions from other MMOs. They may be more of a CC, buffing, support, specialization.

jacim.5904:

Given the way GW2 was made there is no place for a healer or a tank in a group. The reason why I say this is that healing is useless and there is no effective way ingame to control aggro. Am I the only one worried about the druid for my ranger?? Judging from the name it wont probably out dps the ranger we currently have, cause when I think about a druid what comes to mind is either dots or healing and none of those are better than zerk stats.
I might be wrong but someone else might share my concerns.
Dont judge my spelling Im from Argentina jaja.

You are ONLY considering PvE.

As for the validity, who knows?
Support skills are EXTREMELY strong in this game, PvE or not, maybe this makes a ranger a better dungeon runner/stacker.

ANY sort of variety is nice. it does not need to be the mentality of “MOAR DAMAGE”.

Sirius.4510:

The healing/DoT focus is probably mostly from WoW. I’m more used to druids from D&D, where their major themes are animal companions, wildshape (basically shapeshifting into animals) and lots of summon nature’s ally spells. Incidentally they were also closer to that in another popular game – Diablo 2 – except with a heavier focus on wind/volcanic spells.

The only thing “druid” has to mean in typical fantasy is that the special powers are nature-themed. There aren’t very many domains that can’t be fit into that somehow or other.

Yeah this was my first impression too. Would love a few class specific transforms.

First thing that comes to my mind is shape shifting, awkward situations with animal companion and offensive spells that look suspiciously like arcane but claim to be divine…

It probably won’t compliment gs or sw/x, so I don’t think I’ll actually go Druid. It did look cool though

Quarterstaff is a melee weapon so any guessing about what a staff would do needs to take that into account.

Yargesh.4965:

Quarterstaff is a melee weapon so any guessing about what a staff would do needs to take that into account.

Quarterstaff, yes, but every GW class so far has used the staff magically. At this point, we have no reason to assume that it’ll be used to club people over the head. Honestly, as much fun as speculating on what new stuff will be, sometimes it’s just better to sit back and wait, no matter how impatient you might be getting.

Rognik.2579:

Yargesh.4965:

Quarterstaff is a melee weapon so any guessing about what a staff would do needs to take that into account.

Quarterstaff, yes, but every GW class so far has used the staff magically. At this point, we have no reason to assume that it’ll be used to club people over the head. Honestly, as much fun as speculating on what new stuff will be, sometimes it’s just better to sit back and wait, no matter how impatient you might be getting.

I have no problem waiting. Extrapolating from a to whatever just annoys me however.

Rognik.2579:

Yargesh.4965:

Quarterstaff is a melee weapon so any guessing about what a staff would do needs to take that into account.

Quarterstaff, yes, but every GW class so far has used the staff magically. At this point, we have no reason to assume that it’ll be used to club people over the head. Honestly, as much fun as speculating on what new stuff will be, sometimes it’s just better to sit back and wait, no matter how impatient you might be getting.

Yeah all classes have used the staff magically but there’s nothing stopping to introduce them for physical means, i mean mesmers(and elementalist’s elite skill) use greatswords to channel magic and rangers throw their axes(altho this one fits the theme, its still a departure from the traditional use of the axe).

Novuake.2691:

jacim.5904:

Given the way GW2 was made there is no place for a healer or a tank in a group. The reason why I say this is that healing is useless and there is no effective way ingame to control aggro. Am I the only one worried about the druid for my ranger?? Judging from the name it wont probably out dps the ranger we currently have, cause when I think about a druid what comes to mind is either dots or healing and none of those are better than zerk stats.
I might be wrong but someone else might share my concerns.
Dont judge my spelling Im from Argentina jaja.

You are ONLY considering PvE.

As for the validity, who knows?
Support skills are EXTREMELY strong in this game, PvE or not, maybe this makes a ranger a better dungeon runner/stacker.

ANY sort of variety is nice. it does not need to be the mentality of “MOAR DAMAGE”.

Variety is good but useless
The only thing that helps in dungeons is might stacking
I would love for the game to make you need both a healer and a tank, but the machanics for tanking arent ingame and healing isnt really needed. As a result all people end up caring about is dps.
I dont think the problem is in palyers that only care about dps but actually in the game

Im not saying that the druid could only dot or heal, but I think we could all agree that it doesnt sound like much of a zerk class. This is not bad at all and I really enjoy variety but we all know that it isnt the current pve meta, making me in the end doubt if this is the best specialization we could get.
As a side note yes it could end up being useful for spvp and wvw we could at least hope it is of any use there

The Whole stacking strategy needs to stop. So boring so Fricken stupid. Tired of people thinking that being a 10 armed freak is fun and best way to play the game. I hope this xpacs kills that play style.

The potential for ‘druid’ is actually quite a bit. Leaving behind the WoW mentality of primarily healing the actual historical classes of druids (bear with me) were: bards, ovates and druids themselves.

Bards I suppose can be most easily equated to the paragon/guardian professions. They used words to inspire.

Ovates were the diviners and healers, which equates to the old GW1 monks and probably the least likely path to follow considering they purposefully nixed it.

Finally the Druid is the highest of these three, with magic and law.

While I think we can disregard law, magic focused on nature like shapeshifting, well spring healing-and perhaps even best of all think of Radagast from the Hobbit movie. Calling the trees into battle? Ents on the battlefield as pets or summoned spirits? The ability to strengthen fortifications of wood or stone? Eagles dropping bears on infantry?

Or maybe just a tsunami. Perhaps that’s encroaching on the Ele’s territory too much. But the potential is almost limitless.

Yargesh.4965:

Quarterstaff is a melee weapon so any guessing about what a staff would do needs to take that into account.

well, literally the only footage of the druid we have so far involved him casting magic with the staff…

BrunoBRS.5178:

Yargesh.4965:

Quarterstaff is a melee weapon so any guessing about what a staff would do needs to take that into account.

well, literally the only footage of the druid we have so far involved him casting magic with the staff…

Never said it would be melee, or melee only or not casting.

raven.1752:

The Whole stacking strategy needs to stop. So boring so Fricken stupid. Tired of people thinking that being a 10 armed freak is fun and best way to play the game. I hope this xpacs kills that play style.

I agree.

of course from time to time when you have “perfect” squad it works – but as I had multiple dungeon runs where “good ol’ ways” were much better to use than this.

also to the guy who claims that DPS is only way worthy to play the game.

well… you can always count on me to ress you when your glass canon will get wiped to the floor by a boss ^^

Guys let’ s be Honest.
Rangers have asked so many times to have their class finally fixed and nothing substantial was done.

Don’ t be too enthusiastic about druid.
If ranger right now is the worst class in gw2 ( if you don’ t agree with me look the spvp finals/ tournaments and tell me how many rangers you see there ) Druids will be the worst specialisation.
Too many times we’ ve asked for more survival skills, too many times we have asked for decent F skills ( compare our F skills with warriors or engi ones and if my pet dies i can’ t use any F skill…are we joking?^ XD )
Nothing came. Nothing will come for ranger.
Simply becouse devs don’ t play rangers.
Accept that mates

Darkness.9732:

Guys let’ s be Honest.
Rangers have asked so many times to have their class finally fixed and nothing substantial was done.

Don’ t be too enthusiastic about druid.
If ranger right now is the worst class in gw2 ( if you don’ t agree with me look the spvp finals/ tournaments and tell me how many rangers you see there ) Druids will be the worst specialisation.
Too many times we’ ve asked for more survival skills, too many times we have asked for decent F skills ( compare our F skills with warriors or engi ones and if my pet dies i can’ t use any F skill…are we joking?^ XD )
Nothing came. Nothing will come for ranger.
Simply becouse devs don’ t play rangers.
Accept that mates

dude, you’re getting really, really annoying. just reroll if you hate your ranger so much.

What BrunoBRS said.

But in regards to the OP, I don’t see Druids being a healer, but as someone mentioned a Nature based Elementalist with a lot of possible movement.

But we will shall see when we get closer to the release of the expansion.

Darkness.9732:

Guys let’ s be Honest.
Rangers have asked so many times to have their class finally fixed and nothing substantial was done.

Don’ t be too enthusiastic about druid.
If ranger right now is the worst class in gw2 ( if you don’ t agree with me look the spvp finals/ tournaments and tell me how many rangers you see there ) Druids will be the worst specialisation.
Too many times we’ ve asked for more survival skills, too many times we have asked for decent F skills ( compare our F skills with warriors or engi ones and if my pet dies i can’ t use any F skill…are we joking?^ XD )
Nothing came. Nothing will come for ranger.
Simply becouse devs don’ t play rangers.
Accept that mates

Just as many rangers as there are mesmers and necros and (maybe) guardians going to PAX East for the WTS Finals….

Darkness.9732:

Guys let’ s be Honest.
Rangers have asked so many times to have their class finally fixed and nothing substantial was done.

Don’ t be too enthusiastic about druid.
If ranger right now is the worst class in gw2 ( if you don’ t agree with me look the spvp finals/ tournaments and tell me how many rangers you see there ) Druids will be the worst specialisation.
Too many times we’ ve asked for more survival skills, too many times we have asked for decent F skills ( compare our F skills with warriors or engi ones and if my pet dies i can’ t use any F skill…are we joking?^ XD )
Nothing came. Nothing will come for ranger.
Simply becouse devs don’ t play rangers.
Accept that mates

Honestly I am tired of the DPS focus in this game. Want more other roles. Hopefully Druid fills those other roles better

Knighthonor.4061:

Honestly I am tired of the DPS focus in this game. Want more other roles. Hopefully Druid fills those other roles better

i’ll just leave this here. watch it.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Knighthonor.4061:

Honestly I am tired of the DPS focus in this game. Want more other roles. Hopefully Druid fills those other roles better

i’ll just leave this here. watch it.

Can’t watch the video right now. Care to sum up what you trying to say in the video?
Because the Support,Control,Damage trinity really doesn’t exist because damage is not equal in role to control and support.

Knighthonor.4061:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Knighthonor.4061:

Honestly I am tired of the DPS focus in this game. Want more other roles. Hopefully Druid fills those other roles better

i’ll just leave this here. watch it.

Can’t watch the video right now. Care to sum up what you trying to say in the video?
Because the Support,Control,Damage trinity really doesn’t exist because damage is not equal in role to control and support.

it’s a summary of how control and support are very much key roles in the dungeon meta, but people see “you’re expected to do at least one of those roles and damage at the same time” and think “NOPE, DPS IS ALL THERE IS TO GW2”.

it basically says that just because you’re not fully specced into support, doesn’t mean it’s not there (the meta dungeon builds in fact aren’t the optimal DPS builds), same with control.

he also provides a ton of examples of support and control coming into play in organized groups to speed up the dungeon clearing process, so that people don’t say it’s all talk and no show.

in other words, it’s not a DPS meta, it’s a hybrid meta. everyone has to do everything for the best outcome, which is actually the original idea behind the GW2 combat. “no one is stuck to a dedicated role, the whole team shares all 3 cores of combat”

BrunoBRS.5178:

Knighthonor.4061:

BrunoBRS.5178:

Knighthonor.4061:

Honestly I am tired of the DPS focus in this game. Want more other roles. Hopefully Druid fills those other roles better

i’ll just leave this here. watch it.

Can’t watch the video right now. Care to sum up what you trying to say in the video?
Because the Support,Control,Damage trinity really doesn’t exist because damage is not equal in role to control and support.

it’s a summary of how control and support are very much key roles in the dungeon meta, but people see “you’re expected to do at least one of those roles and damage at the same time” and think “NOPE, DPS IS ALL THERE IS TO GW2”.

it basically says that just because you’re not fully specced into support, doesn’t mean it’s not there (the meta dungeon builds in fact aren’t the optimal DPS builds), same with control.

he also provides a ton of examples of support and control coming into play in organized groups to speed up the dungeon clearing process, so that people don’t say it’s all talk and no show.

in other words, it’s not a DPS meta, it’s a hybrid meta. everyone has to do everything for the best outcome, which is actually the original idea behind the GW2 combat. “no one is stuck to a dedicated role, the whole team shares all 3 cores of combat”

Actually, ranger meta is full, totally dps now….

Just my two cents onto every other person saying it’s not a healing spec.

Every elite so far seems to have some sort of “Condition, tanky, flat dps” type of spec because the way HoT content is PLANNED, just having a group of zerker people might not be enough for some content(apparently)

Also….Guild wars druid =/= other game druids.

the druids were a group of Krytan humans who fled into the maguuma jungle.
some of the elite specs seem to have a lore-based root.

You’ll still be able to pewpewpew. I’m pretty interested in LB/Staff Druid.

a datamining shown before berserker revealed showed a couple of druid and thief traits

the druid one implyed glyphs and “aspect swaping” so it seems we a getting something similar to elementalists attunement and glyphs mechanic