Guild Wars 2

I dont understand all the rage.

People that dont like healers, why not simply dont play healer?

Can still play DPS. So I dont understand the problem.

People fear that in some content groups will require healers. This means that at least a few players in that group are forced to play a healer. This also means that creating groups takes more time because groups have to wait for a healer.

On the other hand, if content does not require healers then people who play healers will probably have no place in that content and thus be shunned or be forced to play something else.

It’s not quite as simple as you make it out to be.

So far, GW2’s heavy support healers like Druid (and possibly others down the line) seem to be going the route of, “We’re here to make sure the raid doesn’t totally wipe due to stupid and/or missteps.” and not “We’re here because we’re absolutely needed.” And I’m fine with it staying in that position.

Whether or not that might change in later raid wings is up to debate though, since I can see certain groups (especially those that might cling to the zerker meta) pushing for more healers against bosses with more sustained damage. It will be a balancing act on what’s more important to those people. Do they want more healers to counter the sustained damage so they can keep their max dps, or do they have to tweak their builds and gear for more survivability for the fight?

Diovid.9506:

People fear that in some content groups will require healers. This means that at least a few players in that group are forced to play a healer. This also means that creating groups takes more time because groups have to wait for a healer.

On the other hand, if content does not require healers then people who play healers will probably have no place in that content and thus be shunned or be forced to play something else.

It’s not quite as simple as you make it out to be.

Remember the saying “Play How You Want”

no content in the game requires Healers except raids. And none of the non-Raid content requires full DPS either.

Diovid.9506:

It’s not quite as simple as you make it out to be.

Yes, it is. Most professions can fill multiple roles easily. Just switch some gear and traits, and you transformed a phantasm power mesmer into a mantra healing bot, a hybrid D/D ele into a staff AoE machine, a guardian from tank to heal support to brute damage, etc.

I get that people don’t like certain playstyles, but you still should be able to adapt to situations. You neither need to relog, nor does acquiring gear for playing another role require long grind. If your group lacks heals, there are many professions that can provide dedicated healing builds, or just stack blasts and water fields. If your group lacks CC, switch an offhand weapon or utility. If your group lacks power or condition damage… well, that’s your fault… (please note how the statements are mostly profession-agnostic, so “everyone” can fill each role in a viable way)

People wanted hardcore content.

Hardcore content requires being prepared with multiple armor sets and builds.

If you don’t want to be hardcore, then don’t play hardcore content.

Because rangers were hoping to not be shafted and actually given a DPS spec sufficient to be considered worth taking into any content whatsoever beyond open world.

You say its as simple as changing gear and it’ll turn a healbot druid into anything else, but it really doesn’t work that way. It might for other classes anet actually cares about, but there’s no way to fix druid with a simple gear change. The best you can do is change back to the already hated ranger.

ScribeTheMad.7614:

Because rangers were hoping to not be shafted and actually given a DPS spec sufficient to be considered worth taking into any content whatsoever beyond open world.

You say its as simple as changing gear and it’ll turn a healbot druid into anything else, but it really doesn’t work that way. It might for other classes anet actually cares about, but there’s no way to fix druid with a simple gear change. The best you can do is change back to the already hated ranger.

Well to be fair, Rangers obviously dont want to be dps… They are still Rangers after all this time. :p

Erukk.1408:

So far, GW2’s heavy support healers like Druid (and possibly others down the line) seem to be going the route of, “We’re here to make sure the raid doesn’t totally wipe due to stupid and/or missteps.” and not “We’re here because we’re absolutely needed.” And I’m fine with it staying in that position.

Whether or not that might change in later raid wings is up to debate though, since I can see certain groups (especially those that might cling to the zerker meta) pushing for more healers against bosses with more sustained damage. It will be a balancing act on what’s more important to those people. Do they want more healers to counter the sustained damage so they can keep their max dps, or do they have to tweak their builds and gear for more survivability for the fight?

actually what i saw was, we are here to cover the gap in your base healing and damage you are unlikely to avoid.
so basically the opposite of what you saw.

Ranger GS has one of the best skillsets in the game, and you feel like a boss using it.
If its DPS didn’t suck like a turbocharged Hoover it’d be amazing.
But that might equal or overshadow their fetish class, warrior, and that can’t have that now can they, nooooo, warrior gotta be top dog cause its daddy’s little favorite.
Not bitter at all.

phys.7689:

actually what i saw was, we are here to cover the gap in your base healing and damage you are unlikely to avoid.
so basically the opposite of what you saw.

I’m not sure how that’s the opposite really. If people’s base healing is so low that they are forced to rely on the heavy healing of the druid to survive an encounter, I would still label that under “wipe due to stupid and/or missteps” and not “absolutely needed”.

We know the devs didn’t make or design the druid to be the sole healer of the game that’s absolutely needed to finish all raid encounters. We also know that the devs are going to try and dethrone the zerker meta in this expansion. So any super heavy reliance on druids to keep the raids alive is probably going to be not out of necessity but out of laziness.

As I said before, it’s going to be up to the players on whether or not they decide they “need” druids because they can’t survive through all the sustained damage with their zerker gear and dodges alone, because the designers have already said their piece on that type of party setup.

It’s because a lot of people in GW2 get uppity whenever they even catch a whiff of something that reminds them of the trinity. That’s unfortunate.

I think people fear the trinity because there’s a very small line between content that is better done by using trinity and it being required for it (either actually required or players requiring it to enter their groups)

Lome.8239:

People wanted hardcore content.

Hardcore content requires being prepared with multiple armor sets and builds.

If you don’t want to be hardcore, then don’t play hardcore content.

No. That’s not what it means. What it means is being skillful at completing and beating the content. Not to carry around half a kittening department store.

coso.9173:

I think people fear the trinity because there’s a very small line between content that is better done by using trinity and it being required for it (either actually required or players requiring it to enter their groups)

So instead of “need tank/heals/dps,” we get “need zerker.” Such variety. The trinity allows you to actually be effective at something other than dps and allows for greater profession distinction.

I have always enjoyed healing in MMOs but am not pleased with the current Druid’s CA temporary form, I think they missed the plot there. I can understand if another ranger dislikes the elite spec as they never wanted to party heal though. Imagine seeing every other class (even guards) get cool new solo specializations while you, the Ranger the master of solo play lore wise, get the Druid announced which in other MMOs is a shape shifting God with DPS heals or support and when you test it, it’s a part time healbot with no damage.

I enjoy healing so I think Druids can be perfected eventually but another ranger who doesn’t want to heal? They got nothing, and I can see why that would make them angry.

Aidenwolf.5964:

I have always enjoyed healing in MMOs but am not pleased with the current Druid’s CA temporary form, I think they missed the plot there. I can understand if another ranger dislikes the elite spec as they never wanted to party heal though. Imagine seeing every other class (even guards) get cool new solo specializations while you, the Ranger the master of solo play lore wise, get the Druid announced which in other MMOs is a shape shifting God with DPS heals or support and when you test it, it’s a part time healbot with no damage.

I enjoy healing so I think Druids can be perfected eventually but another ranger who doesn’t want to heal? They got nothing, and I can see why that would make them angry.

If you asked a lot of Ranger mains “why did you create and main Ranger?” , very few if any would say “we’ll, I hoped to become an awesome healer one day!”

Luckily, theres other classes in this game to play, and they have elite specs that don’t require to be carried by teammates…..

Outside of Raids, Where on Tyria am I going to need a healer anet?? (speaking strictly PvE here..)

PvE wise, outside of raids, I fail to see where druid would be “useful”….80% of this elite spec, its weapon , and its unique mechanic revolve around HEALS…. thats too much….

SkiTz.4590:

Aidenwolf.5964:

I have always enjoyed healing in MMOs but am not pleased with the current Druid’s CA temporary form, I think they missed the plot there. I can understand if another ranger dislikes the elite spec as they never wanted to party heal though. Imagine seeing every other class (even guards) get cool new solo specializations while you, the Ranger the master of solo play lore wise, get the Druid announced which in other MMOs is a shape shifting God with DPS heals or support and when you test it, it’s a part time healbot with no damage.

I enjoy healing so I think Druids can be perfected eventually but another ranger who doesn’t want to heal? They got nothing, and I can see why that would make them angry.

If you asked a lot of Ranger mains “why did you create and main Ranger?” , very few if any would say “we’ll, I hoped to become an awesome healer one day!”

Luckily, theres other classes in this game to play, and they have elite specs that don’t require to be carried by teammates…..

Outside of Raids, Where on Tyria am I going to need a healer anet?? (speaking strictly PvE here..)

PvE wise, outside of raids, I fail to see where druid would be “useful”….80% of this elite spec, its weapon , and its unique mechanic revolve around HEALS…. thats too much….

In raids druids won’t be carried they’re the ones carrying but outside of raids you’re 100% correct. The class offers nothing I’d use outside of a 10 man or more (WvW)

Aidenwolf.5964:

SkiTz.4590:

Aidenwolf.5964:

I have always enjoyed healing in MMOs but am not pleased with the current Druid’s CA temporary form, I think they missed the plot there. I can understand if another ranger dislikes the elite spec as they never wanted to party heal though. Imagine seeing every other class (even guards) get cool new solo specializations while you, the Ranger the master of solo play lore wise, get the Druid announced which in other MMOs is a shape shifting God with DPS heals or support and when you test it, it’s a part time healbot with no damage.

I enjoy healing so I think Druids can be perfected eventually but another ranger who doesn’t want to heal? They got nothing, and I can see why that would make them angry.

If you asked a lot of Ranger mains “why did you create and main Ranger?” , very few if any would say “we’ll, I hoped to become an awesome healer one day!”

Luckily, theres other classes in this game to play, and they have elite specs that don’t require to be carried by teammates…..

Outside of Raids, Where on Tyria am I going to need a healer anet?? (speaking strictly PvE here..)

PvE wise, outside of raids, I fail to see where druid would be “useful”….80% of this elite spec, its weapon , and its unique mechanic revolve around HEALS…. thats too much….

In raids druids won’t be carried they’re the ones carrying but outside of raids you’re 100% correct. The class offers nothing I’d use outside of a 10 man or more (WvW)

Well in raids, they are carrying and being carried simultaneously lol..

They are carried in terms of – druid can’t DPS worth a kitten, so they have to rely on the party to beat the timer… druid isn’t helping beat that timer at all..it puts out more healing numbers than damage numbers in the raid lol….

than on the other hand, the group is not going to survive without druids constant healing application….so at least its important in that aspect… only took 3 years for ranger to get a role in SOME PART of this PvE world lol.

the problem is not healing itself, but the fact that it pigeonhole a class. so in HoT ranger can no longer go DPS in raid without being scream at by other for not healing? are other classes not going to be able to heal their team because only druid does healing now? some people play engi for its flexibility and now it end up being a liability.

what I really think is the problem, is HoT is launch with only 1 specialization per class, that is the real problem why it doesn’t feel right nor balance, because it is not. it feel as if the specialization concept is launch before it is fully developed.

lagrangewei.8516:

the problem is not healing itself, but the fact that it pigeonhole a class. so in HoT ranger can no longer go DPS in raid without being scream at by other for not healing? are other classes not going to be able to heal their team because only druid does healing now? some people play engi for its flexibility and now it end up being a liability.

what I really think is the problem, is HoT is launch with only 1 specialization per class, that is the real problem why it doesn’t feel right nor balance, because it is not. it feel as if the specialization concept is launch before it is fully developed.

Well since they never seemed to care about ranger and the “dps” it deals. At least ranger in HoT will be relevant for a different reason. There’s a reason that groups have “No Ranger/Necro”.

Erukk.1408:

phys.7689:

actually what i saw was, we are here to cover the gap in your base healing and damage you are unlikely to avoid.
so basically the opposite of what you saw.

I’m not sure how that’s the opposite really. If people’s base healing is so low that they are forced to rely on the heavy healing of the druid to survive an encounter, I would still label that under “wipe due to stupid and/or missteps” and not “absolutely needed”.

We know the devs didn’t make or design the druid to be the sole healer of the game that’s absolutely needed to finish all raid encounters. We also know that the devs are going to try and dethrone the zerker meta in this expansion. So any super heavy reliance on druids to keep the raids alive is probably going to be not out of necessity but out of laziness.

As I said before, it’s going to be up to the players on whether or not they decide they “need” druids because they can’t survive through all the sustained damage with their zerker gear and dodges alone, because the designers have already said their piece on that type of party setup.

its absolutely needed, because if they had more healing power, they wouldnt beat the enrage timer.
They had parties with only like 4 dps who never died and got the mechanics, but were unable to get the enemy down bast 30%

so basically you need dps for timers
and you need healers to keep the dps and tanks alive, or they slowly die from unavoidables.

Knighthonor.4061:

I don’t understand all the rage.

“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.”

While fear and hate may be too strong, anger is usually rooted in concern. Some people have concerns about raids.

• Will healers be required by the PuGging community?
• Will others require certain professions to fill certain roles because they’re the best at it? Since my favorite profession is X, will I be required to play healer or be kicked?
• Will the PuG meta mean I will have to make and carry a heal set as well as my usual gear?

Right now, we’re in the midst of uncertainty because we’ve not seen much. The meta has not yet formed. So, people are anticipating the worst (for them) because that’s what people do. That’s why the rage.

Dps rangers already arent allowed in some runs (the pro meta speed runs that is). This isnt going to change anything, except the reason for kicking them will go from “rangers have 2% less dps than thieves omg noob gtfo!” to “why u no play druid omg noob!”.

I mean yea it sucks for rangers who were hoping for a better dps specialization and other fixes, and they should be complaining about that, but theres little reason for the other 8 classes to be so upset.

anet already forgot what gw2 should be

SkiTz.4590:

Aidenwolf.5964:

I have always enjoyed healing in MMOs but am not pleased with the current Druid’s CA temporary form, I think they missed the plot there. I can understand if another ranger dislikes the elite spec as they never wanted to party heal though. Imagine seeing every other class (even guards) get cool new solo specializations while you, the Ranger the master of solo play lore wise, get the Druid announced which in other MMOs is a shape shifting God with DPS heals or support and when you test it, it’s a part time healbot with no damage.

I enjoy healing so I think Druids can be perfected eventually but another ranger who doesn’t want to heal? They got nothing, and I can see why that would make them angry.

If you asked a lot of Ranger mains “why did you create and main Ranger?” , very few if any would say “we’ll, I hoped to become an awesome healer one day!”

Luckily, theres other classes in this game to play, and they have elite specs that don’t require to be carried by teammates…..

Outside of Raids, Where on Tyria am I going to need a healer anet?? (speaking strictly PvE here..)

PvE wise, outside of raids, I fail to see where druid would be “useful”….80% of this elite spec, its weapon , and its unique mechanic revolve around HEALS…. thats too much….

Even in raids it’s borderline useless. You’ll need high, likely sustained DPS – Druid can’t do this. "Well, you’ll say, surely it’ll provide great healing, and will be desired?!?!? " Nope. Other classes can cover the healing + do way more dps.

So, it can’t do the necessary damage and it’s one good feature, its healing, is unnecessary. Why do you need a Druid? You don’t. And groups won’t want them.

Unless they radically alter the game. And by game I mean HoT and all future content, because in the current game it’s worse than useless.

Ronnie Hu.1694:

anet already forgot what gw2 should be

This is the irony though. We still don’t need a healer. Druid is a waste of time when all other classes can self heal and provide heals to the group / raid.

Because people like to complain. Whether it effects them or not is irrelevant, it’s simply something they can whine about.

phys.7689:

its absolutely needed, because if they had more healing power, they wouldnt beat the enrage timer.
They had parties with only like 4 dps who never died and got the mechanics, but were unable to get the enemy down bast 30%

so basically you need dps for timers
and you need healers to keep the dps and tanks alive, or they slowly die from unavoidables.

This still doesn’t provide any explanation on how druids are absolutely needed for raids. The raiding squads need addition healing to buffer all the additional sustained damage, yes, but druids aren’t magically the only source of party healing in the game. They are simply provide the most aggressive sustained healing now, but that comes at the price of their own dps.

As I said before, a couple of times now really, the devs are trying to dethrone the zerker meta, and they’re trying to do this by trying to force situations where we’ll have to hybridize and expand our role from simply straight out dps. Raiding squad needs more healing? One or two people can sacrifice some of their own dps to spec towards a more dps/support role. Problem solved. They’ll have to relearn their role in the raid again a bit, but that’s how raids work. You have to know you’re role.