Guild Wars 2

Morning all

I have recently started playing this game and with any MMO I’ve played in the past, I level a character to around 30 to get a feel of if I like that particular class/profession.

Ive decided to roll the guardian now as with most role type games I always go for the tank/healer role.

However, the tanking mechanics in this game are like none I’ve experienced before…..

Am I supposed to be gaining aggro of all mobs in dungeons as at the momemt I’m finding this impossible!

I played a tank for several years in wow and played most of the raids etc in my guild! I’m used to marking targets, swapping aggro with a secondary tank etc etc.

So I suppose my question is this, area Guardians to be at the frontline trying to soak up damage or playing more of a support role with a staff and leaping in with the great sword for a dps burst then dodging out?

I’m struggling to find my feet at the minute and most of the time we just wipe when In a group!
Is this my fault or players not using their own support buttons effectively?

THank you I advance, any assistance would be much appreciated.

There are no dedicated tanks in this game and you can’t tank mobs reliably in any area of the game.
The guardan can be a DPS or a Supporter

I played a tank in Lotro for 3 years and i feel you, however once you adapt to gw2, you’ll realize they did a step ahead into MMO’s combat system and it works great.

GW2 is strongly built in a different way from other MMOs. In all those MMOs you are forced to received the damage and then heal it. A tank is needed since someone must receive the damage. However, GW2 encourages you to NOT receive the damage in the first place. Every player can always use the dodge feature to become “invulnerable” to any attack for 1 second, so nobody needs to receive the damage.

This game it’s all about timing, since you can carefully watch enemies animations and time when to dodge or when to save it.

Also, a common problem for newbies is that they think a dodge is used to move away, that’s a misstake. A dodge is used to become invulnerable for 1 second, that said, you can dodge against a wall at the same time a boss makes his powerful 1shot attack and you won’t get damage just because you were dodging.

So… I must be honest with you, tanking is not impossible, but is pretty much useless since you can avoid the damage instead of receiving it and then healing it.

Do some tests on your own to learn how it works. Find a tamini (centaur) archer, stay at 10m range and try to “dodge” his arrows. You’ll see how easy is in this game to avoid the damage if you make a perfect timing (however, the learning process will take some time).

Edit
If you are dying in groups and your groups are not is not because they are missing their support buttons, it’s because you are not effectively dodging the damage from the enemy skills. A guardian specially can use a wall that reflect projectiles, as example, in order to not recieve enemy ranged damage.

Of course, dodging only works twice then you WILL take damage until it recharges. I wish they created more mitigation reflect skills instead of the frenetic Mexican Jumping Bean dodge mechanic.

“Tanking,” in as much as it can be done, is done pro-actively, especially as a Guardian; rotate blinds (Gs3, Sw2, Foc4, traited Virtue of Justice), blocks (Aegis from Virtue of Courage or “Retreat!”, Shelter), evades (dodging), light mitigation (protection from Hammer auto-chain, “Hold The Line!”), projectile absorption (Shield Of The Avenger, Sanctuary), projectile reflection (Wall of Reflection) or invulnerability (Renewed Focus), and when it all runs out, kiting.

However, do NOT fall into the trap of just range auto-attacking all day. Whether or not anyone says anything, people will silently resent you for not actually doing anything. It’s okay to have it on a weapon swap to get out of the heat as you’re learning individual encounters, but it is in your best interest to start learning to read an enemy’s telegraphing and committing it to memory as early as possible. Melee DPS is more functional and powerful in nearly every current respect of the game, even if you’re playing an archetypal “ranged” class. While it may change in the future as ANet tries to shift away from the Cleric-Zerker paradigm, most current content can easily be DPS stacked. Examples not in favor include certain world bosses which cannot be critted, thus investing into precision (crit chance) and crit damage is wasted; it is best to carry a set of zerker armor and soldier armor at the same time.

Truly, it boils down to knowing the content ahead of you which only comes from experience. As of yet you still do not know when it is a proper time to initiate aggro with Binding Blades, pulling mobs to your face, and following it with a flavorful Wall of Reflect to toss their grenades, arrows, or tremors back at them, but with enough repetition you’ll learn all about countering those Aether and Harpy and Dredge mobs.

DeWolfe.2174:

Of course, dodging only works twice then you WILL take damage until it recharges. I wish they created more mitigation reflect skills instead of the frenetic Mexican Jumping Bean dodge mechanic.

Of course if dodge would work everytime nobody would ever die and the fights would be bored. But i just made my post to make him notice the major difference between his previous MMO and this one. I want him to learn and adapt into that because he got the enough experience to learn how supportive and other skills works by himself.

Notice that i didn’t say to “just” dodge and do nothing, of course you need to use skills, you will get damage if there is more than 1 enemy, you will need to heal and reflect and attack and give buffs, etc. But the OP needs to learn how to add dodges to his usual rotation, that’s what i think he should start working on first, since it’s a feature he’s not used to from other MMOs.