Guild Wars 2

I’ve been refreshingly thrown askew by how different Guild Wars 2 is to other MMO experiences, and I’m enjoying it thoroughly. Unfortunately the difference is also slightly hampering my enjoyment as I struggle to narrow down what the classes are capable of. I’ve done a few searches but I haven’t turned up much, so forgive me if I’ve missed something.

Traditionally in MMOs I enjoy ranged healing. Obviously in GW2 everyone brings a little bit of everything to the table in different ways, which is great, however it’s making it difficult for my newbie self to work out what a lot of classes can do. Also the fact that the holy trinity of class roles has been thrown out also makes things a bit more difficult to puzzle out.

As I enjoyed ranged healing, I figured the easiest transition would be to some sort of range support build, however running around as an Asura with a greatsword sold me on melee as well.

Could some kind soul possibly give me a brief rundown on what each class brings to the table in terms of supporting the group as a whole? Hopefully then I’ll be able to settle down and have a bit of fun.

Warriors: Banners These give minor buffs to players Example, Power,Vit And the player holding the flag can give Might and Swiftness

Guardain: Guardains have quite a few Healing spells but there Main heal is Tome of Courage Which can heal 5 players to full health

These are what i know of atm Lol

Elementalist: Drop combo fields of every element and have blast finishers readily available to buff teammates.

Water attunment has regeneration buffs, chill debuffs and minor healing. Staff’s 1 ability has a slight heal for anyone near the target.

Electric attunment has dazes as well as speed boosts and blind condition

earth attunment can cripple and provide protection bonuses.

Necromancer: Can corrupt enemy boons and transfer/heal ally conditions. Has some ally healing if traits are taken for it. normal ally heal is pbaoe but quite large. Transfusion can also heal nearby allies if you trait for it. It’s the 4 ability for death shroud. cool down isn’t that long.

That’s it for my experience. I’m sure any class can support. You wont get a full on healer with any class. I find just stopping to help a down player is very helpful. I’d suggest just picking a class that seems cool and trying to build it into a support class.

Theives: Shadow refuge is the only skill in the game that can remove aggro from a downed teammate, stealth him, and stealth everyone trying to res him long enough to actually res the guy. It’ll also speed up the res because the field itself is a HoT

It’s the only truly safe res in the game. The only drawback is that the guy being ressed has to know its coming and not accidentally break his own stealth.

Supportive theives also have the ability to spam aoe blinds and cripples for pretty much eternity if they’re specced properly, as well as having access to a large selection of blind inflicting combo fields, apply any of their own venoms to any allies nearby, steal boons from enemies and give them to the party, can give a pretty respectiable amount of fury and might to their teammates as well.

Basically, if you’re looking for a very reliable res, blinds, cripples, or a good way to add utility conditions in a large stack quickly to a target then you’re looking for a support theif.

I was trying to post this directly on your thread, but the character count is too low to fit it all.

http://highgrade.enjin.com/forum/m/6761693/viewthread/4275677-support-skills-layout/page/1

I went ahead and layed out all classes (and races) support skills. Hopefully this helps the dildos that think that all classes are able to support in an equal fashion shut their mouths. Some classes clearly have better utilities than others when it comes to supporting, that’s the natural way any game is. Even if ANet was trying to steer away from it, a trinity like system will still exist, and it will still work.

I will put in a recommendation for the Support Necromancer if you want a more typical ranged healer style character. Essentially everyone can heal, but I think Necromancer does a pretty good job at what people think a typical healer can do.

Go with a staff. This gives you AOE “traps” that do damage and support allies when triggered. 2 bleeds enemies in an AOE, as well as put regeneration on allies. 3 is a slow and poison. 4 removes conditions from allies, and transfers them to enemies. 5 is an AOE fear. You can get traits to lower the cooldowns and make the AOE size larger.

For slot skills, go with wells. They’re basically self-targeted AOE spells (unless you get the trait to make them ground targetable). Well of Blood heals in an area. Well of Power turns allied conditions into buffs. Well of Corruption turns enemy buffs into conditions. Really powerful stuff. Also Sigil of Undeath can revive 3 allies from being down, but its currently broken.

Supporting in Guild Wars 2, well…

First of all, you should know that “you can’t achieve anything even if you can heal people”. Even if you can. Have 2k -if even possible- healing power and try to heal people with any class, you won’t be able to do that because ‘there are no healer class in Guild Wars 2’. Boss fights won’t give you anything more than just a bronze medal if you just sit back there and heal people.

So, how do you support in Guild Wars 2? By playing it, by your presence there, you will support people;

1. You can apply boons. But again, I don’t mean sitting in the backseat and throwing out boons.

2. You can hit the foe. Yes, helping other people taking down the foe is an awesome way to support.

Q here: What if I don’t have enough power/stack power&attack?

If so:

3. You can apply Crowd Control(also Condition). With a nice CC build, you can help more than you think. If my foe is dazed, blinded, stunned etc, it can’t hit me. If it can’t hit me, why would I need healing?

Also, you’ll revive downed players. Another awesome feature that allows everyone to support even if they play with a glasscannon build. Think about it, you’re a glasscannon, you stack up power and crit rather than defence and vitality, your skills are all about offense; yet you can support the group you’re playing with.

I know, sounds different because it is different. Will take a little while to get used to but, you will.