This game’s combat system doesn’t have Tanks/Support/Healers/DPS/Tanks roles of any kind. By choosing a role, you are gimping yourself and your potentials of combat.
SO basically if I like playing healers in normal MMOs, GW2 isn’t for me?
Certainly seems that way if my experience doing the zone boss in Harathi HInterlands last night is anything to go by, my Elementalist running around in Water Attunement got kitten to bronze rewards because she spent her time healing/reviving/debuffing rather than selfishly pew-pewing and letting others die; for which she’s have gold gold without a doubt.
You cannot be a pure healer in GW2. Even if you traited all the way into healing, it would not be enough to save an idiot player who tries to facetank a dangerous enemy and doesn’t move/dodge/block/make any attempt to avoid damage themself.
GW2 is very heavy on personal responsibility in combat. All players are responsible for avoiding/reducing damage- that’s why every class has a heal skill and the ability to move/dodge while fighting. Instead of a DPS/Tank/Healer trinity, GW2 is built around damage/control/support, which is a broader form of the traditional trinity; i.e. tanking is a type of control, and healing is a type of support. Instead of focusing aggro on one person, you make it harder for an enemy to damage anyone- instead of healing damage, you make it so others don’t take damage, or the amount they take is lessened enough for them to heal it themselves.
What other types of control and support are there?
-An elementalist can control the enemy by using skills such as Frozen Ground and Unsteady Ground to slow down an enemy chasing another player, thus preventing damage- if an enemy is chasing someone, they can’t attack. With blinding skills like Blinding Flash, you can make the enemy’s next attack completely miss. You can also use Gust to a) knock the enemy away from a wounded player and b) interrupt a dangerous attack, which also helps keep that person alive. I have used the dagger’s AoE knockout many times in WvW to knock away enemies trying to finish a downed ally. While they tried to recover, I rezzed that person all the way back up. It’s not healing, but it saves lives regardless.
-On the topic of support- support can come in offensive and defensive variants. I support offensively by stacking might boons on my party, allowing them to do more damage. I also put down fire fields they can use in their combos. Defensively, I can apply the protection boon on others, which reduces the damage they take by a third- a sizable amount in dungeons, where an enemy can rip away over half your health in a blink. I also strip conditions from my allies and, with aurasharing, can apply my auras (which reduce damage and disable enemies who attack) to everyone. I also can block projectile attacks with Swirling Winds, giving anyone in the area six seconds of breathing room for attack or recovery. Other classes can support in other ways- a guardian can grant Aegis, which blocks the next attack, and shield allies, for example.
As Dreamy wrote in his guide, and as my example shows, damage, control, and support are not roles. Each class can contribute in each factor, though some classes are more bent towards a certain field. For example, a guardian is primarily support and secondarily damage and control. A thief is primarily damage and less so (though still capable of) support and control. As such, in order to be most effective, it is best to utilize all three aspects when you play. Believe me when I say that keeping an enemy from hitting someone will do a lot more good than trying to heal the damage.
Finally, do not equate downed with dead. Downed is not meant to guarantee death, especially in group situations, nor is it something that is rare. If a player goes down, anyone can try to rez or rally them, though at high risk to themselves- overall, it is better to not go down in the first place, which will be the case with good players, who will avoid damage instead of depending on another person to take care of them. It is not selfish if another player dies because they stand still and think they’re pure DPS- it’s part of the learning process for them.
Hard to get used to, but you’ll find that juggling support/damage/control is helluva lot of fun once you get the hang of it. I also recommend that if you like supporting other players, you try a guardian. If you stay as an elementalist, I will warn you as a fellow ele that staying in water attunement and focusing on healing alone will kitten you- it is far more effective, as I said, to use controls and damage-mitigating support to prevent the enemy from hurting other players in the first place.
Falunel – Sylvari Elementalist | Falche Graysong – Human Mesmer |
Tarnished Coast
Ember Solace [SOL] – A guild welcoming of newbies and those at the margins.
New Player Outreach Thread 