Guild Wars 2

Does guardian actually have a pve support role in content that is end game?

From the GW2 main site on Guardians:

“Guardians are devoted fighters who protect their allies and smite their enemies by drawing from the power of their virtues. True guardians are brilliant tacticians and selfless defenders who know how to empower their allies to achieve victory.”

Not a single other profession mentions support as much as Guardians. Hell, engineers mention support yet Rangers and Mesmer? Not a hint that they are meta support classes.

This seems bizarre to me. I started a guardian long ago for the support aspect, and in wvw and pvp to an extent that remains true (although those arent my main modes of play). Meanwhile, in pve, the only role people seem to want me for is DPS.

I made a guard to guard. Sure would be nice if that were desired by the game in pve. Is there a plan to actually do something about this glaring mishap where the prime support class of the game no longer truly offers that role in pve where changes over the past couple years have given other professions far better support options?

Were Rangers heavy support Professions before Elite Specializations? Were Mesmers? I don’t know, but if they changed their roles because of Elite Specializations, you can’t ignore Guardians changing theirs.

Good luck.

True.

It seems that the guardians primary means of supports, aegis and protection, arent actually designed to be useful in the end game since it is really balanced around dodging one hits and healing the rest. If it is possible to dodge all the one hits because the game is designed around all classes being able to do so, then guardian support only helps bad players – and in fact enables them to continue to be bad.

It would be nice if our support helped great players be better too.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Were Rangers heavy support Professions before Elite Specializations?

They had the same support they have today, sans GotL. What they lacked was the content that required that support.

Were Mesmers?

Most definitely yes. The iconic support class.

I don’t know, but if they changed their roles because of Elite Specializations, you can’t ignore Guardians changing theirs.

That’s the thing. Guardian shouldn’t need to change its role. It was heavily marketed as a support class, and it still is in every description of the class. The 2 most iconic guardian npcs are projecting forcefields to protect you in the middle of the fight.

Guardian wasn’t prepared for HoT’s powercreep and specifically the support creep. They could be a support class, and they still can in wvw, but are total trash in pve. And that’s because we didn’t get a balance pass when HoT launched, but 1 year later, which was only a bandaid to fix DH’s dps. At that point, they had already decided what the next spec would be, and chose to withhold the real buffs until the next expansion, when they can sell them instead.

Proteus.6320:

True.

It seems that the guardians primary means of supports, aegis and protection, arent actually designed to be useful in the end game since it is really balanced around dodging one hits and healing the rest. If it is possible to dodge all the one hits because the game is designed around all classes being able to do so, then guardian support only helps bad players – and in fact enables them to continue to be bad.

It would be nice if our support helped great players be better too.

Aegis is bad because those one-shots can’t be blocked to begin with. Otherwise, aegis would be better than dodging because it’s much easier than timing your dodge and you don’t have to stop attacking.

Also in raids in particular, boss have damage auras that proc and waste your aegis. In their effort to make healing relevant, they completely forgot guardian’s whole shtick.

Guardians have been a support-heavy class right up until the release of Heart of Thorns. In fact, during the days of dungeon running, people OFTEN would depend on a Guardian for things like Aegis, Wall of Reflection, and Stability.

Now the waters are a little muddy. We have a very efficient Magi healing build thanks to the traitlines of Honor and Virtues, but it doesn’t do much besides heal, making it a tiny wee bit inferior to Druid and unrecognized in today’s meta.

DH (since we talk PvE) is still a support/dmg class. The DH’s DPS is abit lower then pure dps classes, but it still bring some support skills. So what kinds of support.

CC: Your elite is a huge cc (that also stack mobs toghether for easy cleave). Bane signet can if really needed also be used. (edit: I forgot to mention sanctuary, and this is a very strong cc)

Pull: Both gs5 and F1 can be used to pull add’s. This is very usefull in both fracs and at some raid bosses (like sloth).

Block: F3 block can be a huge life saver both in fracs and in raids. Use it to block all dmg while cleaving the mobs. Or to block shake at sloth.

Refleck: WoR is still one of the best reflect skills in the game. Well used in fracs, or at some raid bosses (like mathias).

Aegis: for fracs (like cm100) this is huge (when your group know when you will use it, so they dont need to dodge).

Blind: with blind on both F1 and gs3 you are able to blind many add’s for long enough that they can be cleaved down.

Are we in as strong a place atm as we used to (both as support and as dps), no! sadly not. And PvE DH prob can use a small buff. But its still strong