Guild Wars 2

I think most of us can agree that Healing Breeze, whilst being a great idea conceptually, doesn’t quite function amazingly in practice. I’m sure there are builds that use it fine and all that, I’m not saying it’s broken as such but it could stand to be re-worked a little!

Rather than me just post an idea for it and have everyone critique it, why don’t we all just post ideas for any improvements that could be made to the skill?

I will attempt to get the ball rolling though.
One idea I had that could increase the effectiveness of the skill would be to make it behave in a slightly similar manner, functionally, to the Necromancer skill Locust Swarm. Give the skill a shorter cast time, perhaps one second, which upon casting, heals the Guardian for whatever amount then a blue, breezy kind of effect surrounds the Guardian for say five seconds that heals allies (most likely excluding the casting Guardian) every second for a certain amount every second in a 400-600 or so radius.

Seems simple enough, easier to use, no need to aim, sticks to the theme of the skill, doesn’t halt attacking any more than other heals, keeps to the group support idea of the skill and seems practical enough for me.

An alternative could be that it simply drop a decent size light (or possibly lightning! …yeah, probably not) field that ticks heals. The combo options would be nice and if the radius were big enough, say the size of a Necromancer well or Ranger’s Healing Spring, it wouldn’t limit mobility an overly huge amount any more-so than the other skills mentioned do. The only drawback being that it would essentially be the same as those other skills, specifically, the Necromancer one. I still prefer my first idea, I’m just throwing stuff out there!

Feel free to join in with ideas!

The locust swarm idea sounds good, they could even recycle the heal breeze animation from GW1 (but bigger) and it’d look nicer than it is now, too. I’d bring it just for the walking-whirl-of-healing aspect.

The thing about healing breeze, I don’t think it’s because it’s difficult to use. In the snowball arena the support class also has a skill that behave exactly like heal breeze (maybe a shorter channel?) and I didn’t find it difficult to use. Elementalist’s cone of cold is similar to this as well and I didn’t see people complaining about that.

The actual problem is that there’s just no point bringing it. The game is advertised as not having a healer, so having what’s essentially a full time healer’s skill on the bar but with a prohibitive cooldown seems out of place. It’s the same problem as tome of courage. It still have some niche uses like healing castle lords or caravans, or stack super long retaliation on you with the trait, but most don’t really want to bother.

Another issue is that the other healing skills a guardian has is just too good. This skill pales by comparison and do nothing for the guardian. If they cut the cooldown to 1/4 and drop the healing to 1/4, then one could argue it can be the guardian’s option for a low recharge heal spell (for rune procs and such) and it’d behave somewhat similar to ether renewal for the ele. I think that’s a good trade off.

Healing Breeze sounds good in a vacuum, but just doesn’t work in the reality of the game.
The idea of us being able to heal others is of course sound. Since the beginning, Guardians have been marketed towards the players who enjoy support-roles. But as Heinel says, we already have enough (and better) tools for supporting and healing our allies.
And a cone-effect is probably one of the worst ways to heal someone for a profession that spends most of its time meleeing enemies.

I like the “cloud of healing”, and if it’s possible to balance it, I’d like that cloud to heal the Guardian as well as allies.
Other than that there’s the somewhat boring option of having the cone become more of a circle (or torus) around the Guardian.

Well, the cloud idea thingy is essentially a circle around the Guardian. If I caught your meaning correctly.
Here’s another possible option! What if Healing Breeze also granted a brief….. swiftness! SHOCK! INTRIGUE! Because, you know, running with a tail wind makes it easier to run faster. Eh? Eh? It kinda works. Ah I’m just being optimistic now.
I can’t really think of anything better than that cloud idea.

The difference would be that your idea (the cloud) stays after the cast-time is over, whereas my idea (the torus) would pulse during the cast-time, just like Healing Breeze currently works.

Healing breeze just isn’t nearly as good as our signet heal unfortunately.

Signet heal → Passive removes conditions, heals for more, heals faster, AND you can trait it (20% reduced CD on signets) to 32s.

Hmmm I enjoy and use Healing Breeze in my healing builds, it is hard to use though, would be nice if it had a bit longer range and wider cone or something.. I like the mechanic of it though, i’m chasing friends around dodging on them anyways, playing a healing guardian in WvW is a ton of fun for me lately.

Here’s a vid I made with healing breeze 1200 or so +healing, i’ve gotten alot better at it the past week and run with 1400 now and it’s working great for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JDySjnJpAM
This clip was one of the first times I played a healing based guardian since release days so i’m improving alot and working on a better video, 95% of my guardian playtime is as DPS.

ComeAndSee.1356:

Healing breeze just isn’t nearly as good as our signet heal unfortunately.

Signet heal -> Passive removes conditions, heals for more, heals faster, AND you can trait it (20% reduced CD on signets) to 32s.

They’re totally different things though why even compare them? Healing breeze is for a high healing build where you’re all about healing others not yourself IMHO.

If you can’t heal yourself properly, it doesn’t matter how much you heal others. Not to mention that healing others in this game is mostly inconsequential, unless you can do it with little investment.

Ynna.8769:

If you can’t heal yourself properly, it doesn’t matter how much you heal others. Not to mention that healing others in this game is mostly inconsequential, unless you can do it with little investment.

How much effort have you put into making the +healing guardian work? I think you need to try a different approach if you’re that down on it. Works great for me i’m all excited about it lately and my teammates love it.

Incomingray.8075:

Ynna.8769:

If you can’t heal yourself properly, it doesn’t matter how much you heal others. Not to mention that healing others in this game is mostly inconsequential, unless you can do it with little investment.

How much effort have you put into making the +healing guardian work? I think you need to try a different approach if you’re that down on it. Works great for me i’m all excited about it lately and my teammates love it.

I’m sure you are looking at lots of green numbers and all but if you just kill or cc the people that’s causing all the hurt…

I think Anet just needs to decide whether they want healers to be in game or not, and either actually supporting them or writing them out.

Heinel.6548:

I’m sure you are looking at lots of green numbers and all but if you just kill or cc the people that’s causing all the hurt…

I think Anet just needs to decide whether they want healers to be in game or not, and either actually supporting them or writing them out.

Well I think you’re not trying hard enough, good dps can really benefit from ‘green numbers’, I know all about killing enemies and I know it helps alot if someone can duck out of the way and get recharged from spikes by someone to get right back in the fight, WvW is chaos, also my healing build does contribute damage and might buffs…

It sure isn’t as simple as just healing, you have to do damage as well, fortunately, or it would be boring… and you need communication, you need teammates to get to you, you need to get to teammates. Did you really try a healing build yourself? Battle Presence? Dodging alot? Fighting outnumbered it helps alot to have some kind of support be it heals or strong utility(tanky utility rezzer/finisher), just saying you can kill or cc instead is kind of ignorant imho, reasons why having a healer is so helpful for a world pvp group are many, gotta retreat move around and stay alive in the hardest situations.

Give protection at the right time(Hold the line/Shield #4), bail your team out of bad surprise situations, use tome of courage, turn a fight around.

I believe alot of Guardians are naysaying healing and not even trying it or not working hard at it… and thank god our healing builds aren’t pure healing and boring.

I recommend 0/0/20/30/20 with +1400 healing, get your crit% over 30.
A varation that i’ve used lately most but I do change things here and there depending on what my group is bringing to the table: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAW5elcg6CXFSLEm4ESmCRCBxegRZ0GdpgikIA

one good use for healing breeze that i’ve seen (i’m not a guardian myself) is that it will proc the trait that grants you retaliation on heal multiple times.

a buddy of mine uses it for a tank build to get at least 15 seconds of retaliation with that one skill use.

Maybe if healing breeze had a wider arc or caused a chain bouncing effect

Heinel.6548:

Incomingray.8075:

Ynna.8769:

If you can’t heal yourself properly, it doesn’t matter how much you heal others. Not to mention that healing others in this game is mostly inconsequential, unless you can do it with little investment.

How much effort have you put into making the +healing guardian work? I think you need to try a different approach if you’re that down on it. Works great for me i’m all excited about it lately and my teammates love it.

I’m sure you are looking at lots of green numbers and all but if you just kill or cc the people that’s causing all the hurt…

I think Anet just needs to decide whether they want healers to be in game or not, and either actually supporting them or writing them out.

Having healing skills that work on others doesn’t mean we are healers. Those green numbers help others immensely. It’s not all Berserker’s or nothing-we have many ways to play this game. Those “gimped” players can also help kill and “CC” others while offering party wide small heals-high healing power that affect others doesn’t mean that player sees himself/herself as a “healer”.

In short, not everyne must be forced to play by the “killing it faster is always better” mentality, which is fair, but shouldn’t be forced on others.

Change the healing allies component into a Water field that gives Regen to all allies inside, 5 seconds.

So it becomes a Water Field with an initial Heal for the Guardian and then area regen / water field for allies.

Adds to Guardian combo possibilities. (Which are currently very limited).

They should just replace Healing Breeze with Logan’s “Divine Radiance” skill and animation.

I like the field idea on my ele I can make a field I can expand with other skills. Be nice if you could so something similar here.

While a water field would be interesting on a Guardian, I feel it’s hard to work in thematically.
Here’s a possible addition for the cloud idea I mentioned earlier.
What if that swirly breeze that lingers after the cast were ….. a whirl finisher! :O

Well maybe a heal effect could be added to staff. When you drop down the 3 skill field and use the 1 spam skill to spread the heal out. That would take a little skill and actually be some what fun to do.

I’m not opposed to another combo field at all because I love the combo system but I think the cloud type idea just works a little better with how to skill is designed, it keeps the heal skill somewhat unique compared to other profession’s heal skills and works well with the mobile combat in the game.

Star Ace.5207:

Heinel.6548:

Incomingray.8075:

Ynna.8769:

If you can’t heal yourself properly, it doesn’t matter how much you heal others. Not to mention that healing others in this game is mostly inconsequential, unless you can do it with little investment.

How much effort have you put into making the +healing guardian work? I think you need to try a different approach if you’re that down on it. Works great for me i’m all excited about it lately and my teammates love it.

I’m sure you are looking at lots of green numbers and all but if you just kill or cc the people that’s causing all the hurt…

I think Anet just needs to decide whether they want healers to be in game or not, and either actually supporting them or writing them out.

Having healing skills that work on others doesn’t mean we are healers. Those green numbers help others immensely. It’s not all Berserker’s or nothing-we have many ways to play this game. Those “gimped” players can also help kill and “CC” others while offering party wide small heals-high healing power that affect others doesn’t mean that player sees himself/herself as a “healer”.

In short, not everyne must be forced to play by the “killing it faster is always better” mentality, which is fair, but shouldn’t be forced on others.

Nothing you said support slotting healing breeze.

Nobody is claiming little green numbers doesn’t add up or you can’t cc without berserkers. This one skill is just badly implemented is all.

I would love a swirling winds type look. 600-900 radius and heals everyone within the area for some much health + healing power. The down side is you can’t move and must be channeled.