Guild Wars 2

Until recently I was soloing PvE in the world. My traits: 30 points invested in Valor and Virtues and 10 in Zeal kept me alive for most of the time, because I got 300 toghtness and Meditations that healed me.
Recently I participated in group events, later – in Fractrals. Thas was such a fun! Seeing other under heavy fire, I switched from greatsword to my secondary weapon staff and used “Orb of Light,” “Symbol of swiftness” and “Empover” to keep other alive. That made me feel like in other old MMO days where I was always a healer.
The question is: should I drop Virtue and Invest in Honor instead, gaining +300 Vitality and +30% healing. Should I also replace my PowerPrecision+Toughtness gear with some healing gear?
As much as I love healing, I would NOT like to loose the cool situation where I’m not so easilly killable target.
Please, be so kind and give your ideas.

I don’t even know where to begin.

go full shamans gear with a mace and torch, with 30,0,30,10,0 best set up for pve by far

Without trying to sound like an kitten Healing Gear is not really welcome in PvE as you can go maxed DPS, live and complete everything a lot faster. I’m not going to tell you how to play but that’s how it goes in PvE content in GW2.

That being said myself and a friend 2 manned path 1 to 3 of HotW Dungeon fully kitted out in cleric gear for the giggles but it did take nearly an 1h 30m+ per path even after skipping a lot of it.

Moral of the story is you’ll live but it’ll take you half a decade to get anywhere.

When you consider that aegis, dodge and blind will prevent tens of thousands of hp damage each time.. That these attacks from bosses are often slow and avoidable.. And reflects will prevent even more.. What is the point of increasing your healing output by a few hundred per second?

Also consider that poison will decrease healing effectiveness and when a party member is in trouble chances are that they probably just ate an agony attack.. In which case healing effectiveness is decreased.

Healing, toughness and vitality are not the best ways of staying alive. They help, but the largest portion of staying alive is dodge/blind/aegis/reflect/kill things quick.

fadeaway.2807:

Healing, toughness and vitality are not the best ways of staying alive. They help, but the largest portion of staying alive is dodge/blind/aegis/reflect/kill things quick.

Amen to this!

For as much as GW2 allows for a variety of builds and let you run through the majority of content regardless to maximized efficiency, there is no such thing as an “healer” as conceived in other MMOs where you have the trinity (tank/healer/dps).
I think it is more fun to find alternative ways to support your party rather than spam 3 healing spells for the whole encounter. Hence, my advice: to let go the old concept of healer and focus on what the game provides you with.
Naturally, in the end you will have to play what’s more fun for you.

Why is so much underlined?

He got a new ruler for Christmas.

Step 1. Reroll to a clerics water ele if you want to be a healer.

Step 2. Don’t join my party please and thanks.

I simply want to refer you to the guide that can be found on this very forum.
A good read. And nice for ideas, too.

Eveningstar.6940:

Bad Reasons To Play A Guardian:

• You want to play a passive healer.
  - – -
  If you are not engaging your enemy, if you are not swinging your weapon, if you are not dodging out of blows and smashing something pointy and/or smashy in your enemy’s face, you’re doing something wrong.

Source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Guide-PVE-Guardian-101-A-Beginner-s-Text/first

Basically, Guardians are (passive) aggressive supporters.
They can heal, and should definitely do so where required, but never waste your time on doing just that. Aegis, Stability, Protection are all more useful than tiny bits of healing.

Most importantly: Healing Power scales awfully!

Revan.4653:

The question is: should I drop Virtue and Invest in Honor instead, gaining +300 Vitality and +30% healing.

300 Healing Power is sadly NOT 30% extra healing, as your post suggested.
You need to get thousands of Healing Power to see any increase in your skills’ healing numbers. And the changes are very small. The loss of damage is much bigger, and it’s not worth the trade-off.

Then for traits: the most important thing about Guardian is finding what suits your playstyle, as opposed to traiting into a line purely for the passive stats. Armour can set straight the loss in numbers to some degree anyway.

And to top it off, Cleric gear is also not really feasible.
The reason is simple: you sacrifice another stat for the Healing Power.
Dead enemies deal no damage. Well timed Aegises and good DPS are more valuable than a tiny increase in Regeneration effects.