Guild Wars 2

Arken.3725:

Even from a support standpoint, the Virtues tree for me, isn’t exactly worth it. I’d rather be able to put out decent dmg and support(honor +5 into virtues) than going full virtues and just being a damage sponge with absolutely no threat attached. I don’t like the idea of how virtues work as it is, it’s boring and when you’re having to deal with both sides of this spectrum(active/passive) it starts to become less fun and effective.

I think Virtues is fun with both the actives/passives and really “works” like it should as a core class mechanic. It’s like a whole set of Utility skills and I really wish they had added a fourth. What’s not fun is how much it really dampens my DPS. Added with that fact is that Virtues/Boons are supposed to make you feel powerful when invested in, but they don’t. Thus why I put works in quotes, because the ideal is just not complete. It’s more like invested Virtues/Boons both partially make it equal to other builds that concentrate on other traitlines. And I mean literally partial, as in not equaling out to more effective builds. It’s having a broken leg but bringing a crutch to the fight vs having a completely healthy body.

WHen I had first heard about the trait diversifying that was being planned, albeit with slight dread, I was a little excited at the same time that my favorite trait line was going to get boosted, thus creating a more valid reason to invest more than 5 points into Virtues. But alas, it had not. Instead of a “feel more powerful” line, its still a support-but-kitten -your-DPS-at-the-same line.

I completely agree, as a “boon-powered” profession, the specialization into virtues leaves you very weak in terms of damage. It’s decent for support but the uptime on your boons, even with the duration increase is still relatively short.