Guild Wars 2

Ill soo be getting a new non-crappy-alienware computer, and thus will be venturing into WvW more often.. I plan on bringing my support build along but it made me wonder..

Should I stick with Runes of Altruism?

Support builds seem especially good at reinforcing zergs. Ive often found myself so preoccupied with rezzing the fallen, healing the frontlines, reflects, buffing ect.. that I dont even have much time to focus on damage.
Runes of Altruism allow me to dish out AoE fury constantly. In my rotation Ill often be giving out 3xMight+Fury and 9xMight+er.. longer lasting Fury alternatively every 15 secs. Im windering if Runes of Dwayna would be more effective. Combined with mantra burst heals its pretty good heals, and much more reliable than phantasm regen.

Do other classes give AoE fury often? I can think of Warriors and Eles off the top of my head. From your experience.. which would be better? It feels like passing fury to others would be redundant if theyd get it anyway.. and my higher healing power means a much more effective regeneration. Thoughts? (Sorry for typos.. Typing on phone and I loathe touchscreens)

To run GW2 WvW, all you need is a decent ivy bridge cpu (or Haswell which is new) and a halfway decent gpu. If you’re dropping coin on Alienware you might check if you’re getting Haswell. Just a thought.

I just picked up Runes of the Centaur, as I mentioned in another thread, and it provides and AOE swiftness! It’s great for wvw. I’m not a fan of mantra heals due to the radius of the heal and the awkwardness of the spell.

If you’re looking to support your wvw team, play to your strengths and run ports, veils, and TW. On that note, the only glamour trait i’d suggest is the CD reduction one. If you’re dying to lay down some epic WoW’esque heals then run Ele.

Reflection from Focus and Feedback is also nice. Just make sure you are still getting bags…

Well the thing is, my Focus gives me 20 secs of Swiftness on a 20 sec cooldown and, if I’m not mistaken, affects more than 5 people. (Not positive on that, haven’t had a chance to test it) so I have AoE swiftness covered.

Definitely run Ports and TW (Mass Invis on occasion) and the build always had a heavy reflection focus, but none of the healing has much to do with that. Mantra heals feel awkward at first but natural with time (and if that ele isn’t specced with Healing Power, he’s not beating me out in group heals).. but I’m having a harder time figuring out what’s more worthwhile in a zerg, AoE Fury, or AoE Regen. Normally I’d say fury, but if other classes can supply it, then I can take advantage of my high Healing Power with Regeneration

I struggled with this decision testing a new build recently – I know we have talked a bit about it Chaos but I think the answer is, how much stake do you put in the on heal regeneration provided by dwanya runes? I originally was going with those, primarily for the 20% regen bonus, but quickly figured out that the 15% boon duration bonus from the altruism runes was far superior because it affects all boons, not just regen. Then I also realized that the primary source of regen is going to come from the phantasms, and not kid myself into thinking that the on heal AoE regen effect was THAT important in comparison to what I get with altruism. So I took extra measure in the build to focus on phantasm durability. It’s really working out well.

So I feel the utility you lose (not just fury – might is huge) by going to dwayna runes isn’t worth the switch.

Ah yeah, well that’s where I’m stuck. I don’t know how frequently the other classes supply the might/fury.
The reason I’m considering the Dwayna runes is that it allows me to rapidly pump out Regen, though the other boons take a bit of a hit. Theoretically, I can run around in the zerg and spread that regen quickly without having to rely on Phantasms (since it’d take a bit of investment to make them durable enough)

Now the thing is, my build’s main stat is healing power.. So in a zerg, I’m wondering if I’d be more effective focusing primarily on that. Regen/Heals/Reflects/Rezzing and leaving everything else as a secondary concern.

..Of course, the other problem is; how often do other classes dish out Regeneration? Regeneration is the only boon applied on others that’s affected by your personal stats (Healing Power), but since it’s based off duration.. My regen ticks wouldn’t kick in until someone else’s wore off.. which could be pretty problematic. At the same time,

The 15% boon duration loss does hurt my heart though, and its really nagging at me to stay with Altruism.

.. So in the end, the question remains is it more beneficial to keep my team strong (105 Power&20%crit every 15 secs, +315 power every 40 sec) or more durable? (Being able to back out of danger when life is low, heal back up for more, and jump back into the fight quicker)

I’m leaning towards sticking with Altruism, but I do see potential with Dwayna.

Potential is there, yeah, but I think you may have answered your own question. Might stacks – can never have enough, so ensuring the part has max might by constantly sharing it is good. Fury runs off duration, from all sources. Fury is fury, so you’re just adding to the total duration each individual has, regardless of source. The faster the group brings down the other zerg, the less need for healing. Two schools of thought there for sure, offensive versus defensive.

You make a good point about other regen sources needing to run out first before you get a turn. If there are no other “healers” present, sure you could maybe make a case.

What I don’t like about dwayna versus altruism:

• The internal 15 second cool down is a long time to …
• Only provide 5 seconds base regen. That’s not enough IMO. With 50% boon duration, it’s better, but still not enough to justify when you can provide a lot of regen support in other ways.

Your regen sources:
1. Chaos Armor (personal/randomly).
2. The Chaos line minor traits (personal).
3. The Inspiration Phantasmal Healing trait (party).
4. Signet of Inspiration (personal).
5. Signet of Inspiration boon sharing (makes #1, #2, and #4 party sharing).

I personally take bountiful interruption which is another potential regen source, especially with focus pulls right before the curtain disappears (to take full advantage of your reflects). Those sources give you more than enough regen to share with SoI while still keeping the offensive focus of altruism.

With phantasms, at times, you almost want to position them so that you get all the regen ticks – stay in mid-line and get it high (doesn’t take that long), then share that large amount with SoI. Then you can play around with trying to keep regen uptime in between SoI sharing. Being that my primary focus on regen is my phantasms, the iDefender is non-negotiable with my build and my greatest source of regen AND defense. Pretty sure you weren’t running him in your build but that could make a difference. You lose other utility skills but I’ve found I have to come to terms with what kind of mesmer I want to play.

In the end it may be personal preference. For me, I don’t think having the 5 second AoE regen every 15 seconds is worth giving up altruism. That said, I would play around with both and see if you find one benefiting more. My personal feeling is I think you’ll find altruism will provide the better benefit.