Guild Wars 2

I’m working on my ranger now, I have close to enough tomes to 80 my ranger out and maybe another day or so to unlock druid (she’ll be my 7th lvl 80 so by now I got the HoT ES grind down pat).

I never raided before (I don’t have a full ascended character yet) but based on what I’ve seen it seems very possible to do raids on exotics provided you know the encounter, so I’m planning on diving right in (… assuming I can find a guild that don’t mind teaching newbies raids…)

Are druids a good option to take into raids? I figure spamming heals from range is a little easier to do while learning raid mechanics, as opposed to taking my tempest there and focusing on my rotations.

Also I checked the raid builds from metabattle, it’s recommending an axe/torch viper build, viper armor is pretty kitten hard to get. Any alternative suggestions?

Without putting a hand in front of my mouth…

“Being druid is a b×tchy duty.”
Full stop.

You either have to do the same rotation as everybody else but have to do it with a clunky mechanic and need to keep everybody’s positioning in mind in order to buff them or …
… simply carry 9 people through raids. I’ve seen the difference of having a druid and not. The progression of bosses came 2 whole phases further with just having a healer.

So yup, the duty can help of course. But you’ll destroy your nervous system eventually. It is a real strain on your mind.

Dayam, tell everyone how you really feel…

I do have a berserker, herald, DH, reaper, chrono, tempest, and daredevil already fully unlocked so I don’t HAVE to start learning with ranger, I thought they would be the easiest and safest pick into raids. Is there a better “safe” class to pick to start learning raids with?

By safe I mean I can contribute meaningfully to the raid while learning the mechanics without being a liability (i.e. getting one shot)

You can just put on Magi’s gear and be a staff camping healing bot. You’ll easily contribute enough to make up for your lack of DPS if you do your proper buffing rotations for spreading GotL stacks and glyph of empowerment. The extra vitality/toughness from running magi/cleric’s gear will give you a bit more survivability when learning mechanics for the first time, though some attacks will still one shot you.

As the main healer, you do have a lot of responsibility to keep people topped off, especially in the new raid wing.

I raid exclusively with a healing Druid, and although it’s not as hard as it could be, it can be nerve wracking…

You need to be aware of both the position of the threats and of your team mates, some bosses require you to be in an specific role for certain mechanics (Green circle for VG, “flac-aggroer” for Sabetha, etc.), and you need to know the bosses attacks very well to manage your Astral Force correctly, so you can enter Celestial Avatar form at the correct moments. In fact, learning when to enter and leave CA form it’s probably the most important thing, it’s not as simple as spamming CA heals to buff the party, there are times that you need it more than others.

I use Magi gear and Zealot trinkets, and so far is working perfectly. You don’t want clerics unless you are the tank, so I don’t really recomend it. I just keep Cleric trinkets that I bought long ago if the group needs me to tank Gorseval.

Also, the build with Viper gear that’s on Metabattle is for Condi Druid, witch is completely different. I have never played it but as far as I can see it’s a lot easier than healing, as it’s mostly follow a set rotation and you can ignore a lot of other mechanics other professions need to worry about. It can be an option if you want to raid as a Druid but just want to do DPS. They are not wanted a lot over other condi professions though.

Well, if you are fine with carrying the burden I’d say Druid’s gonna be one of the best choices you can get, then.

If you mix in Zerker jewellery and Cleric armor (it will end up quite cheap) you should have a nice and safe trip trough raids. Staff + LB are your friends.

It’s not really easier than playing anything else, but it ain’t rocket science either. You will have to know the mechanics and figure out how to deal with them, that’s for sure. But Druid/Tempest healers have easy access to powerful healing without much effort and you can easily cover the brief downtime on Celestial Avatar with other heals if needed.

I’ve cleared all the bosses as Druid multiple times now and it’s fun role to play if you have some basic awarness and understanding of skills. Really, no MIT diploma required.

I don’t agree with much of the stated above in terms of how easy it is for a druid.
You’re the healer, so you do have responsabilities. I do not think that’s an easy job. You’re paying attention to: everybody’s healthbar, positioning yourself, positioning yourself properly with your allies to land your heals,, a certain skill rotation, your pet’s f2 skill and/or healthbar and the raid’s mechanics + required skills for certain raid-bosses like knockbacks on seekers at vale guardian, or snares at gorseval.
I think it’s easier to play just a dps-profession.
That way you don’t have to deal with everybody’s healthbar, positioning yourself properly with your allies to land your heals, and your pet (which requires minor attention, but still), and sometimes they also don’t (or can’t) knockback or snare.
This way, if you play a dps-profession, you have 3 or 4 less things to worry about.
There are also raid-professions which have the tank-role, or adding buffs to the party, which also requires some of the same I stated above.
Again: I think just a dps-profession is the easiest way to contribute in the raids.
Correct me if I’m wrong though.

But about the fun-factor, that’s something else. I really like to be of service to the raid squad, healing and buffing them.