Guild Wars 2

Why am I treated like the red headed step child when it comes to raids? We want necro or engi….
Ok, Engi I get. Well played they are very valuable to any raid whereas Necro for VG, they ok but lack knockback and support (most don’t run BM).
On my Druid I can do more dps than on my reaper (full ascended) plus I bring a good knockback for seekers, back up heals for when GC team gets stupid and even some decent cc to help with BB with SB5.
So whats the deal? Am I missing something or is it simply the “meta” mentality and folks just don’t want to sway from it?
What happened to good ol if you can play your toon and bring along good dps and support then you are a an asset way of thinking?
Ah well, maybe things will change and some shall show the love.

Not sure, then again, I don’t keep up with Raid metas anymore. I thought 1 Druid was always a fine addition, unless the Lunar Impact nerf has them flipping off the deep end.

If you are the 2nd or 3rd Druid, I don’t know then. Compositions seem to vary a bit one group to another. Raiders tend to lean towards doubling-up on Necros for bouncing Epidemic.

Whatever teams are treating you like crap must be confident enough that they do not require extra heals and CC. In that case, they would rather slot another condition user. If that’s not the case, then back to what I said at the start: Not sure. /shrug

Wondrouswall.7169:

Not sure, then again, I don’t keep up with Raid metas anymore. I thought 1 Druid was always a fine addition, unless the Lunar Impact nerf has them flipping off the deep end.

If you are the 2nd or 3rd Druid, I don’t know then. Compositions seem to vary a bit one group to another. Raiders tend to lean towards doubling-up on Necros for bouncing Epidemic.

Whatever teams are treating you like crap must be confident enough that they do not require extra heals and CC. In that case, they would rather slot another condition user. If that’s not the case, then back to what I said at the start: Not sure. /shrug

Yea, sadly that’s my point and I to tend to “shrug”. Its the “other” condi thing that has me stumped. I mean as long as I am bringing the dps and stuffs dying, whats the diff? Bit prejudice if you ask me and that’s why I referred to the meta, thinking that maybe they just want to be true to whats posted.
Thanks for input though!

How are you doing more damage than a properly geared Viper Reaper? Especially when the Reaper brings Lingering Curses? That’s 100% condition duration right there. Can you get that with Ranger? Keep in mind, everytime your dedicated healer isn’t healing you enough, you will naturally go into AF which stops your DPS rotation and drops your DPS significantly.

The difference could be a multitude of things. The DPS chart floating around recently probably enforced the mentality further that Ranger DPS is bottom-tier. Granted, groups don’t bring one for the DPS to begin with, but it doesn’t stop people that only look at the numbers.

Not blaming the charts mind you, it’s just a shame some people tend to only look at the bottom lines or numbers and skip the details and explanations.

Or it could just be that this profession can never shake that “Bearbow” stigma, regardless of the mode. Further enforced by constant Bearbow jokes by developers on livestreams, even though Bearbow is and has been old, used by beginners, and that some bears have actual value in some modes/encounters.

But hey, why not repeat a joke for 4 years. If it got people laughing 4 years ago, its gotta still be funny now, right? Grouch probably does improv stand-up on weekends. Try the fish, its just as stale.

80% the Me(n)ta-lity.

If people cannot give you the answer for your question – there probably is none in the 1st place. It has always been like that.

We bring less than 40% of Ele’s damage when it comes to raids – but we are the ones who buff that overkill DPS of Ele by 30%. In a unique way. Which by itself is enough to make you a positive asset for the party.
People do not change. They never did. There’s no reason why would they do so now.

Joxer.6024:

On my Druid I can do more dps than on my reaper (full ascended) plus I bring a good knockback for seekers, back up heals for when GC team gets stupid and even some decent cc to help with BB with SB5.

You either doesn’t have your reaper properly geared or you know an amazing druid build that no one else figured out yet …

Anyway, in a pug group a cond druid will never have the healing to sustain the group, so they either run 2x cond/heal druids (even so the group needs to be good) or 1 full healer + 2 meta cond class (no space for a cond druid in that scenario).

Thanks for all that input guys, have given me lots to ponder on. As much as I love playing the class it would seem that I need to go back to my Reaper to be viable for raids. Shame, and maybe that will change but it looks like many of you have been hoping for the same thing for quite some time now.

I have somewhat the opposite experience lately, with condi-druids being in large demand for most experienced groups. Typically groups are running 2 druids for a 5-4-1 split by example.

Engineer on the other hand is frowned upon at nearly all encounters now that the slick-shoes change has removed their utility at Gorseval and Sloth. The main issue being that they bring comparable damage to min-maxed Druid/Necro builds (~30000 dps at best) but require a ton more personal skill to be able to reach those numbers. Druid can of course opt to bring game changing buffs at the cost of slight personal DPS too.

Try to educate the group on what you’re bringing as a whole. In reality you’re bringing top-tier condi DPS already (~18-20k), healing, a ton of buffs which allow the other condi sources to tick even higher (Spotter, Fury, Sun spirit, GoTL etc) and a metric ton of breakbar utility (SB#5, Lunar impact, electric wyvern skill/F2).

I actually never had issues getting into a group with a Condi Druid.., though I never tried it on Monday (cuz I don’t PuG on Mondays), when all groups are in a hurry and a bit more strict…
While you are wrong about out-DPSing a Reaper, the general group DPS increase from bringing a second druid is actually greater than bringing a Reaper instead (+ you have better control), and I think that most expirienced groups know that.
Also, as stated above, most expirienced group these days run with 2 DPS druids instead of 1 healer, so Condi Druid is in a pretty good position )unlike Engi who only gets a spot for VG).
Don’t give up on your Druid yet!

“Try to educate the group on what you’re bringing as a whole. In reality you’re bringing top-tier condi DPS already (~18-20k), healing, a ton of buffs which allow the other condi sources to tick even higher (Spotter, Fury, Sun spirit, GoTL etc) and a metric ton of breakbar utility (SB#5, Lunar impact, electric wyvern skill/F2).”

That’s awesome!! And thanks guys for coming back with those replies cuz it was doing my head in really with the fact that I do BRING more than just dps to the raid and kitten if the class isn’t fun as hell. Mobs just melt and having never really liked “hunter” (is that a bad word here,lol?) beings that all I ever played in WOW and ESO was tank, I am really liking what I can do and bring to the table.
I hated the lack of knock back on Reaper, “Chilled to the Bone” was it and kinda lame and as mentioned, tons of other support. So yea, I"m going back and I shall persevere!!!
Thanks guys!!!

AnariiUK.7409:

I have somewhat the opposite experience lately, with condi-druids being in large demand for most experienced groups. Typically groups are running 2 druids for a 5-4-1 split by example.

Engineer on the other hand is frowned upon at nearly all encounters now that the slick-shoes change has removed their utility at Gorseval and Sloth. The main issue being that they bring comparable damage to min-maxed Druid/Necro builds (~30000 dps at best) but require a ton more personal skill to be able to reach those numbers. Druid can of course opt to bring game changing buffs at the cost of slight personal DPS too.

Try to educate the group on what you’re bringing as a whole. In reality you’re bringing top-tier condi DPS already (~18-20k), healing, a ton of buffs which allow the other condi sources to tick even higher (Spotter, Fury, Sun spirit, GoTL etc) and a metric ton of breakbar utility (SB#5, Lunar impact, electric wyvern skill/F2).

Thanks for renewing my faith and shining some light on the point I was trying to make about what I can offer!

Coconut.7082:

I actually never had issues getting into a group with a Condi Druid.., though I never tried it on Monday (cuz I don’t PuG on Mondays), when all groups are in a hurry and a bit more strict…
While you are wrong about out-DPSing a Reaper, the general group DPS increase from bringing a second druid is actually greater than bringing a Reaper instead (+ you have better control), and I think that most expirienced groups know that.
Also, as stated above, most expirienced group these days run with 2 DPS druids instead of 1 healer, so Condi Druid is in a pretty good position )unlike Engi who only gets a spot for VG).
Don’t give up on your Druid yet!

Thanks for renewing my faith and shining some light on the point I was trying to make about what I can offer!