Guild Wars 2

The Druid is not a Ranger. Unlike the other classes Elites the Druid is an entirely new playstyle and role and needs to be developed as such. The issues that arise from adding a Healing class are significant and I don’t make light of those so I’m adding serious Nerfs to my recommendations to compensate. Please let me know what you think, as this will change the class drastically.

The mechanics for everything I propose are currently in the game, I’m not asking for massive dev hours.

Celestial Avatar is the Druid’s core mechanic, not the Pet or Astral Force. The CA form therefore must be available when needed or wanted as all other classes core mechanics are. This should be universally accepted.

I propose removing out of CA form Astral Force generation enrirely as the generation of AF and Degen are a Major gating issue. Upon entering CA the AF bar would be full and heals would consume the AF but AF would be generated within the form to enable a Druid to remain healing if desired/required. A Druid actively healing could and should be able to remain in CA indefinitely.

If it’s felt Druids are healing too effectively tune the heals, don’t gate the core mechanic. In a competitive environment and raids the Druid in form is not contributing DPS and as devs you must see the benefit to balance that brings.

The Nerfs that make this work.

Upon entering CA the Druid loses all boons and boons cannot be applied to Druids in CA. In PvP this will help with balance and in raids it will mean that a Druid will have to leave form if targeted for self preservation.

Upon entering CA the Ranger’s pet also enters CA form (just a reskin, same as the Ranger) and the pets attacks do no damage. The attacks are instead AF generation filling the bar. This one in particular will cause panic but Druids in form are healers, period.

No other class has a mechanic they cannot call upon at will and the Druid must be able to use CA when the player wants to.

Thank you for reading.

well I could agree with the statement of Celestial avatar being a little bit overgated in current form but I totally disaggre with “nerf” and explanation for it – as even in the reveal stream Irenio mentioned that even in Avatar form druid is not only heal but also some kind of CC and “situational opener” – hence CAF#3 and #5 even exist….

I’m gonna have to say no, no, no, and no.

Astral Force isn’t that hard to generate in PvE if you use a staff (which you should if you want to enter Celestial Avatar and stay in it since this is a healing form and staff is the only healing weapon set we have). I understand however that it might be frustrating in PvP for people who trait druid to get access to the 13 condis cleanse, the superspeed and stealth, or the damage buff for team mates and self, and so this is just a matter of being able to generate Astral Force threw more than a static amount every time you deal damage or heal. However, making Celestial Avatar something that only serves as a healing tool would be a terrible idea. We already have our 1 and 2 abilities that are basically the same. If they didn’t have the cooldown they have then we’d just spam one and forget about the other. But when in Celestial avatar, you sometimes need to put out some damage because everyone is full health, but you don’t want to leave it in case some one takes a big hit before it should have ended. To save this, removing Astral Force depletion upon leaving celestial avatar could help. Just like with Death shroud, you could get in it, do what has to be done, get out of it, but keep enough ressource to have it available if needed.
Making the forme a no damage and no boon is also extremely terrible design in a PvP environment. If you can’t get stability and are basically a shining healing beacon to enemies, you’re going to get CCd to the ground and beaten so hard at every tune you’ll wish you’d picked an other class… Plus disabling the pet’s damage dealing is also laughable.

Right now, the Druid as a healer is functional and efficient. It’s just a matter of knowing what you’re doing and having the right build. The issues with the druid come when you try to mix it with other talent trees for damage dealing and quickly realize it has not been thought for that.

Only real big issue I see at this point with the druid is the absence of other support weapons than the staff. Only thing I could find is a traited Warhorn to apply boons and regen to allies, but there’s no main hand support weapon to complete it so I end up using the axe because in PvE it’s a terrible idea to use the ranger’s sword because of the auto attack that can cause your death soooo easily.

Staggs.9372:

I’m gonna have to say no, no, no, and no.

Astral Force isn’t that hard to generate in PvE if you use a staff (which you should if you want to enter Celestial Avatar and stay in it since this is a healing form and staff is the only healing weapon set we have). I understand however that it might be frustrating in PvP for people who trait druid to get access to the 13 condis cleanse, the superspeed and stealth, or the damage buff for team mates and self, and so this is just a matter of being able to generate Astral Force threw more than a static amount every time you deal damage or heal. However, making Celestial Avatar something that only serves as a healing tool would be a terrible idea. We already have our 1 and 2 abilities that are basically the same. If they didn’t have the cooldown they have then we’d just spam one and forget about the other. But when in Celestial avatar, you sometimes need to put out some damage because everyone is full health, but you don’t want to leave it in case some one takes a big hit before it should have ended. To save this, removing Astral Force depletion upon leaving celestial avatar could help. Just like with Death shroud, you could get in it, do what has to be done, get out of it, but keep enough ressource to have it available if needed.
Making the forme a no damage and no boon is also extremely terrible design in a PvP environment. If you can’t get stability and are basically a shining healing beacon to enemies, you’re going to get CCd to the ground and beaten so hard at every tune you’ll wish you’d picked an other class… Plus disabling the pet’s damage dealing is also laughable.

Right now, the Druid as a healer is functional and efficient. It’s just a matter of knowing what you’re doing and having the right build. The issues with the druid come when you try to mix it with other talent trees for damage dealing and quickly realize it has not been thought for that.

Only real big issue I see at this point with the druid is the absence of other support weapons than the staff. Only thing I could find is a traited Warhorn to apply boons and regen to allies, but there’s no main hand support weapon to complete it so I end up using the axe because in PvE it’s a terrible idea to use the ranger’s sword because of the auto attack that can cause your death soooo easily.

That’s exactly what CA is, Healing and Cleanses for party support. The more selfish abilities are out of form.

As for AF filling quickly that’s only in large group situations and I believe that’s a failure of design. The form at minimum should be as accessible as Necro Death Shroud.

Lord Trejgon.2809:

well I could agree with the statement of Celestial avatar being a little bit overgated in current form but I totally disaggre with “nerf” and explanation for it – as even in the reveal stream Irenio mentioned that even in Avatar form druid is not only heal but also some kind of CC and “situational opener” – hence CAF#3 and #5 even exist….

I’m not asking for the CC to be removed I’m not asking for the CDs on those to be removed either. I’m attempting to justify the removal of the AF barrier to the core profession mechanic. I’ll readily admit I went way over board in doing so.