Guild Wars 2

not a ranger main at all, but when I run my druid events seem to go much better (tangled path meta). I wish more people would run it for this content, the dps and healing for open world events would save a lot of WP runs.

where are you guys

There is definitely a place for the berserker druid. I’ve been running this is the map meta events and despite some people claiming every berserk DPSer should be able to handle themselves I find an occasional druid heal comes in handy. For example the circle tower event in dragon stand inevitably loses a few people, and a few zerk druid heals can keep the group going, losing less or no people.

Let’s see what happens with raids.

In PvE I think we will see plenty of healing druids eventually, or at the very least hybrids (I have a shortbow/staff condi build). The way they heal work ok in bossfights. In WvW its unfortunetly DOA. The staff has good utility but as a weapon its godawful. You will be lucky to get a couple of lootbags when you wipe 50 man. The glyphs being very short range pbaoe means the only way to use them is rushing straight in and the druid doesnt really have the survivability for that. Its also really lacking a constant AoE heal. Guardian and elementalist healer beat it IMO while offering just as good utility in zerg warfare.

I am on my engi and ele, that’s where I am.

I am tired of being treated as a second class citizen in this game for being a ranger main, who was passionate about his class and tried to stick to it, even though this game is a pathetic joke in terms of balance especially regarding rangers.

I’ve had enough of the broken mess called ranger. Nerf us more, Roy!

I think druids are extremely nice in HoT PvE. However, there is no real need to stack healing power as the scaling is just TERRIBLE. When I run in full shaman condition druid, my 4 in form heals for 1100 or slightly more. When I run in full berserker it heals for 880 or so.

So, a full berserk druid is really handy, I would also not neglect the staff 1 in terms of damage and some support heals during some of the events. Same with the root.

Most people say, people should be able to handle themslves in full berserker, yes does not mean that slashes of heal here and there, does keep people from dying and increases the dps of all. I always have glyph of empower up for a group wide 10% damage buff. Lets not forget grace of the land.

Most peope dont see, how good it is with some druids around the events. They think they all keep themselves up and safe, but they dont.

Its a dirty and ungrateful job, but it makes things better

Azure.8670:

where are you guys

By your side, tagging mobs with an old MM/WS/BM build that actually gives me xp and loot.

Dawdler.8521:

In WvW its unfortunetly DOA. The staff has good utility but as a weapon its godawful. You will be lucky to get a couple of lootbags when you wipe 50 man. The glyphs being very short range pbaoe means the only way to use them is rushing straight in and the druid doesnt really have the survivability for that. Its also really lacking a constant AoE heal. Guardian and elementalist healer beat it IMO while offering just as good utility in zerg warfare.

In a PuG zerg, you are correct. A guardian or elementalist will likely have a bigger impact on a fight against 50 people due to their important party buffs and AOE damage. However, this is simply not true from an organised WvW standpoint.

I am having incredible success with WvW druid, as are many other players from skilled WvW guilds. The staff, as you said, offers strong utility, but its damage is also respectable considering it recharges your AF like nothing else (especially when you’re with a group of 15+). It is also amazing for countering reflects, as the AA ignores reflects/projectile blocks; there is no more ‘locked into greatsword’ down time. I am currently playing a FP sniper, running some +healing and EHP stats to round off my zerker heals and allow me to soak a little more (it’s very possible to run full zerk though, and I tend to in scrims). My superior range, CC (immob for daze, errr days) and finishing ability, combined with my ability to top off and reset my fellow FP members has made me invaluable. You are very hard to track, lock down and kill due to your access to stealth, mobility and burst healing.

Druid is far from useless, despite the nerf-hammer.

Here’s one! Lol

Iam a Druid main! All clerics gear with Superior runes of the Monk. I love being full support with some DMG. I use Staff and Greatsword.

My heals are high and I love that. I beat a Ele, Engi, guard, and rev is burst heals with some sustain. In PvP Iam able to tank at most 3 players.
In PvE I help keep people alive as much as possible during dynamic events, especially in Dragons Stand.

I find that having a GS versus axe/warhorn has given me access to better DMG and since our glyphs are only 300-600 radius, I can easily use them in combo with my GS. I use all glyphs btw and I really love their concepts. However glyphs could use a buff and staff as well. Glyph range is not big enough, and staff DMG and healing (besides ancestral grace) is to low. However staff is still a GOOD weapon an I will always use it, it’s just not as good as it should be IMO.

Anyway, the Druid in General is really fun and strong, with the BESt heals in the game. You can really turn the tides in PVP by keepin your team alive. No other class can bring their teams HP to full and keep it there with bursty heals. In PvE our heals are keeping players and even NPC HP at full. To say the least… I love it. Jus needs a few upgrades to glyphs and staff .

I agree with purecura, altho running full heal seems to overdo in HoTs. The heals are really good, but scaling is bad. Your damage is extremely low compare to a full zerk.
I want to go full heal support to, but I cant see the need, so Il stick with zerk druid.

The condition druid I run with full shaman is also really nice in terms of damage and healing. I switch between them.

The day they say, We need Druid heals or this will fail! Is the day I rejoice. It seems to be the normal of the game, to rather be downed, then healed.

Dawdler.8521:

In WvW its unfortunetly DOA. The staff has good utility but as a weapon its godawful. You will be lucky to get a couple of lootbags when you wipe 50 man. The glyphs being very short range pbaoe means the only way to use them is rushing straight in and the druid doesnt really have the survivability for that. Its also really lacking a constant AoE heal. Guardian and elementalist healer beat it IMO while offering just as good utility in zerg warfare.

Druid is not D.O.A. in WvW. I’m playing Druid on a T1 server, mainly in a Guild group (LAYS) but we have also been hosting PUG lately due to low WvW population post-HoT.

Even if post-beta nerfs hurt a lot and some of its utilities were removed (CAF CD, CAF duration, AF generation, smokecloud’s F2 swap), Druid is still a great asset to a WvW team. When we play as a guild, I’m always in the commander’s group. They don’t want me to play on my elem anymore

Currently, it’s in my opinion the best WvW healer. You can keep alive your whole Guild group even if you are the only healer and the only water field provider. Druid brings huge burst heals, constant water fields, a kitten load of AE-Interrupts, dispels (both offensive and defensive). Yes, I don’t get many bags but I don’t really care.

As of survivability while being in glyph range, I have no problem at all. I stick to the commander and melee train without any issue. I almost never die.

The equipment I have tested so far :
- Full ascended nomad, Staff / Staff
- Mix of ascended Zealot and Nomad, Staff / Staff (wanted to try with more damage, staff’s damage just scales poorly)
- Mix of ascended Minstrel and Nomad, Staff / Staff (what I’m currently playing)

If you like healing, you should give it a try. Just be prepared to constantly hit the CAF CD and go mad about it

Dawdler.8521:

In WvW its unfortunetly DOA. The staff has good utility but as a weapon its godawful. You will be lucky to get a couple of lootbags when you wipe 50 man. The glyphs being very short range pbaoe means the only way to use them is rushing straight in and the druid doesnt really have the survivability for that. Its also really lacking a constant AoE heal. Guardian and elementalist healer beat it IMO while offering just as good utility in zerg warfare.

I disagree… My first character was ranger but unfortunately I had to quit and rolled a mesmer for my guild because I’m mainly a WvW player. With HoT I started playing with my ranger again and now my guild don’t want me to play with my mesmer anymore. Druid is just amazing in WvW especially in guild raids. Because everyone knows what they’re doing and you’re on ts so they can keep up with your heals easily. Cleric/Berserker hybrid druid with melee group is an unstopable healer. By far the superior against eles and guardians.

Earix.5684:

Yes, I don’t get many bags but I don’t really care.

This is a HUGE issue for many and to be honest, one of the WORST designs for WWW content. Some classes and builds are just hugely penalized. That anyone in the raid,group tags is enough is just completely lack of understanding, imho. It makes me so angry, how they could have done it like this, I cant type anymore.

I run berserker druid from time to time, mostly with GS/LB sometims GS/Staff. The healing is still pretty OP. It’s nice for the big meta events and also fun.

I’m not going to heal anyone until I can see their health bars. I’m not just randomly going to throw around some AoE heals in the hope that maybe someone needs it.

If they had given us a well though out support spec that synergised with the base Ranger and actually fit in with the mechanics of the game as well as finally fixing at least some of the problems of the base Ranger I would be. Thats why I’m there on my Chrono insted.

Druid is ok but I find it better just to run my rev and do damage. Even in the big meta events people are adjusting and keeping themselves up without any real support.

WvW is a mess right now and druids aren’t that great. I haven’t engaged in a single choke point fight since the patch. You would think druids would shine here but nobody is playing WvW.

I’m a Ranger/Druid main, but to be honest, I feel like events are suffering from lack of practice more than lack of healing. Players are running tankier gear, lowering group DPS significantly, and this draws out fights longer. Everyone is inexperienced with enemy tells and attacks, taking more damage than usual. Enemies still oneshot even tank builds, especially on classes with low base HP, making tank and healing builds pointless in many cases. Good groups avoid damage completely, again negating the need for healing.

For support, I prefer Engineers and Elementalists. They still deal top-tier damage, but have self-sustainability (that Druid lacks), and blasting water fields is still the most efficient way to get a group’s HP back up. Druid skills are just too slow and cumbersome, and Rangers sacrifice a lot of survivability and DPS when they trait into the Druid line.

Chimp.7946:

Earix.5684:

Yes, I don’t get many bags but I don’t really care.

This is a HUGE issue for many and to be honest, one of the WORST designs for WWW content. Some classes and builds are just hugely penalized. That anyone in the raid,group tags is enough is just completely lack of understanding, imho. It makes me so angry, how they could have done it like this, I cant type anymore.

I can understand this.
I must also admit that while I don’t care about bags in WvW, PvE is whole different story. I have been leveling my masteries in HoT lately and I would rather tag as many npcs and totally avoid healing even if people have to die in the process :/

Holland.9351:

I’m not going to heal anyone until I can see their health bars. I’m not just randomly going to throw around some AoE heals in the hope that maybe someone needs it.

Yup, it sucks right now. I had a chance to test with the squad UI during beta. In WvW it was great, you could see the nameplates over every player in your squad.

Right now, you have to predict incoming damage and mouseover your teammates. It sucks but is still quite enjoyable/“playable” imo.

There are few Druids because other than the novelty of being something new, there is NO reason to be one.

• Doing open world HoT? You will do more damage and be more survivable using the PvE meta build with LtW instead of PO and two pets tough enough to tank champs. Does the healing you do as a Druid really offset the damage you gave up? No.
• Doing dungeons? There is no reason to bring a healer to any dungeon. PvE meta build it is.
• Doing PvP? Druids might have a place here, but with AF generation in such a terrible place for non-staff users and Astral Seeds not working on most dazes or launches, that place is limited to bunker trolling, which recently got hit with the LL nerf.
• Doing group WvW? The mobile water field is powerful, but staff has no place in zergs (no tags) and TU is a poor choice for zergs, so unless you kitten yourself to overcome the awful state of AF gen you aren’t going to see CA. That makes it only very marginally better than the (completely unwanted) Ranger. Which is all a moot point anyway, because with the stupid changes to autoatic waypointing no one defends anything anyway, and you dont need a healer for a freaking karma train. Which puts us back at running PvE meta ranger as the best choice for K train.
• Doing solo WvW? No you’re not, not really. The map is awful for solo wvw. Solo players can no longer make a contribution to the map and solo fights are ruined by area buffs. Never mind that solo play is ruined because you can’t escape a havok with Revenants, probably cant kill the new chrono-gods and pretty much everyone needs toning down.

That just leaves raids.

Earix.5684:

Chimp.7946:

Earix.5684:

Yes, I don’t get many bags but I don’t really care.

This is a HUGE issue for many and to be honest, one of the WORST designs for WWW content. Some classes and builds are just hugely penalized. That anyone in the raid,group tags is enough is just completely lack of understanding, imho. It makes me so angry, how they could have done it like this, I cant type anymore.

I can understand this.
I must also admit that while I don’t care about bags in WvW, PvE is whole different story. I have been leveling my masteries in HoT lately and I would rather tag as many npcs and totally avoid healing even if people have to die in the process :/

I appreciate fights for the sake of fights just as much as the next guy, but… well… loot bags is loot bags. You dont need them but getting them is great. Its part of what make it a fun experience and the druid staff IMO is just plain frustrating to play with after a short while. With no real other damage skill to back it up it feel like swinging through air (I mean guardian got for example wall of reflection that when placed at the right position tag half a zerg lol).

It remind me of the period when I tried to use Mesmer staff in zerg combat instead of greatsword, except without the single decent AoE attack. Yeah… It was a sad time.

For smaller scale I suppose I see more use in the Druid burst heals and obviously its going to be easier to tag smaller numbers.

I’ve not played Druid but as a solo player I cannot see a point to even trying, I like getting bags both pve and wvw. It’s fun, if I cannot tag effectively what is the point of playing just a healbot? There are other games where a healbot is actually rewarding. The druid lacks aoe damage for either power or condition damage, it doesn’t need to be a lot, just enough to gain some bags and put a little pressure on the enemy.

finished the Dragons Stand Meta event yesterday night , me on sinister/viper druid with heal stat trinkets not high healing power 500ish with staff (as healer stats)

Yellow tag was the first to reach the end Vine wall before the Circling phase (can’t remember the name of the boss was such fun and a blur)

ahead of both other tags which were struggling to kill things as most of the people kept avoiding damage and of course if you are avoiding damage you are not Doing damage.

ps im running a Condi/druid with Refined toxins and Poison master , i tagged so much i filed my bags twice using a Staff/LB with sharpen edges and Hidden barbs , as there was lots of spotter rangers nearby so i swapped this trait.

i saw a few tigers so i stayed close while in staff gained the fury bonuses and backed away to use LB and finish off the Asteral energy doing so by Barrage>Rkittenwap to staff and entre CA form.

i did more than enough damage and more than enough condi pressure from rapid Bleed+poison application generaly staying out of the front lines to keep refined toxins working and readly swapping the pet.

its not just a healer bot , i wish people would learn it can be a healerbot but not necessary.

ps Resing downed on a druid Charges the AF bar quite well.

I find WHaO keeps my AF ready for when a big group gets nuked, as well as blasting out something like 3k healing with no healing power at all (druid procs plus the regen.) You don’t need to be constantly worrying about healing, but some events have hard hits that people don’t dodge.

Raven.9603:

There are few Druids because other than the novelty of being something new, there is NO reason to be one.

• Doing group WvW? The mobile water field is powerful, but staff has no place in zergs (no tags) and TU is a poor choice for zergs, so unless you kitten yourself to overcome the awful state of AF gen you aren’t going to see CA. That makes it only very marginally better than the (completely unwanted) Ranger. Which is all a moot point anyway, because with the stupid changes to autoatic waypointing no one defends anything anyway, and you dont need a healer for a freaking karma train. Which puts us back at running PvE meta ranger as the best choice for K train.

AF generation is actually in a pretty good spot in large group WvW play (15+). Even if you play from the back-line using LB+Staff you still generate a LOT of AF due to the fast attacks of LB and staff damage/healing on multiple enemies and allies. My guild runs with relatively small numbers in open WvW (15-20) and I have absolutely no trouble accessing CAF. The healing/stealth+ss/cc I bring to my fellow assassins is incredibly useful. We’re all incredibly critical of everything each class brings, and none of us have any doubts about the extra depth druid has brought to the group. It’s not perfect, but it absolutely works. Any buffs would definitely be a welcome bonus.

Personally, I have had much greater success focusing on damage with a dab of healing if necessary (using outgoing healing mods to bump them up to god-tier), using CAF on a per-situation basis – instead of focusing entirely on being a healbot. I can still spike big heals on the fp/casters/train when needed, I can escape the vast majority of situations with even more ease, I can dish out intense, focused damage pressure from range, and I can pull off some awesome CC plays safer than ever (some of which I straight up couldn’t do before due to the clunkiness of the GS leap).

People talking about “healbots” in PvE content I believe are over-thinking, or perhaps under-thinking the role druids can fill.

I personally have been experimenting with druid in Dungeon content with PUGs; I don’t use the staff at all. From the druid line I take Cultivated Synergy, Grace of the land and Verdant Etching .

Combined with Resounding Timbre, Cultivated Synergy. Heal as One means I heal my allies for something like 30-40% health every time I use my own heal (16 second cooldown). Glyph of Empowerment provides 10% damage boost for the entire party timed well, and combined with Verdant Etching means I also heal the party a small amount, and remove conditions. For fights where conditions are a concern I bring an extra glyph so I can cleanse the party frequently and often. Finally, when my bar fills (And it does frequently), I can quickly pop into avatar state and stack Grace of the land on the party, for a party-wide 15% damage boost for 8 seconds.

All this adds up to a constant and significant amount of ambient healing, while I’m still going at the enemy with conventional weapons (Usually a GS or 1H sword) with pretty much no appreciable DPS loss (Possibly even a gain with so many party-wide damage bonuses); and, of course – if kitten DOES hit fan, I can enter avatar form, and heal the balls off the party until the situation is stabilised.

The argument is that a perfect team can run full zerker in any content, and never die. But the reality nobody seems to want to admit is that most people are NOT perfect. Speedrunning isn’t fast if it takes you three attempts to a clear a boss you could’ve done in one attempt, if you’d had the tools to salvage it.

Ryuujin.8236:

Combined with Resounding Timbre, Cultivated Synergy. Heal as One means I heal my allies for something like 30-40% health every time I use my own heal (16 second cooldown).

this is over stating things.

Cultivated Synergy is 1k base. 2k if you and your pet are lucky enough to hit the same crew. Regen over 10sec if somehow not provided by any of the other classes is another 1300. +270 from vigorous recovery minor. 3570 is only going to be 36% of 10k health classes with zero extra vitality. Its going to be 40% health for no one. And really, whether or not we should even be counting the 1300 from regen is pretty debatable.

is 2k on-demand heal nice? yes.

is it, along with all the other things druid brings, worth giving up either BM (pet damage, pet survivability, on demand might/quickness), MM (20% dmg modifier, fury), or Skirmishing (Spotter, Quick-draw, 10% crit flanking, fury)? Not in any non-raid pve content.

Raven.9603:

…Skirmishing (Spotter, Quick-draw, 10% crit flanking, fury)? Not in any non-raid pve content.

Actually… possibly;

Spotter is 150 precision to the whole team. Which is nice but only translates into a few percent more DPS for the party, I know this one might be hard to shake because “spotter = why you invite a ranger to the party” in the minds of many.

10% personal crit damage certainly helps you make bigger numbers but again this is less than a few percent in terms of the party’s total DPS, and is reliant on being able to flank your target. Quick-draw is nice, no doubt, I can’t criticise that, but if squeezing DPS was your goal, it’s not going to shake the foundations of tyria.

Skirmishing is definitely our weaker bread-and-butter trait line.

I’m fairly confident that the DPS gains from druid (via grace of the land and glyph of empowerment) provides comparable net DPS gains across the entire party while also providing the clutch heals of avatar form.

Ryuujin.8236:

I know this one might be hard to shake because “spotter = why you invite a ranger to the party” in the minds of many.

Because it’s a fact.

Ryuujin.8236:

Skirmishing is definitely our weaker bread-and-butter trait line.

Skirmishing houses Quick Draw which is inarguably our most powerful trait in pve right now in both zerk and viper/sinister builds

Substance E.4852:

Ryuujin.8236:

Skirmishing is definitely our weaker bread-and-butter trait line.

Skirmishing houses Quick Draw which is inarguably our most powerful trait in pve right now in both zerk and viper/sinister builds

Alright, can you explain what is so powerful about it? – I have trouble seeing what is so great about it, I can only think of a few niche uses for it and most of those are not tied to DPS

Ryuujin.8236:

Substance E.4852:

Ryuujin.8236:

Skirmishing is definitely our weaker bread-and-butter trait line.

Skirmishing houses Quick Draw which is inarguably our most powerful trait in pve right now in both zerk and viper/sinister builds

Alright, can you explain what is so powerful about it? – I have trouble seeing what is so great about it, I can only think of a few niche uses for it and most of those are not tied to DPS

It reduces the cooldown of the next skill used by 66% after weapon swap. That is a huge bonus for any skill but makes skills like Path of Scars, Rapid Fire, and Bonfire that much better. Not taking quick draw is throwing away a huge amount of damage in either damage form.

Substance E.4852:

It reduces the cooldown of the next skill used by 66% after weapon swap. That is a huge bonus for any skill but makes skills like Path of Scars, Rapid Fire, and Bonfire that much better. Not taking quick draw is throwing away a huge amount of damage in either damage form.

I know that but, wait… go back a step. Conditions and longbows are now the PvE DPS meta? O,o

I guess I was out of the loop a long time.

Ryuujin.8236:

Substance E.4852:

It reduces the cooldown of the next skill used by 66% after weapon swap. That is a huge bonus for any skill but makes skills like Path of Scars, Rapid Fire, and Bonfire that much better. Not taking quick draw is throwing away a huge amount of damage in either damage form.

Wait… go back a step. Conditions and longbows are now the PvE DPS meta? O,o

I guess I was out of the loop a long time.

Top pve build right now is Vipers A/-/T where you just swap the same weapon set for constant bonfires.

The best zerk build is still S/A-LB to my knowledge.