You can. I am a healer at heart. I play an engineer. in large groups i pop in my elixer gun and play support. Popping healering turrets where i can, tossing elixers when i need to and reviving those who need it. Then switching to control so i'm not too close the action.
I can't say it benough. You will have to play this game differently. You love helping, this game offers more ways than just spamming a heal button and watching bars go down. I just took down this fire temple champion and didnt do too much other than control and support .
Thsi subject kinda annoys me. It's like getting in the mario brothers forum and asking, man wish i could collect coins like sonic. Well you can collect coins, you just have to jump instead of run for them.
I ant figure out why people would want to a new game to play like their old game.
Originally posted by Gravarg This is one of the biggest things that kept me from buying GW2 and might never buy it. I never buy a game until a month after release, never. I'm definitely a healer at heart. I've always liked clerics, druids, etc. They should have an option if all you want to do is heal, you should be the greatest healer you can be. If all you want to do is be a glasscannon, you can be. If you want to be the immovable object, you can be. I don't like how everyone can do everything, it dilutes the roles in a party, and people won't know what they heck to do.
It isn't really like that though. You can still be a rather decent healer. Just not the same as in other games. It varies it up a bit. You aren't pigenholed in a role but pending on how you build your character you can certainly make a healing/support spec. The healing just works a bit different because it is relative to skills you use and many times incorporates damage skills least for ele.
I like it. Kind of nice in my opinion.
...and for a long time now I have played a healer in mmos.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Originally posted by Gravarg I've always liked clerics, druids, etc.
You missed Discipline Priests, I take it.
Even WoW has a little bit of defender-esque healing built into it.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Originally posted by Gravarg This is one of the biggest things that kept me from buying GW2 and might never buy it. I never buy a game until a month after release, never. I'm definitely a healer at heart. I've always liked clerics, druids, etc. They should have an option if all you want to do is heal, you should be the greatest healer you can be. If all you want to do is be a glasscannon, you can be. If you want to be the immovable object, you can be. I don't like how everyone can do everything, it dilutes the roles in a party, and people won't know what they heck to do.
Holy Trinity role specialization (Healer, DPS, Tank) is extremely artificial and simplistic. It requires enemies act like idiots. Further, it results in a combat system that is inherently boring. There are many good reasons to move away from it.
Yes, there aren't strictly defined roles in groups, and you aren't likely to see groups were people just do one thing over and over and over again. A combat system like this requires flexibility on the players, and that means it is more complex and deep than combat in a Holy Trinity game. Character building in particular has a lot of depth as well. This means, of course, that the combat is more inherently enjoyable without adding gimmicks to fights.
This doesn't mean everyone is the same however, because you'll want a group of players to bring different things to the table for removing conditions, inflicting conditions, adding boons, removing boons, etc. Some of that involves healing, but you aren't going to be a pure healer anymore than a combat medic only bandages up the wounded on a battlefield.
You want the Holy Trinity, play another game. Not having it is one of the big reasons I bought GW2 and they were very clear early on that they weren't going the HT route. You act like game design is easy and you can just toss in everything and the kitchen sink and balance it. That's not how it works. Designing a combat system requires having a goal in mind for how you want that combat to work, what you want players to bring to the table, how dynamic you want it, etc. Then you have to avoid mechanics that push the game away from that goal and implement mechanics that move it towards it. Adding in Holy Trinity mechanics would mess up the game horribly.
And let me add that I hate being a pure healer in games like WoW. I can do it and be good (though I'm a better tank), but I find it tedious, boring, and mind-numbing. On the other hand, I enjoy being a hybrid class that brings a number of tools to th table where I have to choose which one to use at the right time. Add some support or a heal when necessary, etc. GW2 enables that sort of play, whereas games like WoW do not.
Just adds to more of the chaos. Sinple, yet chaotic game. I really can t enjoy this game, I keep trying, but I can t wait for a good hard, challenging game again, where I actually talk to the people around me. It s really just boring IMO.
Originally posted by Deto123 Just adds to more of the chaos. Sinple, yet chaotic game. I really can t enjoy this game, I keep trying, but I can t wait for a good hard, challenging game again, where I actually talk to the people around me. It s really just boring IMO.
There are plenty of difficult things in the game starting with puzzles and dungeons in particular, though some events can be hard as well. I haven't found it hard to talk to others. It's not difficult to initiate conversation and it gives good returns.
But yes, combat is more realistic and hence more chaotic. That doesn't mean there isn't difficult or a lot of things to do. But it does mean that you don't win tough fights by doing the right dance moves that you've memorized and everyone doing the same couple of tasks over and over and over again.
Any of you that have read my posts know that I bemoan the loss of the professional healer. I will probably get the game eventually to see if I can make the transition from "healer" to "support". Probably as a water elementist. I'd know mace/focus guardian is supposed to be good as well but I'd have to get into the mindset of a paladiness instead of sword and shield tank.
Originally posted by Deto123 Just adds to more of the chaos. Sinple, yet chaotic game. I really can t enjoy this game, I keep trying, but I can t wait for a good hard, challenging game again, where I actually talk to the people around me. It s really just boring IMO.
There are plenty of difficult things in the game starting with puzzles and dungeons in particular, though some events can be hard as well. I haven't found it hard to talk to others. It's not difficult to initiate conversation and it gives good returns.
But yes, combat is more realistic and hence more chaotic. That doesn't mean there isn't difficult or a lot of things to do. But it does mean that you don't win tough fights by doing the right dance moves that you've memorized and everyone doing the same couple of tasks over and over and over again.
Funny, how I find the combat the same every time, and you don t. Honestly, i can t see anything hard at all in this game, does that make me good, nope, just a simple game, IMO. Obviously talking to others isn t hard, but 90% could care less if you re there at all.
Originally posted by Deto123 Just adds to more of the chaos. Sinple, yet chaotic game. I really can t enjoy this game, I keep trying, but I can t wait for a good hard, challenging game again, where I actually talk to the people around me. It s really just boring IMO.
There are plenty of difficult things in the game starting with puzzles and dungeons in particular, though some events can be hard as well. I haven't found it hard to talk to others. It's not difficult to initiate conversation and it gives good returns.
But yes, combat is more realistic and hence more chaotic. That doesn't mean there isn't difficult or a lot of things to do. But it does mean that you don't win tough fights by doing the right dance moves that you've memorized and everyone doing the same couple of tasks over and over and over again.
Funny, how I find the combat the same every time, and you don t. Honestly, i can t see anything hard at all in this game, does that make me good, nope, just a simple game, IMO. Obviously talking to others isn t hard, but 90% could care less if you re there at all.
There's just so many ways to use abilities and then adding in all the possible utility abilities...I just don't see how you can not see that combat has a great deal of depth. Heck, even events are like that, honestly. Toss in all the options you get with two weapons sets (or more options if you are an elementalist or engineer) and the complexity deepens. In my experience, groups add to this if you bother to think and work in abilities that will aid the group.
And again, there is much harder content. When you've done a dungeon or two in exploration mode, let me know. Certainly I've also encountered some tough events, like a giant ooze in the Asura starting area.
And if you don't want to put the slightest effort into communicating with other people, I don't see what your point about complaining is. Yes, the game doesn't FORCE people to talk to each other. We are social animals, so if you just bother to try talking you'll get places. Sometimes I have longer conversations with people, other times just a few sentences exchanged. Granted it would be cool if there was some sort of integrated voice chat system, but that would have its own huge hurdles if there are 10+ people around.
Originally posted by Deto123 Just adds to more of the chaos. Sinple, yet chaotic game. I really can t enjoy this game, I keep trying, but I can t wait for a good hard, challenging game again, where I actually talk to the people around me. It s really just boring IMO.
There are plenty of difficult things in the game starting with puzzles and dungeons in particular, though some events can be hard as well. I haven't found it hard to talk to others. It's not difficult to initiate conversation and it gives good returns.
But yes, combat is more realistic and hence more chaotic. That doesn't mean there isn't difficult or a lot of things to do. But it does mean that you don't win tough fights by doing the right dance moves that you've memorized and everyone doing the same couple of tasks over and over and over again.
Funny, how I find the combat the same every time, and you don t. Honestly, i can t see anything hard at all in this game, does that make me good, nope, just a simple game, IMO. Obviously talking to others isn t hard, but 90% could care less if you re there at all.
There's just so many ways to use abilities and then adding in all the possible utility abilities...I just don't see how you can not see that combat has a great deal of depth. Heck, even events are like that, honestly. Toss in all the options you get with two weapons sets (or more options if you are an elementalist or engineer) and the complexity deepens. In my experience, groups add to this if you bother to think and work in abilities that will aid the group.
And again, there is much harder content. When you've done a dungeon or two in exploration mode, let me know. Certainly I've also encountered some tough events, like a giant ooze in the Asura starting area.
And if you don't want to put the slightest effort into communicating with other people, I don't see what your point about complaining is. Yes, the game doesn't FORCE people to talk to each other. We are social animals, so if you just bother to try talking you'll get places. Sometimes I have longer conversations with people, other times just a few sentences exchanged. Granted it would be cool if there was some sort of integrated voice chat system, but that would have its own huge hurdles if there are 10+ people around.
Next time the mini map doesn t say------>GO HERE DUMMY!!!!!!!!!! then talk to me. The game is more handheld then anything I ve seen. I also don t see the complexity in it at all, when you get down to it, it s 10 skills, with switching , and a few other abilities used every 30 seconds or longer. It s not a hard complex system at all.
Originally posted by emesto I healed through vanilla wow and that was enough to make me sick of healing for the rest of my life.
I also healed in vanilla WoW and became sick of it, because that was all my class could do (vanilla Paladin)
But when I moved to Rift years later, I was totally turned on to healing in PvP. Never knew healing in PvP could be so much fun. Just have to have the tools to make it fun (which WoW paladins from vanilla to TBC didn't have, so I was bored of healing)
When the SoR hit, I went back to WoW to try and play a Restro Druid in PvP battlegrounds. So much fun. But rather stay in Rift since it has Gear brackets and bolstering.
dont get me wrong i like the game. i like the settings, animatinos, stories, classes, etc. i like many things but i feel a great empty space where i always have my healer in every mmos.
i like healing. not playing "whack a mole" with HP bars but actually keeping my team mates alive and saving them from sure death. it gives me more pleasure then getting the final blow on an enemy. call me a healer at heart but in every mmo i've had at least one healer.
the more i play GW2 the more i find myself wishin i could just friken heal my mates....ffs just let me heal!!
i dunno, maybe i just havent found the calss for me yet in this game (i've only tried Guardian, engeneer, thief so far). i like the Guardian because you can shield your mates from damage but the healing is very very limited.
meh...i hope if find it. i feel so usless when i can't heal. anyone got any suggestion for a good support calss? maybe i should try control...
dont get me wrong i like the game. i like the settings, animatinos, stories, classes, etc. i like many things but i feel a great empty space where i always have my healer in every mmos.
i like healing. not playing "whack a mole" with HP bars but actually keeping my team mates alive and saving them from sure death. it gives me more pleasure then getting the final blow on an enemy. call me a healer at heart but in every mmo i've had at least one healer.
the more i play GW2 the more i find myself wishin i could just friken heal my mates....ffs just let me heal!!
i dunno, maybe i just havent found the calss for me yet in this game (i've only tried Guardian, engeneer, thief so far). i like the Guardian because you can shield your mates from damage but the healing is very very limited.
meh...i hope if find it. i feel so usless when i can't heal. anyone got any suggestion for a good support calss? maybe i should try control...
WRONG. Sorry but the healing is VERY powerful in this game, you just won't encounter it in zerg mode.
During launch, it was nearly impossible to find an event where a dozen other players weren't already present. At more would arrive every second. This turned every big fight into a zerg rush.
Slowly this is changing as people become more spread out. Also some events are more out of the way. And then the individual class skills/roles and weapon choices start to play a role.
For instance, a ranger with a longbow can put down a regeneration circle, this allows everyone to self regenerate. With a champion boss and 3-4 players this is the different between winning and dying very fast.
It is just not the old group heal F1 medium heal F2 light heal F3 (DPS who can't play) emergency power heal that should be used on the tank but the tank can actually play while the DPS cannot.
There are tactics hidden in the game but you won't find it in a zerg rush.
If anyone had made a thread saying "The trinity is still here, you can heal and tank" everyone would be like "dude, its not true, you can barely heal or tank at all and each has to survive by its own, there is no such thing as dedicated healers and tanks and there is no role or spec that can really help you to do that.
If anyone says "I would love to heal in gw2 and feel actually useful" then all of a sudden healing is perfectly viable, there is tons of specialized specs for it and everyone can have fun in wonderful gw2 even if they wanna perform a traditional role
If anyone had made a thread saying "The trinity is still here, you can heal and tank" everyone would be like "dude, its not true, you can barely heal or tank at all and each has to survive by its own, there is no such thing as dedicated healers and tanks and there is no role or spec that can really help you to do that.
If anyone says "I would love to heal in gw2 and feel actually useful" then all of a sudden healing is perfectly viable, there is tons of specialized specs for it and everyone can have fun in wonderful gw2 even if they wanna perform a traditional role
So.... which one is the truth?
I don't think a single person in this thread has advised that the OP should heal and only heal. Nobody here is under the illusion that healing and healing alone is a viable tactic in competitive GW2 combat.
And that's where competing definitions of the trinity come in. My guess is you're one of the people who define the trinity as the simple existence of removal of enemy HP (damage), intentional sacrifice of ally HP (tanking) and restoration of ally HP (healing). Whereas most people who say there is no trinity in GW2 define the trinity as a tank/heal/dps system in which palyers are locked into performing one of those roles exclusively during combat.
Regardless of how you define it, GW2 undeniably has the former and undeniably does not have the latter. Squabbling over definitions is pointless because nobody really cares about the definition. They only care about what extent players are actually asked to tank/heal/dps.
Depends on the player's agenda. MMO Truth (capital T) is a slick and difficult-to-grab squirmy little greased piggie.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Originally posted by Gravarg This is one of the biggest things that kept me from buying GW2 and might never buy it. I never buy a game until a month after release, never. I'm definitely a healer at heart. I've always liked clerics, druids, etc. They should have an option if all you want to do is heal, you should be the greatest healer you can be. If all you want to do is be a glasscannon, you can be. If you want to be the immovable object, you can be. I don't like how everyone can do everything, it dilutes the roles in a party, and people won't know what they heck to do.
well.. right now, gw2 is sold out in many places anyway and they don't allow digital sales atm, so you can't buy it.
but seriously, Gravarg: what do you enjoy about being a healer?
Do you enjoy being useful in a team order you enjoy playing the UI and health bars?
I play necromancer right now; even that class has several "wells" I can drop in front of a mob that turn any projectile passing through into regeneration or condition removal for teammates.
for new players, combo fields don't really exist despite them being an integral part of the game.
In bigger fights a well-placed combo field can tick 20 to 30 times with the ranged weapons.
And this is all random. An organized team can make even more use of it.
As other people have said condition removal is more vital than pure healing because of the powerful self heal and the downed-state.
Since you don't play the game it is hard to describe it.
But conditions are not just DoTs from WoW.
They are a lot more nasty, diverse and debilitating for the team.
Imagine the team suffering from confusion, condition that punishes skill usage.
You cannot heal through that. Every heal is a skill used. in will take for a considerate amount of damage.
You need condition removal, healing, giving out boons to be effective support.
Your biggest problem is that you hang out on these forums. Most people here even if they play the game, have a poor understanding of its mechanics.
Guild wars 2 is, and I have played wow for many years, several times more complex and intricate when it comes to combat.
And most new players don't even know that traits can change skills completely, like a trait that adds a freeze to every blind.
So one well has not only some kind of buff towards allies, it, for example, pulses five times for a blind every pulse.
Because of the trait every pulse also freezes.
And every projectile passing through or every combo finisher applied to the field will result in a combo affect.
So just one skill has potentially two different boons to your team and two different conditions to the enemy.
Plus, it also feels damage.
this little example only uses one trait and one skill. It can get even more complex.
Once you get a grasp on how it works you can make very powerful support builds.
Right now everyone, including myself, is a noob.
And most of the people giving you advice, or most of the stuff you read on this forum, deal with mechanics they don't really understand.
I'd suggest you make in your character go to the mists and test all skills and combinations on the training NPCs that provide real, and useful data.
If anyone had made a thread saying "The trinity is still here, you can heal and tank" everyone would be like "dude, its not true, you can barely heal or tank at all and each has to survive by its own, there is no such thing as dedicated healers and tanks and there is no role or spec that can really help you to do that.
If anyone says "I would love to heal in gw2 and feel actually useful" then all of a sudden healing is perfectly viable, there is tons of specialized specs for it and everyone can have fun in wonderful gw2 even if they wanna perform a traditional role
So.... which one is the truth?
I think "everyone can be in a sort of healer role" was said during development. Explained during beta, and is something hard for people to grasp.
No one's a healer, but everyone can be helpful is the truth.
Comments
You can. I am a healer at heart. I play an engineer. in large groups i pop in my elixer gun and play support. Popping healering turrets where i can, tossing elixers when i need to and reviving those who need it. Then switching to control so i'm not too close the action.
I can't say it benough. You will have to play this game differently. You love helping, this game offers more ways than just spamming a heal button and watching bars go down. I just took down this fire temple champion and didnt do too much other than control and support .
Thsi subject kinda annoys me. It's like getting in the mario brothers forum and asking, man wish i could collect coins like sonic. Well you can collect coins, you just have to jump instead of run for them.
I ant figure out why people would want to a new game to play like their old game.
It isn't really like that though. You can still be a rather decent healer. Just not the same as in other games. It varies it up a bit. You aren't pigenholed in a role but pending on how you build your character you can certainly make a healing/support spec. The healing just works a bit different because it is relative to skills you use and many times incorporates damage skills least for ele.
I like it. Kind of nice in my opinion.
...and for a long time now I have played a healer in mmos.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
You missed Discipline Priests, I take it.
Even WoW has a little bit of defender-esque healing built into it.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Holy Trinity role specialization (Healer, DPS, Tank) is extremely artificial and simplistic. It requires enemies act like idiots. Further, it results in a combat system that is inherently boring. There are many good reasons to move away from it.
Yes, there aren't strictly defined roles in groups, and you aren't likely to see groups were people just do one thing over and over and over again. A combat system like this requires flexibility on the players, and that means it is more complex and deep than combat in a Holy Trinity game. Character building in particular has a lot of depth as well. This means, of course, that the combat is more inherently enjoyable without adding gimmicks to fights.
This doesn't mean everyone is the same however, because you'll want a group of players to bring different things to the table for removing conditions, inflicting conditions, adding boons, removing boons, etc. Some of that involves healing, but you aren't going to be a pure healer anymore than a combat medic only bandages up the wounded on a battlefield.
You want the Holy Trinity, play another game. Not having it is one of the big reasons I bought GW2 and they were very clear early on that they weren't going the HT route. You act like game design is easy and you can just toss in everything and the kitchen sink and balance it. That's not how it works. Designing a combat system requires having a goal in mind for how you want that combat to work, what you want players to bring to the table, how dynamic you want it, etc. Then you have to avoid mechanics that push the game away from that goal and implement mechanics that move it towards it. Adding in Holy Trinity mechanics would mess up the game horribly.
And let me add that I hate being a pure healer in games like WoW. I can do it and be good (though I'm a better tank), but I find it tedious, boring, and mind-numbing. On the other hand, I enjoy being a hybrid class that brings a number of tools to th table where I have to choose which one to use at the right time. Add some support or a heal when necessary, etc. GW2 enables that sort of play, whereas games like WoW do not.
There are plenty of difficult things in the game starting with puzzles and dungeons in particular, though some events can be hard as well. I haven't found it hard to talk to others. It's not difficult to initiate conversation and it gives good returns.
But yes, combat is more realistic and hence more chaotic. That doesn't mean there isn't difficult or a lot of things to do. But it does mean that you don't win tough fights by doing the right dance moves that you've memorized and everyone doing the same couple of tasks over and over and over again.
Funny, how I find the combat the same every time, and you don t. Honestly, i can t see anything hard at all in this game, does that make me good, nope, just a simple game, IMO. Obviously talking to others isn t hard, but 90% could care less if you re there at all.
There's just so many ways to use abilities and then adding in all the possible utility abilities...I just don't see how you can not see that combat has a great deal of depth. Heck, even events are like that, honestly. Toss in all the options you get with two weapons sets (or more options if you are an elementalist or engineer) and the complexity deepens. In my experience, groups add to this if you bother to think and work in abilities that will aid the group.
And again, there is much harder content. When you've done a dungeon or two in exploration mode, let me know. Certainly I've also encountered some tough events, like a giant ooze in the Asura starting area.
And if you don't want to put the slightest effort into communicating with other people, I don't see what your point about complaining is. Yes, the game doesn't FORCE people to talk to each other. We are social animals, so if you just bother to try talking you'll get places. Sometimes I have longer conversations with people, other times just a few sentences exchanged. Granted it would be cool if there was some sort of integrated voice chat system, but that would have its own huge hurdles if there are 10+ people around.
Next time the mini map doesn t say------>GO HERE DUMMY!!!!!!!!!! then talk to me. The game is more handheld then anything I ve seen. I also don t see the complexity in it at all, when you get down to it, it s 10 skills, with switching , and a few other abilities used every 30 seconds or longer. It s not a hard complex system at all.
I don't want heals I want prevention!
I need you to cleanse my conditions and give me boons.
I need you to put down a barrier between me and the enemy shielding me and making sure I don't kill my squishy little self.
I need you to rez me when I'm down... throw and elixer or something on me to help the process.
I need to also to be able to defend yourself and put out some damage when you need to because the enemy might go for you or need you to finish it...
I need you more than I need a simple healer.
I also healed in vanilla WoW and became sick of it, because that was all my class could do (vanilla Paladin)
But when I moved to Rift years later, I was totally turned on to healing in PvP. Never knew healing in PvP could be so much fun. Just have to have the tools to make it fun (which WoW paladins from vanilla to TBC didn't have, so I was bored of healing)
When the SoR hit, I went back to WoW to try and play a Restro Druid in PvP battlegrounds. So much fun. But rather stay in Rift since it has Gear brackets and bolstering.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
engineer with elixir gun ^^
WRONG. Sorry but the healing is VERY powerful in this game, you just won't encounter it in zerg mode.
During launch, it was nearly impossible to find an event where a dozen other players weren't already present. At more would arrive every second. This turned every big fight into a zerg rush.
Slowly this is changing as people become more spread out. Also some events are more out of the way. And then the individual class skills/roles and weapon choices start to play a role.
For instance, a ranger with a longbow can put down a regeneration circle, this allows everyone to self regenerate. With a champion boss and 3-4 players this is the different between winning and dying very fast.
It is just not the old group heal F1 medium heal F2 light heal F3 (DPS who can't play) emergency power heal that should be used on the tank but the tank can actually play while the DPS cannot.
There are tactics hidden in the game but you won't find it in a zerg rush.
a yo ho ho
This community is hilarious some times.
If anyone had made a thread saying "The trinity is still here, you can heal and tank" everyone would be like "dude, its not true, you can barely heal or tank at all and each has to survive by its own, there is no such thing as dedicated healers and tanks and there is no role or spec that can really help you to do that.
If anyone says "I would love to heal in gw2 and feel actually useful" then all of a sudden healing is perfectly viable, there is tons of specialized specs for it and everyone can have fun in wonderful gw2 even if they wanna perform a traditional role
So.... which one is the truth?
I don't think a single person in this thread has advised that the OP should heal and only heal. Nobody here is under the illusion that healing and healing alone is a viable tactic in competitive GW2 combat.
And that's where competing definitions of the trinity come in. My guess is you're one of the people who define the trinity as the simple existence of removal of enemy HP (damage), intentional sacrifice of ally HP (tanking) and restoration of ally HP (healing). Whereas most people who say there is no trinity in GW2 define the trinity as a tank/heal/dps system in which palyers are locked into performing one of those roles exclusively during combat.
Regardless of how you define it, GW2 undeniably has the former and undeniably does not have the latter. Squabbling over definitions is pointless because nobody really cares about the definition. They only care about what extent players are actually asked to tank/heal/dps.
Depends on the player's agenda. MMO Truth (capital T) is a slick and difficult-to-grab squirmy little greased piggie.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
well.. right now, gw2 is sold out in many places anyway and they don't allow digital sales atm, so you can't buy it.
but seriously, Gravarg: what do you enjoy about being a healer?
Do you enjoy being useful in a team order you enjoy playing the UI and health bars?
I play necromancer right now; even that class has several "wells" I can drop in front of a mob that turn any projectile passing through into regeneration or condition removal for teammates.
for new players, combo fields don't really exist despite them being an integral part of the game.
In bigger fights a well-placed combo field can tick 20 to 30 times with the ranged weapons.
And this is all random. An organized team can make even more use of it.
As other people have said condition removal is more vital than pure healing because of the powerful self heal and the downed-state.
Since you don't play the game it is hard to describe it.
But conditions are not just DoTs from WoW.
They are a lot more nasty, diverse and debilitating for the team.
Imagine the team suffering from confusion, condition that punishes skill usage.
You cannot heal through that. Every heal is a skill used. in will take for a considerate amount of damage.
You need condition removal, healing, giving out boons to be effective support.
Your biggest problem is that you hang out on these forums. Most people here even if they play the game, have a poor understanding of its mechanics.
Guild wars 2 is, and I have played wow for many years, several times more complex and intricate when it comes to combat.
And most new players don't even know that traits can change skills completely, like a trait that adds a freeze to every blind.
So one well has not only some kind of buff towards allies, it, for example, pulses five times for a blind every pulse.
Because of the trait every pulse also freezes.
And every projectile passing through or every combo finisher applied to the field will result in a combo affect.
So just one skill has potentially two different boons to your team and two different conditions to the enemy.
Plus, it also feels damage.
this little example only uses one trait and one skill. It can get even more complex.
Once you get a grasp on how it works you can make very powerful support builds.
Right now everyone, including myself, is a noob.
And most of the people giving you advice, or most of the stuff you read on this forum, deal with mechanics they don't really understand.
I'd suggest you make in your character go to the mists and test all skills and combinations on the training NPCs that provide real, and useful data.
Then test your ideas in some PvP.
Or just level up.
both is true in a way, if it is about player usefulness.
if it is about not doing anything but watching health bars, then gw2 can't really do that because no healing or boon can be targeted.
All beneficial skills are area of effect.
Resurrection can be targeted, but even for that, area of effect skills exist.
I for one don't feel lack of healers and 'LF one healer...' endless spam that goes with it.
Thank you Anet.
I think "everyone can be in a sort of healer role" was said during development. Explained during beta, and is something hard for people to grasp.
No one's a healer, but everyone can be helpful is the truth.
a yo ho ho
I think its time to look at this thread over at guru http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/57090-the-two-true-healers-not-what-you-would-expect/ that actual shows some decent ways to build classic healers for some rather unexpected classes.