[Suggestion]: Support Druid Changes

Hello all, I just thought I'd share my ideas for increasing the support capabilities for Druid. Healing and supporting have always been my favorite roles in games, and with the upcoming changes, it seems that running a support Druid will become less viable in PvP and WvW. My goals in this area to increase its viability for these game modes (and non-meta Druid builds in PvE), as well as to improve the functionality of glyphs and some other underperforming skills and traits. I have included ideas from other users as well because I personally think they are great. Let me know what you think, even if you think they're shit ideas. All these changes are made under the assumption that the proposed changes will make it live.

GLYPHS

Glyph of Rejuvenation:Non-CA: Additionally apply regeneration to self.CA: Additionally apply regeneration to nearby allies (not self).

Glyph of Alignment:Now a ground-target AoE. (900 range)Non-CA: Increase power coefficient. Increase poison stacks to 3, up from 2.CA: Removes 3 conditions, up from 2.

Glyph of Empowerment:Now instant-castNon-CA: Now increases damage by 20% for 3 seconds (PvP and WvW only),CA: Now increases incoming healing instead of outgoing healing.

Glyph of Equality:Non-CA: No changes.CA: No longer removes conditions. Now additionally applies Stability [3x] for 6 seconds to nearby allies.

Glyph of Tides:Effects are switched. Radius reduced to 300, down from 360. Now a ground-target AoE. (600 range)

Glyph of Unity:Non-CA: Reveals tethered foes for 4 seconds. If a tethered foe breaks the leash, they are immobilized and blinded. If the foe remains tethered for the entire duration, they are slowed, weakened, and chilled. Initial skill is blockable, but the other effects are unblockable.CA: Reduce ICD to 0.5 seconds. If a tethered ally breaks the leash, they are granted resistance and superspeed. If the ally remains tethered for the entire duration, they are healed and have 2 conditions removed.

OTHER SKILLS

StaffAstral Wisp: Increase radius to 150, up from 120.Vine Surge: Reduce cast time to 0.5 seconds, down from 0.75.

Celestial Avatar(Cooldown is 15 seconds for both PvP and WvW)Cosmic Ray: Radius increased to 150, up from 120. Now impacts instantly.Seed of Life: Now blossoms instantly. Heal component has been removed, but now clears 2 conditions. Cooldown is now 3 seconds for all game modes.Natural Convergence: This skill can now be cast while moving. However, the Stability only applies if this skill is fully channeled. (Credit to Shadowpass)

TRAITS

Nature MagicNature's Vengeance: Additionally, spirits now follow you.Invigorating Bond: Now also removes 2 conditions from nearby allies. Radius increased to 600. (Credit to Jcbroe)

DruidDruidic Clarity: Now has a 15 second internal cooldown. Becoming a Celestial Avatar removes all movement-impairing conditions from you and your pet. Leaving Celestial Avatar removes all damaging conditions from you and your pet. (Credit to Shadowpass)Cultivated Synergy: Also removes 1 condition around you and your pet.Primal Echos: Now cast Lesser Glyph of Equality when swapping to staff. (Credit to InsaneQR)Entering CA: Apply Stability [1x] to nearby allies for 6 seconds. Does not break stun for self or allies.Leaving CA/Swapping to Staff: Daze for 1 second. Does not break stun.Celestial Shadow: Now has a 15 second internal cooldown. Stealth duration reduced to 2 seconds, down from 3. (Credit to Shadowpass)Verdant Etching: Reduces cooldown of Glyphs by 20%. Additionally, using a Glyph while out of Celestial Avatar increases celestial force generation by 100% for 2 seconds. Using a Glyph while in Celestial Avatar decreases celestial force degeneration by 100% for 2 seconds.Lingering Light: [Reworked]: Decrease the cooldown of Celestial Avatar form by [33% (PvP/WvW); 20% (PvE)]. Blind nearby foes and heal nearby allies over time around you when you leave Celestial Avatar form. Can only occur if you spend at least 15 seconds in Celestial Avatar form.

Some things sure, others are a pass for me. I see more traits that incentivize entering and exiting CA than BM on Soulbeast. I thought one of the weaker aspects of Druid was how the intent of the design is not panning out to how it's being played - mainly - remaining in CA. Without that being addressed first, everything else seems to keep the status-quo.

@Wondrouswall.7169 said:Some things sure, others are a pass for me. I see more traits that incentivize entering and exiting CA than BM on Soulbeast. I thought one of the weaker aspects of Druid was how the intent of the design is not panning out to how it's being played - mainly - remaining in CA. Without that being addressed first, everything else seems to keep the status-quo.

Would you mind clarifying? Are you saying that the design intent was to remain in CA but the way it's being played is by quickly going in and out of it? Or the opposite?

Yes. Basically, suggestions that make the player want to stay in CA or keep using skills in CA. I recall another thread of suggestions (think it was Shadowpass) that had CA skills altered enough to warrant it.

@Wondrouswall.7169 said:Yes. Basically, suggestions that make the player want to stay in CA or keep using skills in CA. I recall another thread of suggestions (think it was Shadowpass) that had CA skills altered enough to warrant it.

Makes sense, thanks for the clarification.

Although perhaps it didn't come across that way, my intention was to increase the uptime in CA form, not to make it about weaving in and out. The Lingering Light change was to allow for one more heal when exiting CA as well as to allow players to have a 10 second cooldown back, but having to sacrifice offensive support or utility in the process. Basically to help bridge the gap while out of CA. I also wanted to completely rehaul the Verdant Etching trait so glyphs could increase the time spent in CA. Something I find frustrating is being CC'd while in CA because your time to heal is limited. Having the glyphs allow you to camp CA more to maximize healing potential, as well as increase the ease in accessing CA if you are in situations with lower celestial force generation potential.

The Druidic Clarity change is not my idea but I thought it was a smart way of taking a chip at the meta sPvP Druid, which they seem to be basing their balance decisions around. I hadn't thought about it in terms of being encouraged to leave CA to get your damaging condis cleared, but at the same time, having it attached to leaving CA means you may have to sacrifice your heals or CA5 to get rid of really potent condis.

I would not at all be opposed to having Rejuvenating Tides start off weak and increase in potency, as has been suggested. I also like your idea of having Druidic Clarity attach the condi clear to it.

Thanks for your post.

@"Pterikdactyl.7630" said:

@Wondrouswall.7169 said:Some things sure, others are a pass for me. I see more traits that incentivize entering and exiting CA than BM on Soulbeast. I thought one of the weaker aspects of Druid was how the intent of the design is not panning out to how it's being played - mainly - remaining in CA. Without that being addressed first, everything else seems to keep the status-quo.

You go into CAF, burst heal and go out of it.Heal with staff and buff with glyphs if needed and do dmg, reeenter CAF and repeat.

I would change Lingering Light to, if you stay in CA for the full duration, blind nearby foes and heal nearby allies and reduce the CD, don’t incentivize people for just swapping in and out as quickly as possible.

Would your change to verdant etching remove the current effect? If so, I’ll keep the current state of it. Primal Echoes seems good though and would add more glyph synergy.

Personally if we’re gonna nerf Druids healing id implement that change to natural convergence and ALSO change the CA4 skill so that it heals for a little more than now, but it starts out healing for very little and ramps up over time.

PS: Leave mobile spirits out of the game.

I am in favor of any changes that make Druids more useful at supporting allies -- while not making them any more potent at bunkering themselves.

~ Kovu

@Kovu.7560 said:I am in favor of any changes that make Druids more useful at supporting allies -- while not making them any more potent at bunkering themselves.

~ Kovu

Kovu, in your opinion which class is now best support ?

Oh goodness that's a loaded question and I'm too busy at work to type up a proper response.The short answer is Guardian, particularly Firebrand.

Druids at, best case scenario, #4 after Guardians, Elementalists and Revenants. Though its a little more subjective I'd personally place them under boonshare mesmers, too.

~ Kovu

@Kovu.7560 said:Oh goodness that's a loaded question and I'm too busy at work to type up a proper response.The short answer is Guardian, particularly Firebrand.

Druids at, best case scenario, #4 after Guardians, Elementalists and Revenants. Though its a little more subjective I'd personally place them under boonshare mesmers, too.

~ Kovu

Thank, it is exactly what I want to hear from you ...So, Guardian aka Firebrand is the best support ... guess what ? (I know you already knew this) Guardian is also one of the best bunker in game too ... even we talk about sPVP or WvW. Also Elementalist who is let's say the second support in game, he is a very good bunker too in sPVP and in WvW roaming. Revenant is something else ... yes he is a support but he is different because he is that kind of support without heal, only with boons.I asked you this question because many ppl asked that Druid need a nerf because he is too good bunker, but in the same time ppl (you too) ask that he must be more useful at supporting. The idea is any support (Guardian and Elementalis) will be bunker too.So, it is a little bit hard to make a class support/healer without make him bunker too. Once again Revenant is something else, and we can't ask Anet to make Druid Staff some kind of boons dealer instead of healing ...

@Durzlla.6295 said:I would change Lingering Light to, if you stay in CA for the full duration, blind nearby foes and heal nearby allies and reduce the CD, don’t incentivize people for just swapping in and out as quickly as possible.

Would your change to verdant etching remove the current effect? If so, I’ll keep the current state of it. Primal Echoes seems good though and would add more glyph synergy.

Personally if we’re gonna nerf Druids healing id implement that change to natural convergence and ALSO change the CA4 skill so that it heals for a little more than now, but it starts out healing for very little and ramps up over time.

PS: Leave mobile spirits out of the game.

I think that's a completely fair idea for Lingering Light. I actually prefer your version to mine. It's a good way of incentivizing staying in for the full duration. I'll edit the post when I get home from work.

The Verdant Etching idea was to replace it, yes. My idea was to try to redistribute healing and condi clearing through other means. The seeds are nice but are clunky. A solution would be to make them instant cast but I wanted to introduce a way of being able to stay in CA form for greater than 15 seconds and to help CF generation for situations where it may be more limited. Perhaps Lingering Light could so leave a light field?

The CA4 idea is great too and I would be happy to have it like that. Having more Stab access from GoE would make it easier to pull off too.

Thanks a bunch for your reply!

@"Pterikdactyl.7630" said:

@Durzlla.6295 said:I would change Lingering Light to, if you stay in CA for the full duration, blind nearby foes and heal nearby allies and reduce the CD, don’t incentivize people for just swapping in and out as quickly as possible.

Would your change to verdant etching remove the current effect? If so, I’ll keep the current state of it. Primal Echoes seems good though and would add more glyph synergy.

Personally if we’re gonna nerf Druids healing id implement that change to natural convergence and ALSO change the CA4 skill so that it heals for a little more than now, but it starts out healing for very little and ramps up over time.

PS: Leave mobile spirits out of the game.

I feel like the Verdant Etching change would end up being an overall nerf, since you wouldn’t be able to use glyphs to help maintain grace of the land anymore. Also, if your change were to be implemented it would definitely need to stack in duration imo.

That being said, I like almost all the changes you proposed, ESPECIALLY the glyph of unity change!

@Durzlla.6295 said:

@"Pterikdactyl.7630" said:

@Durzlla.6295 said:I would change Lingering Light to, if you stay in CA for the full duration, blind nearby foes and heal nearby allies and reduce the CD, don’t incentivize people for just swapping in and out as quickly as possible.

Would your change to verdant etching remove the current effect? If so, I’ll keep the current state of it. Primal Echoes seems good though and would add more glyph synergy.

Personally if we’re gonna nerf Druids healing id implement that change to natural convergence and ALSO change the CA4 skill so that it heals for a little more than now, but it starts out healing for very little and ramps up over time.

PS: Leave mobile spirits out of the game.

Yes, I would like for it to stack duration. It would be a shame, for example, to not be able to maximize the trait if you were using Glyph of Empowerment (CA) into a Glyph of Rejuv and/or Glyph of Alignment. Having to stagger glyphs would make it feel a bit clunky.You are right about that nerfing might generation via GotL. Thank you for pointing that out. I am not a raider or extreme PvE'er, so I am unaware of how to best remedy that. Would you say that bringing GotL might generation back up to 4 stacks per proc (in PvE only) would help solve that issue? Or is it too difficult to maintain might while out of CA? Maybe increasing the might duration from GotL so it sustains for a longer period of time?

Thank you for your feedback. I wanted to give Glyph of Unity a special flavor and reason to slot it. While the non-CA version of our current Glyph of Unity is centered around damage, that is not really Druid's focus, so I wanted it to be focused around shutting down the enemy's offenses. And the CA version was just completely underperforming and needed to be enhanced. As an ally tethered by GoU, there are advantages to both breaking the leash and staying bound...I wanted there to be a choice there rather than having one clearly better than the other.

Also, I updated Lingering Light with your suggestion, but changed the wording a bit and made it a pulsing heal over time to help with sustained healing outside of CA form as well as to help with CF generation.

Were you drunk while writing this?If you'd be aware of how broken druid is in it's current state you would've never made such a stupid suggestion .

@zarcon.7820 said:Were you drunk while writing this?If you'd be aware of how broken druid is in it's current state you would've never made such a stupid suggestion .

You mind expanding? I am well aware of how druid can overperform in certain contexts with certain builds, but Druid as a whole isn't necessarily overperforming. My changes here are not meant to improve those aspects of the druid, and I included nerfs to those overperforming traits. Of course some of these risk being overpowered but these are just ideas and my goal was to try to make for more build diversity and make a support druid a viable choice rather than just the bunker build that currently dominates.