Healing Tempest - A mild rant...

So, I recently came back to the game a few months ago and upon re-arrival I was told my Elementalist should be a Weaver. Which was fine, I had always been a Staff Ele back when the game first launched and I was keen on trying it out.

However, I found the Melee Weaver to not be generally my taste. While fun at first I learned how bad I am at the rotation, even with practice and have chosen to go back to what I enjoy which is Staff.

With that being said I've found myself enjoying Heal Tempest a lot lately, while easy I do enjoy it and will sometimes swap to Weaver Staff for DPS in open world and fractals (Occasionally I will swap back to Weaver Sword/Dagger for lolz).

Note: I have several other characters (as most players do), this one is just the one I've found to enjoy the most.

My rant comes from talking to my Guild Leader tonight.

Tonight I asked simply that I would like to Tempest Heal in raid tonight which we did Wing 4. I was told that I wasn't allowed too because even though we had a solid comp that had boon providers and such, we had a Druid and such.

While I am OK with being Flexible as I have a few others toons I can play, I was ultimately told that a Heal Tempest wont be used in his raid due to it not being the meta, and because someone he knows has more experience than he and when this person says "no, use " then that is what they do... On top of this getting told "Arena Net has designed to be the meta, whether you like it or not!" this was really frustrating to hear because it essentially meant "No Elementalist Healers".

I did try to tell him "Just because it's meta, doesn't mean it's the only way..." he very much disagreed and I got the cold shoulder soon after..

I know for certain that a Heal Tempest will do just fine in any comp in fact I've cleared Wing 4 just fine as a Heal Tempest, I know a Druid as a might generator and spotter is ideal as a primary heal and just about any other healer can be a secondary which does include Tempest.

So while I know some people will just tell me to "Make a Druid" if I want to heal, but I shouldn't have to make this class when the one I'm on now does just fine.

End of the day, I just want to be able to Tempest Heal in raids and in groups for fun. I understand and am OK with swapping toons as needed. But I guess my big thing is...

Is there even a place for Elementalist any more? It's been my favorite class for a long time, and while Guardian comes up to a close second I would ideally want to play the Elementalist.

I just want to have fun and kill things in PvE content as an Ele ultimately and I know I can do just that... But I am concerned - would anyone even want a Heal Tempest any more?

Any thoughts and moral support with this frustration would be great.

Hope all your Holiday's have been good as well, thanks for reading my jumbled rant.

I usually play heal tempest in my raid static. I see heal tempest as superior to druid, as it is capable of high output 10man healing. and being able to output boons for 10 man like the druid. The only drawback is that to play heal temp well you will need to be a tryhard, while with druid you can literally sleep and ppl still won't notice you are garbage.If you're in a raid group that is "metawhoring" and you don't enjoy that, find another group. I am aware that it can be difficult to find new groups as the raid community is constantly shrinking but unless you want to put in a good effort to change the mind of your raid leader, then finding a different group is my only advice.I believe the main issue ppl have with the heal temp is that the druid has since the very beginning been dominating the healing support meta. Second to that is that they don't understand the heal temp and its capabilities. Also, any argument trying to push heal temp into a meta group will be shut down by: "Druid can do it better."A drawback to the heal temp is the lack of spirits of course. (Just putting this here to appease the metawhores.)So as a wrapup, heal temp is amazing and don't let anyone tell you that it's not viable. It's got its own positives and some limitations that makes it different from druid. If your current surroundings are hostile to the heal temp, then you need to change your surroundings either through hard work by yourself, or simply moving to somewhere else.PS: Druid can't outheal 1-shots (Rebound)

Wing 4 is just extremely easy so 2nd healer is most of the time not even needed (until you reach the last boss).

Your guild leader obviously know what his group is capable of doing and how skilled they are and a heal tempest is rather worthless if encounters don't have much pressure and/or groups know how to deal with it.

You have to accept the fact that some people don't want to play with builds that are "just fine". They are entitled to their choice as much as you are so there's no point in ranting.

Tempest lacks something compared to all others "healer", Quickness/Alacrity, resistance, offensive buff, barriers etc.Auras are useless in Pve, it's a medium for healing/boons but effects are passive, with 1 or 2sec icd ...So yes, of all supports; Druid, chrono, FB, Ren, Scourge, even thief and holo; tempest is probably the last you want in raid.If auras or shouts give a dmg buff, like fireshield +100 power, schoking aura +100 ferocity etc or at least you could share alacrity; it would definitly be better.

Otherwise, it's not that bad in WvW; you can be a good Endurance generator for a small group, spam Frost Aura, spam condicleanse ....

Heal tempest is good for carrying players who haven't raided before, but for a more experienced group, Tempest is not good enough

Wing 4 wise, heal tempest lacks sufficient CC, which would inflict extra pressure for the group in Samarog. Though they are very capable oil kiter in Ranged Deimos, the lack of boon support also makes it not an ideal group healer for this particular boss. Therefore your raid leader would not accept you going for this class for a good reason.

The ugly truth is, that most players I plugged who preferred this class, simply possess a mentality to play it easy and safe just for himself, while avoiding responsibilities for handling mechanics (CC, push, immob) normally we would rely a druid to cover.

I don't think it's about the meta, but rather the function they needed.

@"Zhaid Zhem.6508" said:Tempest lacks something compared to all others "healer", Quickness/Alacrity, resistance, offensive buff, barriers etc.Auras are useless in Pve, it's a medium for healing/boons but effects are passive, with 1 or 2sec icd ...So yes, of all supports; Druid, chrono, FB, Ren, Scourge, even thief and holo; tempest is probably the last you want in raid.If auras or shouts give a dmg buff, like fireshield +100 power, schoking aura +100 ferocity etc or at least you could share alacrity; it would definitly be better.

Otherwise, it's not that bad in WvW; you can be a good Endurance generator for a small group, spam Frost Aura, spam condicleanse ....

What do you mean, auras are useless in PvE? They lose some of their luster when you already have the group at max Might stacks ,etc, but they are far from useless otherwise and fill in easily from incomplete group compositions.

Auras deal damage, provide resistance against physical and condition damage, provide Retaliation boon, stack Might, reflect projectiles, and easily deplete breakbars. That's not even counting the utility of the buffs, heals and cleanses they provide when traited.

I mean, sure, Tempest is no Firebrand, but their auras are still one of the most powerful mechanics in the game..

Let me give you an example, when a Guardian uses a reflection, everyone must stand in one place, or they won't reflect the projectiles, while if a Tempest uses reflects, everyone is free to continue to avoid damage, dodge and leap around a bit, etc.

@Hannelore.8153 said:Let me give you an example, when a Guardian uses a reflection, everyone must stand in one place, or they won't reflect the projectiles, while if a Tempest uses reflects, everyone is free to continue to avoid damage, dodge and leap around a bit, etc.

Actually in PvE it is the opposite, many elite or higher grade enemies' projectile attack possess AoE damage as it lands on the ground, which can still damage players even while they have reflect auras on. Therefore it's more effective to cast AoE based reflect skills onto the enemy.Furthermore, tempest shouts have rather short radius, they tend to have low group coverage most of the time (or no coverage at all when the tempest is healing from a safe distance, in which many often do with staff heal)

Auras need you to be hurt + one or two sec icd. It means you need to take dmg, you need the boss to attack you 2 or 3 times. Still it's 2sec burning ; compared to AP or Bane Signet, the double signet of wrath, Spirits, soulcleave's summit or even the Air overload from fresh air ... it's more than negligible.Tempest can't share light aura, unless in the melee you leap in a light field by mistake.Reflects from guard/FB can be place right front of the boss, to be sure all projectiles are reflected and everybody s saved. WIth magnetic aura with *warhorn may be 6 members of your squad are free, but 4 aren't; your shout could affect 10 allies but is 30sec cd; and you're not sure all projectiles will be reflected for maximum dmg.

On paper, it works. In situation, effects from auras are not effective at all, due to the passive function, the icd, the CD of shouts ...