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Missing the holy trinity


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No this is not a complain post. :) I'd just like some advice from more experienced players on how to enjoy the game more.

There is something about Guild Wars I really like that keeps me getting back into the game, but I found myself getting bored quite quickly and quitting again.

Usually in MMO's, I prefer PvE content like dungeon or other group activities, I really enjoy playing roles like tank or support. However in GW2 I have found that I feel like it doesn't really matter what I do in dungeons. Most of the time it is way to easy, cause everyone is way over-leveled/-equipped (even with scaling) and experienced, and we just speed run the whole dungeon. Other times, we have a really hard time, but I cant identify why, cause I'm not really sure about my role (or others roles).

I find myself missing the clear cut roles of the holy trinity meta from other MMO's, my contribution to the group and how I affect the game is very clear with such roles (if I loose aggro as a tank I endanger the group, if the healer snooze off the tank might die, if it's slow af the dps is phoning it in).

I've played two characters to lvl 80, one Warrior and one Mesmer, and played all dungeons. However, I have not tried fractals yet.

What can I do to get a better feeling for what I do matters in Dungeon/fractals? Is there a profession that has a more clear cut role? Or a more support type role so I could help newer players through dungeons? Or do I just need to read up more on game mechanics, to better understand my contribution?

How can I get that feeling, nerve, that what I do actually affect the game? Not just optimize rotations for increased clear time?

Hopefully you get what I'm after :)

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For Dungeons id suggest a guardian. Even though you will still just be another DPS class, you jave a lot of utility skills to help your group.Every Dungeon is about DPS, since everything dies super quickly. You really dont need a support.

For Fractals Renegade might suite you. Pretty supportive class with Soulcleave Summit, AP, CC and, if needed, boonstrip.

Though, if you really want to support raids might be your best best. While Hardcore groups are trying to get rid of as many support classes as possible, pugs are far far away from that. They will always have someone to tank, they will always have at least one healer. Most take two.

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:What can I do to get a better feeling for what I do matters in Dungeon/fractals? Is there a profession that has a more clear cut role? Or a more support type role so I could help newer players through dungeons? Or do I just need to read up more on game mechanics, to better understand my contribution?

Make a ranger.Clear cut dps on soulbeast.Clear cut support as druid.

Alternative make a guardian.DH is superb physical dps.Condi Firebrand is superb condi dps.Heal firebrand is clear cut healer.Quickbrand as boon support dps.

The tank role overall is a bit iffy since it exists clear cut in some endgame content (raids for example) and doesn't in other endgame content (fractals for exmaple). What usually is covered instead of a tank is another boon support/dps next to the main heal. I think you might feel a bit more at home when providing a clear support role or at least a boon support dps. Then go from there.

Mesmer is a superb boon support and tank, but you won't be using the class this way in the content you are playing currently. Warrior is overall just a dps and feels like a dps even as banner support.

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The Holy Trinity — every class can be a tank, but tanking here isn't taking damage. Most of the mobs don't focus on someone called "tank", because they're attacking random players. Only bosses have this mechanics: mostly a player with the highest toughness draw the agro — but not always, e.g. for Cairn and Samarog it's the furthest player. The tank's role is to move the boss, avoid (not take) damage and support party at the same time. This is why most of the tanks in raids are chronos, because chrono has a lot of evades and blocks + it can just give boons. Without a tank, some bosses would just fixate at random players and make the whole encounter chaotic. Theoreticaly you could just play Daredevil and dodge everything.Honestly, I doubt if someone would play only as a healer or tank in dungeons. People are playing healer only if the heal is needed and in GW2's dungeons you don't need a healer. Support is just optional but as we know it's always better if you have a support. Tank outside raids is just useless (as I said, mobs and champs in fractals, dungeons or OW don't focus on a tank). You can take tank eq for yourself but it won't help anyone — it's just for your survivability.A lot of professions can heal — they're not equal in this role. Druid is the most common option — provides boons and strong raw healing. Heal Tempest is very common as a off-healer (strong healing, boons), Scourge is mainly for passive heals, barriers and teleporting downed allies (e.g. heal scourge is good as a off-healer). Heal Firebrand provides nice burst healing and regeneration, boons (aegis, quickness, protecion, stability, might, swiftness). There is also heal revenant, but I don't know how good it is. Healer's job is to heal everyone, not only one person.

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:

@RaidsAreEasyAF.8652 said:Every Dungeon is about DPS, since everything dies super quickly. You really don't need a support.

What about fractals? Are they harder? Are there more mechanics involved? And is a full healer (firebrand)/support spec (druid) viable in a fractal group?

Most of the fractal groups do need a healer. There are some more experienced players running without any healer (like people in CM fractals with 300+ KP). They just focus on a dps.Current fractal meta is heal firebrand/quickness firebrand and alacrity renegade — which means full heal firebrand (Harrier eq) that can heal and boon support or just power Firebrand with quickness and some boons (but almost 0 healing to the party). Alacrity renegade grants alacrity, stability if needed, remove boons from mobs and deal some damage. It's a support setup for 5-man party.There was a chrono-druid meta, when druid was for heal and some boons, chrono was for quickness and alacrity. Meta has changed because Firebrand/Alarene can give you offensive boons faster (chrono's boons comes with a small delay) and I think Firebrand/alacrity setup has more utility to the party.

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:What about fractals? Are they harder? Are there more mechanics involved? And is a full healer (firebrand)/support spec (druid) viable in a fractal group?

It really depends on the groups. I can see reset CM groups playing with 3DH´s, Warrior and Renegade.If you play with worse groups, they usually run a healer (Mostly firebrand).

I guess there are still groups running druid in fractals but overall its just worse than firebrigade.

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:

@RaidsAreEasyAF.8652 said:Every Dungeon is about DPS, since everything dies super quickly. You really don't need a support.

What about fractals? Are they harder? Are there more mechanics involved? And is a full healer (firebrand)/support spec (druid) viable in a fractal group?

Almost every group runs a Heal FB+ Alacrity Rev combo. It is viable and you can clear any fractal running a support guard. If you are always going full pug runs, it is a great build because it allows you to carry hard.

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@Antycypator.9874 said:There was a chrono-druid meta, when druid was for heal and some boons, chrono was for quickness and alacrity. Meta has changed because Firebrand/Alarene can give you offensive boons faster (chrono's boons comes with a small delay) and I think Firebrand/alacrity setup has more utility to the party.

Metabattle says the opposite (perhaps not updated?). But how strict is the meta for more casual fractalsI? don't expect to reach any high lvl fractals.

From the discussion above, it seems pretty clear Firebrand is the only real viable heal/support for fractals. Do I need to max out my elite spec before I can start using it in fractals? It be a shame to have to do all the farming before seeing if I like the game mechanics.

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:It be a shame to have to do all the farming before seeing if I like the game mechanics.

Well you could always take a newly created character after the intro section into the mists (PvP) and there you'll have everything unlocked, allowing you to try out builds and whatnot (like mechanics).

Fractals at lower levels don't need any special compositions, but as the difficulty increases supports make a difference, specially for PUG settings.

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@Antycypator.9874 said:

@"RaidsAreEasyAF.8652" said:Every Dungeon is about DPS, since everything dies super quickly. You really don't need a support.

What about fractals? Are they harder? Are there more mechanics involved? And is a full healer (firebrand)/support spec (druid) viable in a fractal group?

Most of the fractal groups do need a healer. There are some more experienced players running without any healer (like people in CM fractals with 300+ KP). They just focus on a dps.Current fractal meta is heal firebrand/quickness firebrand and alacrity renegade — which means full heal firebrand (Harrier eq) that can heal and boon support or just power Firebrand with quickness and some boons (but almost 0 healing to the party). Alacrity renegade grants alacrity, stability if needed, remove boons from mobs and deal some damage. It's a support setup for 5-man party.There was a chrono-druid meta, when druid was for heal and some boons, chrono was for quickness and alacrity. Meta has changed because Firebrand/Alarene can give you offensive boons faster (chrono's boons comes with a small delay) and I think Firebrand/alacrity setup has more utility to the party.

Fractal meta atm is without healer but pug meta is with alacrigade healer instead of healbrand.https://discretize.eu/guides/fractal-basics

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:No this is not a complain post. :) I'd just like some advice from more experienced players on how to enjoy the game more.

There is something about Guild Wars I really like that keeps me getting back into the game, but I found myself getting bored quite quickly and quitting again.

Usually in MMO's, I prefer PvE content like dungeon or other group activities, I really enjoy playing roles like tank or support. However in GW2 I have found that I feel like it doesn't really matter what I do in dungeons. Most of the time it is way to easy, cause everyone is way over-leveled/-equipped (even with scaling) and experienced, and we just speed run the whole dungeon. Other times, we have a really hard time, but I cant identify why, cause I'm not really sure about my role (or others roles).

I find myself missing the clear cut roles of the holy trinity meta from other MMO's, my contribution to the group and how I affect the game is very clear with such roles (if I loose aggro as a tank I endanger the group, if the healer snooze off the tank might die, if it's slow af the dps is phoning it in).

I've played two characters to lvl 80, one Warrior and one Mesmer, and played all dungeons. However, I have not tried fractals yet.

What can I do to get a better feeling for what I do matters in Dungeon/fractals? Is there a profession that has a more clear cut role? Or a more support type role so I could help newer players through dungeons? Or do I just need to read up more on game mechanics, to better understand my contribution?

How can I get that feeling, nerve, that what I do actually affect the game? Not just optimize rotations for increased clear time?

Hopefully you get what I'm after :)

In fractals and definitely raids there is sort of trinity (more like duality).You have dpsers. They are what you expectYou have a healer but here is the first diference. Healers main job isnt healing but boons. Most frequent healer in raids is druid since it provides modifiers like spirits and also might, fury and protection not to mention utility and healing.They you have for lack of better word quickness and alacrity bots. Here are some options. Double support Chrono is the oldest option. Alternatively alacrity renegade + 2 quickbrands/quickbrand+quickness chrono is the second composition.You can also use alacrity renegade + dps that can stack quickness like power chronos, dragonhunters and firebrands (with one support chrono to stabilise uptimes if needed)Last option is renegade + boonthief/boondevil which works on specific bosses (with detonate plasma steal).Instead of alacrity renegade you can have 2 modified condi dps renegades

Last spot is filled with banner slave (warrior). Basicaly a dps with 2 banners. It is not required but it brings more dps then another dps.

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I miss the feeling of being impredcindible in dungeons like in other mmos the healer, the tank... feeling worthy.In G2w Ive found sometimes that the group can kill a boss without 2 players. This happens commonly in Twilight Arbor... if somebody dies during the path rude players dont wait , and kill the boss without the player who died. This is awful, but the main cause is because nobody is essential ant this sucks.

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Dungeons just aren't difficult anymore because of the slight powercreep introduced over the years by various expansions, especially Path of Fire. If you bring a fractal meta composition into a dungeon, it's like clearing an open world event. The only dungeon that's remotely challenging is Twilight Arbor - Aetherpath or maybe Arah, but Arah is more long than challenging. Plus, the rewards from dungeons suck compared to even the lower tier daily fractals. A full T4 daily fractal run with random folks (3 fractals, around 45 min) with added recommended fractals (another 20ish mins) will yield about 15-20g easily. Dungeons give laughable loot in comparison.

If you like clear(er) roles, you should play either Raids (which I haven't touched so far), or Fractals, and by that I mean T4 Fractals instead. They don't really require a "trinity" or like Butcher above said, "duality", but IME fractal runs with two support classes, two DPS classes and a Banner Slave or three DPS classes just go down a lot more smoothly. Damage people can focus on their DPS skill rotations and support people can focus on keeping them and themselves alive and stacked with boons.

I'm really sad that the Druid/Chrono meta isn't run anymore in Fractals because Druid was as close to a straight-up healer class as GW2 could get away with. I used to play Monk in GW1 and I miss being that guy that kept everyone alive (or got yelled at when everyone died, lol). I think that's something that you would have liked if you're into support.

But like others have said, Quickbrand/Healbrand or Alacrity Renegade are the current most popular support classes. They aren't as essential as a Monk Healer or Assassin Tank in GW1 builds were, but they make life a LOT easier by helping DPS classes rotate faster (through quickness and alacrity) and keeping everyone alive (through blocks, stability and retaliation).

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:What can I do to get a better feeling for what I do matters in Dungeon/fractals? Is there a profession that has a more clear cut role? Or a more support type role so I could help newer players through dungeons? Or do I just need to read up more on game mechanics, to better understand my contribution?

Healing is definitely not something that people bother outside strike missions and raids.

But keep in mind that you can play support builds on GW2.And by that I mean Boon support.Want to contribute crazily to any team? Get a build that share as much as boons as you can, specially Might, fury, alacrity, and quickness.\

Some common examples:

  • Boon Herald
  • Alacrity Renegade
  • Heal Renegade
  • Boon Support Chronomancer
  • Heal Druid
  • Quickness FireBrand

When outside T3, T4 Fractals, Raids and harder Strike Missions you will find out that healing is mostly optional, just change your gear for something more offensive and focus on sharing boons.

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@Oompa Loompa.3072 said:No this is not a complain post. :) I'd just like some advice from more experienced players on how to enjoy the game more.

There is something about Guild Wars I really like that keeps me getting back into the game, but I found myself getting bored quite quickly and quitting again.

Usually in MMO's, I prefer PvE content like dungeon or other group activities, I really enjoy playing roles like tank or support. However in GW2 I have found that I feel like it doesn't really matter what I do in dungeons. Most of the time it is way to easy, cause everyone is way over-leveled/-equipped (even with scaling) and experienced, and we just speed run the whole dungeon. Other times, we have a really hard time, but I cant identify why, cause I'm not really sure about my role (or others roles).

I find myself missing the clear cut roles of the holy trinity meta from other MMO's, my contribution to the group and how I affect the game is very clear with such roles (if I loose aggro as a tank I endanger the group, if the healer snooze off the tank might die, if it's slow af the dps is phoning it in).

I've played two characters to lvl 80, one Warrior and one Mesmer, and played all dungeons. However, I have not tried fractals yet.

What can I do to get a better feeling for what I do matters in Dungeon/fractals? Is there a profession that has a more clear cut role? Or a more support type role so I could help newer players through dungeons? Or do I just need to read up more on game mechanics, to better understand my contribution?

How can I get that feeling, nerve, that what I do actually affect the game? Not just optimize rotations for increased clear time?

Hopefully you get what I'm after :)

Well for starters, dungeons are really easy content. You don't really do them to be challenged. You don't need proper builds with clear cut intentions to do them. You just need to know how to keep yourself alive and sometimes have tools to buff your team so things get killed faster.If you are failing, I'd say it's sort of not knowing the fights. Like if you do Ascalonian Catacombs explorable and you want to fight to unlock that middle waypoint, you will likely die because people don't know how his mechanics (eg. The wind up animation that pulls you in and CC's you, then he blends you up)

You can obviously have fully built team to just face tank it all really, but for the most part you could have mostly DPS and just time your dodges.

You can survive most of this game on any builds.

That being said, the higher tiers you reach in fractals and raids that you do, builds inspired by obeying the holy trinity rules become more important. You should consider perhaps changing to those activities.

Druid is a pretty staple healing and might stacker.Renegades are also a good option.Chrono's built right make the best tanks and good boon providers. Not sure if this has changed at all.Same with Firebrand probably.

But everything is often about rotation.

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@sokeenoppa.5384 said:

@"RaidsAreEasyAF.8652" said:Every Dungeon is about DPS, since everything dies super quickly. You really don't need a support.

What about fractals? Are they harder? Are there more mechanics involved? And is a full healer (firebrand)/support spec (druid) viable in a fractal group?

Most of the fractal groups do need a healer. There are some more experienced players running without any healer (like people in CM fractals with 300+ KP). They just focus on a dps.Current fractal meta is heal firebrand/quickness firebrand and alacrity renegade — which means full heal firebrand (Harrier eq) that can heal and boon support or just power Firebrand with quickness and some boons (but almost 0 healing to the party). Alacrity renegade grants alacrity, stability if needed, remove boons from mobs and deal some damage. It's a support setup for 5-man party.There was a chrono-druid meta, when druid was for heal and some boons, chrono was for quickness and alacrity. Meta has changed because Firebrand/Alarene can give you offensive boons faster (chrono's boons comes with a small delay) and I think Firebrand/alacrity setup has more utility to the party.

Fractal meta atm is without healer but pug meta is with alacrigade healer instead of healbrand.

Not on EU. Pretty much all PUG CM groups run healbrand over alacrigrade healer atm if they run with heal.

I have both, and I have not seen even 1 heal renegade ever in CMs, and I've been running them near daily the last 3 months. Neither when I run heal firebrand, nor as quickbrand, nor as alaren, nor when I am there as bs, nor as dps. Never, not 1 alacrigrade healer in PUG groups in over 3 months.

The "suggested" Meta for fractals on discretize is based off of what they would recommend as sub optimal setup for fractals (if forced to run with healer). Unfortunately, even if I really like the site, the reality and what is seeing play diverges from their recommendation completely (which I assume is based off of them assuming and not actually running that setup themselves).

The ease of use of healbrand over healrenegade is just to high for low rank PUG groups (not to mention the severe lack of renegade availability currently). Groups that are more experienced simply drop the healer entirely.

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@Cyninja.2954 said:

@"RaidsAreEasyAF.8652" said:Every Dungeon is about DPS, since everything dies super quickly. You really don't need a support.

What about fractals? Are they harder? Are there more mechanics involved? And is a full healer (firebrand)/support spec (druid) viable in a fractal group?

Most of the fractal groups do need a healer. There are some more experienced players running without any healer (like people in CM fractals with 300+ KP). They just focus on a dps.Current fractal meta is heal firebrand/quickness firebrand and alacrity renegade — which means full heal firebrand (Harrier eq) that can heal and boon support or just power Firebrand with quickness and some boons (but almost 0 healing to the party). Alacrity renegade grants alacrity, stability if needed, remove boons from mobs and deal some damage. It's a support setup for 5-man party.There was a chrono-druid meta, when druid was for heal and some boons, chrono was for quickness and alacrity. Meta has changed because Firebrand/Alarene can give you offensive boons faster (chrono's boons comes with a small delay) and I think Firebrand/alacrity setup has more utility to the party.

Fractal meta atm is without healer but pug meta is with alacrigade healer instead of healbrand.

Not on EU. Pretty much all PUG CM groups run healbrand over alacrigrade healer atm if they run with heal.

I have both, and I have not seen even 1 heal renegade ever in CMs, and I've been running them near daily the last 3 months. Neither when I run heal firebrand, nor as quickbrand, nor as alaren, nor when I am there as bs, nor as dps. Never, not 1 alacrigrade healer in PUG groups in over 3 months.

The "suggested" Meta for fractals on discretize is based off of what they would recommend as sub optimal setup for fractals (if forced to run with healer). Unfortunately, even if I really like the site, the reality and what is seeing play diverges from their recommendation completely (which I assume is based off of them assuming and not actually running that setup themselves).

The ease of use of healbrand over healrenegade is just to high for low rank PUG groups (not to mention the severe lack of renegade availability currently). Groups that are more experienced simply drop the healer entirely.

You might be right about that. Perhaps most efficient tactic available is not the most easiest strat when it comes to pug metas. I can uderstand that, FB can carry alot better and even power alacrigade feels like off heal.

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@sokeenoppa.5384 said:

@"RaidsAreEasyAF.8652" said:Every Dungeon is about DPS, since everything dies super quickly. You really don't need a support.

What about fractals? Are they harder? Are there more mechanics involved? And is a full healer (firebrand)/support spec (druid) viable in a fractal group?

Most of the fractal groups do need a healer. There are some more experienced players running without any healer (like people in CM fractals with 300+ KP). They just focus on a dps.Current fractal meta is heal firebrand/quickness firebrand and alacrity renegade — which means full heal firebrand (Harrier eq) that can heal and boon support or just power Firebrand with quickness and some boons (but almost 0 healing to the party). Alacrity renegade grants alacrity, stability if needed, remove boons from mobs and deal some damage. It's a support setup for 5-man party.There was a chrono-druid meta, when druid was for heal and some boons, chrono was for quickness and alacrity. Meta has changed because Firebrand/Alarene can give you offensive boons faster (chrono's boons comes with a small delay) and I think Firebrand/alacrity setup has more utility to the party.

Fractal meta atm is without healer but pug meta is with alacrigade healer instead of healbrand.

Not on EU. Pretty much all PUG CM groups run healbrand over alacrigrade healer atm if they run with heal.

I have both, and I have not seen even 1 heal renegade ever in CMs, and I've been running them near daily the last 3 months. Neither when I run heal firebrand, nor as quickbrand, nor as alaren, nor when I am there as bs, nor as dps. Never, not 1 alacrigrade healer in PUG groups in over 3 months.

The "suggested" Meta for fractals on discretize is based off of what they would recommend as sub optimal setup for fractals (if forced to run with healer). Unfortunately, even if I really like the site, the reality and what is seeing play diverges from their recommendation completely (which I assume is based off of them assuming and not actually running that setup themselves).

The ease of use of healbrand over healrenegade is just to high for low rank PUG groups (not to mention the severe lack of renegade availability currently). Groups that are more experienced simply drop the healer entirely.

You might be right about that. Perhaps most efficient tactic available is not the most easiest strat when it comes to pug metas. I can uderstand that, FB can carry alot better and even power alacrigade feels like off heal.

Yeah, it's one of those perfect examples where team composition is based around:

  • ease of use (renegade is the better healer, firebrand the simpler to use)
  • availability (guardians are dime a dozen)
  • and flexibility (having a healbrand allows the renegade to fully concentrate on boon removal, cc and stability if desired, plus the healbeand can use his elite mantra for even more stab)

Overall in theory the healren + quickbrand combo is better. It turns out though, due to the factors up top, healbrand (which is literally face team and press buttons easy) has established itsself.

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Right now we have a pseudo trinity with pseudo healer, pseudo tank and dps.

The game was designed with the idea of no healers, no trinity, everyone had its own healing skill (6). Then after some years Anet changed its mind and did a 180º turn to implement pve raids. The result is the clunky healing/support system that we have now. Most heals consist of aoe ground target or aoe around the caster since we have no target heal system. Top that with aoe boon spam. At least in wvw and spvp the boon spam is getting fixed.

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