How to make my druid healer work in wvw?

[aaron.7850]

I like playing support in games, so I decided to level and try out every healer spec in this game in wvw. I have already checked out water eles, ventari heralds, healbrands, scrappers and now I am on heal druid and I think it might be the most unfun and least effective of them all so far.

The fact that you have to build resources to go into your "healer mode" sucks. What makes it even worse is that once I am on celestial avatar, I dont even have the time to read the abilities to see what they do before the timer runs out, which runs out QUICK even if I dont cast anything. (and yes, I know that I can read the wiki, but guardian tomes dont have this problem)

A lot of the mechanics seem to favor being stationary, which doesnt work in wvw. Whats horrible is that the avatar form timer runs out very quickly even when not casting any celestial skills.. so there is no room for patience and strategy, you cant afford to wait for the right moment to cast your spell, you are encouraged spam because you can only stay in Celestial Avatar for 5 seconds.

I can see why I never see druid healers in wvw. What makes this a sad tale is that rangers are already discouraged in wvw because they dont contribute to zerg fights, so you would EXPECT the support build to be useful, but this is not the case.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

I don't think you can, really, because as you stated, the mechanism of Spirits favors remaining stationary, which just doesn't work in competitive play, but it is perfect for PvE where you stand on a platform and fight an NPC who doesn't move. I'd say the same issue surrounds Engineer turrets, but really they just suck everywhere.

Druid is still quite viable as a roamer though, because access to CA gives you crazy burst sustain, and additionally players have been using/abusing vines immob since the Feb patch, both while roaming and even in zergs.

Avatar form is no better or worse than Berserk mode, Reaper Shroud or Photon Forge, and Druids were the ~main~ healing support build used in Fractals for a very long time, until ANET nuked Support Chrono and introduced Diviner gear, giving birth to the Alacrigade. If Druid were somehow able to give group quickness (what Chrono used to provide), they would be on even standing with Firebrands today for PvE.

And it isn't a sad tale, you just need to realize that some professions and builds will excel in some parts of this game, while being less than effective in others.

[Stand The Wall.6987]

an immob healer would work out okay. wvw is all spam anyways so whats the problem? if you could camp CA then druids would be immortal and every single player would be on one. i suppose CA could be reworked to where the druid gets half healing but the duration is longer, but i don't think a lot of people would like that.

[subversiontwo.7501]

It's been a while since I last spoke on this topic, but I have done it a couple of times in the past.

Even if there are more healing skills in the game now and even if it has never been this close to purist healers in the game before, it is still a good idea to look back at the game and what the classes have done in the past or what they do in more competetive settings now. Yes, there are now close to pure healers in large-scale pickup WvW but traditionally support classes have been regarded as "support" which is a broader term that includes healing but where healing does not have to be the corner stone.

To understand the Ranger/Druid or why it heals comparatively less or has the mechanics that it has, it is a good idea to look at that. Even if the other classes may have more healing, better heal bursts or perhaps can be seen as even closer to purist healers, they are not. Look at what those classes do, what else they do. If you can understand what they do and what they do not you can also begin to see where the Druid shines.

It can still be a healer in a sense but it excels in groups that do not consistantly eat damage and it has many other tools at its disposal that are defensive, are supportive but helps friends avoid damage instead of repairing whatever damage is made. In fact, that is the place of the Druid, it is the best support and the best healer for some comps (parties) that takes the least damage. They still want the healing that the Druid can provide though, they just spend more time not needing it and as such fares better from other kinds of support that the Druid may be able to better give them than other classes.

It heals sufficiently for what it is built for and if it has mechanics that do not fit well into WvW it isn't necessarily that it can't camp its healing-form longer or apply its heals broader or more easily and rather that other things that it does elsewhere (eg., PvE) translates poorly mechanically into WvW (eg., spirits). Other mechanics is actually more of a problem for the Druid in WvW than Astral mechanics.

That's how you should look at the Ranger/Druid but also at every other support class because this game is (even if it is often overlooked in necessarily simplified pickups) more about forming an idea around a party and piecing together pieces that fits for what the party intends to do, if you play at a scale of a party or larger (if you play at smaller scales it's less about party/comp and more about self-reliance and build). That's also how you tend to find the most fun in larger-scale WvW: When you have a party with good synergy that lets you achieve more than when not.

[Dawdler.8521]

TL;DR either go condi immo healer or go pet focused healer (though the later still works best with soulbeast since the pet is immortal on that elite, unlike druid/core).

[Sovereign.1093]

our guild mate cuddles really makes his druid healer work. it's a beast in the right hands. >3<