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Healing in PVE with minstrels acceptable?


aaron.7850

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Since I like wvw a lot I already decked my heal firebrand with minstrels gear.I just started getting into strikes and fractals and have been doing fine with said gear. I soon plan going into Tier 2 fractals and higher and possibly raids, is it acceptable for me to keep healing with minstrels gear?

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Its totally acceptable except for Raids.

The only reason healers are asked to bring Harriers to Raids is because in most cases the boss aggro is based on whoever has the highest toughness, and you don't want to mess up with the tank (unless YOU'RE playing as hb tank, though, which is almost never the case on pugs).

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You'll do just fine. Well.. in nearly every encounter. There are a few exceptions here and there. I self have been tanking alot as a heal & quick firebrand in raids. It mostly comes down to just knowing the mechanics (and strats) of tanking. But again, there a few exceptions. A rule of thumb: Any encounter where you need to "survive" a single hit key skill, you can tank. But if its a channeling attack, you may struggle.

To give you a better idea, ill give you an example:

  • Deimo's Mind Crush. This is the attack that can not be evaded, so players go into blue bubble. Tank mitigates damage by blocking (or aegis). This is a single attack and can be easily be dealth with.
  • Xera's Cerebral Slash. Very much like mesmer's blurred frenzy, this is a channeling skill, doing high damage over time. You may struggle or even fail tanking this boss because to tank as firebrand you rely on skills or boons that only mitigate a single hit. Or... have yet another competent healer in subparty to heal you through. Scourge?
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@"GWMO.4785" said:You'll do just fine. Well.. in nearly every encounter. There are a few exceptions here and there. I self have been tanking alot as a heal & quick firebrand in raids. It mostly comes down to just knowing the mechanics (and strats) of tanking. But again, there a few exceptions. A rule of thumb: Any encounter where you need to "survive" a single hit key skill, you can tank. But if its a channeling attack, you may struggle.

To give you a better idea, ill give you an example:

  • Deimo's Mind Crush. This is the attack that can not be evaded, so players go into blue bubble. Tank mitigates damage by blocking (or aegis). This is a single attack and can be easily be dealth with.
  • Xera's Cerebral Slash. Very much like mesmer's blurred frenzy, this is a channeling skill, doing high damage over time. You may struggle or even fail tanking this boss because to tank as firebrand you rely on skills or boons that only mitigate a single hit. Or... have yet another competent healer in subparty to heal you through. Scourge?

guardian also has skills that could mitigate for a duration but I guess that would compromise their primary role too much?

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@"GWMO.4785" said:You'll do just fine. Well.. in nearly every encounter. There are a few exceptions here and there. I self have been tanking alot as a heal & quick firebrand in raids. It mostly comes down to just knowing the mechanics (and strats) of tanking. But again, there a few exceptions. A rule of thumb: Any encounter where you need to "survive" a single hit key skill, you can tank. But if its a channeling attack, you may struggle.

To give you a better idea, ill give you an example:

  • Deimo's Mind Crush. This is the attack that can not be evaded, so players go into blue bubble. Tank mitigates damage by blocking (or aegis). This is a single attack and can be easily be dealth with.
  • Xera's Cerebral Slash. Very much like mesmer's blurred frenzy, this is a channeling skill, doing high damage over time. You may struggle or even fail tanking this boss because to tank as firebrand you rely on skills or boons that only mitigate a single hit. Or... have yet another competent healer in subparty to heal you through. Scourge?

The biggest problem about that Xera's skill is confusion which can be easily dealt with by taking cleanse mantra and/or using tome 2-2 for cleanse and tome 3-4 for resistance. Just make sure to disable autoattack and spam aegis thru first few hits, evade sideways and back and idle 'til it' s over and cleanse, whichever you prefer. Pretty much anything can tank Xera as long as they're somewhat tanky and have some cleanse available (and scourge is actually excellent for tanking Xera, as sidenote). And the other obvious problem is moving correctly but Kitty personally has tanking map open on 2nd monitor when tanking to deal with that. Xera tank has plenty of time to look elsewhere, after all.

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I do exactly this with my WvW HB. I use it for Fractals because the healing is better than Harriers and you are extremely tanky. You do pull agro at times because of the toughness, but that is good too so that your DPSers can concentrate on their job while you tank and heal at the same time. Harriers does hardly any damage anyway so the loss of a few thousand DPS is not a big deal spread over the group.

I even use Mace instead of Axe in that case because its got a low CD symbol and pulsed regeneration, plus you are doing no damage anyway so you may as well max out healing.

I use this build. The insane amount of healing sources make T4 fractals very easy when pugging.

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@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:I even use Mace instead of Axe in that case because its got a low CD symbol and pulsed regeneration, plus you are doing no damage anyway so you may as well max out healing.

Not a good idea, given how you are responsible for Fury in a fractal group when running hfb (if you are in a group where proper boon uptime is a concern). I mean sure, in T4 fractals no one will care, or in low skill CM groups, but eventually people will complain, and rightfully so. Also the reason you would be using mace is for the 3rd hit in its auto chain, which is a significant heal, but again, you are sacrificing party fury for that.

While at it, take out Signet of Courage and take Mantra of Liberation. There is 0 content in fractals which requires SoC, plus those 100 hp/s the signet gives are far outweighed by players being able to move or react, which MoL would help with, I'm really not sure why people think this sigil is in any way good.

Mace+SoC HFB is a hard carry for bad fractal groups or low skill HFB. Any mediocre or better HFB, especially with WvW experience in proper Mantra and skill management, should not need to drop their build to those levels of bad. Sorry to say.

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@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:I even use Mace instead of Axe in that case because its got a low CD symbol and pulsed regeneration, plus you are doing no damage anyway so you may as well max out healing.

Not a good idea, given how you are responsible for Fury in a fractal group when running hfb (if you are in a group where proper boon uptime is a concern). I mean sure, in T4 fractals no one will care, or in low skill CM groups, but eventually people will complain, and rightfully so. Also the reason you would be using mace is for the 3rd hit in its auto chain, which is a significant heal, but again, you are sacrificing party fury for that.

While at it, take out Signet of Courage and take Mantra of Liberation. There is 0 content in fractals which requires SoC, plus those 100 hp/s the signet gives are far outweighed by players being able to move or react, which MoL would help with, I'm really not sure why people think this sigil is in any way good.

Mace+SoC HFB is a hard carry for bad fractal groups or low skill HFB. Any mediocre or better HFB, especially with WvW experience in proper Mantra and skill management, should not need to drop their build to those levels of bad. Sorry to say.

Yeaaaaah, but it is a good idea. Fury is always covered regardless, there are so many sources of Fury from other professions, that it doesn't matter if the HB brings it or not. Well, the 3rd strike from the AA is a good heal, yes, around 1700 over 5 people every few seconds, also the symbol has a longer uptime (77% vs 66%) and you are already bringing the trait for it so the boons from it last longer, Mace gives you a 50% up time on Protection by itself. Plus Protector's Strike not only blocks one attack for everyone, it also then provides another source of Aegis, which is another block and another 1800 heal every 12s.

SoC is essentially an extra heal skill tacked onto everyone's bar. The healing is almost 250hp/s, most healing skills come out to be around this much when you divide the heal by the recharge time. When you actually learn to play fractals with mace, you'll realize that MoL is unnecessary because you can cover any need for Stability with Protector's Strike, to block the CC and then provide another aegis, protection, and healing. Nobody ever dies when you use this build, because it just out heals most mechanics, but in the rare event that your party gets low, you can heal everyone to 100%.

Yes, it's a hard carry, which is why I use it for pugging fractals. Your condescension is misplaced because you don't even have reading comprehension. I play Harriers HB as well with a different build to this and have completed many thousands of fractals using both that and this build. I was playing healguard in fractals the day they came out in 2012 with mace/shield and the build linked is by far the easiest way to drag a pug group through fractals. Which is why I linked it saying its for dragging a pug group through fractals.

@Laila Lightness.8742 said:Mace is a terrible weapon on guardian

It not only does more power damage than Axe, but it heals more, brings 50% uptime of Protection, a 5 man block and a source of Aegis. Yeah, terrible.

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@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:I even use Mace instead of Axe in that case because its got a low CD symbol and pulsed regeneration, plus you are doing no damage anyway so you may as well max out healing.

Not a good idea, given how you are responsible for Fury in a fractal group when running hfb (if you are in a group where proper boon uptime is a concern). I mean sure, in T4 fractals no one will care, or in low skill CM groups, but eventually people will complain, and rightfully so. Also the reason you would be using mace is for the 3rd hit in its auto chain, which is a significant heal, but again, you are sacrificing party fury for that.

While at it, take out Signet of Courage and take Mantra of Liberation. There is 0 content in fractals which requires SoC, plus those 100 hp/s the signet gives are far outweighed by players being able to move or react, which MoL would help with, I'm really not sure why people think this sigil is in any way good.

Mace+SoC HFB is a hard carry for bad fractal groups or low skill HFB. Any mediocre or better HFB, especially with WvW experience in proper Mantra and skill management, should not need to drop their build to those levels of bad. Sorry to say.

Yeaaaaah, but it is a good idea.
Fury is always covered regardless
, there are so many sources of Fury from other professions, that it doesn't matter if the HB brings it or not.

Yeah, no. That's like saying every boon that other classes have is provided and always there. That is simply not true. Yes, fury has more sources than some other boons, but it most certainly is NOT always capped or available or permanent.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:Well, the 3rd strike from the AA is a good heal, yes, around 1700 over 5 people every few seconds, also the symbol has a longer uptime (77% vs 66%) and you are already bringing the trait for it so the boons from it last longer, Mace gives you a 50% up time on Protection by itself. Plus Protector's Strike not only blocks one attack for everyone, it also then provides another source of Aegis, which is another block and another 1800 heal every 12s.

Yes, if only one had permanent protection from shield and Hold the Line if needed. Oh wait, you do.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:SoC is essentially an extra heal skill tacked onto everyone's bar. The healing is almost 250hp/s, most healing skills come out to be around this much when you divide the heal by the recharge time. When you actually learn to play fractals with mace, you'll realize that MoL is unnecessary because you can cover any need for Stability with Protector's Strike, to block the CC and then provide another aegis, protection, and healing. Nobody ever dies when you use this build, because it just out heals most mechanics, but in the rare event that your party gets low, you can heal everyone to 100%.

When you actually "learn" to play fractals, you realize that the amount of healing you are bringing is completely over the top and useless. That's why I said it's a hard carry for bad groups and bad HFB. A good HFB could carry those groups without this amount of heal while providing stability AND fury without breaking a sweat. This goes double for CMs.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:Yes, it's a hard carry, which is why I use it for pugging fractals. Your condescension is misplaced because you don't even have reading comprehension. I play Harriers HB as well with a different build to this and have completed many thousands of fractals using both that and this build. I was playing healguard in fractals the day they came out in 2012 with mace/shield and the build linked is by far the easiest way to drag a pug group through fractals. Which is why I linked it saying its for dragging a pug group through fractals.

Again, a good HFB would carry any group even with a Bane Signet build through pretty much any fractal/instability composition. Your thousands of fractals mean nothing. So have I, since 2 weeks after they were introduced pretty much regularly, and the amount of fractals that players have completed is pretty much meaningless given the content was never hard. Especially with cheese builds.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Laila Lightness.8742 said:Mace is a terrible weapon on guardian

It not only does more power damage than Axe, but it heals more, brings 50% uptime of Protection, a 5 man block and a source of Aegis. Yeah, terrible.

Not needed. Not at the expense and trade-off you bring. This is pretty much the same approach to the old cleric guardian carrying people through vanilla fractals. The difference being that today the toolkit of a FB makes this healing obsolete. Yes, it was great to carry people who couldn't 't find their dodge button. Today, a HFB with a more diverse setup can still do that while not afk mace swinging at an enemy.

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@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:I even use Mace instead of Axe in that case because its got a low CD symbol and pulsed regeneration, plus you are doing no damage anyway so you may as well max out healing.

Not a good idea, given how you are responsible for Fury in a fractal group when running hfb (if you are in a group where proper boon uptime is a concern). I mean sure, in T4 fractals no one will care, or in low skill CM groups, but eventually people will complain, and rightfully so. Also the reason you would be using mace is for the 3rd hit in its auto chain, which is a significant heal, but again, you are sacrificing party fury for that.

While at it, take out Signet of Courage and take Mantra of Liberation. There is 0 content in fractals which requires SoC, plus those 100 hp/s the signet gives are far outweighed by players being able to move or react, which MoL would help with, I'm really not sure why people think this sigil is in any way good.

Mace+SoC HFB is a hard carry for bad fractal groups or low skill HFB. Any mediocre or better HFB, especially with WvW experience in proper Mantra and skill management, should not need to drop their build to those levels of bad. Sorry to say.

Yeaaaaah, but it is a good idea.
Fury is always covered regardless
, there are so many sources of Fury from other professions, that it doesn't matter if the HB brings it or not.

Yeah, no. That's like saying every boon that other classes have is provided and always there. That is simply not true. Yes, fury has more sources than some other boons, but it most certainly is NOT always capped or available or permanent.

It is, even in the pugs I'm describing.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:Well, the 3rd strike from the AA is a good heal, yes, around 1700 over 5 people every few seconds, also the symbol has a longer uptime (77% vs 66%) and you are already bringing the trait for it so the boons from it last longer, Mace gives you a 50% up time on Protection by itself. Plus Protector's Strike not only blocks one attack for everyone, it also then provides another source of Aegis, which is another block and another 1800 heal every 12s.

Yes, if only one had permanent protection from shield and Hold the Line if needed. Oh wait, you do.

You'd trade a utility skill for prot when you could get it from a weapon skill?

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:SoC is essentially an extra heal skill tacked onto everyone's bar. The healing is almost 250hp/s, most healing skills come out to be around this much when you divide the heal by the recharge time. When you actually learn to play fractals with mace, you'll realize that MoL is unnecessary because you can cover any need for Stability with Protector's Strike, to block the CC and then provide another aegis, protection, and healing. Nobody ever dies when you use this build, because it just out heals most mechanics, but in the rare event that your party gets low, you can heal everyone to 100%.

When you actually "learn" to play fractals, you realize that the amount of healing you are bringing is completely over the top and useless. That's why I said it's a hard carry for bad groups and bad HFB. A good HFB could carry those groups without this amount of heal while providing stability AND fury without breaking a sweat. This goes double for CMs.

Except that is the opposite of what I have experienced in my many thousands of pug fractals.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:Yes, it's a hard carry, which is why I use it for pugging fractals. Your condescension is misplaced because you don't even have reading comprehension. I play Harriers HB as well with a different build to this and have completed many thousands of fractals using both that and this build. I was playing healguard in fractals the day they came out in 2012 with mace/shield and the build linked is by far the easiest way to drag a pug group through fractals. Which is why I linked it saying its for dragging a pug group through fractals.

Again, a good HFB would carry any group even with a Bane Signet build through pretty much any fractal/instability composition.Again, not what I have experienced in my many thousands of pug fractals.

@Laila Lightness.8742 said:Mace is a terrible weapon on guardian

It not only does more power damage than Axe, but it heals more, brings 50% uptime of Protection, a 5 man block and a source of Aegis. Yeah, terrible.

Not needed. Not at the expense and trade-off you bring. This is pretty much the same approach to the old cleric guardian carrying people through vanilla fractals. The difference being that today the toolkit of a FB makes this healing obsolete.

Again, a lack of reading comprehension.

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@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:I even use Mace instead of Axe in that case because its got a low CD symbol and pulsed regeneration, plus you are doing no damage anyway so you may as well max out healing.

Not a good idea, given how you are responsible for Fury in a fractal group when running hfb (if you are in a group where proper boon uptime is a concern). I mean sure, in T4 fractals no one will care, or in low skill CM groups, but eventually people will complain, and rightfully so. Also the reason you would be using mace is for the 3rd hit in its auto chain, which is a significant heal, but again, you are sacrificing party fury for that.

While at it, take out Signet of Courage and take Mantra of Liberation. There is 0 content in fractals which requires SoC, plus those 100 hp/s the signet gives are far outweighed by players being able to move or react, which MoL would help with, I'm really not sure why people think this sigil is in any way good.

Mace+SoC HFB is a hard carry for bad fractal groups or low skill HFB. Any mediocre or better HFB, especially with WvW experience in proper Mantra and skill management, should not need to drop their build to those levels of bad. Sorry to say.

Yeaaaaah, but it is a good idea.
Fury is always covered regardless
, there are so many sources of Fury from other professions, that it doesn't matter if the HB brings it or not.

Yeah, no. That's like saying every boon that other classes have is provided and always there. That is simply not true. Yes, fury has more sources than some other boons, but it most certainly is NOT always capped or available or permanent.

It is, even in the pugs I'm describing.

Sure, w/e. Your and my experience seem to vary here.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:Well, the 3rd strike from the AA is a good heal, yes, around 1700 over 5 people every few seconds, also the symbol has a longer uptime (77% vs 66%) and you are already bringing the trait for it so the boons from it last longer, Mace gives you a 50% up time on Protection by itself. Plus Protector's Strike not only blocks one attack for everyone, it also then provides another source of Aegis, which is another block and another 1800 heal every 12s.

Yes, if only one had permanent protection from shield and Hold the Line if needed. Oh wait, you do.

You'd trade a utility skill for prot when you could get it from a weapon skill?

No, I trade a utility skill for a boon which otherwise is not covered by my party (fury). Meanwhile I also do not run Bow of Truth. Yes, it's a nice crutch aoe heal, and absolutely not needed.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:SoC is essentially an extra heal skill tacked onto everyone's bar. The healing is almost 250hp/s, most healing skills come out to be around this much when you divide the heal by the recharge time. When you actually learn to play fractals with mace, you'll realize that MoL is unnecessary because you can cover any need for Stability with Protector's Strike, to block the CC and then provide another aegis, protection, and healing. Nobody ever dies when you use this build, because it just out heals most mechanics, but in the rare event that your party gets low, you can heal everyone to 100%.

When you actually "learn" to play fractals, you realize that the amount of healing you are bringing is completely over the top and useless. That's why I said it's a hard carry for bad groups and bad HFB. A good HFB could carry those groups without this amount of heal while providing stability AND fury without breaking a sweat. This goes double for CMs.

Except that is the opposite of what I have experienced in my many thousands of pug fractals.@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:Yes, it's a hard carry, which is why I use it for pugging fractals. Your condescension is misplaced because you don't even have reading comprehension. I play Harriers HB as well with a different build to this and have completed many thousands of fractals using both that and this build. I was playing healguard in fractals the day they came out in 2012 with mace/shield and the build linked is by far the easiest way to drag a pug group through fractals. Which is why I linked it saying its for dragging a pug group through fractals.

Again, a good HFB would carry any group even with a Bane Signet build through pretty much any fractal/instability composition.Again, not what I have experienced in my many thousands of pug fractals.

Well, seems our experience here varies. I have no issue keeping my groups alive with my build, with maybe half the healing you bring. Half of which you hopefully don't even have to use.

My approach always was: how much healing do I need to keep the group alive without issue. Was it enough? Then swap some healing out for utility and more boons. Yours seems to be: get maximum amount of healing possible, not matter if needed or not.

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@Cyninja.2954 said:My approach always was: how much healing do I need to keep the group alive without issue. Was it enough? Then swap some healing out for utility and more boons. Yours seems to be: get maximum amount of healing possible, not matter if needed or not.

I just swap between my Harrier and Minstrels builds depending on the group, fractal and particular fight. I always start on Minstrels because you have zero idea of the skill level of the people you are playing with and you cannot make a judgment on whether the healing is going to be enough until you play with them. Or, if doing Sirens, Nightmare, Mai or Twilight where the DPS I can possibly do in Harriers is just negligible and more healing is of benefit. If people are getting the mechanics right and not needing tons of heals, I swap to the Harriers. Or I will swap builds and gear on the fly for each encounter, lots of the time that means using Harriers in between for trash mobs and then Minstrels on the boss fights because they have the most mechanics that can be screwed up resulting in a wipe and I'd prefer to play a build that in almost all instances prevents wipes.

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@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@"Cyninja.2954" said:My approach always was: how much healing do I need to keep the group alive without issue. Was it enough? Then swap some healing out for utility and more boons. Yours seems to be: get maximum amount of healing possible, not matter if needed or not.

I just swap between my Harrier and Minstrels builds depending on the group, fractal and particular fight. I always start on Minstrels because you have zero idea of the skill level of the people you are playing with and you cannot make a judgment on whether the healing is going to be enough until you play with them. Or, if doing Sirens, Nightmare, Mai or Twilight where the DPS I can possibly do in Harriers is just negligible and more healing is of benefit. If people are getting the mechanics right and not needing tons of heals, I swap to the Harriers. Or I will swap builds and gear on the fly for each encounter, lots of the time that means using Harriers in between for trash mobs and then Minstrels on the boss fights because they have the most mechanics that can be screwed up resulting in a wipe and I'd prefer to play a build that in almost all instances prevents wipes.

That's fine, maybe I came over a tad aggressive. The amount of mediocre to strait up bad Firebrands just gets to me eventually. I started on a similar build as you, as a matter of fact, I had nearly the same build, except I started almost immediately on axe. I do occasionally switch to minstrel on armor (legendary) if I feel a 99CM just has that tad to many annoying instabilities (hello frailty, hamstrung and we bleed fire combo). I might also be unaware how deep the skill gap goes on T4, given I often run in CM PUG groups if at all PUGING.

The point I was just trying to make is: I think you are overcapped on heal. Why does this matter? Let me explain with SoC, Mace and FmW (discretize has a nice summary on HFB skills and use, though they run one of the most offensive builds: https://discretize.eu/builds/guardian/heal-firebrand).

SoC and FmW make a player complacent, similar to Mace. FmW for example covers for mistakes in mantra use. A Firebrand player might not notice he is out of sync with cooldowns. His Fury and Quickness uptime will be capped thanks to FmW. The moment he doe not use it, those mistakes will show.

The same goes for SoC and Mace healing. It will keep players topped off better. Pressing that Aegis at the wrong time won't matter. Healing to group will be more than ideal. Weapon swapping might be less necessary. Which directly leads into not using staff, or F1->4+Staff2 for might blasts. Or saving an Aegis and Stab charge while switching to staff. Etc. It makes a player complacent because healing wise it over-performs.

The fact that Fury and Stability could be provided by the HFB, or Bane Signet CC with stats to group, that's just icing on top.

Does this carry the group? Absolutely. HFB built that way is pretty much the best near afk healing machine there is. If one starts to rely to much on this build though, you will actively develop bad muscle memory. At least that is my experience (and exactly the reason I almost always prefer if HFB almost never run FmW for example).

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