Jorgen.6271

Thank you for your kind response. It seems to me, my impression about support build in "Human Wave" situation is more or less correct. The game is less about preventing the death of your fellow players, but how good you are at picking up the pieces when they do die. This really saddens me because the whole selling point of GW2's idea of "whoever can jump in, when and wherever" is nothing more than "throw more fodder at it". It really takes away skill development from players. Why bother getting good like the video posted by AliamRationem, when I can be a part of a death-ball, tag my gold-medal worth of damage and proceed to flop and flounder about in butchered framerate. Or better yet, go afk, everyone knows, I am not really needed... right? I apologize if things to start sounding like a complaint, but the whole situation of this game is simplified to "Why bother?"; at least for me. Why bother learning to dodge when regular to Elite mobs get shredded in seconds with glass cannon builds and gear? Why bother learning to dodge or git gud when I can be part of a death-ball? Why bother, making my life harder than it should be? I desperately wish I am wrong about this game. Maybe I should look into game modes like Raids where an individual player has more meaning in terms of skill contribution, growth, and development.

Dear all, First, I want to say this post is not intended as a complain or a belittlement of GW2 in anyway shape or form. It is simply things I have noticed about this game which I find are either, misunderstood on my part, poorly designed, or went awry from originally designed. So I am going to lay out what I have experienced personally to see if I am playing this game correctly or there are something to be worked on. Here is my background: Returning player of GW2 from 6 years ago. Had a level 80 Warrior back then.I have over 15 years of MMO experience of various publishers, both "Western" and "Asian"Majority of MMO I've played follows the "holy trinity", with most of them being "passive" (stat based) mitigation as opposed to "active" (action based) mitigation like TERA or GW2.So with those bias already established, here is my take on current GW2. Combat and Content For the most part other than the expected story expansion, GW2 hasn't change that much from my absence. Combat still function the same, my gear is still relevant as "top-end" after all these years, and there is a new introduction of "Builds". And this is where my question starts. Just how effective "support" builds are supposed to be?In my personal observation, not much. I am of course refer to group contents, particularly open world Champions and Fractals. Open World Champions The only tactic I have witness so far, be it 6 years ago or now, is to employ the "Human Wave". I see a champion, I scream for help on Map Chat and proceed to laugh maniacally as 50 people show up and wash over the champion in a wave of blood and glory. Is the game supposed to function like this? Because if it is, I feel pointless stacking Healing output to support my fellow players when the Champion is so scaled up, just by existing kills a wave of players. When the Champion's auto attack equals instant kill, it really takes away my sense of "contribution". If I engage the Champion in small numbers, I still don't feel like I am contributing because the Champion can overwhelm any Regen I put out easily. Just how am I supposed to enjoy support/healer build in this game? It seems to me in open world anything, I should just go Full Berserker gear and either a) Spin-to-win aka most Greatsword skills and b) scream "Don't pick me, Don't pick me, Don't pick me GTFO!" when it comes to engaging Champions Is this the way to go? Am I understanding this game correctly? I just want to mean something, you know? Instead of being Fodder#10924734653. I want my existence for Open World Champion to be more than "Approach the boss, frantically unleash whatever skill I have, dodge a few times, die" Fractals I feel that in fractals support/healer see a little bit more effect, but not by much. I keep hearing stories about how support Firebrands can hard carry Tier 4 Fractals with the team face-tanking all mechanics etc. etc. Maybe they are that good... maybe not. All I can say is that I haven't been able to see such a feat. Today, my PuG group wiped multiple times on Tier 3 Siren Reef last boss. We eventually got it done, but we were so burnt out, we didn't even bother to try Shattered (which was the recommended). Now, I wasn't playing a support class then, I was Dragonhunter in full Berserker gear. I know my build, I know my supposed "rotation" and there was a support Firebrand in my group. Everything looks to be fine on paper, considering GW2 is advertised as "play whatever and however you want". Just to get it out there, yes, my group actually obeyed the mechanic, we pull the adds to the center, I drop traps like Dragon Maw, Procession of Blades, and Sword of Justice to cleave down the adds. Problem is then I get aggro from adds and they proceed to burst me down or if I get lucky and dodge, I get targeted by red circles. Now I keep getting this nagging feeling that I am doing something wrong and I am starting to develop avoidance for Tier 3 fractals. I want to try support/heal build in fractals, but from what I have seen so far, it might not be worth my while as I have to build a second set from scratch. I just can't put my faith in other GW2 players as easily as other "holy trinity" games. Hell, I find it hard to place faith in myself that I will help the group to victory. I don't get the sense of "You got my back, bro? Hell yeah!" or "Just call me 'Immortality' because that's what you get when I am healing you" vibe from this game. ConclusionWhat I am trying to say is that I find support/heal stats and builds rather pointless from my personal experience. I hope it was never intended to be this way, because I really don't like "stack all damage" mentality which this game seemed to be entrenched in. Am I understanding this game correctly or are there things I need to rectify? I sincerely thank you all for reading through to the end.