Druid Gameplay Requires Updates.

[Ambidextrius.4903]

Druid gameplay has been in a long time slump, and both the introduction of mechanist and the recent large balance patch have only made its gameplay problems even more pronounced. I would like to present a myriad of current issues plaguing druid and open this discussion with the goal to elevate druid to current class standards.

 

As the spirit changes have clearly shown, modern druid gameplay in PvE is too heavily centered around the Grandmaster Trait Grace of the Land, and post June 28th update, Grace of the Land remains the universal pick. Not only that, but druid as a whole is optimized around group play and being a support, while providing little avenue for solo play(anyone tried to do PoF story on druid? Just me?). Despite this being the primary goal, druid fails at being a support even for group play in mobile content from competitive modes to recent strikes(Ankka, I'm looking at you). With little to no place in competitive modes in any capacity, a chronic diminishing presence in end game organized PvE, and a complete absence in Open World, druid is in need of some serious help.

 

Here is my list of severe issues faced when playing druid, and some proposed changes to illustrate how to make it more interesting(optional). Any feedback would be appreciated. And feel free to share whatever bugs YOU the most about current druid gameplay. It is my hope that Anet will take this thread into consideration in any future balance patch, should it take months or years.

 

Tl:dr

Main issues to be targeted: CA gen adjustments for solo play(you and pet) while keeping the same for group play, CA usage revamp, CA skill revamp, grandmaster trait revamp, NEW MIGHT OPTIONS made baseline to druid kit to replace GoTL.

Goals: Make druid gameplay standardized across game modes and group types. Provide interesting and viable options for grandmaster to shore up new weaknesses introduced.

 

Secondary issues to be targeted: Pet revamp

Goals: Improve control over pet movement. Make choosing pets more rewarding through different beneficial effects. Provide cascading benefits for the ranger base kit.

 

Detailed list is in the spoiler.

Spoiler

(Note that these numbers are subject to change, and are included to make it easier to visualise)

Main Issues

 

Current CA Gen: Currently favors group play, limiting druid roles outside of large groups with movement

Proposed solution: Introduce solo play aspect, heal benefit scaled down based on nearby allies

1. CA gen: Increased to 5%/heal tick, up from 1.5%/heal tick, reduced by 20% per ally healed, down to a minimum of 1%
2. CA gen: Increased to 1.5%/dps tick, up from 0.75%/dps tick

 

Current CA Usage: Currently static, fixed rotation, low ability to react, heavy entry cost to using CA

Proposed solution: Lower entry cost, increased cost based on needs, pronounce the energy management dynamic between sustained healing and burst healing

1. Exiting CA: Changed to lose 7.5% remaining energy per skill used during CA, up to a maximum of 100%(currently 50% flat). Stacks available on the buff bar.
2. CA cooldown: Reduced to 5 seconds. PvP/WvW reduced to 8 seconds.

 

CA Skills: Currently heavy burst and lower sustained healing, lowering overall usefulness of CA. Projectile cast time and small radius reduces overall effectiveness of CA.

Proposed solution: Increased sustained healing, conditional burst healing. Increased radius on abilities.

1. Ca 1: Radius increased from 120 to 180. Healing coefficient increased from 0.469 to 0.6. Heal amount increased from 231 to 300. Cast time reduced from 0.75 with aftercast to 0.5 with aftercast.
2. Ca 2: Radius increased from 180 to 210. If a condition was removed prior to seed of life blossoming or by seed of life as it blossoms, seed of life's healing is doubled. This applies to the seed of life generated by verdant etching.
3. Ca 3: Healing reduced from 1620 to 1500. Healing coefficient reduced from 1.44 to 1.3.
4. Ca 4: Healing reduced from 390 per pulse to 350 per pulse. Healing coefficient reduced from 0.3 per pulse(1.5 total) to 0.27 per pulse(1.35 total). Grant 3 stacks of might per pulse for 10 seconds to allies in the radius. PvP/WvW grant 2 stacks of might per pulse.

 

Grandmaster Traits: Currently dominated by grace of the land to provide might in endgame content. Ancient seeds condition is too difficult to fulfill. Lingering light has limited niche increasing sustained healing.

Proposed solution: Replace grace of the land. Lessen conditions for ancient seeds. Revert lingering light to fulfill needs for burst healing.

1. Grace of the Land: New functionality: Healing an ally removes the next condition applied to them within 10 seconds. If a condition is removed this way, the ally is healed for 200(0.1 healing coefficient) and gains 3 seconds of resolution and 2 seconds of resistance. Cooldown per target: 8 seconds. PvP/WvW the ally gains 2 seconds of resolution and 1 second of resistance. Cooldown per target: 15 seconds.
2. Lingering Light: Healing in CA to others increased from 20% to 50%. Remaining energy lost per skill increased by 100%, to 15%. CA gen gained from healing reduced by 50%, down to a minimum of 0.5%/heal tick. CA gen gained from doing dmg reduced by 50%, down to 0.75%/dps tick(Increased healing out of CA remains 10%. Passive energy gain per 3 seconds remains at 5%).
3. Ancient Seeds: Changed from striking a stunned, dazed, knock downed, or launched foe to striking a movement impaired a foe. Cooldown changed from 10 seconds to 10 seconds per target. PvP/WvW cooldown per target: 15 seconds.

 

Secondary Issues

 

Pet Stats: Universally weak stats. Usually taken for utility. Iboga remains overtuned for dps in comparison to other pets and is the default shoe-in. Difficulty in finely controlling pets.

Proposed solution: Introduce area target system to f1. Provide pets with bonus stats/effects based on pet type similar to soulbeast.

1. F1 becomes an area of effect skill. Activating it moves the pet to the target location. If an enemy is in the target radius, the pet will attack the target closest to the center of the cast.
2. Pets gain bonus stats and abilities based on pet type.
   1. Ferocious pets gain increased power and ferocity, and attacks gain bonus crit chance when flanking.
   2. Deadly pets gain increased condition damage and precision, and applies bleeding every few attacks.
   3. Stout pets gain increased vitality and 33% damage reduction, and pulse condition cleanse every 3 seconds.
   4. Supportive pets gain increased healing power and vitality, and pulse healing and resistance every 5 seconds.
3. Iboga dps: NERFED IN COMPENSATION.

 

Although these solutions are not perfect, I believe they provide a solid visualisastion to a more interesting and unique druid gameplay.

 

Whatever Anet's final decision, I just hope there isn't another nerf in store for druid. Let's hope they see this thread before dropping the nerf bat!

 

- Ambi

Edited August 11, 2022 by Ambidextrius.4903

[Mell.4873]

3 hours ago, Ambidextrius.4903 said:

 

Main issues to be targeted: CA gen revamp, CA usage revamp, CA skill revamp, grandmaster revamp

Goals: Make druid gameplay standardized across game modes and group types. Provide interesting and viable options for grandmaster to shore up new weaknesses introduced.

 

Secondary issues to be targeted: Pet revamp

Goals: Improve control over pet movement. Make choosing pets more rewarding through different beneficial effects. Provide cascading benefits for the ranger base kit.

 

Detailed list is in spoiler.

Reset the font color for all the night mode users.

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

GoTL can't be removed as a might generation option at this point in time. Ranger has 0 group might beyond max 9 from frost spirit, max 6 from horn 5, and them whatever extra you can squeeze out from quick draw or whatever else.

 

If they put GoTL in a different slot or actually gave core ranger some group support beyond spirits, then maybe it'd work changing things up for the other GMs. But as it stands it cannot change without hurting druid even more.

[Lottie.5370]

I personally don't find any issue with CA generation, in 98% of cases I have full CA back before the cooldown to enter it has appeared again.

 

Quote

Goals: Make druid gameplay standardized across game modes 

 

I think this is awful - it's balanced for PvP/WvW for a reason.

[Ambidextrius.4903]

10 hours ago, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

GoTL can't be removed as a might generation option at this point in time. Ranger has 0 group might beyond max 9 from frost spirit, max 6 from horn 5, and them whatever extra you can squeeze out from quick draw or whatever else.

 

If they put GoTL in a different slot or actually gave core ranger some group support beyond spirits, then maybe it'd work changing things up for the other GMs. But as it stands it cannot change without hurting druid even more.

 

Ofc GoTL would be replaced with a different might option. If you look under my detailed list, I shifted might generation to CA4 baseline(15 stacks, 10 stacks competitive) as a potential solution. It would not be up to current class standards to have a support class not bring might at this point in time. That's my bad for not making it clear in the original post!

Edited August 11, 2022 by Ambidextrius.4903

[Ambidextrius.4903]

6 hours ago, Lottie.5370 said:

I personally don't find any issue with CA generation, in 98% of cases I have full CA back before the cooldown to enter it has appeared again.

 

 

I think this is awful - it's balanced for PvP/WvW for a reason.

Agreed! In current organized endgame(raids, strikes), CA generation is not an issue.

 

What I was hoping to target was the CA generation in open world, sidenoding in PvP, or when roaming in WvW(solo play with you and pet only), while keeping it the same for group play. If you see my detailed list, I proposed having a scalar CA generation mechanic where it decreases inversely to amount of allies healed(having more CA gen when it's only you and pet). This would allow the druid to access CA more when roaming, bumping up the power of sidenode druid in PvP or trapper druid in WvW, while also not being overbearing since the damage was not buffed along with it. While rebalancing for competitive would need to be done, I believe that not having access to the full class experience under any circumstances would not make much sense.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Ambidextrius.4903

[Ambidextrius.4903]

11 hours ago, Mell.4873 said:

Reset the font color for all the night mode users.

Hopefully I've done so! I think the problem happened when I copied my original list off of my doc. I will work on retyping the content in the spoiler later, but it's a lot of text. Looking forward to discussing druid and not night mode incompatibility.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Ambidextrius.4903

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

On 8/11/2022 at 4:08 AM, Ambidextrius.4903 said:

Agreed! In current organized endgame(raids, strikes), CA generation is not an issue.

 

What I was hoping to target was the CA generation in open world, sidenoding in PvP, or when roaming in WvW(solo play with you and pet only), while keeping it the same for group play. If you see my detailed list, I proposed having a scalar CA generation mechanic where it decreases inversely to amount of allies healed(having more CA gen when it's only you and pet). This would allow the druid to access CA more when roaming, bumping up the power of sidenode druid in PvP or trapper druid in WvW, while also not being overbearing since the damage was not buffed along with it. While rebalancing for competitive would need to be done, I believe that not having access to the full class experience under any circumstances would not make much sense.

CA generation is fine in pve, pvp, and wvw.

If anything what they need to do is lower the CA Kit cool-down in pvp back to 10s like it is in wvw and pve.

I mean if you're seriously having problems with CA Kit generation, few things to look into:

1. Rune Of Dolyak #6 ability = generates CA Kit
2. Food like Holo Super Cake life regen = generates CA Kit
3. Always use Troll Unguent = best CA Kit generation

 

 

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

5 hours ago, Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

CA generation is fine in pve, pvp, and wvw.

If anything what they need to do is lower the CA Kit cool-down in pvp back to 10s like it is in wvw and pve.

I mean if you're seriously having problems with CA Kit generation, few things to look into:

1. Rune Of Dolyak #6 ability = generates CA Kit
2. Food like Holo Super Cake life regen = generates CA Kit
3. Always use Troll Unguent = best CA Kit generation

 

 

Taking troll unguent can remove your heal skill which can easily be taken for utility or group healing, i.e. glyph of rejuvenation or healing spring. Ranger has so few support options outside of druid's kit that you can't really afford to be selfish even if it means bringing CA back up faster. And being forced into 1 skill to make a mechanic work isn't good design.

 

CA generation is a problem from a design standpoint. 1 build that solves it doesn't make it not a problem anymore, it just works around the jank.

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

2 hours ago, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

Taking troll unguent can remove your heal skill which can easily be taken for utility or group healing, i.e. glyph of rejuvenation or healing spring. Ranger has so few support options outside of druid's kit that you can't really afford to be selfish even if it means bringing CA back up faster. And being forced into 1 skill to make a mechanic work isn't good design.

 

CA generation is a problem from a design standpoint. 1 build that solves it doesn't make it not a problem anymore, it just works around the jank.

I'm talking about competitive modes.

1. Druid has ALWAYS been a selfish sustain. That's just what it's good at. Arenanet imagined a party support when creating it but the reality is it did not pan out that way.
2. Druid support is sufficient in pve but in competitive modes when you try to stack for party support you end up not having enough self-sustain options to realistically survive focus and the truth is that a dead support is a useless support.
3. Druid support in competitive modes, even when attempting to stack for it, is absolutely useless when put next to Firebrand or Tempest or even Heal Mechs or Scourges. In spvp we only have Avatar and Sage now with Transference sigil. With how much they've nerfed Druid heal coefficients it isn't enough to be impactful. Sure, I'm a very old Ranger main and I have a few more support oriented Druid builds that I can force to work in spvp, only because I'm that experienced. But is it practical for a new player or even mediocre average player to run? no not at all. A Core Guard or Tempest Support or even a Shout/Soldier Rune Bladesworn with a warhorn are far better options as supports than a Druid. In wvw you can run Celestial stats and still have the selfish-sustain you require and mediocre support ability to use for when it is convenient that other players happen to be near you when you need to selfish-sustain, but it is never a good idea to try and stack a build like Minstrel. It's just bad in every way when set next to other support archetypes.
4. The Druid's support is bad mainly because of the one glaring design flaw behind Druid's failed support, which is how CA Kit works. Everything it does is an active use skill that turns off offensive weapon skills while using it, and the CA Kit cool-down is a very real thing. Whereas Firebrand or Tempest can maintain offensive pressure output while simultaneously utilizing instant use no animation support skills that don't require aiming, the Druid must sacrifice all offensive pressure to utilize long animation time support skills that must be aimed, that can and do easily miss, that are half as effective as the heals coming off of Firebrand or Tempest. This is all a problem. Offensive pressure is important. Without offensive pressure applied, when you go into CA Kit to support allies, it screams "look at me! come burst me! I can't stop you!" and that's exactly what opponents do. So right here we have this problem in two compounded ways: 1) When you heal phase, it also allows the enemy to heal phase because CA Kit drops all offensive pressure, and 2) Without counter-pressure you just get bursted while trying to utilize CA kit and this often means you are forced out of CA Kit early due to needing to access stealth/super speed reposition and to get back to your weapon kit to deter opponents from chasing. The DPS output in GW2 is now too large to justify standing there in CA Kit trying to spam heals. The damage you take is a lot more than the damage you are healing. It's better to keep dealing damage and only benefit CA Kit's #3 skill on a water field and full cleanse stealth reposition. That's all it's good for nowadays, truly. The other skills are just bad and almost always a waste of time to use that make you vulnerable to burst efforts. Furthermore, Druid support doesn't even have access to party Stability or Aegis or Barrier or anything like Shock Aura. Simply put, Druid support is all 100% active long animation skill use heals that you can only be reactive to use AFTER damage is dealt. It has no preemptive damage mitigation tools like the other supports. All of this is why Druid is bad at support. Arenanet intended on it being a support but it isn't. It's a selfish sustain machine that can conveniently help heal other players if they happen to be there when the Druid uses its selfish-sustain. This is all its good at. Running a Druid in the spirit of full support doesn't work, never has.
5. Troll Unguent is absolutely the best heal that Ranger has for every mentionable reason, especially Druid. If you're running anything other than Troll Unguent for competitive modes, you're doing it wrong. You should always be taking Wilderness Survival and Child of Earth & Wilderness Knowledge to synergize with Troll Unguent. The only exception right now would be Untamed builds that require Marks/Beast. Every other possible Ranger spec should be using Troll Unguent. It's simply too good not to use.
6. Glyphs suck in competitive modes, so does Healing Spring. Trying to use these skills for supplemental party heals is just inefficient and exactly that, supplemental to your Firebrands & Tempests. There is a lot more to running a good support than tossing heals that need to be aimed that can miss, and laying AoE water fields for blasting that 95% of the players walk past and never utilize in a pit that pulses regen that no one ever stands in. The truth to these hopeful Druid support archetypes like this is that you aren't really doing any important supporting, it's the Firebrands & Tempests that are supporting you. Without the selfish-sustain mechanisms the Druid support is just a liability tossing tiny heals that can't keep itself alive that deals no DPS. All of these reasons are why serious squads in wvw don't want Druids in their ranks unless it is a very specific special player who is designed solely for the purpose of immob assists, who is good at it, that allows the squad to more easily chase and roll over the slower reacting players during a push.
7. CA Kit generation is fine, even mechanically I feel it's fine. In fact, the recent change to Lingering Light that helps propagate CA Kit, I felt was an unnecessary buff. Druid does not need that kind of CA Kit generation. In pve even before Lingering Light, I never had a problem having 100% CA Kit each and every time CA Kit came off cool-down to be used again. Same thing in spvp, never had a problem keeping CA Kit 100% generated. And in wvw, even with half the cool-down of spvp, CA Kit being 10s, I certainly never have a problem cycling CA Kit use every 10s with 100% full CA Kit bar. The options in wvw to help propagate CA Kit are already wildly accessible and arguably overpowered.

Sorry for the rant, but I had some time this morning. Figured I'd be thorough as some of it needed to be heard.

In 2022 Druid Support is just not a thing, never was, and never will be. The CA Kit is a bad design for party support in competitive modes when set next to things like Firebrand or Tempest, for all of the reasons I've already mentioned. Glyphs are just bad design in competitive modes. They are underpowered for one thing, and were made to revolve around the use of being in or out of CA Kit, which doesn't synergize well with the kinds of reaction times and reliable on-demand use that you need out of skills in competitive modes. Trying to build Druids for support role is all in vain. It really is and players need to get over it. When you try to build Druid for support, it must sacrifice EVERYTHING to be able to throw around mediocre heal potential and not even have access to preemptive damage mitigation tools such as Stab, Aegis, Barrier, Shock Aura, ect ect.

I know Arenanet intended for Druid to be a support but it didn't turn out that way. Druid as a class is by far best optimized as a selfish-sustain kite machine that utilizes Celestial stats & might stacks for relatively good DPS output. The only real reliable support that it has, is the party AoE stealth & super speed disengage, and the strong immob assists. You can use CA Kit with Cele stats to do party burst healing but it's mediocre and it shouldn't be focused as some kind of role to perform. It's something that just happens when a player or two are conveniently next to you when you use it. But by having more selfish-sustain, you actually have at least as much party support capability as a full Druid Support, surprisingly. This is because you aren't worried about constantly getting popped. You end up having more openings to actually utilize the CA Kit blasting/water fields and stealthing/super speed party members when you aren't worried about constantly heal cycling yourself to stay alive.

In wvw at least, Druid is best designed and best utilized as a massive fat hybrid that is good at everything, utilizing Cele stats. It can roam and 1vX, it can command, it can be in front/mid/back lines, it can do everything, but most importantly, it is the one thing in the game that has mass AoE immob assists for pushing.

Just saying it one more time, Full Druid Support is bad. Celestial Druid setups designed for being strong in any situation are good.

[Ambidextrius.4903]

12 hours ago, Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

I'm talking about competitive modes.

1. Druid has ALWAYS been a selfish sustain. That's just what it's good at. Arenanet imagined a party support when creating it but the reality is it did not pan out that way.
2. Druid support is sufficient in pve but in competitive modes when you try to stack for party support you end up not having enough self-sustain options to realistically survive focus and the truth is that a dead support is a useless support.
3. Druid support in competitive modes, even when attempting to stack for it, is absolutely useless when put next to Firebrand or Tempest or even Heal Mechs or Scourges. In spvp we only have Avatar and Sage now with Transference sigil. With how much they've nerfed Druid heal coefficients it isn't enough to be impactful. Sure, I'm a very old Ranger main and I have a few more support oriented Druid builds that I can force to work in spvp, only because I'm that experienced. But is it practical for a new player or even mediocre average player to run? no not at all. A Core Guard or Tempest Support or even a Shout/Soldier Rune Bladesworn with a warhorn are far better options as supports than a Druid. In wvw you can run Celestial stats and still have the selfish-sustain you require and mediocre support ability to use for when it is convenient that other players happen to be near you when you need to selfish-sustain, but it is never a good idea to try and stack a build like Minstrel. It's just bad in every way when set next to other support archetypes.
4. The Druid's support is bad mainly because of the one glaring design flaw behind Druid's failed support, which is how CA Kit works. Everything it does is an active use skill that turns off offensive weapon skills while using it, and the CA Kit cool-down is a very real thing. Whereas Firebrand or Tempest can maintain offensive pressure output while simultaneously utilizing instant use no animation support skills that don't require aiming, the Druid must sacrifice all offensive pressure to utilize long animation time support skills that must be aimed, that can and do easily miss, that are half as effective as the heals coming off of Firebrand or Tempest. This is all a problem. Offensive pressure is important. Without offensive pressure applied, when you go into CA Kit to support allies, it screams "look at me! come burst me! I can't stop you!" and that's exactly what opponents do. So right here we have this problem in two compounded ways: 1) When you heal phase, it also allows the enemy to heal phase because CA Kit drops all offensive pressure, and 2) Without counter-pressure you just get bursted while trying to utilize CA kit and this often means you are forced out of CA Kit early due to needing to access stealth/super speed reposition and to get back to your weapon kit to deter opponents from chasing. The DPS output in GW2 is now too large to justify standing there in CA Kit trying to spam heals. The damage you take is a lot more than the damage you are healing. It's better to keep dealing damage and only benefit CA Kit's #3 skill on a water field and full cleanse stealth reposition. That's all it's good for nowadays, truly. The other skills are just bad and almost always a waste of time to use that make you vulnerable to burst efforts. Furthermore, Druid support doesn't even have access to party Stability or Aegis or Barrier or anything like Shock Aura. Simply put, Druid support is all 100% active long animation skill use heals that you can only be reactive to use AFTER damage is dealt. It has no preemptive damage mitigation tools like the other supports. All of this is why Druid is bad at support. Arenanet intended on it being a support but it isn't. It's a selfish sustain machine that can conveniently help heal other players if they happen to be there when the Druid uses its selfish-sustain. This is all its good at. Running a Druid in the spirit of full support doesn't work, never has.
5. Troll Unguent is absolutely the best heal that Ranger has for every mentionable reason, especially Druid. If you're running anything other than Troll Unguent for competitive modes, you're doing it wrong. You should always be taking Wilderness Survival and Child of Earth & Wilderness Knowledge to synergize with Troll Unguent. The only exception right now would be Untamed builds that require Marks/Beast. Every other possible Ranger spec should be using Troll Unguent. It's simply too good not to use.
6. Glyphs suck in competitive modes, so does Healing Spring. Trying to use these skills for supplemental party heals is just inefficient and exactly that, supplemental to your Firebrands & Tempests. There is a lot more to running a good support than tossing heals that need to be aimed that can miss, and laying AoE water fields for blasting that 95% of the players walk past and never utilize in a pit that pulses regen that no one ever stands in. The truth to these hopeful Druid support archetypes like this is that you aren't really doing any important supporting, it's the Firebrands & Tempests that are supporting you. Without the selfish-sustain mechanisms the Druid support is just a liability tossing tiny heals that can't keep itself alive that deals no DPS. All of these reasons are why serious squads in wvw don't want Druids in their ranks unless it is a very specific special player who is designed solely for the purpose of immob assists, who is good at it, that allows the squad to more easily chase and roll over the slower reacting players during a push.
7. CA Kit generation is fine, even mechanically I feel it's fine. In fact, the recent change to Lingering Light that helps propagate CA Kit, I felt was an unnecessary buff. Druid does not need that kind of CA Kit generation. In pve even before Lingering Light, I never had a problem having 100% CA Kit each and every time CA Kit came off cool-down to be used again. Same thing in spvp, never had a problem keeping CA Kit 100% generated. And in wvw, even with half the cool-down of spvp, CA Kit being 10s, I certainly never have a problem cycling CA Kit use every 10s with 100% full CA Kit bar. The options in wvw to help propagate CA Kit are already wildly accessible and arguably overpowered.

Sorry for the rant, but I had some time this morning. Figured I'd be thorough as some of it needed to be heard.

In 2022 Druid Support is just not a thing, never was, and never will be. The CA Kit is a bad design for party support in competitive modes when set next to things like Firebrand or Tempest, for all of the reasons I've already mentioned. Glyphs are just bad design in competitive modes. They are underpowered for one thing, and were made to revolve around the use of being in or out of CA Kit, which doesn't synergize well with the kinds of reaction times and reliable on-demand use that you need out of skills in competitive modes. Trying to build Druids for support role is all in vain. It really is and players need to get over it. When you try to build Druid for support, it must sacrifice EVERYTHING to be able to throw around mediocre heal potential and not even have access to preemptive damage mitigation tools such as Stab, Aegis, Barrier, Shock Aura, ect ect.

I know Arenanet intended for Druid to be a support but it didn't turn out that way. Druid as a class is by far best optimized as a selfish-sustain kite machine that utilizes Celestial stats & might stacks for relatively good DPS output. The only real reliable support that it has, is the party AoE stealth & super speed disengage, and the strong immob assists. You can use CA Kit with Cele stats to do party burst healing but it's mediocre and it shouldn't be focused as some kind of role to perform. It's something that just happens when a player or two are conveniently next to you when you use it. But by having more selfish-sustain, you actually have at least as much party support capability as a full Druid Support, surprisingly. This is because you aren't worried about constantly getting popped. You end up having more openings to actually utilize the CA Kit blasting/water fields and stealthing/super speed party members when you aren't worried about constantly heal cycling yourself to stay alive.

In wvw at least, Druid is best designed and best utilized as a massive fat hybrid that is good at everything, utilizing Cele stats. It can roam and 1vX, it can command, it can be in front/mid/back lines, it can do everything, but most importantly, it is the one thing in the game that has mass AoE immob assists for pushing.

Just saying it one more time, Full Druid Support is bad. Celestial Druid setups designed for being strong in any situation are good.

I agree with many of the points, but CA generation is painfully slow in solo situations. Even assuming permanent regen on you and pet + dolyak runes or other passive heal sources, it still takes much more than the 10 second cooldown to actually get CA back, even if you're only dipping into it for a quick CA5. The lack of flexibility offered with the current "remaining energy reduced" system disincentivizes the idea of swapping between forms and forces staying in CA form to "get value" out of it; this problem is only more pronounced when using CA for certain skills. CA as it is stays in this strange flux of being a form you WANT to enter to access CA5(for competitive at least), while also being your emergency heal button. My hope is that this can be smoothened out with faster CA solo gen and a reduced exit cost and CA cooldown to less punish/lock out players who may only be using CA to top themselves off, throw off a root, or throw off a cleanse- greatly increasing the use cases for CA and integrating it more heavily into the druid playstyle. As for PvE, again, druid in group content generates CA just fine, but just like in competitive, suffers in the solo aspect. I believe quality of life updates such as those above would heavily benefit the fluidity of playing druid and improve its class identity, rather than being a clunky amalgamation of trying to be a party healer and a selfish utility bot.

It is worth to note that it will probably never compete with the amount of utility firebrand, mechanist, and tempest bring purely from a utilities standpoint. Both of those classes bring large party boons(through strong base utilities and class mechanics) while druid is stuck using spirits for boons and having underpowered glyphs. But that is definitely an update to be addressed at a different time.

Finally, while yes CA drops most offensive avenues, you tend to only use CA5 and CA3 and maybe a CA2 then gtfo for competitive modes; with ancient seeds, this will allow you to upkeep pressure, especially with capture points. You're not really painting yourself as a target in that case. Smoother CA gen would assist in this playstyle, allowing you to do all of that without sacrificing too much, while allowing you to then enter and burn all your CA for healing if necessary without getting locked out.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Ambidextrius.4903