Symbols to identify the player's role.

[Master Childman.2135]

Could it be an improvement to the game if symbols were introduced that identified specific roles?

I am referring, in particular, to the roles of healer, quick and alac. ^_^

[bq pd.2148]

certainly wrong subforum.

anyway..
the roles you mentioned are player made and are based on current balance. for example i remember providing both quickness and alacrity on a single build to the group or being there to look good next to my banners.
for there to be such symbols it would require Anet making an official statement that those are the roles player are to assume, which is very unlikely to happen.

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

There are already squad symbols implemented in game, like square, circle, triangle, X, swirly, etc... It's up to the Commander / Lieutenants to define what the symbols mean in their own squad.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Commander#Markers

[kharmin.7683]

GW2 isn't configured for professions to have specific roles.  I'm not sure how it could be programmed to know when a particular build satisfies a particular definition/interpretation of a specific role.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

On 2/24/2024 at 7:04 AM, bq pd.2148 said:

certainly wrong subforum.

anyway..
the roles you mentioned are player made and are based on current balance. for example i remember providing both quickness and alacrity on a single build to the group or being there to look good next to my banners.
for there to be such symbols it would require Anet making an official statement that those are the roles player are to assume, which is very unlikely to happen.

they already changed this, and made dedicated alacrity and quickness roles on every class with no possibility to overlap for group support. all the builds that bring both alacrity and quickness can now only apply the other boon to yourself.

 

all the stuff like banners with unique buffs is also gone so that's also a dated example.

Edited February 25 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[bq pd.2148]

49 minutes ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

they already changed this, and made dedicated alacrity and quickness roles on every class with no possibility to overlap for group support. all the builds that bring both alacrity and quickness can now only apply the other boon to yourself.

 

all the stuff like banners with unique buffs is also gone so that's also a dated example.

ofc that stuff is gone, that was the point.
anet changes how things are balanced and the roles resulting from it all the while not forcing the players to fulfill any role.
all those unicorn builds you run into in open world are perfectly fine to use, maybe not effective but thats the price you pay for being allowed to make choices in your build including bad ones.

[Urud.4925]

OP might refer to a manual version of something like Blish's Squad Tracker. Especially if you are commanding a raid squad, it's quite annoying to write down on paper (like I do) every healer/alac/quick. Not to mention that in training runs people constantly leave and join. Being able to set some tiny marker (even if only for the commander, to avoid adding more stuff on screen) would be nice, instead of continuously asking "do we have quick in sub2?"

[DanAlcedo.3281]

22 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

GW2 isn't configured for professions to have specific roles.  I'm not sure how it could be programmed to know when a particular build satisfies a particular definition/interpretation of a specific role.

You let squad leaders put little icons next to the players class icon in the squad grit. 

One for power dps. 

One for condi dps. 

One for heal. 

One for Alacrity. 

One for Quickness. 

That would be Sooooo much QoL. 

Tracking who is doing what role. Would love it so much. 

[Cuks.8241]

Anet pretty much solidified roles in pve group play so yeah this would be definitely in order.

Basically icons in the squad frames. And players could designate their builds for certain role so it would be pretty much automatic. Next step is pre-set squad compositions so players can apply for specific role when joining a squad. Maybe that's a stretch because gw2 still doesn't have streamlined roles in all the 10 man content. I'm mostly talking tank or no tank, not about special roles which are just too much to go that way and are strategy dependant. But if we exclude raids and cm strikes we're left with only OLC strike where tanks are actually nice to have (although not really necessary). So this could be also the basis for an automated grouping tool for normal strikes. Although with just some basic improvements more players might be ready to command anyway so more groups that way.

[Panda.1967]

11 hours ago, Cuks.8241 said:

Anet pretty much solidified roles in pve group play so yeah this would be definitely in order.

No… no they haven’t… ANet simply accepted the reality that players will make roles happen no matter what they do. ANet still adhears to their original design philosophy that GW2 breaks away from the traditional Holy Trinity of Tank/DPS/Heal and embraces a roleless profession system… only now they acknowledge that the playerbase has made their own roles in this roleless profession system. For moat of the game’s life, ANet has attempted to break the role metas by making it harder to play certain roles, but now they accepted they exist and always will which is why many recent and upcoming changes are adding to the accessibility of these player made roles instead of taking away again like in the past.

 

basically they switched tactics… if they can’t break player made roles by making them harder to do, then they will make them more accessible and possibly remove the need for them little by little… as more professions get alacrity & quickness access on their normal rotations, the need for boon support diminishes… as more professions gain effective self healing without a loss of DPS, the need for healers also diminishes… and the roll of tank is already seen as an unnecessary relic in most of the game… a lot of the recent and upcoming changes push the roles of Healer & Boon Support into standard DPS…

Edited February 27 by Panda.1967

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

On 2/25/2024 at 8:45 AM, kharmin.7683 said:

GW2 isn't configured for professions to have specific roles.  I'm not sure how it could be programmed to know when a particular build satisfies a particular definition/interpretation of a specific role.

Welcome to the side of the forums where logic has left the building.

[Westenev.5289]

Alac, Heal, Dps and Quickness are the common player terms for roles when it comes to forming a group. It also seems to be how Anet is happy to balance the game, so adding these tags would be nice.

 

I guess terms like "Handkite" or "Tank" would probably also be applicable for raids.

 

It would REALLY help with PuG group building, where people often join or leave without a word, and it can sometimes be difficult to remember who the Alac/Quick/Heal of the subgroup was.

Edited March 9 by Westenev.5289

[arazoth.7290]

And what if you're a hybrid one? 😅

[Westenev.5289]

2 hours ago, arazoth.7290 said:

And what if you're a hybrid one? 😅

 

If it was an option for Commanders, it'd be easier to remember minute details if you could AT LEAST tag and identify the two most important members of the subgroup (Alac/Quick). From there, it'd be easy to figure out who is the healer, tank, etc because you're focusing on 4-5 people by filtering out all of the dps players from your attention.

 

I'd be a HUGE boon for PUG commanders in group content, IMO.

[draxynnic.3719]

I think the key thing here is that the idea is for players (or at least players) to be able to self-assign. That doesn't require any fancy software to detect what build someone is running, just for players to be aware of and honest about what their build does.

And if players are unaware or dishonest about that, the group probably already has bigger problems.

[bq pd.2148]

2 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

I think the key thing here is that the idea is for players (or at least players) to be able to self-assign. That doesn't require any fancy software to detect what build someone is running, just for players to be aware of and honest about what their build does.

symbols are fine and good,  they just don't have to be player made roles. they could be anything and players can then use it as whatever.

could be similar to the election gizmos + additional visual in group/squad ui.

[Buran.3796]

...They dodn't even showcase the spec icon in the PvP minimap...