the lack of tanks...

[Dadnir.5038]

@darksoverign.5360 said:We have literally 1 tank class in the game and its a kittening cloth class.. why.. just why!...if a plate class doesn't get a bloody tanking spec in the next expansion I'm really going to be worried for the future of this game.

Am I wrong? stupid? should cloth be the only tank? like we've had 2 expansions and still no tank specs.. other than Cronomancer..hell rework renegade into a tank or something.I doubt Anet will notice or answer this post hell they'll probably delete it since I'm criticizing them XD

The issue have never been tanking but what the tank do as extra while he is tanking. Chrono is the tank because it happen that it's mandatory support is better while tanking than it is while dealing damage.

Before the chrono/druid meta took root (in the first year of HoT), it wasn't an odd sight to see any kind of profession tanking. One of the first VG down was done with an engi tanking for example. I had a guildmate that was tanking the whole first wing with it's dardevil. I've also seen many raids using dragonhunter as tank. It's just that, at a point, after weighting the pro an cons, chrono ended up being the spec with the best cost effective result as a tank and it slowly became the one and only possibility in everyone's mind.

[aceofbass.2163]

We can have warr as banner tank because it also gives unique buffs. But the chrono is being used up to this day only because people don't want to change what they have gotten used to before. Chrono was placed there because groups back then could've skipped raid mechanics just because of distortion share. And it has been a long duration that distort era existed that many people invested so much time gearing and mastering chrono that they would not use other tanks.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

@aceofbass.2163 said:We can have warr as banner tank because it also gives unique buffs. But the chrono is being used up to this day only because people don't want to change what they have gotten used to before. Chrono was placed there because groups back then could've skipped raid mechanics just because of distortion share. And it has been a long duration that distort era existed that many people invested so much time gearing and mastering chrono that they would not use other tanks.

That is not the only reason.Since you have to take chrono or firebrand for quickness and all concentration combinations have either healingpower or toughnes so either you waste stats (by playing healing power) or you have toughness. If you want another tank that player need to take toughness -> more wasted stats. If you can give me example of any advantages you gain by taking another tank then there might be disscusion

[aceofbass.2163]

@ButcherofMalakir.4067 said:

@aceofbass.2163 said:We can have warr as banner tank because it also gives unique buffs. But the chrono is being used up to this day only because people don't want to change what they have gotten used to before. Chrono was placed there because groups back then could've skipped raid mechanics just because of distortion share. And it has been a long duration that distort era existed that many people invested so much time gearing and mastering chrono that they would not use other tanks.

That is not the only reason.Since you have to take chrono or firebrand for quickness and all concentration combinations have either healingpower or toughnes so either you waste stats (by playing healing power) or you have toughness. If you want another tank that player need to take toughness -> more wasted stats. If you can give me example of any advantages you gain by taking another tank then there might be disscusion

All concentration combinations have healing power/toughness but not all toughness combination have healing power/concentrationI am thinking warrior can use knight or cavalier (or even demolisher if anet is bold enough to release it in pve) to have high toughness and aggro.Chrono can run commander+berserk like they do right now to become non tank chrono.

Comp is gonna be like 2 support chrono, 1 tank/BS, 6 dps, 1 heal druid. Essentially instead of supp chrono+tank, it's gonna be BS+tank, they just switch places.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

@aceofbass.2163 said:

@ButcherofMalakir.4067 said:

@aceofbass.2163 said:We can have warr as banner tank because it also gives unique buffs. But the chrono is being used up to this day only because people don't want to change what they have gotten used to before. Chrono was placed there because groups back then could've skipped raid mechanics just because of distortion share. And it has been a long duration that distort era existed that many people invested so much time gearing and mastering chrono that they would not use other tanks.

That is not the only reason.Since you have to take chrono or firebrand for quickness and all concentration combinations have either healingpower or toughnes so either you waste stats (by playing healing power) or you have toughness. If you want another tank that player need to take toughness -> more wasted stats. If you can give me example of any advantages you gain by taking another tank then there might be disscusion

All concentration combinations have healing power/toughness but not all toughness combination have healing power/concentrationI am thinking warrior can use knight or cavalier (or even demolisher if anet is bold enough to release it in pve) to have high toughness and aggro.Chrono can run commander+berserk like they do right now to become non tank chrono.

Comp is gonna be like 2 support chrono, 1 tank/BS, 6 dps, 1 heal druid. Essentially instead of supp chrono+tank, it's gonna be BS+tank, they just switch places.

Why? Lets break it down:You have 1 druid and 6 dps spots in both comps.Instead of 2 meta support chronos and dps warrior you take exactly same support chronos abd tanky warrior. Only thing you accomplished is doing raids with 9,5 players instead of 10.

And i never said that there is no set that does give concentration and does not have toughness. I said that there is no set that have cincentration and does not have "uskess stats" (vitality, toughness, healing...)

[aceofbass.2163]

@ButcherofMalakir.4067 said:

@aceofbass.2163 said:

@ButcherofMalakir.4067 said:

@aceofbass.2163 said:We can have warr as banner tank because it also gives unique buffs. But the chrono is being used up to this day only because people don't want to change what they have gotten used to before. Chrono was placed there because groups back then could've skipped raid mechanics just because of distortion share. And it has been a long duration that distort era existed that many people invested so much time gearing and mastering chrono that they would not use other tanks.

That is not the only reason.Since you have to take chrono or firebrand for quickness and all concentration combinations have either healingpower or toughnes so either you waste stats (by playing healing power) or you have toughness. If you want another tank that player need to take toughness -> more wasted stats. If you can give me example of any advantages you gain by taking another tank then there might be disscusion

All concentration combinations have healing power/toughness but not all toughness combination have healing power/concentrationI am thinking warrior can use knight or cavalier (or even demolisher if anet is bold enough to release it in pve) to have high toughness and aggro.Chrono can run commander+berserk like they do right now to become non tank chrono.

Comp is gonna be like 2 support chrono, 1 tank/BS, 6 dps, 1 heal druid. Essentially instead of supp chrono+tank, it's gonna be BS+tank, they just switch places.

Instead of 2 meta support chronos and dps warrior you take exactly same support chronos abd tanky warrior. Only thing you accomplished is doing raids with 9,5 players instead of 10.

You just juggled the 2 chronos to provide

equally

more damage while lowering BS damage. Same 10 players.

And i never said that there is no set that does give concentration and does not have toughness. I said that there is no set that have cincentration and does not have "uskess stats" (vitality, toughness, healing...)Yes what is your point even in mentioning that?Since you have to take chrono or firebrand for quickness and all concentration combinations have either healingpower or toughnes so either you waste stats (by playing healing power) or you have toughness.This was your original thought train.If you want another tank that player need to take toughness -> more wasted statsAre you trying to say I suggested to have 2 tanks?No. I was saying we can have an alternative tank to chrono which is the bannerslave. This could've happened in HoT but BS lost out to chrono because of the distort share.

[Astralporing.1957]

@aceofbass.2163 said:You just juggled the 2 chronos to provide equally more damage while lowering BS damage. Same 10 players.Because the chronos would still need to run concentration gear, so no dps gain here, while BS sacrifices part of its dps for toughness. So, an overall dps loss.

[Cyninja.2954]

@aceofbass.2163 said:No. I was saying we can have an alternative tank to chrono which is the bannerslave. This could've happened in HoT but BS lost out to chrono because of the distort share.

While this would work, here are the issues you will run into:

• at the very minimum your BS will have to get tanking gear
• your banner slave will be a lot more susceptible to damage and/or will perform a lot worse than a chrono
• power chrono is more difficult to play (from a boon uptime perspective) than chaos and provides less boons
• banner slave is 3/4 of a dps if played properly. this has to get covered by power chrono
• power chrono has way worse cleave than banner slave
• certain bosses require blocks, this changes the banner slaves required weapons. chrono does not suffer this

There is a multitude of possible variations. Healing tempest tank or healing druid tank are both better picks for tank versus banner slave and also face downsides.

Personally if I was making a PUG group, I'd go with replacing 1 druid for a healing tempest, potentially healing tempest tank. It's not that big a move from the meta and increases group survivability a ton.

[aceofbass.2163]

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@aceofbass.2163 said:No. I was saying we can have an alternative tank to chrono which is the bannerslave. This could've happened in HoT but BS lost out to chrono because of the distort share.

While this would work, here are the issues you will run into:

• at the very minimum your BS will have to get tanking gear
• your banner slave will be a lot more susceptible to damage and/or will perform a lot worse than a chrono
• power chrono is more difficult to play (from a boon uptime perspective) than chaos and provides less boons
• banner slave is 3/4 of a dps if played properly. this has to get covered by power chrono
• power chrono has way worse cleave than banner slave
• certain bosses require blocks, this changes the banner slaves required weapons. chrono does not suffer this

There is a multitude of possible variations. Healing tempest tank or healing druid tank are both better picks for tank versus banner slave and also face downsides.

Personally if I was making a PUG group, I'd go with replacing 1 druid for a healing tempest, potentially healing tempest tank. It's not that big a move from the meta and increases group survivability a ton.

Don't get me wrong. I agree, with tank suggestions as you said. Not trying to min max right now. The OP of the thread was asking why

@darksoverign.5360 said:We have literally 1 tank class in the game and its a kittening cloth class.. why.. just why!...if a plate class doesn't get a bloody tanking spec in the next expansion I'm really going to be worried for the future of this game.

Am I wrong? stupid? should cloth be the only tank? like we've had 2 expansions and still no tank specs.. other than Cronomancer..I was merely going with the theme of having a heavy armor user being the tank and I'm looking at the angle of having another support (which in this case a warrior) in the heavy department to fill in that slot since FB and renegade are more used as dps nowadays.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

@aceofbass.2163 said:

@ButcherofMalakir.4067 said:

@aceofbass.2163 said:

@ButcherofMalakir.4067 said:

@aceofbass.2163 said:We can have warr as banner tank because it also gives unique buffs. But the chrono is being used up to this day only because people don't want to change what they have gotten used to before. Chrono was placed there because groups back then could've skipped raid mechanics just because of distortion share. And it has been a long duration that distort era existed that many people invested so much time gearing and mastering chrono that they would not use other tanks.

That is not the only reason.Since you have to take chrono or firebrand for quickness and all concentration combinations have either healingpower or toughnes so either you waste stats (by playing healing power) or you have toughness. If you want another tank that player need to take toughness -> more wasted stats. If you can give me example of any advantages you gain by taking another tank then there might be disscusion

All concentration combinations have healing power/toughness but not all toughness combination have healing power/concentrationI am thinking warrior can use knight or cavalier (or even demolisher if anet is bold enough to release it in pve) to have high toughness and aggro.Chrono can run commander+berserk like they do right now to become non tank chrono.

Comp is gonna be like 2 support chrono, 1 tank/BS, 6 dps, 1 heal druid. Essentially instead of supp chrono+tank, it's gonna be BS+tank, they just switch places.

Instead of 2 meta support chronos and dps warrior you take exactly same support chronos abd tanky warrior. Only thing you accomplished is doing raids with 9,5 players instead of 10.

You just juggled the 2 chronos to provide

equally

more damage while lowering BS damage. Same 10 players.

And i never said that there is no set that does give concentration and does not have toughness. I said that there is no set that have cincentration and does not have "uskess stats" (vitality, toughness, healing...)Yes what is your point even in mentioning that?Since you have to take chrono or firebrand for quickness and all concentration combinations have either healingpower or toughnes so either you waste stats (by playing healing power) or you have toughness.This was your original thought train.If you want another tank that player need to take toughness -> more wasted statsAre you trying to say I suggested to have 2 tanks?No. I was saying we can have an alternative tank to chrono which is the bannerslave. This could've happened in HoT but BS lost out to chrono because of the distort share.

Your line of thought would be ok IF seer stats were in pve (power precision fereocity concentration) but they are not so chrono will have toughness.

Another thing is that tank need to move sometimes. Sometimes need to dodge, sometimes you cancel some spells. If you cancel spells as warrior you are losing dps. On the other hand if you cancel spell as chrono you are losing some boon uptime. That sounds bad but noone cares if your boon uptime is 130% or 110% only spell you might cancel that hurt something is aa chain and that is minimal (since other spells have build in evade or block)

[MedievalThings.5417]

The next expansion just needs to add tanking and single target healing elites...problem solved.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

Single target buffing/healing could be very interesting (but also might be hard to implement)

[zealex.9410]

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:Tank role isn't really well designed in GW2 to begin with. Chrono or not, all you do is pulling the boss around. There is close to none aggro management besides and when choosing to play anything other than chronotank you sacrifice too much of the profession performance. Tanking needs a design overhaul for GW2 or we're stuck with what we have now until the game dies.

It doesnt really, tanking is all about controling the boss' positioning. You can fail at that for many ways not necessarily aggro management. We dont need aggro management although it would be nice.

Having tank buster mechanics and multiboss encounter and more tank swapping will be enough.

[Glott.7239]

Now i think we can all agree that Chrono boon spam needs to get nerfed bigtime. Another general i would like to see is changing the agro mechanic from "toughness" to "armor" (toughness+armor). This would give heavy classes a neutral advantage for tanking like it's only natural and would be expected by most new players. I can only image how many new players in this game picked Guardian thinking: "that looks like it's the tank class, i'm gonna play that." Only to be bummed out when they learn ist actually the thing that looks like the "mind-mage".There are a ton of this situations in game. Like the Ranger longbow pew pew suddenly turning into a healer called "Druid" while the thing that much more like a traditional "Druid" is called a "Soulbeast".Don't get me wrong i very much appreciate that this game does a lot of things differently, but this need to be explained to new player, or they just become frustrated and quit. Like why is there no description of Elite-Specs on character creation till this day? That's very important information for people to decide what class to pick.Sorry if i went a little of topic there but these are all connected issues.

[Cyninja.2954]

@Glott.7239 said:Now i think we can all agree that Chrono boon spam needs to get nerfed bigtime.

Do we?

Don't get me wrong, I fully support and agree that people want multiple tank specs and possibilities, I'm just wondering if everyone asking for chrono nerfs has thought this through to the end. If we operate under following assumptions:

• there will always be 1 class which best performs a certain role
• the limiting factor in raid setups is currently the support classes
• the most flexibility for a meta group will be at best for damage builds
• the more support classes take up spots, the less place for damage classes there is thus making encounters harder
• having multiple different setups for different bosses forces people to play more than 1 class

Given all those factors, is nerfing chrono REALLY in the best interest for PUG raids or semi casual raid groups? Not talking static or very hardcore groups since those will always adapt and use the most powerful tools.

Let us assume chrono got nerfed so far that a new tank were required (which would be more than fine from a balance point of view), here is the likely scenario as to how it will unfold given current balance:

A.) which ever class best role compresses the most abilities with being able to tank will become the future tank. It is highly unlikely that multiple classes will be equally good at this, thus 1 new tank will become meta

B.) should the new meta tank from A not be the best tank for all bosses, a second tank for bosses were the first tank does not work would get picked. Effectively now raid groups need to use 2 different tanks to clear all raid wings. This is immense extra effort and coordination for PUG and semi-static groups compared to now. Imagine Deimos or Dhuum with their unique roles given to party members just for multiple bosses

C.) if the meta shifts from 4 support classes back to 5 (as it was during HoT), the pressure on damage dealers will again be higher thus making possible damage choices more restrictive once again

The net result is a more complex, more effort requiring meta and group composition. Please realize 1 thing:

class balance and ease of raids as well as accessibility are two very different things

Disclaimer: I'm not protecting chrono because I main the class. I've mained mesmer since the beginning of the game through all of its bugs, under powered pve messes, etc. I have multiple characters of every class fully geared and have legendary armor and ascended armor coming out of my ears (12 sets, 7k magnitite shards, etc.). I'm fine with switching to any other tank, support or damage dealer as need be (and I don't only play chrono to begin with as every raider should at least play 3 classes minimum). I'm just not buying into the entire: once chrono is nerfed all will be well kitten that some people are selling.

Unfortunately, chrono needs to get toned down and once that happens it will either get replaced by something more effective, or the raid meta will become more restrictive once again. Be aware of that.

As far as viable tanks which can do the job, there is a few and the most effective ones have been mentioned in this thread.

[Tenray.3175]

@Cyninja.2954You can try to argue as much as you want in any thread I read your comments. Everyone has already thought about it 10 times and comes to the conclusion: Nerf chrono, simple as that.

It blows my mind how anyone can be so ignorant to believe that it was AND is still a good idea to give ONE class the access to ALL boons.

[phs.6089]

Game was designed to be played without holy trinity. Community has made super-holy penta

[Ivantreil.3092]

It's a horrible dilemma honestly, in every sector of supporting, no matter what you wanna bring, tanking, healing, your support class must also have to bring the ability to bring offensive boons and/or class damage modifiers, otherwise you are wortheless no matter how good is the defensiveness of your class, no matter how great is the raw healing of your class.

In fact, the boonshare / damage modifier thing is so problematic, that this will easily condemn Warriors, as example, to be BS or PS for the rest of their lives, no matter what elite spec they bring in the future, nerf enough said spec if their dps looks to be out of orbit (because that would be the only way to justifiy the drop of banners), and that will be enough to force them to go bannerslave again...

[Cyninja.2954]

@Tenray.3175 said:@Cyninja.2954You can try to argue as much as you want in any thread I read your comments. Everyone has already thought about it 10 times and comes to the conclusion: Nerf chrono, simple as that.

It blows my mind how anyone can be so ignorant to believe that it was AND is still a good idea to give ONE class the access to ALL boons.

Yes, beside the fact that chrono was main tank for all bosses even before the chaos boon meta was a thing.

But as I said, I agree that chrono needs tuning from a game balance point of view.

I just disagree that this would be of any benefit to the PUG or semi casual raiding crowd. Having 1-2 people carry you through raids and fractals on chrono is an advantage which many currently enjoy yet complain about at the same time.

Now if you can't separate both issues, that's your thing. I'm pointing out what the advantage is which many are currently more than happy to benefit from.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

@Tenray.3175 said:@"Cyninja.2954"You can try to argue as much as you want in any thread I read your comments. Everyone has already thought about it 10 times and comes to the conclusion: Nerf chrono, simple as that.

It blows my mind how anyone can be so ignorant to believe that it was AND is still a good idea to give ONE class the access to ALL boons.

How? Chrono was nerfed many times already. There is only 2 ways how to nerf chrono: either dont give them option to provide 100% uptime on q/a or complete rework of mesmer (like totaly diferent class). The "problem" (i dont see it as a problem) is that mesmer does have so many ultility. There is no way to remove that unless you rework whole class.

Dont know why anyone thinks chrono needs nerfs. Somethink deserve nerfs if it is overperformig compared to competition and chrono have no competition right now. After next 2 expansions we might start talking

[Astralporing.1957]

Yes, what Chrono needs now is not nerfs, but serious competition. Because currently, even if we do nerf chrono, we have nothing to replace it.

[Tenray.3175]

@Cyninja.2954 said:I just disagree that this would be of any benefit to the PUG or semi casual raiding crowd. Having 1-2 people carry you through raids and fractals on chrono is an advantage which many currently enjoy yet complain about at the same time.

If it's only about benefits and how much more enjoyable and more casual it will be for some people there would be never any reason ever to balance and we can return to 50k dps mesmer to faceroll the content.

@"ButcherofMalakir.4067" said:How? Chrono was nerfed many times already. There is only 2 ways how to nerf chrono: either dont give them option to provide 100% uptime on q/a or complete rework of mesmer (like totaly diferent class). The "problem" (i dont see it as a problem) is that mesmer does have so many ultility. There is no way to remove that unless you rework whole class.The amount of nerfs is not an indicator for the class being finally balanaced.

@"ButcherofMalakir.4067" said:Dont know why anyone thinks chrono needs nerfs. Somethink deserve nerfs if it is overperformig compared to competition and chrono have no competition right now. After next 2 expansions we might start talkingThese kind of sentences make me wonder if some people really have no rational thinking at all. You literally say: "Chrono has no competition, therefore he does not need/deserve any nerfs." .... Like really, what a flaw logic ? #NicolasCageFaceThat is the whole problem, lol. Nerf chrono or buff other classes. Everything is better than the current state.

I am wondering how many people would cry if there would be 10 different tanks but only 1 true dps class because he has no competition. cough people crying about thief DE cough

[Cyninja.2954]

@Tenray.3175 said:

@"ButcherofMalakir.4067" said:Dont know why anyone thinks chrono needs nerfs. Somethink deserve nerfs if it is overperformig compared to competition and chrono have no competition right now. After next 2 expansions we might start talkingThese kind of sentences make me wonder if some people really have no rational thinking at all. You literally say: "Chrono has no competition, therefore he does not need/deserve any nerfs." .... Like really, what a flaw logic ? #NicolasCageFaceThat is the whole problem, lol. Nerf chrono or buff other classes. Everything is better than the current state.

I am wondering how many people would cry if there would be 10 different tanks but only 1 true dps class because he has no competition.

cough

people crying about thief DE

cough

Actually, beside the fact that you continually resort to name calling and insulting (which does not in any way further your point), what he is saying is that chrono has no competition as far as utility. There is no metric to compare it to hence it can be considered overpowered or simply not having any other class which can be compared to it. In a way chrono with its mechanics is outside the support, tank, dps trinity or combines to many elements of all 3.

If you pair that thought with what was said earlier: that chrono has seen mutiple nerfs already. The only possible solution is what Butcher mentioned: to rework the class because no amount of nerfs is going to make it balanced (unless you want it to be useless, which kind of goes against the entire balance argument).

Now in case of Arenanet not wanting to rework chrono/mesmer AGAIN, another solution would be to use future elite specializations to provide similar utility to of chrono to other classes (or mechanics).

That does not change the fact that there will always be 1 best in role class which people will gravitate to, no matter if its chrono or some other class. That problem will not get solved by either approach.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

@Tenray.3175 said:

@Cyninja.2954 said:I just disagree that this would be of any benefit to the PUG or semi casual raiding crowd. Having 1-2 people carry you through raids and fractals on chrono is an advantage which many currently enjoy yet complain about at the same time.

If it's only about benefits and how much more enjoyable and more casual it will be for some people there would be never any reason ever to balance and we can return to 50k dps mesmer to faceroll the content.

@"ButcherofMalakir.4067" said:How? Chrono was nerfed many times already. There is only 2 ways how to nerf chrono: either dont give them option to provide 100% uptime on q/a or complete rework of mesmer (like totaly diferent class). The "problem" (i dont see it as a problem) is that mesmer does have so many ultility. There is no way to remove that unless you rework whole class.The amount of nerfs is not an indicator for the class being finally balanaced.

@"ButcherofMalakir.4067" said:Dont know why anyone thinks chrono needs nerfs. Somethink deserve nerfs if it is overperformig compared to competition and chrono have no competition right now. After next 2 expansions we might start talkingThese kind of sentences make me wonder if some people really have no rational thinking at all. You literally say: "Chrono has no competition, therefore he does not need/deserve any nerfs." .... Like really, what a flaw logic ? #NicolasCageFaceThat is the whole problem, lol. Nerf chrono or buff other classes. Everything is better than the current state.

I am wondering how many people would cry if there would be 10 different tanks but only 1 true dps class because he has no competition.

cough

people crying about thief DE

cough

Exactly. If there is only 1 dps option you fix it by adding dps options. Thats what i was saying. Add support clases and then balance them.

And as i have said: there is no thing that is op in chrono kit. Simply all of them are very good. If you want to nerf chrono you need to rewok mesmer completely.

Not to mention all nerfs you do to chrono will nerf other classes too. Nerf quickness -> less dps. Nerf cc -> less dps (because others need to help with cc too). Less boons -> less dps. No aegis share -> need to dodge -> less dps.

How do you decide on which power level should chrono be when there is nothing to compare him to

[Brynioch.1873]

@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Tenray.3175 said:

@"ButcherofMalakir.4067" said:Dont know why anyone thinks chrono needs nerfs. Somethink deserve nerfs if it is overperformig compared to competition and chrono have no competition right now. After next 2 expansions we might start talkingThese kind of sentences make me wonder if some people really have no rational thinking at all. You literally say: "Chrono has no competition, therefore he does not need/deserve any nerfs." .... Like really, what a flaw logic ? #NicolasCageFaceThat is the whole problem, lol. Nerf chrono or buff other classes. Everything is better than the current state.

I am wondering how many people would cry if there would be 10 different tanks but only 1 true dps class because he has no competition.

cough

people crying about thief DE

cough

Actually, beside the fact that you continually resort to name calling and insulting (which does not in any way further your point), what he is saying is that chrono has no competition as far as utility. There is no metric to compare it to hence it can be considered overpowered or simply not having any other class which can be compared to it. In a way chrono with its mechanics is outside the support, tank, dps trinity or combines to many elements of all 3.

If you pair that thought with what was said earlier: that chrono has seen mutiple nerfs already. The only possible solution is what Butcher mentioned: to rework the class because no amount of nerfs is going to make it balanced (unless you want it to be useless, which kind of goes against the entire balance argument).

Now in case of Arenanet not wanting to rework chrono/mesmer AGAIN, another solution would be to use future elite specializations to provide similar utility to of chrono to other classes (or mechanics).

That does not change the fact that there will always be 1 best in role class which people will gravitate to, no matter if its chrono or some other class. That problem will not get solved by either approach.

There is actually a really easy solution for it. Signet of Inspiration does not affect the caster anymore. It doesn't affect chronomancer in any way other than boon sharing without any rework.

We don't need another king of almost all trades.