9 replies to this topic

[lilshaud]

HI, im new to the guild wars game. I have been wanting to play this game from some time, but didnt have the right computer to b able to play it. Now i do! But, i noticed that there is no cleric class in the game . I come from games like perfect world, aion, shaiya, etc. and in them, i always pick that class.

Im not good at offensive or killing ppl in pvp. You know how some ppl just are great under pressure in terms of getting the killing blow in those clinch battles. Im the person that forgets i have a "save me" skill, and i end up dieing. Until after the fact, i notice i could have used it and survived XD! But as a support player, i dont have to worry about killing ppl just assisting my teammates and staying alive. So my gameplay improved drastically! Now that you know a little about why this topic is important to me, i can ask the questions

1. I like mage/magic/ranged class, so out of mez, ele, nec, eng, which class will allow me to be a "support" class. I kno there are no "healers" like clerics in other games, but im also asking in terms of debuff, curses, team buffs, purifies, etc. Pretty much, a class i can mainly just support my team with! I know each of those classes have there own way of supporting to them, i just dont know what they are. Like i said, im looking for a more cleric type of supporting (if possible).

2. Because there are no designated support class, i assume they arent need in dungeons. So if i do spec the support tree, will i just b a waste of space or do ppl like some classes that spec in support? One of the reasons i like cleric was because they were needed. I dont want to b the player no1 wants to party with because i spec support way and not offense (to get through the dungeon faster).

I know quetion 1 have been asked alot throughout the forums, but i thought asking it with more specifics wouldnt hurt lol. Mainly he second questions worries me, because i dont want to get lefted out b/c im useless in dungeons lol.

Ps. i really want to be a mage class (b/c i love mages), but if eng. is a better support than the others, i would play them .

[BrettM]

Add guardian to your list. Despite being a heavy-armor class, they can play ranged using magic weapons (staff or scepter) and a staff support guardian is a very viable option. Ele and guardian are arguably the two most supportive professions in the game, though no GW2 profession does full-time support like the monks and clerics of other games.

[Valkaire]

I love my supporty-ele, although if you do go straight support you're going to be useless to your group. This really isn't the game to be playing dedicated healer

[dhatcher1]

Half of your 10 skills are weapon skills.  You can not target allies in GW2. You will never make a highly valuable 100% support build in GW2 because the mechanics do not support it.  You can be a light DPS, strong support and be very valuable.  At least 3 or 4 skills will be attacks with secondary buff/heal effects so you will be targetting and attacking enemies and supporting allies near those enemies regardless of what you want to do.

[Arewn]

You might find some familiarity in staff-elementalist, sticking mainly to water attunement. It gives you a few small group healing abilities, and lets you chill the enemy a lot(66% movement speed slow, and reduces attack speed). Plus a lot of combo fields that your allies can use (example: put a fire wall on the ground, if an ally shoots through it, his projectiles light on fire. Here's a list of combos http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo)
As others have mentioned though, you can't JUST sit there healing/supporting, you do have to attack the enemy throughout the fights

[Impmon]

Checkout warrior forums Sonic Boon  build.  I've been using it although I don't follow it exactly my armor is more power/precision with alot of crit and I do good damage and can buff heal my party or those around me.  Using rifle for single target dps or longbow for aoe dps.

[Wifflebottom]

Unless you want to play a warrior you won't be able to be supportey for long. Anet will nerf every other profession's support abilities in patches because they don't want support in their game apparently unless you're a warrior because warriors have to be good at everything, "Able to rez a whole team, provide party-wide buffs, dish out as high/higher dps then every other prof but thief, and have the highest armor/health rating? Perfect! Warrior working as intended."

[Brizna]

Mostly what they have told you guardian is the best support build.

Regarding point 2 absolutely not. In GW2 it isn't an individual team's member task to guarantee the party's survival it is the party's duty. That protectivenes can be achieved by having a "full" support guardian with very little DPS or by many party members adding a bit of protection/healing, so all in all it depends on the party asking for help composition and what they need, they might want somene more offensive than you. On the bright side most people prefer to "knock heads" rather than "put bandages" so you will be prety popular sine there are throngs of damage-machines in the player base that need someone to watch their backs all the time, they'll love you.

[typographie]

I'm not going to get into whether Guardian is "the strongest" support platform or not, but I do think Guardian stands the best chance of meeting the playstyle the OP describes. I play warrior support myself, with shouts and/or banners and 6/6 runes of the Soldier.

lilshaud, on 21 November 2012 - 05:36 AM, said:

2. Because there are no designated support class, i assume they arent need in dungeons. So if i do spec the support tree, will i just b a waste of space or do ppl like some classes that spec in support? One of the reasons i like cleric was because they were needed. I dont want to b the player no1 wants to party with because i spec support way and not offense (to get through the dungeon faster).

Strictly speaking, you do not "need" someone playing support to do a dungeon and I have never seen a PUG group asking specifically for support. Most random groups are looking to fill up the group, not paying attention to builds or usually even classes, at least in my experience.

However, if you're used to going through a dungeon where everyone is relying 100% on their own self-heals and nothing else, you will notice a difference when you have someone who has invested some effort in group heals. Good players will notice and appreciate your efforts, just don't completely cripple your damage for it.

Edited by typographie, 22 November 2012 - 12:53 AM.

[Gremlin]

Engineer and Guardian yes pretty good skills to support the party I would add  the Necro it too has skills that harm foes and heal friends.

Some Necro weapon options

Dagger Dagger is all offensive no party buffs
Dagger focus and you have 3 offensive attacks from the dagger and 2 party buffs from the focus 1 that casts vulnerability of foes and regeneration on allies.
Staff has one direct life steal attack and four "Marks" these circles when triggered damage foes 2 of them also help the party.

You have a few utility skills that can help the party too Well of Blood, Well of Power, Signet of Undeath and Spectral wall are all party heal or buff skills.
So you can go all damage or half and half damage heal or mainly heal.

Its all in the weapon swapping or in Ele case element swapping.
With this if things get really tough the party can effectively go on the defensive and switch to less dps but more buffs condition removal and heals.

It actually works very well.

If you want you can check out the builds generator at gw2 codex just try out a few classes/builds and see what sort of builds might suit your play style.
Then when you have a shortlist start a few of them in the game and see how they play out for you.

Edited by Gremlin, 22 November 2012 - 01:27 AM.