Originally Posted by
Ynna
Hold on just a second. I do not want to force roles on anyone. That's one of the things that has me excited about Guild Wars 2, that everyone can play however they like. You want to be a melee Ranger, go for it. A Ranged Warrior, no problem. A supportive Elementalist, great, should work. A control-y Engineer, good, do it. But as soon as I say how I want to play my Guardian (a very heavy support build) that's going to ruin the game?
Let's just take a look at the PvP build I'd like to take.
1. Sword and Shield: Flashing Blade gives me great mobility, especially when traited and has the benefit of blinding enemies as well. The Shield gives me two abilities to protect my enemies from incoming damage. This weapon set should keep me in the front line, while protecting my allies and annoying my foes.
2. Staff: Gives me a couple of ways to remove conditions from my allies and protect them. I can also trait Orb of Light to blind enemies as well, which makes my allies stay alive longer as well. Line of Warding can be used to protect my allies and locations, but can also double as a way of controlling enemies.
Other skills: My healing slot will be taken by Healing Breeze, since that also heals those around me. Next is Smite Conditions, which combos nicely with the Martyr on the staff. Wall of Deflection give me a way to protect bases and high grounds and gives my ranged allies something to hide behind. Stand your ground protect and heals my allies, giving them more time to deal damage themselves. Lastly: Sanctuary, which gives me and others time to heal and resurrect and can block key locations in a pinch.
As you can see I plan to give up quite some offensive power, but I do gain a lot of defense, support and control. I don't plan on just running around never hitting stuff, I know it's not that kind of game, but by choosing to go very supportive or defensive, I give my friends the opportunity to pick up more damaging abilities. In PvE I might even go more defensive, by swapping the sword with a mace. Most people prefer offense, so I can give them the opportunity to deal more damage by focusing more on defense and support so they don't have to. And since you can change builds more or less on the fly I can easily swap out my shield for a torch or something in case my group has more than enough support.