Has Guild Wars 2 Lost Its Class Identity?

[Mortalyn]

Many support specs (Tempest, Druid, Firebrand, Specter, Herald, Etc) have seen repeated redesigns so that fights don’t “slow down” or become too dependent on dedicated support players. Classes that once had unique roles like stability, quickness, or alacrity, now share these boons across all specs. New sPvP modes like Rush emphasize fast fights, quick kills, and reduced sustain, which makes support, bunker, or control builds less viable.

Does this homogenization defeat what made GW2’s combat appealing in the first place? Should every class be able to provide quickness, alacrity, and comparable DPS?

[Tyris Flare]

Many support specs (Tempest, Druid, Firebrand, Specter, Herald, Etc) have seen repeated redesigns so that fights don’t “slow down” or become too dependent on dedicated support players. Classes that once had unique roles like stability, quickness, or alacrity, now share these boons across all specs. New sPvP modes like Rush emphasize fast fights, quick kills, and reduced sustain, which makes support, bunker, or control builds less viable.

Does this homogenization defeat what made GW2’s combat appealing in the first place? Should every class be able to provide quickness, alacrity, and comparable DPS?

Why don't you just state what your opinion is rather than asking leading questions?

[Mortalyn]

Why don't you just state what your opinion is rather than asking leading questions?

My opinion is that ArenaNet are making a big mistake by going in this direction.

[ercarp]

Guild Wars 2 has lost its player count and relevance.

[PACOX]

Most people here do not explore GW2s combat enough to know what youre talking about. To answer your question, class identity in the game is strong. Allowing different specs access to boons another class under the same banner does not erase class identity, it just give them access to a different set of boons.

Example Engineer. Engineer has 4 elite specializations - Scrapper, Holosmith, Mechanist, Amalgam. Across these 4 specs you can competently fill any of the various meta roles. All 4 of the specs feel different and have their own flavor within the class. Scrapper and Amalgam are bruisers, Scrapper sets up a of team combos and inherently tanky, Amagl is more bursty and selfish with its sustain. Holosmith is a flashy duelists, resource builder. Mechanist is a let class. 3 of the specs can heal and have their style while sharing core features that belong to their core class.

Now take Mesmer. Mesmer a class distinct from Engineer with its own 4 elite specs: Chronomaner, Mirage, Virtuoso, Troubadours. Mesmer can competently play any meta roll across its elite specs like Engineer. Chronomancer, Mirage, and Troubadour can all heal. Chronomancer can provide the same boons as the other two specs where the other specs arent as flexible. Healing on all three is very different while having a touch of shared class familarity. Chronomancer has its unique ability to reset cooldowns and has support spells it can cast directly on the ground. Mirage has a unique dodge mechanic that aguments its abilities, Troubaour doesnt even us the classes signature clone mechanic and instead acts like a Bard. Then you Virtuous thats the black sheep of the family and doesnt care about the grace of the class, its just a straight illusionary blade throwing killer. All of the specs feel distinct while familiar.