"Support" is the new "Heal"

[Deleted]

My fear with this is that support will be largely unnecessary, though. If the encounters in GW2 aren't balanced around teams bringing a Guardian or someone else with a lot of support-oriented skills, then someone trying to play in that capacity will A.) not have enough to do and/or B.) be gimping their team.

Yes, PURE support will be largely useless and that's the beauty of the new system. Even guardian is a frontliner because to support his team he has to be "out there" deploying symbols, shields and buffs - he will not be able to do it every time from "the back".

Since EVERY class can support, control and do damage every second player (no matter who he plays) has to make a decision:
- should I heal myself ?
- should I CC that mob ?
- is doing damage a prio now ?
While watching his surroundings because:
- engineer deployed healing turret, I can save my heal CD for later
- that elementalist dropped fire ring, I better move there so my shots will cause extra burn damage on the boss
- while getting overwhelmed by mobs Thief used Blinding Powder, we should use temp stealth to retreat and recover
- boss just put up a projectile barrier, I need to switch to melee
- etc..
So yeah.. no more static combat.

Combination of unique class mechanics, cross profession combos, nicely spread support utilities and dynamic environment creates a game where you will not be selected by the class you are playing, but your abilities. Happens that all your friends play elementalists? Np, you can still complete every dungeon in the game.

GW2 reminds me FPS shooters, not only because its dynamic combat but that it is very visible who is playing on what level and it's easy to distinguish players one from another (play style is very visible) - nothing can be better than this.

[dokono]

I'm not sure what more reflexive combat has to do with there being no support role.

[Blznsmri]

I'm not sure what more reflexive combat has to do with there being no support role.

He's saying that combat isn't static and that Guardians aren't the only ones with plenty of support skills. Every profession has the capacity to support, control and damage. You can run entire dungeons with just Rangers and succeed at it.

[dokono]

I guess we won't know until the game goes into beta, but from what I've seen support is pretty limited. The fact that what support there is is evenly distributed through the classes doesn't change the fact that there doesn't seem to be much emphasis put on it.

[Deleted]

I guess we won't know until the game goes into beta, but from what I've seen support is pretty limited. The fact that what support there is is evenly distributed through the classes doesn't change the fact that there doesn't seem to be much emphasis put on it.

That's just not true . I think you are looking for a way to "bind" or should say make people dependant on one mechanic - like healing. Thing is it's because support is spread it's everyone's job. At the beginning (as in every game) things will be pretty easy, but it will quickly become visible that without using your supporting skills your party will fail miserably in later dungeons or DEs. So yeah.. there is HUGE emphasis on support and team work. I have no idea how one could get to other conclusion o_O.

[Deleted]

Not get reported like you.

BOOM! Headshot.

[Ynna]

I guess we won't know until the game goes into beta, but from what I've seen support is pretty limited. The fact that what support there is is evenly distributed through the classes doesn't change the fact that there doesn't seem to be much emphasis put on it.

Well, the way I see it, when one person in a party focuses on Support, others can use a little more control or damage skills. This is not to say that one single person will end up doing all the support, but you could do mainly support.
But I'm also curious to see how it'll work out. If support is indeed pretty limited, that will be a huge disappointment for quite some people.

[Eggoman]

For those of you who don't know, GW2 is replacing the "healer" archtype with "support" abilities spread across all professions. Read this for more info [note: a "profession" is a "class" in wow terms, not a "tradeskill"]:



After reading this, I'm curious what other WoW healers think. For me, this nailed it on the head. As an old mmo gamer, I started with the release version of EQ, in which I, among other classes, played and enchanter [a CC specialist]. Support abilities have always had a special place with me, and to see that concept be fleshed out as 1/3 of the combat experience gives me goosebumps.

Or, am I all alone on this one and a majority prefer healthbar management as the primary duty of the "support" aspect of gameplay?

Well in WoW all the healers in my guild were proactive healers and in general this is the case. We were casting the heal for the next amount of damage rather than what damage had been done.

Shields before dmg, bubble for huge AoE dmg, hots across the board before the AoE dmg, Leap of Faith when someone isn't paying attention, levitate to null fall damage, windshear whenever possible, pre-cast for inc huge flame crap etc.. The most fun in WoW is healing hands down if you play this way.

So I agree proactive damage mitigation FTW!

[Calibar]

I always wanted Paladins to be a support class. I feel kinda lame sometimes after downing a boss. Everyone's like "yeah! we killed him" where as I'm like "meh ok I didn't really contribute to killing him I just stopped you guys from dying."

[Khanjin]

I absolutely love this implementation. I play Rift and in dungeons I primarily DPS as an inquisitor but I also use a soul where I can throw out a massive instant single target heal when things are looking tight. It's a very cool concept, and with everybody being DPS with this ability to save each other it makes for more dynamic gameplay. Healers don't just heal, DPS don't just DPS and tanks ARE DPS, you just want to maybe take one mob each and everybody have to use their own skills to make the group stay alive through the fight, both using utility to reduce incoming damage through a buff or CC, increase damage output for the group or put down a heal for everybody to take advantage of.