Playing Healer in a Healer-Less Game

[Lensor]

You all heard ArenaNet saying that they nuked the trinity. No more tanking, no more dedicated healer… I guess they needed to keep the nuker so they could nuke the trinity. Well, what of those who like me loved to play healer? So I made as best as I could a dedicated healer, and gave [...]

(Feature by Alaris)
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[RD]

What's great is that, as Alaris points out, if you find yourself in a situation where your build isn't really needed, you can switch weapon sets to a different role. The trait system doesn't give any HUGE bonuses so that switching is a big deal.

[Lanka]

Very great read, i've always been a healer at heart and hopefully we will be able to heal just a tiny bit :)

[Alaris]

My favorite in Guild Wars 1 was ritualist healer, especially played in PUGs. But I enjoyed the hybrid heal/nuke better than being just a healer. There may be ways to be a more full-time healer than I was, but frankly, I would give the hybrid gameplay a try before going for dedicated healer.

[bearsfwd]

While yes, you CAN play as a healer, no it's probably not optimal. There is no dedicated healer. Now, we just have to see how healers are treated in terms of rewards from events. Does the game recognize that people standing back keeping people's health up are contributing to the battle?

[Gorani]

While yes, you CAN play as a healer, no it's probably not optimal. There is no dedicated healer. Now, we just have to see how healers are treated in terms of rewards from events. Does the game recognize that people standing back keeping people's health up are contributing to the battle?

When I was unlocking my Water Magic skills and I participated actively in an event I always got gold rewards, although I probably killed fewer foes or deal less damage than when i was attuned to Fire Magic

[RD]

Support/Hybrid is my favorite, so yay RD!

[Alaris]

Ah, I didn't check that.

Although I think it'd be hard to play as healer and not contribute directly. Your main attack would still be active (or at least, it should), and between heals you don't want to be wasting that time doing nothing!

[Domitilde]

You all heard ArenaNet saying that they nuked the trinity. No more tanking, no more dedicated healer… I guess they needed to keep the nuker so they could nuke the trinity. Well, what of those who like me loved to play healer? So I made as best as I could a dedicated healer, and gave [...]

(Feature by Alaris)
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Healers will be needed, if anything, to blame for a party's defeat.

[djacob]

Hey Alaris, did you notice the trait "Elixir Infused Bombs" in the explosives trait line? I was wondering how much that healed. I figure it could make someone a real heal spammer, but they probably aren't huge heals. Still, you'd be doing a good amount of damage at the same time. That plus the elixir gun and the engineer is looking like a good choice for people who like healers.

The nice thing about both options (elixir gun/elixir infused bombs) is that you'll always have skills that deal damage, and will be able to swap out to a weapon set specifically for damage if you find yourself lacking in that department. I must say that I do like the idea of hybrids, as long as a healer hybrid isn't a requirement for a dungeon group, I'm happy with the idea.