People wanting a support class. Why?

[Lersayil]

I'd love to have a pure support job, but as others stated, I doubt it would ever work in the current game. No, DNC and BRD don't count. I would define support as something that mainly contributes to group DPS with buffs / debuffs, with barely (if any) pdps... with current combat design this already makes it highly unlikely that we'll get anything like this (at least in DPS role).

AST comes the closest with cards, but due to solo reasons they still have their dps spells, which has to contribute a certain major amount of their total damage.

It was a barely working and many times flawed concept in other games too. Niche support / healer classes that could barely do anything by themselves, but were highly coveted for group content. And I miss every moment of it.

[NekoNova]

Soon : Limited Class - Chemist

[Nyvara]

Well let me ask another question then. Is Dancer the support class you’ve always wanted in the game, I.E you feel like you’re being helpful?

Far from it. Like RDM and BRD, you only in my opinion have a token amount of support. nothing like the games of old. For me I don't really think of them as support roles, but because that's what I've always enjoyed that's what I play.

Many other posts have already covered the reasons I enjoy it.

The game's structure as well as how the fights are designed pretty much make any meaningful support impossible to implement. Even our sparse CC options stop working in 50 content for the most part and you don't need it in the overworld. They would have to redesign combat from the ground up again to make space for a pure support role and then there would be the balance issues which after 3 expansions now I think they just don't have the chops to handle that if they were to try.

Sadly the age of pure support is long over. Not to long ago I made a post about how MMORPGs have changed over the years for many reasons in that and for the above reasons we won't see a buffer/debuffer in this game. When I say buffer I don't mean a wimpy 10% damage increase I mean a class that could increase attack speed, Increase damage, Increase mana regen, reduce incoming damage, Slow mob attack speed. And do those things significantly.

Soon : Limited Class - Chemist

LOL you ain't right! I can only imagine the anger at the next healer we get being a limited job.

[Saefinn]

Support is something with a lot of potential to benefit a party and people like the idea of helping the party do better and get satisfaction that way rather than doing the most damage.

Support is kinda weak in this game compared to others due to how it is designed, but in FFXI, people would invite a BRD, COR or GEO specifically because of the buffs they can bring. In my static when I used to play, my COR would be brought because 2 of its rolls could greatly improve the rate they could weapon skill and it meant zerg mechanics were quicker. In exp parties it could actually give an exp buff. It could also improve accuracy (which is not an issue here) and that could make exp parties go a lot smoother.

Some support roles are good for crowd control, this was great in things like SWTOR, the dirty fighting build made this good fun. CC exists in this game, but is rarely needed.

[Vivi_Bushido]

Then I play games like Monster Hunter and see very few people actually role the Hunting Horn. The support job of that game. I always feel like it's one of those things where it's something people think they want but won't actually enjoy it when they get it; because it won't turn out to be their vision of it.

[Lersayil]

Then I play games like Monster Hunter and see very few people actually role the Hunting Horn. The support job of that game. I always feel like it's one of those things where it's something people think they want but won't actually enjoy it when they get it; because it won't turn out to be their vision of it.

I think its safe to say that people clamoring for supports currently are people that actually played supports in the past. But yes, in the end supports were always a minority, usually due to the strict restrictions on solo and leveling issues associated with them (which probably contributed to the eventual death of the class genre).

Also, while I'm not exactly home in MHW, isn't the hunting horn sort of a meme due to them being able to deal out a handy SMACKDOWN themselves aside from buffing?

[NekoNova]

LOL you ain't right! I can only imagine the anger at the next healer we get being a limited job.

I have my bag of popcorn ready

[Ilyrian]

The problem is, as with any outlier in an MMO, it either becomes mandatory or obsolete.

[Arrius]

Also, while I'm not exactly home in MHW, isn't the hunting horn sort of a meme due to them being able to deal out a handy SMACKDOWN themselves aside from buffing?

It's somewhat too clunky to use and playing the songs on the horn actually draws the aggro of the monster and hits you straight out of it, interrupting and ruining your play.
And you have to play the notes specifically for the songs, which means you often do sup-par DPS.

Some argue it's because of that which makes it bad, some say it's because its labeled as a 'support weapon'.

The popularity of the weapon was nearly always on the last place though, with only about 1% of the hunter population using Hunting Horn.

[Kazrah]

Another question, are some of you disappointed with the amount debuffs players can use? We only have like two, Reprisal and trick attack. Everything else is crowd control (sleep, stun, heavy, ect)

We do still have support debuffs like Addle (caster role ability) and Feint (melee role ability) that both reduce main stats, and I think they do tend to see a little bit of use in savage. I think the biggest issue though is that it's not a main feature.

Best example I ever saw of a "debuffer" in an MMORPG was the Archon soul for the Mage class in Rift, which worked by debuffing itself to give buffs to allies while applying debuffs to enemies that gave buffs to itself that would counteract the debuffs from the group buffs it provided. It wasn't the best damage dealer by any stretch, but it never needed to be with what buffs it brought to the table.

The biggest problem wasn't its damage, but rather the playerbase. Rift was a game that truly had four roles, and this new support role was a truly foreign concept to the thousands of WoW refugees (sounds familiar) flooding the game after the aptly-named Cataclysm expansion. They saw the Bard soul for the Rogue class as a good enough example of a support, saw the buffs, saw the heals it had and collectively believed that the support role in Rift was intended to be an off-healer when neither the support role nor the Archon soul was designed exclusively for that purpose, meaning that particular subclass suffered because of how that player majority perceived the game.

Whenever someone brings up the idea of support classes or support jobs, Rift's Archon always comes to mind for me: an amazing concept that no one understands because of how foreign it is to the vast majority of players so used to the role trinity.

You can have that but you have to accept dps on par with a tank.

Deal. Gimme.

Actually, Dancer does about a teeny bit more damage than Gunbreaker, so maybe it would come out as an improvement for tank damage.