Is it viable to play as support (not healer)

Ironleg

Hi,
I used to play this game called Knight Online and there I played what we call “buffer”. Meaning that my duty in parties was to cast support spells (+attack, +resistance, etc) and resurrect people. Now this does not mean that I was a healer because we usually had dedicated person who heals and dedicated person who mainly provides support spells and does minor dps.
I was wondering if it would be viable to play like that in ESO seeing that there are many useful support spells. I know that it would be hard solo and I’m fine with that but I wonder would anyone invite such class to raids/pvp groups?

SFBryan18

Oh wait, not healer? Never mind.

dsalter

i see this as viable using a dragon knight or templar but most "support" abilities are rolled into heals as well so your kind of both anyways, just dragonknights have a weapon damage buff for others and templar has this aura that helps others magicka and stamina regen faster

xaraan

I have a hard time picturing a good support role that doesn't consist of any healing. I would say in a large PvP group you could probably get away with it, but won't be contributing as much as other players in the end. If you are talking support like, buffing weapons with "molten weapons" or something, then I'd definitely say no, if you are talking about loading up with all the assault/support skills from PvP, then in some cases, sure. The ultimates are beneficial, purge, siege shield, caltrops, rapid maneuver are all great, but many players will also be running at least one of those as well and there is often a bit of overlap (and there should be, but how much depends on the size and makeup of the group). I would suggest at least running a resto staff with one heal, then use the other four slots for various support role powers, that way you are also laying down heals as you purge and do other things for the group.

Outside of PvP? I'd say not really. In most dungeons where there is a limit on players (4man or 12man trials) a pure support role would leave the team a man short of something they probably need: tank, dps or heals.

NewBlacksmurf

By design when people open up to supporting the game for dungeons and raids are more fun and easier.

If everyone had one skill that supported another it makes a big difference. Imagine not depending on one person to heal everyone but instead buffing the healer and being healed with increased dmg and armor for all 4 or 25 this would be great.

Wishful thinking but yes there is a place for support in larger groups especially raiding.

Artemiisia

Im a vr12 dd sors, and I do support off-heals on some of the bosses.

Like first boss in Hel Ra

traigusb14_ESO2

As others have said you should probably split it support/DPS or support/heals.

This is true the other way too though. 100% DPS characters and 100% heal characters (like resto temps) should really consider several skills to help out in other ways.

The greatness of ESO is everyone can contribute in a lot of ways. 1-2 support, CC, buff, debuff etc skills can go a long way to help everyone in the group stay alive.

KhajitFurTrader

xaraan wrote: »

I have a hard time picturing a good support role that doesn't consist of any healing. [...]

Outside of PvP? I'd say not really. In most dungeons where there is a limit on players (4man or 12man trials) a pure support role would leave the team a man short of something they probably need: tank, dps or heals.

Back in the day, LOTRO had not only one, but two strong support roles (for groups of 6 and raids of 12 or 24). One was responsible for enemy debuffing, CC, mana replenishment, and off-off-healing (Lore-master), the other for group buffs, off-tanking/healing, and a little DPS on the side (Captain).

Woe and almost certain doom was onto the raid group who dared to leave for dungeoneering without one (or both) of them. In smaller groups, they made the fights so much easier due to a lager margin of error caused by their skills.

I'd love to see strong(er) opportunities for supporting roles in ESO's PvE content, because the demand would rise, and thus awareness that there can be a certain finesse to solving encounters, not just dumb DPS-races or tank-and-spank.

AlexDougherty

There are a few buffs, but mostly abilities are either damage or heal.

So playing as support but not healer isn't really viable. Playing as a Tank/Healer/DPS who occassionally buffs his allies is viable though.

Soloeus

You only get exp/loot/achievement for dealing damage and healing. So you need a minimum amount of that.

Wifeaggro13

Ironleg wrote: »

Hi,
I used to play this game called Knight Online and there I played what we call “buffer”. Meaning that my duty in parties was to cast support spells (+attack, +resistance, etc) and resurrect people. Now this does not mean that I was a healer because we usually had dedicated person who heals and dedicated person who mainly provides support spells and does minor dps.
I was wondering if it would be viable to play like that in ESO seeing that there are many useful support spells. I know that it would be hard solo and I’m fine with that but I wonder would anyone invite such class to raids/pvp groups?

There is no support or tanks in this game. Development teams are making some serious design decisions that are destroying group play. Partially due to reducing group sizes . I am very disapointed in the last four years of releases due to this . The last MMO to offer Multiple roles was Rift and that game was a massive success a 70 percent retention , smallish budget first game for a new company.

Though people complain about needing certain roles to certain content its primarily coming from solist's that DPS. the MMO community loves support roles and CC roles its sad Developers have gotten lazy then Blamed it on us.

Wifeaggro13

AlexDougherty wrote: »

There are a few buffs, but mostly abilities are either damage or heal.

So playing as support but not healer isn't really viable. Playing as a Tank/Healer/DPS who occassionally buffs his allies is viable though.

There is no tank in this game its DPS that taunts.

mousekime111rwb17_ESO

I'd like the think that the current tank role fills this anyways. I came here from league of legends (hell i still play the damned game) and I know that to support can be anything outside of dealing / soaking damage. It's often in the form of making things easier - A DK tank for instance using talons, standard, bone shield, molten weapons igneous shield and of course taunting the heavy hitters / boss. Or a templar dropping blazing shards just infront of the duel wield dps to keep them in stamina so that they can keep up in damage with the rest of the group, using backlash.

It's also worth mentioning that all of the undaunted abilities have amazing synergies - the inner fire proc... that's an AOE uppercut/snipe/crystal shards - that can be cast by 3 people at once - 11 in a trial. trapping webs does a butload of aoe if people are one the ball with the synergy, boneshield is just downright amazing and necrotic orb is just amazing - blow it up in a group of six enemies and all 4 members of your group get 150ish magicka back, it also does an okay amount of aoe damage (not as much as trapping webs though)

So yes it is definitely viable to be a support, although it needs to be tied into another role. I'd like to see an organized group running with a templar magicka based dps and a medium armor duel wield dps class swapping necrotic orbs and blazing shards amongst each other for resource management. More tanks running inner fire for the FREE aoe it gives. What about a nightblade giving up a slot that doesn't really do much for summon shades - cause 15% reduced damage from the enemy for such a long duration that it has almost 0 impact on your magicka pool

UPrime

NB has some buff abilities as well. Pretty much all classes do. But in general, if you play a "support" char, you're really playing DPS+support. You'd have something like 3-4 pure dps abilities, then 1-2 buff abilities. You'd also use abilities that have synergies, but that also requires that you're team knows how to use them.

Aeratus

Wifeaggro13 wrote: »

Development teams are making some serious design decisions that are destroying group play. Partially due to reducing group sizes . I am very disapointed in the last four years of releases due to this . The last MMO to offer Multiple roles was Rift and that game was a massive success a 70 percent retention , smallish budget first game for a new company.

Though people complain about needing certain roles to certain content its primarily coming from solist's that DPS. the MMO community loves support roles and CC roles its sad Developers have gotten lazy then Blamed it on us.

There are "roles," it's just that each person has multiple roles. When I'm playing as NB tank, I use resto and/or destro staff to add healing and dps to the group. Also, high level magicka dps (which is the preferred form anyways) will often bring offheals to contribute to the healing. In ESO, it's not that there are no roles, it's just that everyone has to contribute to each function (defense, healing, and dps).

Regarding "support" chars, there are support skills, but there's not enough substantiality in support skills to have a person solely dedicated to this role.

freespirit

Just one word.......

BARDS!!

traigusb14_ESO2

freespirit wrote: »

Just one word.......

BARDS!!

Ow my wrist!

(Former old school EQ bard)