Is Support an imaginary role or something?

[AlphaUnicorn]

Okay, I been noticing on my RiftCount DPS meter that our support dude is always the lowest DPS. I was like okay, whatever, maybe he gives me some cool buffs or something? But I don't see any of these cool buffs on my character. So what exactly does he do? I tried asking in /1 but people said that they just queue as support when they are really a DPS. With this in mind, is there an actual legit "support" role that needs to be fulfilled, or is it just a pseudo-term for a player with low DPS?

[Slipmat]

is there an actual legit "support" role that needs to be fulfilled

Back "in the day" before they swung the big, bad nerf bat on T2's or even some T1's at the start...a support role was almost essential, be it Bard or Chloro

Nowadays with everyone overgearing Experts by a huge amount and they're just turned into an AoE spamfest, pull everything, there is no longer any need for a "Support", a Chloro Mage can easily heal any Expert solo

The LFD still insists on somebody queuing as a Support role though so, say, a Rogue would queue as support but is in full DPS role, if the "support" is insisting he's there as support, then he wants to slack

[Tenof]

All my mage, cleric and rogue toons queue as support as well.

Mage and cleric do offheals when in need, especially when the healer dies.
Mage does decurse, purge, and brez as well. This mage has a specifically-made utility spec for this purpose. If the tank and healer are good, he will change to a pure DPS spec.

Rogue always waits until things are settled before starting firing.
If the healer dies, or got locked up somehow, he changes to bard and heals.


Things you can't clearly see don't mean they are not happening.

[Ancem]

I often end up as Support with my mage in Chloro-whatever roles. I may not have the highest dps but I'm healing while I damage and if someone gets in trouble I have Bloom and Flourish as well as in- and out-of-combat res. During boss fights I help keep the tank alive and take over if the healer dies. On many occasions the entire group would have wiped if it wasn't for me, and a few times they did - except for me, my solo spec has enough healing to keep alive and I've even finished off bosses when everyone else was dead, then started rezzing party members.

Support is like keeping a first aid kit and can of fix-a-flat in your car. Most of the time you don't need them, even forget about them, but you're damn glad to have them when you need them.

[Pixel Monkey]

if i was to queue as support i would consider myself as having to do whatever falls short in the run that my character is capable of

[Zoam]

When I get support, I usually ask the healer if they want/need it, if not, I merrily do DPS.

Rogue or Mage :P

[Bizar]

The average gear level is way higher than the current dungeon content. So support is rarely needed. To be honest even needing a full healer in dungeons is rare now when tanks are well geared and fights are over so quickly.

Most fights can be comfortably healed by clerics in hybrid specs with the exception of a few fights with cleanses, but even some of these can be healed through.

As Slipmat said though, back at launch the gear level was much lower and the content was harder and support was common. I remember completing dungeons in groups with total dps ~1.5-2k. Now its pretty common for individuals to do this on their own.

[NearioNL]

support is not really needed anymore in experts. back in the day around launch, support was actually truly needed.
in raids however they are, and you will def. notice it when you miss supportroles(bard/Archon/etc) though this is subjective to the boss.

[Aphophis]

support is not really needed anymore in experts. back in the day around launch, support was actually truly needed.
in raids however they are, and you will def. notice it when you miss supportroles(bard/Archon/etc) though this is subjective to the boss.

Healer isn't needed either, if you have support. DoL cleric or Bard can easily heal through most experts solo, depending on group.

[Merridwyn]

All of the above. I remember needing to ask a bard to help out in DSM, back in the day when we used to spend 4 hours in there and were very grateful if anyone had a medic.

These days most clerics can main heal in what I used to think of as a healing support build (any sort of icar for clerics). In fact we've run a dungeon without a "healer" and 2 51 Inq's just helping out with the odd healing breath. I guess when a bard can solo heal a 10 man (yeah, we did that too), you rly don't need to worry about support in dungeons.

Saying all of that, if 5 guys/gals, just dinged 50, walked into an expert maybe some support would be needed. So let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.

[Laeris]

Okay, I been noticing on my RiftCount DPS meter that our support dude is always the lowest DPS. I was like okay, whatever, maybe he gives me some cool buffs or something? But I don't see any of these cool buffs on my character. So what exactly does he do? I tried asking in /1 but people said that they just queue as support when they are really a DPS. With this in mind, is there an actual legit "support" role that needs to be fulfilled, or is it just a pseudo-term for a player with low DPS?

Is support needed in this game?
In raids, it is a necessity.
In 5 mans, never.

[NearioNL]

With this in mind, is there an actual legit "support" role that needs to be fulfilled, or is it just a pseudo-term for a player with low DPS?

And no it is no pseudo-term for player with low dps.
Support brings extra healing and buffs to the table. For example a bard gives long buffs, and 5 15sec buffs.
Players who que as support mostly do this to bigger the chance to get into a random dungeon I que as support and dps, instead of just dps.

[MoonfireSpam]

And then you have the loons like me who try to, and occasionally succeed at, soloing expert dungeons.

Soloing it with end game gear poses a challenge... Duo'ing them already makes it boring.

Going in with 5 people is simply to farm marks more often than not

[Neo Omni]

I always que as support.

I have two support specs.

1. Heavy healing/light dps
2. Heavy dps/light healing.

My dps always comes in around 3rd compared to the two damage guys. But I am constantly healing as well. When the healer dies, it's support that takes up the slack in healing. When damage dies, it's support that fills the void.

Jack of all trades, master of none.

[BrownsMageNerfDelivery]

Support was for back in the day when Gatekeeper Kaleida in xDSM required coordination of healing debuffs during the earth phase and Caelia in xCC was a slogfest due to needing a backup healer so one could cleanse off Whirling Tempest while dealing with a Shocking Paralysis that, you know, paralyzed people (stunned).

It's essentially unnecessary these days. If I need to give heal support, I usually end up telling the healer to go DPS since I can keep the tank alive and out-DPS subpar DPSers in pyrochloro (sadly AoE and ST...), but that's also since I have almost three times as much SP as people had back when experts were challenging.