Distributing damage is different In GW2
In GW2, tanking is now more of an active activity. Instead of using skills to dodge, for example, you actually have to dodge realtime. Taunting also becomes a thing of the past, making it vital for every class to have some sustainability in order to mitigate some damage, and take care of themselves.
Movement
CCI-Chill, Cripple, Immobilize
The three best ways to control movement (Abbreviated to CCI to remember easier).
Cripple- Decreases Enemy Speed by 50%
Chilled- Decreases Enemy Speed by 66%
Immobilize- Stuns the enemy (prevents movement+dodging)
These things basically make it easier to control the enemies’ movement. Pretty self-explainable really.
FPLPKS-Ok, that’s not an acronym to remember easily but..
It stands for Fear, Push, Launch, Pull, Knockdown, and Stun These are just generic control abilities:
Fear-Causes enemies to run away from you (Gives distance, can be used in emergency/as an annoying factor/to protect yourself)
Push/Launch- Two different abilities that do the same basic thing. It Pushes or “Launches” the enemy away.
Pull- Opposite of Push/Launch. Pulls the enemy or yourself closer to each other. Also interrupts
Stun-Stuns the enemy. Enemy unable to move/dodge
Knockdown-same as stun
Wards, while exclusive to Guardians, provide one of the best ways to control movement. By placing barriers on the ground, a guardian can get enemies away from downed or low health players, and towards the players more ready to deal and take damage. In PvP, this can stop enemies from going into certain strategic points, or force them to do things which may be to the advantage of yourself, your group, alliance, or server. AoE or “Area of Effect” skills can be used as a deterrent in PvP, and PvE. All enemies will try to avoid walking straight into these skills, so they can be used to do passive damage, and when strategically used block off exits.
Distributing damage is different in GW2, because it can still work off of combinations. For example, if there is someone with a lot of defense and health in a group, he and someone else in the group may be able to take damage, while the rest of the group deals it. On the other hand, the whole group can be distributing damage among them, while healing each other and themselves, and still be as successful as a more tanky-ish method.
Although admittedly, there is no fixed combat in GW2; any class can be killed my any monster if that class utilizes their skills wrongly. It now (finally) takes more skill to kill an enemy in GW2. Even the tankiest person cannot sustain the onslaught of monsters if they don’t utilize skills correctly, or use teamwork in order to stunt the damage. This is where controlling the enemy comes in. In GW2, it can be considered more of a teamwork thing than anything-nevertheless it is vital in both PvE and PvP.