For those who haven't extensively played Ritualist, what do you view them as?

You people think Channeling Ritualists are a joke?

I beg to differ. A little more exploration into chaining skills might be of use to the doubters out there. A Channeling Ritualist in the right hands can dish out enough damage that it won't *matter* if their spells have no armour penetration. Explain your godlyness on the Channeling Rit lol.

Ancestors' Rage - Good Dmg for AoE. Best done off a Warrior. Its decent.
Channeled Strike - Decent dmg, but cast time is meh, and its conditional...
Clamor of Souls - Shouldn't even be elite. There are nonelites IN CHANNELING ITSELF that are better dmg...
Cruel Was Daoshen - Recharge is so ridiculous this is....god.
Destruction - One of the blossoms, this with like a rupture soul is good. Range is lower than I'd like.
Essence Strike - I can see its reason for being there..basically free cheap dmg. But...like said Ele has these types that have AP too..
Gaze from Beyond - Conditional, but good dmg. Its decent.
Grasping Was Kuurong - Why is this Elite?
Lamentation - No. Decent dmg on a 30 recharge.
Nightmare Weapon - So-So. but I guess for 5 energy you cant expect much, looking at balance.
Painful Bond - LEET SAUCE. Not. Its like Barbs, awesome, cause everyone loves and uses Barbs.
Signet of Spirits - Linked to the wrong attribute...and it really requires spirit spamming to be effective...but OPPS Spirit Spammers already have to use Twisting or Lord..
Spirit Boon Strike - Novelty spell. mid-range dmg on less than decent cast/recharge, this is of course balanced by it healing your spirits...yea.
Spirit Burn - Its like the Flare of Channeling alittle more dmg for a longer recharge.
Spirit Rift - Reminds me of Stoning, except alittle more dmg, a 3 sec wait for the foe to leave, twice the cast time, and no Good Side effect to justify it.
Spirit Siphon - At max Channeling, this gives 9 energy, a net of 4. This sounds awesome on a 3 recharge...but the rewards are only noticable if you keep it up - meaning new spirits every few secs to siphon from, good luck with that.
Splinter Weapon - Decent AoE on bunched up groups
Wailing Weapon - Interupt Rangers, Assassins, and Warriors with other Assassins, Rangers, or Warriors

Nothing just SCREAMS out at me that would make me take this line. The line as it is now is just some /Decent/ Dmg on less than decent Cast times and Recharges, and no good extras except 2-3 mediocore Energy management spells.

Personally I find rits to be not quite as good as monks, but for a hard mission, say thk id perfer 2 monks and a rit to just 2 monks. Rits are more versitile then monks, but monks are stronger at healing IMO You can do THK with one monk and no ritualist -- we did it this weekend.

With a ritualist, you can darn well do THK with one monk. One very bored monk. :-)

Meaning, if you're gathering a group for a mission and you see "Ritualist LFG" in chat, do you consider taking them? Do you see them as a poor man's healer? I'd assume it was a spiritspammer, as spiritspamming is so godly. Half of the time I don't know what the spirits do, but it's pretty obvious they're doing something good.

Would I take one? Yes, of course.

Meaning, if you're gathering a group for a mission and you see "Ritualist LFG" in chat, do you consider taking them? Do you see them as a poor man's healer? I love ritalists. If I see one LFG I take him/her of course. However, I see many, many party leaders refuse them, for no apparent reason. I think they just don't understand what a ritualist does or can do.

I spend most of my time in PvE Tyria, and ritualists are hard to find there, although there are a few creeping into ToA now. But not enough to have one on demand if you say "LF ritualist".

Btw, I play a monk, and yes monks are better healers, and better at protecting one character, but ritualists are so great for protecting the whole party, and makes my job as a monk so much easier because people hardly get hurt.

Edit: btw, I haven't played a rit myself, so I don't know exactly what they can do apart from being a rit lord. I've had ritalists in my party who spammed other spirits that blinded, interrupted etc, and that person was just as useful as a protecting spirit spammer. Love those spirits.

I see Ritualists and I think "gee, this gvg is going straight to VoD isn't it?" then I think "I wish I could remove all ritualists from guildwars forever." When I see a Rit in PvP, I like to divert them. Or have a ranger interrupt them. And then they don't really matter anymore

btw, I haven't played a rit myself, so I don't know exactly what they can do apart from being a rit lord. Get a good Rt with dmg spirits in your party, then do last mission in Factions and Prophecies, and visit the areas with monsters whose level is above 20 Have fun