Please pay attention to the Shield, beloved devs!
As a Guardian, the first thing that struck me was the Mace/Shield combination. It’s beautiful, heroic, especially with the Guild Tower Shield (which is the best shield skin ever), but it really frustrates me. The Mace’s number 3 doesn’t infinitely block ranged attacks like all other blocks(although it’s altruistic and deals a load of damage), but the main issue is the SHIELD.
The Shield simply pales in comparison in all game modes against the Focus (self-sustain with blinds, optional vulnerability, regeneration, blocks and a bit of DPS) and the Torch (niche DPS weapon) .
The Protection the Shield of Judgment gives really lets me down. As a low damage skill that gives 5s of Protection with a 30 seconds of cooldown (the Hammer can give permanent protection), that I need to use away from melee range (this is a Shield) to hit (I’m in melee range, gotta dodge back to give Protection to my allies from mid range). Could be an AoE Protection, or even Aegis! (would make a lot of people happy) and maybe a bit of control (stun/daze, it is a kind of bash).
The Shield of Absorption is a kind of shield people forget is altruistic, it’s a nice heal, projectile absorption and stuff. But the cooldown is still, way too long. Maybe if another buff was involved as well, or the projectiles were reflected, a bigger heal, I don’t really know.
tl,dr; —- Please change how the Shield of Judgment applies Protection, not a cone—-
and what it applies and the cooldown of it. Shield of Absorption is in a really good spot, just where you always love to say the Guardian is (in a good spot), but the cooldown is also really long (even when traited).
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading, if you did. Have a nice day!