Guild Wars 2

Just a thought I wanted to jot down…

Archon – Tank mage

Theme – Grey Warriors who move towards balance (not specifically justice) and karma, rewarding the good deeds of others as well as penalizing those who cause inequities in the world. They follow the fighting theme of Jujitsu (or Judo) and use the aggressors force against them, where the asian fighting style is replaced with a stylized “magical manipulation and telekinesis”.

Its basically a tank-mage that equips heavy armor and can wield main hand foci and torches, or dual wield scepters or maces. Traits focus on sharing and strengthening boons cast on you from other sources, redirecting damage and sharing the burden of conditions with those who attack you. Active skills involve shadow capture (root yourself AND them), blocking and using the strengths of your enemies against them. Also, you can “tether” yourself to someone (for a short duration) snaring you both and sharing the total of all damage inflicted and healing done by them (with the downside of taking 20% more damage from any other source).

-#1 of each weapon is an auto attack (power based)
-#2 of each weapon is a block and counter
-#3 of each weapon is a combined MH/OH attack like a thief.
-#4 of each OH is an escape
-#5 of each OH is an auto attack (condi based)

Overall metas
Power based – Foci and Mace combos
Condi based – scepter/torch combos
Bunker based – multiplying boons and redirecting damage.

While power or conditions may be how you outrightly cause damage, this class would play very defensively and reactively, depending on who or what you came across. Failure to connect with any skill as it is designed will punish the caster. Use a block command without blocking someone during the duration and you get a weakness condition cast on you. Set up to block ranged attacks, but instead are hit by melee causes a daze on you. Think of it kinda like the npc that makes you test the experimental staff in the Asuran starting zone. You start out looking awesome, but if the skill you were setting up doesn’t connect, you end up burned.

Scepter – 1200 range (telekinetic thwacks)
Focus – 900 range (creates and shoots balls of light)
Torch – 900 range (fire whip animations)
Maces – melee range (judging strikes)

The Guardian already fills a lot of these functions though.

Presumably, this game doesn’t have “tanks”.

More than a few ideas have been spawned for a third soldier class and alot have involved the idea of plain magic(since its kinda the only magic that hasn’t been taken). I like the idea of reactionary moves but i don’t think players should really be punished for them. Not landing a move is punishment enough. Also, anybody who doesnt think tanks and bunkers exist should…take a look around. I would love to see a third class that can take a beating, but I of course would want it to be able to do other stuff to (like all classes).

Hmm. This is built for a role that’s already filled by support guardians and control warriors. They need to bring something original to the table, something the game is lacking that they can do better than everyone else.

As others said, guardians and warriors already cover that niche. I still think it’d be better if engineers were heavy and we got a new medium armour profession instead

smekras.8203:

As others said, guardians and warriors already cover that niche. I still think it’d be better if engineers were heavy and we got a new medium armour profession instead

I dunno, I can’t really agree with engineers wearing metal armor, seems somewhat out of place.

Just add Shadow Knights so heavy armor crusader fans can be happy.

We need a dark bloodthirsty heavy.

I really like the idea of the heavy armored mage. I do think it’s something this game is lacking, since the medium armor goes to Ranger, Engy, and Thief, none of which are mystical. It somewhat pigeon-holes casters who want to be offensive (typically more “magical” Guardians are support-based) into cloth armor, which some people may not like aesthetically.

As some have mentioned, I think the biggest challenge would be making it very unique and different from the Guardian.

To add to your idea of “linking” maybe that could be the class mechanic. Two or three skills that link you and your opponent on semi-long cooldowns would be incredible class mechanics, and they could theme them to be based around karma, like you said. For example the first class mechanic could be a simple “share all boons and conditions with your target”. Super situational, but also really freaking awesome for group play. The second class mechanic could be something like shadow tether where you both are immobilized or something (you take extra damage from other sources so it’s not too OP, makes it possible to counter play to target you). The third skill could be something like “Shadow Dance” where for a few seconds, your opponent mirrors your actions, so if you move left, so does he, and if you jump, so does he, but it would put you into a shadowy state and remove all skills from the skill bar.

i always liked to see the berserker to be added, a class that focuses on full bloody damage but with a defense weakness.
the warrior is both offense and support, the guardian is offense and defense, the berserker can focus on pure offense and conditions.

Knighthonor.4061:

Just add Shadow Knights so heavy armor crusader fans can be happy.

Not to want to sound rude or by any means insulting/disrespectful, but that change wouldn’t make “heavy armor crusader fans” happy..

This change would makes only the World of Warcraft “Nerd” in You happy and nobody else besides all other WoW Nerds that just would like to see GW2 turning into a WoW Clone in regard of Classes…

It’s really not overseeable from the history of your postings in other forums like Guru for example, where you are coming from and that you are the type of player, who likes such typical 0815 crap (in my own opinion) from WoW, like Paladins or Death Knights and the like, so basically stuff that simply doesn’t fit into this game and its world/lore that is build all around it.

You know what would be really innovative?
If Anet adds into GW2 Sub Classes (a system from that the complete game can profitate from), like for example the Witcher for the Necromancer, because then you would have instantly in GW2 a specialization for the Necromancer, that would be made for a much more melee combat orientated playstyle and there – et voila, there you would have your basically “Shadow/Death Knight” without there being the need to implement a complete new separate Class, that would just come over, like a Warrior/Necromancer Hybrid anyways.

Instead anet would just use everything, that the game already HAS and improves what the game already offers us and takes it up to the next step of character progression and THAT – is in the end for this game far more important, than just adding only 1 new class.