Guild Wars 2

It’s been nearly 3 years and the aegis visual effect still needs to go, for all the same reasons: it ruins the visuals of almost every offhand in the game, especially shields. If you think its an important visual cue for players, then there are only two realistic options:

• Aegis visual only appears when in combat
• Aegis visual only appears in PvP and WvW

There are other effects such as retaliation and Signet of Rage, but unlike aegis you can turn those off by swapping skills or just not using the buff. All guardians are stuck with aegis all the time, no matter what they do. Changing the effect won’t work for this reason: its still permanent.

Lots of people have suggested an option to toggle the appearance on and off. That’s not going to work. First off, the effects of aegis are universally negative. I’m glad you like using one out of the five shields that aegis doesn’t ruin, but its insane to think that it should be kept in any capacity.

Second, it won’t work pragmatically, because Anet can’t be bothered to code that in the game. It’s been nearly three years without any change. At this point we’d all be grateful for the most rudimentary fix. Asking them to code a special toggle switch for this is not realistic.

Anet, you fixed the engineer hobo sack and we all commend you for it, so why haven’t you yet fixed the equally detrimental effects of Aegis? After all, it must have been pretty embarrassing to publish the horribly clipped guardian longbow image on your Dragonhunter blog post.

This is very true.

(Edited)

if u guys are complaining about the aegis cliping with shield on combat Anet just need to increase the distance between aegis and the body model, or make Aegis a ghost clipping copy of the shield player is using to give a glow effect to any shield.

Yes, it ruins almost every shield skin. Even the expensive and rare ones like Ghastly grinning shield

You want to shatter me?! Why? What did I do to you?

Nah, seriously, I also don’t see a problem with aegis either, but… I’m all for options.

Aeolus.3615:

…… i dont see any problem with aegis.

it only apears if i draw weapons/perform skill or get atacked………..

That is the point. It ruins screenshots with your weapons drawed.

I like how Aegis looks though, especially with GSes.

Malediktus.3740:

Aeolus.3615:

…… i dont see any problem with aegis.

it only apears if i draw weapons/perform skill or get atacked………..

That is the point. It ruins screenshots with your weapons drawed.

Not only that but if you ever want to do any kind of role playing, or just plain like having your weapons drawn while standing around, it’s there. Its sufficiently annoying and accomplishes sufficiently little (especially in PvE) that it should have its behaviour altered.

Fermi.2409:

I like how Aegis looks though, especially with GSes.

This is my opinion as well. Always liked the idea of a little shield with a GS. Guardians can have it.

I really like the aegis on my guardian. it gives my guardian a unique quirk to set it apart from the other professions.

I would be okay with it being an option though.

I’d say let Guardians keep the Aegis animation and model, but turn it off for other classes? It’s the only happy medium I can come up with right now in my tired state.

MrWubzy.3587:

I’d say let Guardians keep the Aegis animation and model, but turn it off for other classes? It’s the only happy medium I can come up with right now in my tired state.

The people who are upset are so because they can’t take pretty screenshots without their aegis animation.

Malediktus.3740:

Aeolus.3615:

…… i dont see any problem with aegis.

it only apears if i draw weapons/perform skill or get atacked………..

That is the point. It ruins screenshots with your weapons drawed.

Weapons are Drawn

You Draw your weapon, fight with it drawn, and scabbard/sheathe it when you are done.

Jerus.4350:

MrWubzy.3587:

I’d say let Guardians keep the Aegis animation and model, but turn it off for other classes? It’s the only happy medium I can come up with right now in my tired state.

The people who are upset are so because they can’t take pretty screenshots without their aegis animation.

I suppose it all comes down to opinion then. Personally I never thought Aegis got in the way of any screenies I took, but it’s obvious a few players here dislike it. At the end of the day, though, you have to ask yourself if it’s really as big an issue as you make it out to be.

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

Malediktus.3740:

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

This is why aegis needs to change. No other effect has such an intrusive animation to it, and players have no choice but to have it up. The only other thing I can think of that might be a viable solution is to turn off auto aegis on demand, but given how unimportant the issue is to Anet even that solution seems like its too much work to be realistic.

I’m perfectly happy with Aegis on both my Guardians just the way it is.

Malediktus.3740:

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

Holy crap, a Grinning Shield mint in the original packaging!

Malediktus.3740:

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

And that is why i dont use shields on guardian anymore. As soon as i make “The Flameseeker Prophecys” im giving it to my mesmer….

Dante.1763:

Malediktus.3740:

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

And that is why i dont use shields on guardian anymore. As soon as i make “The Flameseeker Prophecys” im giving it to my mesmer….

I just don’t use shield on my Guardian because it’s bad…

Fermi.2409:

Dante.1763:

Malediktus.3740:

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

And that is why i dont use shields on guardian anymore. As soon as i make “The Flameseeker Prophecys” im giving it to my mesmer….

I just don’t use shield on my Guardian because it’s bad…

If players want to use shields, especially legendary shields, they should be able to without that kitten aegis effect ruining its look

The deep, dark truth is that aegis inevitably ruins many shields, but the cost was negligable so long as Shield was never good on Guardian.

I hate aegis shield aesthetic.

- it’s ugly
- it ruins virtually every proper physical shield’s appearance in the game
- there needn’t be any visual queue for it because:
a) everyone and their mum’s brown dog knows the first hit you make on a guardian will be blocked
b) aegis is a boon and is already clear as day displayed on the character’s bar of active boons/signets/buffs etc which is what your enemy will glance at anyway

It should be removed or toggle-able.

The only problems I see this posing if it were switched off would be:

- new players not knowing why their attack was blocked (L2P issue tbh.. Just look at your enemies boons first)

It’s why I make warriors instead coz’ at least they get a PROPER shield that isn’t wrecked by ugly aegis.

Finally some attention to this matter! I also have a ghastly grinning shield, but it just look soooo disgusting with aegis around. Have been waiting for a long time for them to fix this, but they still haven’t done anything!

They should just:
- change the animation to something different or turn it off completely
- like others suggested: toggle-able aegis
- make aegis only visible by entering a battle
- turn the animation off in PvE
- turn the animation off when wearing a shield
Few options to choose from, hope anet will finally consider this case!

Why not just give players the option to either show or hide the aegis effect? You could also add options to show it only on other players, or only on enemies. That would be the easiest way to solve the issue for all parties involved.

Fermi.2409:

Dante.1763:

Malediktus.3740:

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

And that is why i dont use shields on guardian anymore. As soon as i make “The Flameseeker Prophecys” im giving it to my mesmer….

I just don’t use shield on my Guardian because it’s bad…

Cecilia.5179:

The deep, dark truth is that aegis inevitably ruins many shields, but the cost was negligable so long as Shield was never good on Guardian.

This is such a defeatist attitude though.

• Aegis ruins the look of shields but it’s ok because…
• Shields are poorly balanced and useless

Neither one of these should be true!

What if in HoT shield receives some serious buffs such that it becomes meta? Would you still be ok with the effects of aegis? What if focus becomes meta? Would you, who spent a lot of money on the anomaly, be ok with it being permanently covered up with aegis? So much attention is devoted to shields because the affects of aegis are so much worse on them, but don’t forget foci. They have some of the most unique and interesting skins in the game, and they’re all covered up by aegis too. It really truly needs to go, no matter how you look at it.

I don’t know too much about programming, but I think it shouldn’t be that hard to remove something from a game ? It’s not like it is game breaking by changing a few things, especially something that has been bugging the guardian community for as long as gw2 exists. There was one time I requested the flute to be fixed by inserting a “pause” button instead of “unequipping” the instrument, anet reacted to that pretty fast and included it in the following patch.
I mean, for others, this might not be a big deal, but for people like me who tends to design my character, even if the choice is bad, it is indeed a big deal.
It’s like having a fly in your room, you don’t care for it at first, but if it’s still there after hours, it will surely become very annoying.

Kirnale.5914:

I don’t know too much about programming, but I think it shouldn’t be that hard to remove something from a game ? It’s not like it is game breaking by changing a few things, especially something that has been bugging the guardian community for as long as gw2 exists. There was one time I requested the flute to be fixed by inserting a “pause” button instead of “unequipping” the instrument, anet reacted to that pretty fast and included it in the following patch.
I mean, for others, this might not be a big deal, but for people like me who tends to design my character, even if the choice is bad, it is indeed a big deal.
It’s like having a fly in your room, you don’t care for it at first, but if it’s still there after hours, it will surely become very annoying.

That’s a good way of putting it. If you put together a loadout that you’re proud of, its never going to be as good as you want it because aegis is always there, always glowing. Its grates on the nerves more and more as time goes on, unless you happen to like it, in which case you’re just crazy.

Oh for the love of god! 1000 times yes! Anet please do something about this. I know some dev probably spent a lot of time designing it and wants us to look at his work but….

1. It’s fugly
2. It doesn’t sit parallel to the forearm so it is clips my totally awesome gloves.
2.5 It hides one of my totally awesome gloves.
3. Makes any shield I want to use fugly
4. It’s ruining the look I am going for.

Psycho Robot.7835:

What if in HoT shield receives some serious buffs such that it becomes meta? Would you still be ok with the effects of aegis?

Yeah. I honestly sort of like the effect on top of my Shield. I guess it could be annoying if I used Cragstone or something but it’s still not too huge of a deal.

Psycho Robot.7835:

What if focus becomes meta?

It already is…

Psycho Robot.7835:

Would you, who spent a lot of money on the anomaly, be ok with it being permanently covered up with aegis?

Aegis doesn’t even cover up focuses: http://tinyurl.com/p7cboxf

Psycho Robot.7835:

It really truly needs to go, no matter how you look at it.

Not in the slightest. At most they should add a toggle. Overall, the way your backpiece gets sucked onto your shield when sheathing/unsheathing weapons is way more annoying.

I don’t know what image you were trying to show me, but I think I might understand why you were confused. You see, in this screenshot, I’m currently wearing a focus, but the focus is not the glowing blue shield. That’s aegis. The focus is the bottle you can barely see because aegis is covering it up.

Yeah, of course it’s blocked by Aegis. That’s because you’re looking directly at it. Turn the camera a slight amount and you can see it fine, like you can see in my screenshot.

The point I was trying to make is that, even if it’s not perfectly overlapping, its still a distracting nuisance that you can’t ever make go away, and it ruins the aesthetics of a lot of peoples’ loadouts.

Psycho Robot.7835:

The point I was trying to make is that, even if it’s not perfectly overlapping, its still a distracting nuisance that you can’t ever make go away

Sure, when you hold it at an angle so it specifically blocks whatever.

That being said, sure, some people don’t like it. However, plenty of people do; asking for it to be removed is grossly unfair to all of them.

Fermi.2409:

Psycho Robot.7835:

The point I was trying to make is that, even if it’s not perfectly overlapping, its still a distracting nuisance that you can’t ever make go away

Sure, when you hold it at an angle so it specifically blocks whatever.

That being said, sure, some people don’t like it. However, plenty of people do; asking for it to be removed is grossly unfair to all of them.

If you have to specifically position your camera to avoid your screenshot being ruined by a shield, I consider that a problem. Even if it wasn’t position just so, the shield would still be there, and I’d still consider it a problem. And I don’t consider it unfair. It just puts aegis in line with all the other buffs with subtle and, more importantly, optional graphic effects. Consider for a moment if might made your arm catch fire. There are a lot of people who liked fiery edgy demon builds who would love that. But what about everyone else? Then consider that for warriors, might was on permanently.

Psycho Robot.7835:

If you have to specifically position your camera to avoid your screenshot being ruined by a shield, I consider that a problem.

You have it backwards. You have to perfectly position the camera to have Aegis “ruin” the screenshot; there are many more angles where you can’t even see it then ones where it will play any role.

Psycho Robot.7835:

Even if it wasn’t position just so, the shield would still be there, and I’d still consider it a problem.

Good for you. That’s not any sort of argument, though.

Psycho Robot.7835:

And I don’t consider it unfair. It just puts aegis in line with all the other buffs with subtle and, more importantly, optional graphic effects. Consider for a moment if might made your arm catch fire. There are a lot of people who liked fiery edgy demon builds who would love that. But what about everyone else? Then consider that for warriors, might was on permanently.

Optional is the name of the game here. People should be able to turn stuff off if they want to. They can do whatever they want with their game. However, requesting that something be removed whether everyone else likes it or not is ridiculous.

More angles where you can’t see it than you can’t? Its huge and extends way past your arm! You can always see it. It plays a “role” in nearly every angle. Sure, there are only a few worst possible angles, but that doesn’t make it any less unfair that it’s a concern at all.

Im kinda with Psycho, the effect should be much less noticeable, like every other boon in the game. Hell, at least you can turn off the graphics of conditions(the green of poison for example). Id sure like to be able to do that with boons too.

I made a tread about this a couple/few years ago. Still want the visual effects of [Aegis] to be optionally turned off. I use a focus most of the time and that big shield kittens me off. Like when I use the reward torch bundle, kite or balloon out of combat, there is always a big ugly glowing shield there.

I’m surprised we don’t have more guardians here asking for this.

Fermi.2409:

Yeah, of course it’s blocked by Aegis. That’s because you’re looking directly at it. Turn the camera a slight amount and you can see it fine, like you can see in my screenshot.

It’s like looking at really hot chick. She is perfect except for this big hairy mole just to the left of her nose. You try looking at her from different angles but to know the mole is still there waiting for her turn her head. You try ignoring it and looking past it at the person behind it but all you see is that big hairy mole.

I’d like a toggle for it. As I said, I like the look of it and it doesn’t ruin anything in my mind. But for those who dislike the way it looks and its function, there should be a toggle.

Fermi.2409:

You have it backwards. You have to perfectly position the camera to have Aegis “ruin” the screenshot; there are many more angles where you can’t even see it then ones where it will play any role.

Show me a way to make a screenshot with my grinning shield:
- without seeing aegis at all
- showing the “grinning” of my shield, the front side
You see, it’s impossible as long as aegis is on. And yes, people buy shields to look at it, not to avoid it.
Also, it’s almost makes 50% of the angle where you can see aegis with a shield on. With focus, you can see it 100% from everywhere.

Optional is the name of the game here. People should be able to turn stuff off if they want to. They can do whatever they want with their game. However, requesting that something be removed whether everyone else likes it or not is ridiculous.

I may agree with you on this one. There are many ways to do it, but having the option to choose is always the best.

Substance E.4852:

Malediktus.3740:

Look what it does to my pretty and expensive shield! It is soulcrushing.

Holy crap, a Grinning Shield mint in the original packaging!

HA! Brilliant

I would love to have a toggle, it would be the best of both worlds. However, there are some problems with that. First off, any client side toggle would be the worst solution. You wouldn’t see it, but other people still would. If you were in any screenshots that somebody else took, your aegis would still be there, mocking you from beyond the grave. Everything else in the game lets you control how others see you – armor and weapon skins, dyes, outfits, makeover kits… imagine how empty those would seem if only you could see their effects.

Next, people have been complaining about this since before time began, and Anet hasn’t made any changes to it. Its clear they have bigger priorities than this, and that’s fine, but so long as they do, its not realistic to expect them to code a complex toggle. The simplest, least complicated solution is the most likely to be implemented, and the least complicated solution is to simply get rid of the effect. There are those who say that its an important visual cue. I disagree. First off, its on the buff bar like every other effect. Second, stability can be just as important but it has no visual cue. Third, there’s no cue for endurance and dodge is a much more powerful version of aegis.

I see a lot of people saying that they like the look of aegis and so don’t want it to go away. I think its great that you can make the best of a bad situation like that. It’s great that you’re going for a look that isn’t completely ruined by aegis. But put yourself in the shoes of someone for whom aegis wouldn’t match at all. What if you were trying to go for a fiery aesthetic? A baby blue shield completely kittens all that up. What if you were an edgelord going for supermegapitchblack? Again, a baby blue shield looks ridiculous.

The appearance of aegis forces guardians to work within certain limitations to avoid looking absurd. No other class has to deal with this. It removes control of the player’s appearance and forces them to accept a certain aesthetic. It clips horribly though shields and gets in the way of offhands. It shines like a beacon, constantly drawing attention to it, and if you don’t like the way it looks, that gets really really irritating.

I hate the aegis visual effect, nothing more to say.

pure.4329:

I hate the aegis visual effect, nothing more to say.

No man, this is ok, because you can still see your weapons if you look around the aegis!

At least it’s not a mount thread. If it’s that much of an issue for you, keep cycling F3.

Basandra Skye.4031:

At least it’s not a mount thread. If it’s that much of an issue for you, keep cycling F3.

Yeah, but that doesn’t work when you’re in a city or otherwise not in combat, and also its more hassle than people should have to take to get rid of that stupid glowy shield.

I’ll never craft a flameseeker prophecies despite it being the best looking legendary in the game because A) aegis effect is ugly and ruins all shields. shields suck anyway.

Psycho Robot.7835:

Basandra Skye.4031:

At least it’s not a mount thread. If it’s that much of an issue for you, keep cycling F3.

Yeah, but that doesn’t work when you’re in a city or otherwise not in combat, and also its more hassle than people should have to take to get rid of that stupid glowy shield.

Death by fall damage. Gets rid of it that easily. Granted, it’s also less hassle to not play a guardian, not play the game, or simply not care about the particle effects.