Guild Wars 2

im a huge shield fan and shield bashing people in the face is what i love doing in rpg’s – but in this game, they are very underwhelming on all characters…i think the focus is to much on their defensive capabilities and not enough offense – and that the skills are not only not really fun to use but also very underwhelming…

there need to be more shieldbashes, charges, something with umpf and knock back or down that has more defensive “utility” than defensive “statistics” and thats FUN

Honestly – im playing this game since late spring of this year – and i have NEVER in no game mode see any class use a shield – except maybe for engineer (the traditional shield class of course)…

I really hope anet adresses this with some more interesting and fun shield builds for future specialization – as right now they are quite wasted – and this is also sad from a visual perspective (especially regarding guild representation etc.)…

I use a Mace/Shield in my 2nd weapon set on my Guardian because I’m a thug and don’t care about the meta. All my gear is Soldier and I only do what I find interesting. At the same time, I don’t expect to participate in events where people would demand me to min/max my character and I’m fine with that. I play this strictly for fun and it delivers.

SirServed.5693:

I use a Mace/Shield in my 2nd weapon set on my Guardian because I’m a thug and don’t care about the meta. All my gear is Soldier and I only do what I find interesting. At the same time, I don’t expect to participate in events where people would demand me to min/max my character and I’m fine with that. I play this strictly for fun and it delivers.

spoken like a true boss

As far as I see it, shield skills are 50/50, when it comes to defense and offense.

Warrior
[Offense] Shield Bash – Bash your foe with your shield and stun them.
[Defense] Shield Stance – Block attacks.

Guardian
[Offense] Shield of Judgment – Create a shielding wave in front of you that damages foes and gives protection to yourself and up to five allies.
[ Defense] Shield of Absorption – Create a dome around you that pushes foes back and absorbs projectiles. (it heals too)

Engineer
[Defense] Magnetic Shield – Create a magnetic field that reflects projectiles and can be released to push back foes.
[Offense] Static Shield – Electrify your shield, preparing to throw it at foes. If you are hit, the shield discharges, stunning your nearby attacker.

I don’t see your point of needing more of either offense or defense.

The main problem with shields is really where they sit on the weapon bars of classes that use them. Because they can only be wielded in the off hand, conventions of GW2 demand that they be fairly long cooldown skills which don’t really define “shield turtle fighter” the way you’d usually expect, where the shield abilities are shorter cooldowns, and offensive abilities are the longer ones, but still using the weapon rather than the shield as an auto.

To remedy this they’d basically have to swap the mechanics in a new elite spec, which changed the weapons from MH1,2,3/oh 4,5 to MH 1,2/OH 3,4,5 and some creative massaging of cooldown mechanics. That would, of course, require adding a new 3 skill to all the other non-elite offhands for the class, which sounds like a really interesting elite spec overall for a warrior or guardian.

Ragmon.6350:

As far as I see it, shield skills are 50/50, when it comes to defense and offense.

Warrior
[Offense] Shield Bash – Bash your foe with your shield and stun them.
[Defense] Shield Stance – Block attacks.

Guardian
[Offense] Shield of Judgment – Create a shielding wave in front of you that damages foes and gives protection to yourself and up to five allies.
[ Defense] Shield of Absorption – Create a dome around you that pushes foes back and absorbs projectiles. (it heals too)

Engineer
[Defense] Magnetic Shield – Create a magnetic field that reflects projectiles and can be released to push back foes.
[Offense] Static Shield – Electrify your shield, preparing to throw it at foes. If you are hit, the shield discharges, stunning your nearby attacker.

I don’t see your point of needing more of either offense or defense.

guess youre right…with offense i guess i meant more active skills instead of just passive boni or damage, more interrupts, movements and the such – i want more bashes and charges… only ONE shield class gets a bash -thats an atrocity!

SirServed.5693:

I use a Mace/Shield in my 2nd weapon set on my Guardian because I’m a thug and don’t care about the meta. All my gear is Soldier and I only do what I find interesting. At the same time, I don’t expect to participate in events where people would demand me to min/max my character and I’m fine with that. I play this strictly for fun and it delivers.

what kind of build do you use? looking at the traits – those weapons seem to be heavily based around a pure healer…im having a hard time making a shield build look appealing outside of wvw group support

Yeah, warrior and guardian both have better defensive options than shield. Warrior has reposte on off-hand sword 5 which blocks an attack and then hits them back, and guardian has focus 4 which blinds enemies and gives you regen, and it has focus 3 which blocks the next three attacks, and explodes when it ends

Nemesis.6938:

guess youre right…with offense i guess i meant more active skills instead of just passive boni or damage, more interrupts, movements and the such – i want more bashes and charges… only ONE shield class gets a bash -thats an atrocity!

Yea, you get to do all that on the warrior. Bot skills feel raw, as they should.
While on the guard you get a more supportive and defensive skills.
While for the engi you get 2 step shield skills, knock-backs, deflects, ranged attacks and a stun.
I feel like they all have unique functions appropriate for their profession.

I wouldn’t mind hearing what ideas you have for shield skills (per profession).

My warrior mains with mace and shield. He is pretty effective with block, interrupts and projectile reflection.

My guardian also uses shield, but i acknowledge its for show rather than practicality

I love engi shield offhand, it’s really under used in PvE side but has great utility and some good offensive/cc capabilities.

Shields have completely failed at actually being shields to me. I thought i’d actually block with it, but warrior shield is the only set that actually has a block in the first place, and its ~generally inferior to the shorter cooldown, single blocks you find on mainhand weapons, or blind vs. non-champs.

Clearly we need to be able to dual wield shields.

Ragmon.6350:

Nemesis.6938:

guess youre right…with offense i guess i meant more active skills instead of just passive boni or damage, more interrupts, movements and the such – i want more bashes and charges… only ONE shield class gets a bash -thats an atrocity!

Yea, you get to do all that on the warrior. Bot skills feel raw, as they should.
While on the guard you get a more supportive and defensive skills.
While for the engi you get 2 step shield skills, knock-backs, deflects, ranged attacks and a stun.
I feel like they all have unique functions appropriate for their profession.

I wouldn’t mind hearing what ideas you have for shield skills (per profession).

for example turn guardian shield 2 into another 2-tier skill
1) bash – knockback – 1 stun
2) charge – inflict weakness

shield 1 – cover behind shield, blocking projectiles from allies behind you while reflecting damage through retaliation – similar to the npc block skill that the ghosts are using

Nemesis.6938:

what kind of build do you use? looking at the traits – those weapons seem to be heavily based around a pure healer…im having a hard time making a shield build look appealing outside of wvw group support

I’m actually rocking Virtue -> Zeal -> Radiance because I mainly use a GS. It’s a Power/Healing Signet build with Hold Your Ground for Stab and I alternate between the passive/active combat heal and Feel My Wrath depending on the activity. Even when I switch to my 2nd set, I still get some offensive benefit because the Mace also drops Symbols. It comes in handy when greatly outnumbered or fighting a Champ with 2-3 people and I get focused.