Guild Wars 2

It’s been a week since static shield has changed and there hasn’t really been much of a discussion surrounding it. And while it’s debatable, I’m not going to say nerfed, since the effect now stays after a stun which would allow you to get off multiple stuns.

However, I’m so used to having the effect stay so I end up cancelling it every time because I simply can’t unlearn how I used it before. (Read: I go into kits or start channelling my heal )

My main question is this: What triggered this change?
Was it because we could heal why blocking ranged attacks? (Keep in mind, if you stunned someone while healing, you’d cancel your heal all the same)
I honestly didn’t see this change coming nor do I have an explanation for it. I guess, I just want to understand why this change was implemented.
Static shield was one of my favourite skills, particularly because of that nifty quirk that would allow you to get off your next moves with the effect still up.

How are my fellow shield users handling the change?
I did stick a sigil of paralyzation on the shield right after the patch to increase the stun duration again. (and boosting the daze effect all the same).
But then I got to frustrated with my own bumbling around with the new static shield that I decided to give rifle another run for it’s money, which is working out great so far.

I’m looking for opinions of any kind. PvE, sPvP or WvW-wise.
Just keep it constructive. “It sucks” won’t help the thread.

I think the effect of being able to use other skills while still blocking via Static Shield was removed because it was a bug. No opinion as to the balance and all, but I’m pretty sure that’s what the deal is with the change.

I guess that makes sense, but if it was a bug, why tone down the stun duration and let the effect stay after a successful stun? It feels like more than a simple bug fix, to me at least.
And as a side note, being able to use other skills while blocking with static shield hasn’t ever been listed as a bug.

Siofra Crumble.2098:

I guess that makes sense, but if it was a bug, why tone down the stun duration and let the effect stay after a successful stun? It feels like more than a simple bug fix, to me at least.
And as a side note, being able to use other skills while blocking with static shield hasn’t ever been listed as a bug.

Because we always seen it as a perk lol , also about the static shield thing maybe they answered a few posts who said it sucks for the shield to be set off by some mediocre attack that wasnt intended to hit it.

For fights higher than 1v1 it is a buff. You block for longer, and stun EVERYONE within melee range that attacks you. I use it in wvw in the middle of zergs to stun massive amounts of enemies. Oh and you can still throw it right before it ends.

I’m glad that they didn’t just ‘fix’ the bugg part and have it done with.
We knew it was coming if they considered it a bug that the effect stayed active when doing something else (I stomped with it, like most did with elixir S before).

Instead of just fixing, they actually gave us something in return: the full duration of the block even if hit in melee.

No idea wich was more usefull, that’s completely situational.
But at least I’m glad we got something in return to work with.

For me it wasn’t a nerf, it was a ‘change’.

The skill itself must’ve been determined to need overall improvement, and in the process they noticed an issue that’d been kept on the relative down-low due to it being both beneficial and relatively obscure (in that only people who use Shields would know about it, and they may or may not talk about it for fear of it being removed).

Imho, it was a deliberate nerf to pvp bunker builds along with the elixir R stunbreaker removal. Especially since they also shortened both the block duration and the stun.
And stunning more people while retaining the block is useless – you can’t do anything to them while they stunned or you’ll cancel the block anyway. And since bunkers usually are alone protecting a point, that stun becomes basically redundant.

Warriors axe block skill also got this treatment so Im thinking it was a general change for blocking not a deliberate nerf.

Penguin.5197:

Warriors axe block skill also got this treatment so Im thinking it was a general change for blocking not a deliberate nerf.

Warrior sword block you mean?

“Riposte: When players block an attack from range, it no longer cancels the blocking.”

WhiteAndMilky.2514:

Warrior sword block you mean?

“Riposte: When players block an attack from range, it no longer cancels the blocking.”

Yeah that one

Siofra Crumble.2098:

However, I’m so used to having the effect stay so I end up cancelling it every time because I simply can’t unlearn how I used it before. (Read: I go into kits or start channelling my heal )

UGH! This! I cancel it almost always now… it’s annoying, haha. I had trained myself to perform actions when using the shield, and now I have to untrain that behaviour.

I think the way it works now is the way it should have always worked though. It is kind of nice to be able to run through a group with it, stunning them all getting the full block duration, which can then be tossed for dazing.

what combo finishers do you guys use after the patch (with the shield)?

wow, I had no idea you could have done that, this change was a good buff to me XD

rogerwilko.6895:

what combo finishers do you guys use after the patch (with the shield)?

I like to throw wrench and throw static shield through smoke bomb. Or ethereal fields and water fields if they are present.

magnetic blast for stealth, might, heal, chaos armor