As I attempt to evaluate if I will again “main” my Guardian for PoF, I cannot help but question the professions role in support as we prepare to receive a dedicated support, Elite Specialization.
To truly evaluate any spec, we need to look at the competitive game environments: end-game instanced PvE ( Fractals > 50 and Raids), SPvP, and WvW. I will omit any evaluation of open map metas, world completion or living world as these game modes rely more heavily on completing the zone mechanics and bring with them a more come-one, come-all design. Open world and story is simply more forgiving. Your particular spec does influence how you experience the entire game, but it will be felt most severely in Fractals, Raids, SPvP, and WvW; content that accounts for a large portion of daily game play (all game play for some players).
“Guardians are devoted fighters who protect their allies and smite their enemies by drawing from the power of their virtues. True guardians are brilliant tacticians and selfless defenders who know when to sacrifice their own defenses to empower their allies to achieve victory.” — GuildWars2.com
However, when I look at developer comments and commentary about the guardian in both past and present media, I cannot help but feel that the development team looks at the guardian as a hulking turtle, slowly wading through combat and attempting to pick up allies along the way. But this visualization is not perceived during actual game play. The design philosophy is disjointed from the packaged product and the realities of the game environment.
First, we are finally getting a dedicated condition based main hand weapon, with more damaging condition options! Thank you, its 5 years too late; but I’ll gladly take it. Full condi guard was something that should have been included on core guardian in 2012. But the Fire Brand’s offensive options do look encouraging. Honestly, thank you for finally giving us an optimal option instead of a barley viable choice. We may actually be considered for raids now… maybe. But I have never had a complaint about the damage on a guardian, and few people are drawn to the guardian’s class fantasy saying “I really want to do top damage”. Nope, most play it because they want to be supportive or durable where the desire for damage develops as they play the class more often.
Damage aside, the guardian suffers from three design flaws centered on being the “most durable” profession in the game: An over emphasis on defense that negates mobility, an over emphasis on broad defensive support leading to a jack-of-all-trades, and an under emphasis on direct healing based in the 2012 design philosophy.
The most durable profession: “we want players to feel the weight of being a heavy armor class” is a phrase you can hear in multiple places throughout the last 5 years from various ANet staff, to include the most recent Dev stream on 17 Aug. However, this “weight” isn’t usually associated with the highly mobile Warrior or the Revenants Herald. So what Devs really mean is that they want us to feel the weight of being a Guardian? This unfair burden has been one of the class’s most detrimental short comings.
Core Guards have two mobility skills that are locked behind our targets location and we have several poor options for providing group swiftness. Dragon Hunter improved this by giving us Wings of Resolve, undoubtedly the most useful skill in the entire skill line to date. Why? Because Guild Wars 2 employs (or attempts) an action based system where combat revolves around movement. A boss AOE is best mitigated by moving out of it. Guardians’ movement limitation is also why my WvW guard has had Travelers Runes for the last 5 years, any other option was largely foolish. When you cannot keep up with your team mates you’re either left behind or you become a burden. This weekend I was pleasantly surprised by how much swiftness is available in the F2 and F3 tome skill sets for FB, we have perma swiftness on a Guardian FINALY. It is a lot of skill rotation and I’m not sure if the tradeoff is worth it on a support character; on a DPS build however, it’s a very welcome addition. And as a 5 target buff, this will likely be the new movement meta in WvW. Bye bye Travelers! You will still need to run DH if you want your leap out of danger, as FB does not address this large issue. A leap would have been a welcome addition as a Mantra instead of the two utility/support Mantras.