Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone I made a similar thread in the Warrior forum and it had a great turn out (aside from the little bit of arguing that occurred). I’m hoping for a similar effect here.

I will be making topics in the other profession forums as well because I want to aggregate all the comments and the best way to do so would be to post in each profession’s individual forum instead of just placing it in Players Helping Players because the professions’ forums get more traffic and are filled with players most knowledgeable about that particular profession!

Anyways, now with that out of the way I would like to know: What makes the Guardian appealing to you?

Why do you enjoy playing the profession? It could be based on its theme or for other gameplay reasons, perhaps you enjoy the diverse amount of options available to the profession? Tell me anything and everything!

To me the Guardian has always reminded me of a Paladin, but what makes the Guardian more appealing to me than a traditional Paladin is that their power comes not from a particular oath or god but just having a strong faith in something. Also I love all the blue :P and feeling like such a protector with all the aegis and protection buffs.

Keeping people alive is always rewarding. They may not realize it at the time, but when they do it wthout you they quickly gain appreciation for the awesomeness of a well played guardian.

It’s purely ascetics for me. I really don’t enjoy the play style anymore, but it’s hard to walk away from something that I’ve already dedicated so much time to.

Ever since Secret of Mana in the 90’s, I’ve always preferred playing a buffer and/or healer that doesn’t mind mixing it up in melee. Guardian is just an extension of that, and lets me do a lot more than just watch red/blue bars while doing really good damage.

The blue was the eye candy for me as it is my favorite color.

I also enjoy the play style and knowing that my team members can depend on me. I typically play the Cleric/Paladin on tabletop and traditional MMO’s so the Guardian class was the closest thing that fit well.

It’s mostly about game mechanics for me.
The class just offered a lot of damage negation through blinds, blocks, dodges and such, the kind of active defenses which I find mandatory to enjoy an action based combat.
On top of that, I’ve always played support/healer roles on classic MMORPGs, so packing a good amount of defense oriented support if needed is completely fine for me.

The original appeal to me was the group buffs. I’ve always played a healer in my mMos (eq, daoc, gw1) or a caster (wow, bl2, tl2). So I decided to try melee for a change.

I actually found the play style very easy right from the get go, and I loved that. As I got into dungeons I loved that groups always loved having me. And when I got into pvp I enjoyed the synergy with other players along with solo survivability.

I still feel like I have a lot to learn about the class. You can play it in a variety of ways and you have interesting weapon choices.

So the appeal for me now is that it never gets boring.

- I love the theme of light magic, and I really love using magic books as a weapon.
- My favourite role in all RPGs is supporting through buffs, healing, and other protective abilities like barriers. I find saving and helping my allies to be very satisfying, and it’s also the closest thing to a monk (considering that half of their abilities are named after monks).
- I enjoy caster supports, so I’m not really a fan of the generally close-ranged thing, but with the right build I can essentially use a caster support that isn’t close-ranged, so I don’t particularly mind.
tl;dr: I enjoy the magical heal-y light side of guardians.

Also blue is cool.

Wall of Reflection, nuff said?

I always loved the idea of a Greatsword-wielding-Melee using Magic as a supplement.
Was always the type of character I had the most fun with in other MMO’S and RPG’s ( Paladin in D2, Champion and Warden in DAoC, Paladin in WoW, Herald of Xotli in AoC, etc … )
I also loved my Druid back in WoW Wrath of the Lich King:
even though not nature themed, the healing aspect of Guadrians hence really appealed to me as well. But due to this preference I since day 1 in GW2 have been torn between Ranger and Guardian, since Rangers have the Nature theme as well as some nice Regen-based healing, where Guardians are more ‘direct’ and are more fashioned towards melee-combat.

And ofc: Blind, Blind, Block, Block, Blind, Dodge, Blind, Blind …..
The active defense of guardians is just so super cool, what has recently made them my favorite choice for sPvP over Rangers!

I have always been a paladin at heart and Guardians originally to me were the closest thing. I’ve never regretted making my Guardian but I’ve had my faults where there were just some issues with the Guardian’s Theme when it came to viability. In this game where Zerker’s reign supreme, there’s no place for my Cleric Guardian build, except for Silverwastes!

Guardians to me have basically been more “self-less” warriors. I do have a warrior at 80 that I use for dungeon runs simply because he does more damage, Phalanx Strength is too good to not have for parties, in tandem with banners and simply higher overall DPS. Because even in full zerker, warriors simply don’t die anywhere near as fast as a guardian in dungeons and high-scale fractals.

But my guardian in silverwastes has always been an asset to VW and simply roaming. With 2k healing power, and Trooper Runes, I always think of myself as the “Silverwastes Savior”, and it’s always tons of fun to get invited to parties to assault overrun keeps.

Drennon.7190:

It’s purely ascetics for me. I really don’t enjoy the play style anymore, but it’s hard to walk away from something that I’ve already dedicated so much time to.

It’s kind of this for me too, sadly. I love playing the battlemage archetype, and guardian fits it so well. It’s just such a shame that the class is slowly being left behind as the balance (slowly) iterates.

Black Box.9312:

Drennon.7190:

It’s purely ascetics for me. I really don’t enjoy the play style anymore, but it’s hard to walk away from something that I’ve already dedicated so much time to.

It’s kind of this for me too, sadly. I love playing the battlemage archetype, and guardian fits it so well. It’s just such a shame that the class is slowly being left behind as the balance (slowly) iterates.

I do not want to spark a debate over the viability of Guardians, but can you elaborate on that?
I am currently running a Medi DPS variant (GS + S/F with damage traits) and whenever I lose a 1 v 1 i am pretty sure:
it’s because I am just a bad player. I never feel powerless or extradited, but have plenty of tools at my hands to react to any opponent I face in sPvP or WvW.
So I am convinced that Guardians currently are quite strong tbh!

Gorath.5076:

Black Box.9312:

Drennon.7190:

It’s purely ascetics for me. I really don’t enjoy the play style anymore, but it’s hard to walk away from something that I’ve already dedicated so much time to.

It’s kind of this for me too, sadly. I love playing the battlemage archetype, and guardian fits it so well. It’s just such a shame that the class is slowly being left behind as the balance (slowly) iterates.

I do not want to spark a debate over the viability of Guardians, but can you elaborate on that?
I am currently running a Medi DPS variant (GS + S/F with damage traits) and whenever I lose a 1 v 1 i am pretty sure:
it’s because I am just a bad player. I never feel powerless or extradited, but have plenty of tools at my hands to react to any opponent I face in sPvP or WvW.
So I am convinced that Guardians currently are quite strong tbh!

Medi guard is terrible against anyone that can kite. It’s also pretty bad against sustained condi pressure. Combine the two (i.e. engineer) and you’re little more than a sitting duck.

Black Box.9312:

Medi guard is terrible against anyone that can kite. It’s also pretty bad against sustained condi pressure. Combine the two (i.e. engineer) and you’re little more than a sitting duck.

Replace the sword by a scepter; most of builds that can kite at range or rely on conditions can easily be negated just using that weapon. Then they can chose either flee away or die. Eles -and to some extent longbow warriors- are the true bane of med guards.

The problem with the sword is that lacks any sort of cc, so the gap closer it gives will only let you to stay close a few seconds. Then, classes as necros or mesmers or engineers will evade you and land tons of cripples, interrupts, stuns and knockbacks while trying to keep you away and kill you with ranged AoE or single target attacks. Then, if you have a sword you probably will try to follow them, doing 0 damage, eating all of their wells and mines, etc. to finally die, powerless.

But with a scepter you can keep doing damage, nailing them with high burst while using blocks, blinds and evades, with a low cost of opportunity in those actions. I remember how in the past necros used to be a hard counter to me, and turret engineers were a impossible task. Since I did move from sword to scepter I find them fun to fight.

Apart from range advantages, scepter also has nice CC for your team to focus target.

But I personally prefer Sword because flashing blade syncs well with Hammer. Getting close and personal; as well as, on ledges is a necessity. Not to mention Sword’s #3 simply does higher burst damage compared to the Scepter. It auto targets so if some one like a thief likes jumping around, Sword #3 works wonders in a 300-500 radius.

Most Guards say Scepter is superior but in the end it’s what ever you’re most comfortable with.

Because I mained a Thane when I played DaOC Who doesn’t like heavy armor?

Seriously though, I rolled an Asura Ele all through the various GW2 beta’s. Upon head start, never once touching a Guardian before, that is what I created. I like the idea of heavy armor, being in the thick of things in PvP/WvW, and offering some form of support.

Enter today the Guardian is a bit on the back shelf as I main a ranger now. I think overall the Guardian is in a great place balance wise but every other class isn’t and some do similar things better. This isn’t a grass is greener sort of thing but when a Shield isn’t really a Shield and a tiny piece of metal (mace/focus) actually block more, well, it makes one ponder the meaning of the class. To me anyway.

But as to why? Heavy armor and front line…

Black Box.9312:

Medi guard is terrible against anyone that can kite. It’s also pretty bad against sustained condi pressure. Combine the two (i.e. engineer) and you’re little more than a sitting duck.

I am playing a 2/5/6/0/1 build with Rune of the Traveler and do not have problems with being kited at all.
AoE spamming can be an issue, that is true but as long as the ‘spammer’ remains solo I have always found a way to still get a DPS chain off and kill him.
So with traveler runes and 3 gap closers I do not feel the need for any CC on the Sword, especially since GS #5 is not exactly reliable at it either.

Guardian in sPvP (solo queue) just feels very sound and I frequently get accused of ‘medi guard being easy mode’ when I single handedly defeat high ranked players in matches.

I like the magic swordsman playstyle. Of course, my current build is all blunt weapons, but if the update remains as awesome as it is or gets better, I’m most likely going to go back to my lovely swords.

Always loved the idea of mixing the ‘mage’ and ‘fighter’ classes in games that’s what it feels like to me and to top it all off it’s primary magic is fire! to fill all of my pyrotechnic wants and desires!

I’ve never been fond of Paladins, I dislike their theme as a whole and generally haven’t much fun with their implementations in other settings.

While I played every profession in GW1, monk was probably my least favorite. I hated just watching my party panel’s red bars all day (though I did enjoy my smiter and my variations on protection builds).

Partly because of that I was very interested in what Anet was doing with the guardian, especially since it would not be a dedicated healer class like the monk. So in the betas I rolled up a charr guardian and instantly fell in love with the mace/shield setup. I love they way that guardians perfectly hybridize offense and defense/support while still having the option to be almost solely one or the other in different situations.

My guardian is now my main out of eight characters (again, one of each profession) and I’m still finding new and interesting things to do with it. Though sword/torch (yes I play a condi damage guardian, even though everyone seems to think they don’t exist) and mace/(shield/focus) will always be close to my heart.