Guild Wars 2

With the upcoming Heart of Thorns (story/expansion/living universe/thing), please for the 6 Gods sake fix the guardian shield skills. Currently there is VERY little reason to ever use shield other than the knockback with a 40 second cooldown or you just love your shield skin.
rant deleted

As a Guardian with a love for his shields, I sincerely believe that the shield needs to become a viable weapon in PvE, PvP, and WvW. Currently it is only viable in PvP for the knockback and short protection it offers. It is currently VERY outclassed by both the focus and the torch. The focus is far more protective of a weapon than the shield in both blocks and blinds. The torch pumps out far more burns and damage with very low cooldowns.

For the shield to become a viable weapon it needs to be stronger and with lower cooldowns. (warrior shield could use an upgrade too btw)

SUGGESTED CHANGES:
#4. Shield of Judgement: Reduce normal cooldown by 5 seconds(currently 24 traited, 30 untraited). Add 4 seconds of retaliation boon. Consider making it a knockdown/stun/daze for 1-2 seconds. Reducing cooldown by 5 will get it down to 20 seconds traited, 25 untraited.

#5. Shield of Absorption: Reduce normal cooldown by 5 seconds (currently 32 traited, 40 untraited). Add blocking of normal attacks as well just like the warrior shield does. Make the burst heal skill a combo blast finisher for more retaliation since the first part of the skill is a light field. Reducing cooldown by 5 will get it down to 28 seconds traited, and 35 untraited.

Shield of Judgement in GW1 that was an Elite skill that was a prized skill of many monks. It was a boon that would knock down any enemy that hit you and dealt some solid damage back to them as well (think retaliation boon). Btw it also lasted about 19 seconds with a 35 second cooldown.

Shield of Absorption reduced incoming damage for a few seconds, similar to protection in GW2 but not as strong.

Sorry but they’re not going to change it, Its been well over a year now.

Arena Net doesn’t seem to do skill reworks like other games. if you look at patch notes 90% of the class “changes” are just tooltip clarifications.

Nope they wont change it they like guardians running around with branches and boomsticks in offhand defending other players. Real defenders like Warriors and Engies have real shield skills. We are just girls.

Items like this should be posted in the wvw/pvp/pve section.

If you buy off the pve’rs and they’re also wanting this change, the higher likelyhood that’ll happen.

No one looks at the Guardian; class specific forums. No moderator ever reply to our bugs and skill rants….
teleport’s been broken for the longest time
rubberbanding’s been broken for the longest time

still no fix here.

I think an expansion would be the worst time to ‘fix’ established content.

Obtena.7952:

I think an expansion would be the worst time to ‘fix’ established content.

I’d agree except for the fact that shield sucks donkey nuggets and making it better couldn’t break anything.

I hadn’t considered the possibility that fixing shield may interfere with something new in an expansion but now you mention it, that’s just another good reason to not change existing content within a new content expansion.

Let’s be honest with each other here. We might not like shield the way it works, but for what it does do, it’s not broken.

Obtena.7952:

I hadn’t considered the possibility that fixing shield may interfere with something new in an expansion but now you mention it, that’s just another good reason to not change existing content within a new content expansion.

Let’s be honest with each other here. We might not like shield the way it works, but for what it does do, it’s not broken.

… What does it do other than troll people in EoTM? Bring it on your Bunker in PVP to bounce people out of the node every 40s?

The idea that it could be relied on for anything is absurd.

rajule.8054:

Arena Net doesn’t seem to do skill reworks like other games. if you look at patch notes 90% of the class “changes” are just tooltip clarifications.

There is an exception to this. They changed mesmers’ Mimic skill.

Jerus.4350:

Obtena.7952:

I hadn’t considered the possibility that fixing shield may interfere with something new in an expansion but now you mention it, that’s just another good reason to not change existing content within a new content expansion.

Let’s be honest with each other here. We might not like shield the way it works, but for what it does do, it’s not broken.

… What does it do other than troll people in EoTM? Bring it on your Bunker in PVP to bounce people out of the node every 40s?

The idea that it could be relied on for anything is absurd.

Sure, but it does what it’s intended to do. I’ve not played an MMO where the dev’s priority is to fix things that are intended over broken, buggy, etc, especially in an expansion intended to showcase new content. It’s certainly a hard sell to claim we need this off hand option to work differently because players find little value in it. Based on what I’ve seen as historical, I would say it’s almost an irrelevant argument and Anet behaviour doesn’t seem to be too far from that truth either.

Well, for the most part I think shield is screwed on guardian. It won’t ever get the duration block it deserves. The big blue dome is here to stay, the basic mechanics of any of the skills won’t be reworked. It would be nice to be invulnerable while channeling it, and it would certainly deserve it’s long cooldown if that was introduced.

Shield of Judgement on the other hand could have a knockdown worked in without changing the core mechanics of the skill. I think it would go a long way in sizing shield up to focus and torch, even without touching Shield of Absorption. Engineer shield has two CC so I don’t see an issue with it either.

Obtena.7952:

Jerus.4350:

Obtena.7952:

I hadn’t considered the possibility that fixing shield may interfere with something new in an expansion but now you mention it, that’s just another good reason to not change existing content within a new content expansion.

Let’s be honest with each other here. We might not like shield the way it works, but for what it does do, it’s not broken.

… What does it do other than troll people in EoTM? Bring it on your Bunker in PVP to bounce people out of the node every 40s?

The idea that it could be relied on for anything is absurd.

Sure, but it does what it’s intended to do. I’ve not played an MMO where the dev’s priority is to fix things that are intended over broken, buggy, etc, especially in an expansion intended to showcase new content. It’s certainly a hard sell to claim we need this off hand option to work differently because players find little value in it. Based on what I’ve seen as historical, I would say it’s almost an irrelevant argument and Anet behaviour doesn’t seem to be too far from that truth either.

The bolded is exactly why it needs to change.

Is it broken in that it doesn’t work as intended, no.
But it’s intended mechanics simply don’t suit the game very well and that’s more than enough reason to address it.

I have lost hope for a rework on the Guard’s shield skills as well. But….if they are willing to rework the guardian’s shield skills I would suggest the following.

#4: Remove the protection boon, instead give it something like the reversal of fortune from GW1 http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Reversal_of_Fortune. Block 1 attack, attacked ally regains some health (unsure about the amount of healing, must not be OP obviously).

#5: The dome-like skill animation is okay imo. Maybe make the channeling a bit longer and make it a dome that reflects projectiles (Feedback-like?). Cool-down might stay the same.

However this is just a suggestion.

Obtena.7952:

Jerus.4350:

Obtena.7952:

I hadn’t considered the possibility that fixing shield may interfere with something new in an expansion but now you mention it, that’s just another good reason to not change existing content within a new content expansion.

Let’s be honest with each other here. We might not like shield the way it works, but for what it does do, it’s not broken.

… What does it do other than troll people in EoTM? Bring it on your Bunker in PVP to bounce people out of the node every 40s?

The idea that it could be relied on for anything is absurd.

Sure, but it does what it’s intended to do. I’ve not played an MMO where the dev’s priority is to fix things that are intended over broken, buggy, etc, especially in an expansion intended to showcase new content. It’s certainly a hard sell to claim we need this off hand option to work differently because players find little value in it. Based on what I’ve seen as historical, I would say it’s almost an irrelevant argument and Anet behaviour doesn’t seem to be too far from that truth either.

It doesn’t matter if it exhibits its intended behavior. Making something work properly is bug fixing. Balancing is going beyond making it work properly to ensure that it is a viable option. Guardian shield needs proper balancing, not just bug fixing.

Ragnarox.9601:

Nope they wont change it they like guardians running around with branches and boomsticks in offhand defending other players. Real defenders like Warriors and Engies have real shield skills. We are just girls.

There’s so many things wrong with this post, the sexism being the worst.

Lower the CD on number 4 to 25 seconds & get rid of the difference between PvE -PvP (duration is halved in PvP)

Then turn number 5 into an AOE knockback that grants AEGIS on a 30 second CD.

After that bam shield is fine & they can move on to fixing torch.

Black Box.9312:

Obtena.7952:

Jerus.4350:

Obtena.7952:

I hadn’t considered the possibility that fixing shield may interfere with something new in an expansion but now you mention it, that’s just another good reason to not change existing content within a new content expansion.

Let’s be honest with each other here. We might not like shield the way it works, but for what it does do, it’s not broken.

… What does it do other than troll people in EoTM? Bring it on your Bunker in PVP to bounce people out of the node every 40s?

The idea that it could be relied on for anything is absurd.

Sure, but it does what it’s intended to do. I’ve not played an MMO where the dev’s priority is to fix things that are intended over broken, buggy, etc, especially in an expansion intended to showcase new content. It’s certainly a hard sell to claim we need this off hand option to work differently because players find little value in it. Based on what I’ve seen as historical, I would say it’s almost an irrelevant argument and Anet behaviour doesn’t seem to be too far from that truth either.

It doesn’t matter if it exhibits its intended behavior. Making something work properly is bug fixing. Balancing is going beyond making it work properly to ensure that it is a viable option. Guardian shield needs proper balancing, not just bug fixing.

Let’s be clear … it doesn’t matter to PLAYERS. It does matter to devs. It DOES work properly; sheild is not bugged.

Obtena.7952:

Black Box.9312:

Obtena.7952:

Jerus.4350:

Obtena.7952:

I hadn’t considered the possibility that fixing shield may interfere with something new in an expansion but now you mention it, that’s just another good reason to not change existing content within a new content expansion.

Let’s be honest with each other here. We might not like shield the way it works, but for what it does do, it’s not broken.

… What does it do other than troll people in EoTM? Bring it on your Bunker in PVP to bounce people out of the node every 40s?

The idea that it could be relied on for anything is absurd.

Sure, but it does what it’s intended to do. I’ve not played an MMO where the dev’s priority is to fix things that are intended over broken, buggy, etc, especially in an expansion intended to showcase new content. It’s certainly a hard sell to claim we need this off hand option to work differently because players find little value in it. Based on what I’ve seen as historical, I would say it’s almost an irrelevant argument and Anet behaviour doesn’t seem to be too far from that truth either.

It doesn’t matter if it exhibits its intended behavior. Making something work properly is bug fixing. Balancing is going beyond making it work properly to ensure that it is a viable option. Guardian shield needs proper balancing, not just bug fixing.

Let’s be clear … it doesn’t matter to PLAYERS. It does matter to devs. It DOES work properly; sheild is not bugged.

Did I miss where someone said it was bugged? I thought we just wanted them to make it viable, in essences fixing their mistake of making it so kittenty.