Guild Wars 2

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/preview-of-upcoming-balance-changes/

Litany of Wrath: The percentage of health returned from this skill has been increased from 20% to 25%. The aftercast of this skill has also been reduced by 0.5 seconds.
Dev note: In addition to gaining a little more healing from this skill, guardians will be able to use skills much sooner after casting it.
Shield of Judgment: The cooldown on this skill has been reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
Dev note: This change is a general usability improvement for the shield overall.
Shield of Absorption: The cooldown on this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
Dev note: Same as above!
Zealot’s Fire: The increased cooldown component has been removed.
Dev note: This penalty felt unnecessary and it wasn’t fun.

Shield buffs,
Torch buffs,

but more importantly

ELE AND ENGIE NERFS, MIGHT STACKING NERFS!

Good to know shield gets a little bit attention at least.

I’m not good at math so, if you got the Honorable Shield trait (+90 Toughness, 20% reduced recharge time on shield abilities) what would their CD be?

20 and 24 respectively

Perma prot w/o hammer inc! mace/shield suddenly became much more viable in pugs cuz now you supply both regen and prot.

Hunter.4783:

20 and 24 respectively

That’s what I guessed.

A little bit better at least.

All things are nice, but I don’t think it’ll be enough, ohh well we’ll see.

Jerus.4350:

All things are nice, but I don’t think it’ll be enough, ohh well we’ll see.

Yeah. I’m happy with these changes (they are in the right direction), but we’d still end up with a lot of useless stuff.

Shield doesn’t need CD reduction, it needs useful abilities…. The lower cooldown will not prompt sudden shield use over focus, and it never will unless they change the skills of shield. I really want to use a shield ANET, please give it some attention over the next patches/expansion.

Also would would you even give up to pick up the shield trait anyways….

I like that they are looking at shield, but you gotta do better than a meager CD reduction to make shield viable.

As an avid Torch user, this is quite a big change for it. Shield finally got some loving too.

To top it all off, they nerfed Might and every Might stacking build. Killing these cele classes are ever more easier with burn guards now.
Not that it was any type of difficult before.

Saiyan.1704:

As an avid Torch user, this is quite a big change for it. Shield finally got some loving too.

To top it all off, they nerfed Might and every Might stacking build. Killing these cele classes are ever more easier with burn guards now.
Not that it was any type of difficult before.

Don’t be deceived. It’s a 0%-14% decrease (at maximum stacks) DPS nerf to Might enhancement damage bonus which for my own optimized Celestial build is a ~4% damage nerf. It’s significant but not going to break the bank.

The problem still remains for Fire Field blasting being 3 might stacks and 20 second base duration. It’s crazy that this was not touched while Superior Sigil of Battle was (which will be simply replaced by Superior Sigil of Force or Superior Sigil of Strength instead.)

Nice changes.

I like the challenge of roaming with non-standard skills and utilities ( like litany and the shield ) – so I will enjoy this balance patch, even if it doesn’t actually fix any of the issues of the shield.

If anyone is interested in some numbers, a standard FM, MF meditation build doing 5k of damage per second will have their healing increased from 9600 to 11100 with these changes. ( over 6 seconds )

The cooldown reductions should make shield a little more viable for bunker builds at least, but I was hoping for some sort of changes to the abilities themselves.

Oh well. Still a victory, I suppose.

Andddd just as I was thinking about salvaging my shield/torch.

Guess not!

Artaz.3819:

Saiyan.1704:

As an avid Torch user, this is quite a big change for it. Shield finally got some loving too.

To top it all off, they nerfed Might and every Might stacking build. Killing these cele classes are ever more easier with burn guards now.
Not that it was any type of difficult before.

Don’t be deceived. It’s a 0%-14% decrease (at maximum stacks) DPS nerf to Might enhancement damage bonus which for my own optimized Celestial build is a ~4% damage nerf. It’s significant but not going to break the bank.

The problem still remains for Fire Field blasting being 3 might stacks and 20 second base duration. It’s crazy that this was not touched while Superior Sigil of Battle was (which will be simply replaced by Superior Sigil of Force or Superior Sigil of Strength instead.)

If I read the link correctly, might itself is being nerfed from 35—> 30, so that make fire fields slightly less effective.

The battle sigil nerf will be more of a hit to Cele Engis who use it as their main source of might.

ArchonWing.9480:

If I read the link correctly, might itself is being nerfed from 35—> 30, so that make fire fields slightly less effective.

Less effective than what?? Yea you will get 750 power instead of 875, which is probably going to be barely noticeable for a full zerk group. Fire fields are going to remain the most dominant type of field to blast for PVE, with the exception of smoke for stealth skips. Just because the total amount of power for might is reduced does not mean that other fields are suddenly going to become better than fire.

How can people say theses are shield buffs??? Lowering the cooldown does not buff the shield. A buff would mean that it becomes more usable, and just by lowering the cooldown is NOT going to make shield viable.

Also a bunker guard should use focus for the extra blocks I would imagine. Im not a pvp pro but shield abilites are simply trash in every aspect of the game. Why would you want to pick a weak aoe cone + not even noticeable protection buff over a blind and regan or a terrible knockback and heal over one of the best blocks in the game that focus provides? I mean, you dont even need stability to walk across the “barrier” that shield creates. Its a terrible weapon.

Do not get me wrong, I really want shield to work. But praising a cooldown reduction and passing it as a “buff” is not going to do it.

FINALLY!

I can’t wait to test the shield. I don’t know if this is enough to at least make shield viable, but I’m happy that they at least looked into it.

Also, they’ll fix the bug on shield #5 (the current dome duration is 2 secs instead of 4)?

What ele and thief nerfs? you must be kidding they buffed them again. This is slap to the face of guardians.

A few good changes for might-stacking, runes of nightmare and Drake’s Breath but nothing else. The changes for Guardian are still terrible aside from Zealot’s Fire. Still not going to touch Litany or Shield. Tis unfortunate.

This buff to shield is exactly what I’ve been looking for.

I didn’t want to lose shield of absorption OR the #4 skill. A lot of people in the past said it needed to be reworked and I can understand why but at the same time I was able to utilize the shield skills properly and found it to be very good when used properly – the downside being the cooldown was so long that it most of the time was out-shined by other weapon choices. The one thing I did want buffed was not in the skills itself but rather to have the cool down dropped. Anet gave me exactly what I wanted

Thank you balance team! I can now enjoy shield on my guardian.

Pretty great changes considering the biggest complaints about sheild was the cooldowns.

Are you guys really going to use shield now? I cannot think of one circumstance where shield would outshine focus or even torch. Even if shield’s abilities had no cooldown, there would still be no way I would use it over focuse because the abilities are terrible.

Shield 4 is awful damage and a lousy protection buff in a weird cone aoe. Even in PVP I would rather have the constant burning torch provides or the blind + regan focus provides. And in PVE protection is useless, unless you are in some high level fractals where hammer completely outshines shield 4 for a protection buff.

Shield 5 is even worse than 4 compared to focus and torch. Knockbacks are not useful (dont get me wrong, interruptions are great, knockbacks are terrible). Knockbacks knock enemies out of damage (melee, aoes, etc), so by knocking back an enemy you are actually hurting yourself and allies more. This is especially true with shield 5 because you do not need stability to re-enter the “bubble”. So if you missed an enemy with the knockback they just walk right in and start hammering on you. The only time knockback is useful is for trolling people on skyhammer. The only semi-useful ability the shield has is the absorb projectile, but again its too short and you are stuck in one spot. Not moving = getting killed.

Lets compare shield 5 to torch 5 and focus 5. Torch 5 does decent damage and it removes conditions from allies. This is a great skill in certain encounters where conditions wreck you. Focus 5 has an amazing block, and if you dont get hit provides huge damage, whats not to like!

Now please, all of you praising shield and its lowered cooldown, why on earth do you pick shield over the other 2 far superior offhand? Shield is arguably the worst weapon in the game and its going to take more than a cooldown reduction to save it.

Also the biggest complaint about shield is not the cooldown, its the abilites.

Reduce CD on the shield skills was nice, but it was not needed. There are more appropriate ways to fix it. Same goes for torch.

Then there’s Litany of Wrath, nobody is still going to use it, I could go on a long rant about this, but I’ll save it for another day.

2.25 coefficient on torch 4 on a 15s cooldown, with the added bonus of higher burning uptime for fiery wrath? Count me in.

To the people asking if I’ll use Shield now: Yes. I’ve used Shield in PvP in the past and found it quite nice for group fights and point-defense. Especially if you have a well-coordinated group. It was worse than the Focus, but the abilities were pretty nice to have, especially the knockback. Now that the cooldown is decreased, the Shield has become better. Not better than the Focus, but it does fill a pretty decent spot in the control-support role, at least in PvP.

Too bad the Staff is so required, because I’d like to run Sword/Shield + Mace/Focus as a bunker build.

Harbinger.8637:

Reduce CD on the shield skills was nice, but it was not needed. There are more appropriate ways to fix it. Same goes for torch.

Then there’s Litany of Wrath, nobody is still going to use it, I could go on a long rant about this, but I’ll save it for another day.

This ^.

The CD reduction is nice but there are much better ways to fix the torch & shield.

Also short of making Litany of Wrath instant with a 20-24 second base cool down it’s unlikely to ever be used.

The sword also has some problems, namely with zealots defense.

There is also a plethora of traits that need fixes, 20+ by my last count.

Shield seems to be good at boinking people off points and stopping stomps. Focus can do neither, and while shield of wrath is great, it’s not so good against ranged people when you’re not a medi build. Though truth be told, I’ll probably be using focus because I like it better as a dps weapon or heh, hammer still.

Yea, I don’t use shield anywhere, but maybe someone can use it. 1 step at a time.

Before people were good at the game (release/beta) people preferred shield in pvp because of the anti stomp and pushing people off point to cap.

But because of the long cooldown and gaps of ineffectivess cause the skills are down now one uses it.

By lowering the cooldown of the shield you allow it to be used more frequently, but what I think needs to happen is to provide a 1h version of perma protection, much like hammer has.

projectile absorb/pushback/burst heal are all on shield 5.

Pushback is ok, but maybe additional effects to targets remaining inside (blindness? Would synergize with traits to provide vulnerability)

projectile absorb it limited because of mobility and duration-cooldown, why not have it a reflect instead of just destroying it, providing more ranged offensive capability. In fact I think all of our projectile block skills should “reflect” instead of just destroy.

burst heal is a good idea, but I feel needs to be stronger. A 2-3k heal without healing power and closer to 4k with healing power? Although with shorter cooldowns now, maybe the 1.5k heal is sufficent.

I’ve been using shield since the beta weekends and the headstart.

Not because it’s particularly good or anything compared to the other off-hands, but it’s fun to use and it completes the guardian profession, and it just feels “meh” always going for the max damage weapons all the time.

So lowering the CD on the skills is appreciated.

This is exactly what I was afraid of and seems to be anet’s MO when it comes to balancing guardian. Instead of actually fixing what is wrong with something, they slap a cooldown reduction on it and call it good.

Medizerk mobility was NOT fixed with a Retreat cooldown, and shield will do no better.

CMF.5461:

projectile absorb it limited because of mobility and duration-cooldown, why not have it a reflect instead of just destroying it, providing more ranged offensive capability. In fact I think all of our projectile block skills should “reflect” instead of just destroy.

They just might. They learned with engineer shield, to make it mobile; they should do the same with guardian.

ArchonWing.9480:

CMF.5461:

projectile absorb it limited because of mobility and duration-cooldown, why not have it a reflect instead of just destroying it, providing more ranged offensive capability. In fact I think all of our projectile block skills should “reflect” instead of just destroy.

They just might. They learned with engineer shield, to make it mobile; they should do the same with guardian.

Eh personally I think they should have reduced shield #4 to 20 seconds & gotten rid of the difference between PVP & PvE for it (in PvP its duration is halved)

Then just changed #5 into an AOE knockback that applies AEGIS to allies with a 25 second cool down

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

ArchonWing.9480:

CMF.5461:

projectile absorb it limited because of mobility and duration-cooldown, why not have it a reflect instead of just destroying it, providing more ranged offensive capability. In fact I think all of our projectile block skills should “reflect” instead of just destroy.

They just might. They learned with engineer shield, to make it mobile; they should do the same with guardian.

Eh personally I think they should have reduced shield #4 to 20 seconds & gotten rid of the difference between PVP & PvE for it (in PvP its duration is halved)

Then just changed #5 into an AOE knockback that applies AEGIS to allies with a 25 second cool down

I’m curious if they think that the shield’s reduced knockdown outweighs an Aegis boon

Tell me, does shield’s #5 30s cd + Rune of the warrior + Honorable Shield = 18s cd ability?

Saiyan.1704:

Tell me, does shield’s #5 30s cd + Rune of the warrior + Honorable Shield = 18s cd ability?

The warrior rune reduces the recharge of your weapon swap. You probably misread it as “reduces skill recharge on weapon swap”. So no, minimum recharge of shield #5 will be 24 seconds.

Sebbl.2806:

Saiyan.1704:

Tell me, does shield’s #5 30s cd + Rune of the warrior + Honorable Shield = 18s cd ability?

The warrior rune reduces the recharge of your weapon swap. You probably misread it as “reduces skill recharge on weapon swap”. So no, minimum recharge of shield #5 will be 24 seconds.

XD I better get some sleep!! lol

Torch really gets a Spot in the competition! In my Build That will be 2.200 Base value and 5 secs of burn at 1200 range on a 12 sec cooldown. Plus it Looks cool.

It really puts scepter torch in a Good Place dps wise (If you Land the Hits). I think we will es quite a lot of Flame slingers in every game mode.

Make torch 5 clear at least two conditions on yourself and i would Never let it go

Shield is decent in WvW due to Boon Duration if you’re playing a support guard.
1) allows for perma Protection
2) Projectile block for grp/ally
3) Grp Heal
4) Knockback.

Damage should be increased however, as the damage is pathetically now.

If they’d make Shield 4 do some good damage (IE – SoW type damage), people would use it.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

ArchonWing.9480:

CMF.5461:

projectile absorb it limited because of mobility and duration-cooldown, why not have it a reflect instead of just destroying it, providing more ranged offensive capability. In fact I think all of our projectile block skills should “reflect” instead of just destroy.

They just might. They learned with engineer shield, to make it mobile; they should do the same with guardian.

Eh personally I think they should have reduced shield #4 to 20 seconds & gotten rid of the difference between PVP & PvE for it (in PvP its duration is halved)

Then just changed #5 into an AOE knockback that applies AEGIS to allies with a 25 second cool down

I always thought shield 4 should grant aegis (along with prot). Also, shield 5 should be impassable w/o stab or dodges given it friggin roots you. >.>

i like the idea of shield 4 gives aegis. would we really nice. making shiled 5 impassable w/o stab would be pretty op tho. i dont want that to happen

beside the shield4 i would love to see some changes to hammer on guard. like making the range of the number 2 bigger, maybe even with a target area so im able to jump to spots like a hambow

Amins.3710:

Shield is decent in WvW due to Boon Duration if you’re playing a support guard.
1) allows for perma Protection
2) Projectile block for grp/ally
3) Grp Heal
4) Knockback.

Damage should be increased however, as the damage is pathetically now.

If they’d make Shield 4 do some good damage (IE – SoW type damage), people would use it.

“2) Projectile block for grp/ally”: Currently is bugged and I hope they fix this on the patch (the duration is 2 sec instead of 4 sec)
“3) Grp Heal”: If it didn’t heal would be the same because the heal is ridiculous low and the healing scaling is pathetic.

I’m looking foward to the changes, I hope they will be enough to finally make shield at least usable, although not quite believe it, I’m eager to test.

In my opinion, they should add 1 sec daze on shield #4 and keep the 30 sec CD (would be at least good for interrupts). The shield is meant to support/utility, not DPS.

But the truth is, there are more changes that need the shield.

The torch might see some use when Im ranging with the scepter but I’m sticking to focus for melee. The shield will remain in the bank collecting dust for another year. Protection duration is too low on #4, #5 is garbage in PVE now and will still be garbage after patch. Litany of wrath will be unused until it’s instant or heals more.

Farzo.8410:

Hunter.4783:

20 and 24 respectively

That’s what I guessed.

A little bit better at least.

It is a really awesome cooldown at least for shield 5, absorsion is really a very underrated defense mechanicsby players, good call Anet didnt change the shield 5 skill.

Aeolus.3615:

Farzo.8410:

Hunter.4783:

20 and 24 respectively

That’s what I guessed.

A little bit better at least.

It is a really awesome cooldown at least for shield 5, absorsion is really a very underrated defense mechanicsby players, good call Anet didnt change the shield 5 skill.

Sigh… absorption/reflects are not underrated, especially by guardians. Projectile defense is one of the main reasons guardian is so valueable in dungeons. That being said, shield is a terrible weapon compared to our other offhands. First guardians have 3 main methods of projectile defense: Wall, shield of the avenger, and Sword 3 which are far superior to shield 5’s long CD and ridiculously short duration. These should be more than enough for any encounter.

So there isnt much incentive to use shield over focus, especially in dungeons since focus provides a multiple blind and regain plus a powerful block/aoe/blast finisher. So long story short, there is no incentive to bring shield, its just NOT viable. And reducing the CD does not make it usable/viable/worth it.

As I have said in my other posts, there needs to be useful abilities on shield in order for it to be used. Without comparison the shield does indeed sound nice, its when you actually compare it to our other offhands is when shield becomes terrible.

I really want shield to be great, but we aren’t going to get there if we praise the current implementation of shield and the cooldown reduction is not a buff since it still doesn’t make shield very good.

TL:DR
There is still no incentive to bring shield over focus or torch. The shield skills do not provide anything unique or better than what we already have from utilities and other weapons. We can get constant protection from hammer and way better damage and we can get way better reflects/absorbs from utilities.

Shield still sucks. Just because some people say it’s good, it still sucks. If the shield is actually good then the guardian sucks.

Torch is in alpha stage.

The rest should not be mentioned.

All in vain.

Aeolus.3615:

Farzo.8410:

Hunter.4783:

20 and 24 respectively

That’s what I guessed.

A little bit better at least.

It is a really awesome cooldown at least for shield 5, absorsion is really a very underrated defense mechanicsby players, good call Anet didnt change the shield 5 skill.

The idea is good; the execution is not. They need to at least eliminate the 2 second channel in order for it to be effective.

And shield 4 should just be rebuilt from the ground up. I’m still left wondering how that skill made it past the beta.

Black Box.9312:

The idea is good; the execution is not. They need to at least eliminate the 2 second channel in order for it to be effective.

And shield 4 should just be rebuilt from the ground up. I’m still left wondering how that skill made it past the beta.

Probably because it was much much better in early versions.

iirc Shield of Judgement had a 15 sec cooldown at one point AND could be traited as an interrupt/knockback. ( later changed to 20 sec, then 30 … )

Shield of Absorption was once 20, then 35? and finally 40…

Quite a few of the Guard’s build issues are the result of pre-launch aggressive nerfs to OP skills and traits which then seemingly get forgotten about after beta when they could have done with further retuning.

Tron.3471:

Aeolus.3615:

Farzo.8410:

Hunter.4783:

20 and 24 respectively

That’s what I guessed.

A little bit better at least.

It is a really awesome cooldown at least for shield 5, absorsion is really a very underrated defense mechanicsby players, good call Anet didnt change the shield 5 skill.

Sigh… absorption/reflects are not underrated, especially by guardians. Projectile defense is one of the main reasons guardian is so valueable in dungeons. That being said, shield is a terrible weapon compared to our other offhands. First guardians have 3 main methods of projectile defense: Wall, shield of the avenger, and Sword 3 which are far superior to shield 5’s long CD and ridiculously short duration. These should be more than enough for any encounter.

So there isnt much incentive to use shield over focus, especially in dungeons since focus provides a multiple blind and regain plus a powerful block/aoe/blast finisher. So long story short, there is no incentive to bring shield, its just NOT viable. And reducing the CD does not make it usable/viable/worth it.

As I have said in my other posts, there needs to be useful abilities on shield in order for it to be used. Without comparison the shield does indeed sound nice, its when you actually compare it to our other offhands is when shield becomes terrible.

I really want shield to be great, but we aren’t going to get there if we praise the current implementation of shield and the cooldown reduction is not a buff since it still doesn’t make shield very good.

TL:DR
There is still no incentive to bring shield over focus or torch. The shield skills do not provide anything unique or better than what we already have from utilities and other weapons. We can get constant protection from hammer and way better damage and we can get way better reflects/absorbs from utilities.

Tbh it has its place in Spvp with bunker builds, and with the CD reduction dropping from 40s to 30s, that’s a really nice improvement. Torch is mainly used for either burst builds or burn builds. The 5 can be situationally usefull as well, if using sword and you’re just out of reach from someone kiting you, it works, the added condi removal on allies within the cone is also nice. Focus is the general offhand that will generally do well with most builds because blocks and blinds are a great source of survivability.

Looking at shield, its pretty much our only offhand with a near instant interrupt knockback and projectile absorption is useful in a number of ranged situations on point. The 4 could use some improvement though. Either a good damage buff, or give it something like aegis application so it compliments some of our traits. The shield trait should really be brought down from master tier to adept tier as well.

If its PVE though and you’re trying to be optimal, yes focus will always be the best choice over our other offhand choices.

Changes on Lithany still as useless as kitten if it doesnt provide Stability Boon through out the duration.

Nice change to the torch, although I do wish they’d increase the range on torch #5. It has the potential to be such a good skill.

yLoon.5289:

Changes on Lithany still as useless as kitten if it doesnt provide Stability Boon through out the duration.

Sounds completely broken to me. :>

yLoon.5289:

Changes on Lithany still as useless as kitten if it doesnt provide Stability Boon through out the duration.

Stability on a heal, never mind 6 seconds every 20, wouldn’t work.

I’d like to see a trait though that gives each meditation a boon. Something like:

• Regen on Litany of Wrath
• Swiftness on Smite Condition
• 5 stacks of might on Judge’s Intervention
• Protection on Contemplation of Purity
• Vigor on Merciful Intervention

Or something. Maybe combine it with Focused Mind to something like, “Using a meditation grants fury and a unique boon”.

im a GS Sword/shield 6x meditation User with Monk focus

AND IM kittenING HAPPY NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!

Tbh it has its place in Spvp with bunker builds, and with the CD reduction dropping from 40s to 30s, that’s a really nice improvement. Torch is mainly used for either burst builds or burn builds. The 5 can be situationally usefull as well, if using sword and you’re just out of reach from someone kiting you, it works, the added condi removal on allies within the cone is also nice. Focus is the general offhand that will generally do well with most builds because blocks and blinds are a great source of survivability.

Looking at shield, its pretty much our only offhand with a near instant interrupt knockback and projectile absorption is useful in a number of ranged situations on point. The 4 could use some improvement though. Either a good damage buff, or give it something like aegis application so it compliments some of our traits. The shield trait should really be brought down from master tier to adept tier as well.

If its PVE though and you’re trying to be optimal, yes focus will always be the best choice over our other offhand choices.

I would still argue that focus would provide better sustainability for a bunker build with focus 5. Especially if you traited for heals on block. The knockback and absorption are just to meager. I do appreciate the knockback for point control, but you dont even need stability to pass through the bubble if you miss the target then you are rooted in place. Theres just too many cons to outweigh the pros for shield 5.

I still haven’t seen or read anything that would make the shield a viable offhand over focus (In any game mode). I do agree with you on torch and I am curious to see what the results are after the CD penalty is removed.

Tron.3471:

Tbh it has its place in Spvp with bunker builds, and with the CD reduction dropping from 40s to 30s, that’s a really nice improvement. Torch is mainly used for either burst builds or burn builds. The 5 can be situationally usefull as well, if using sword and you’re just out of reach from someone kiting you, it works, the added condi removal on allies within the cone is also nice. Focus is the general offhand that will generally do well with most builds because blocks and blinds are a great source of survivability.

Looking at shield, its pretty much our only offhand with a near instant interrupt knockback and projectile absorption is useful in a number of ranged situations on point. The 4 could use some improvement though. Either a good damage buff, or give it something like aegis application so it compliments some of our traits. The shield trait should really be brought down from master tier to adept tier as well.

If its PVE though and you’re trying to be optimal, yes focus will always be the best choice over our other offhand choices.

I would still argue that focus would provide better sustainability for a bunker build with focus 5. Especially if you traited for heals on block. The knockback and absorption are just to meager. I do appreciate the knockback for point control, but you dont even need stability to pass through the bubble if you miss the target then you are rooted in place. Theres just too many cons to outweigh the pros for shield 5.

I still haven’t seen or read anything that would make the shield a viable offhand over focus (In any game mode). I do agree with you on torch and I am curious to see what the results are after the CD penalty is removed.

Guardian does not have a heal on block trait, the only trait that heals on block is Pure of Heart and that only procs off blocks with Aegis. If you mean AH with MotD 200-300 Health gained total is not not much better, in fact shield popping will give you at least 3 to 4 times more healing. 3 blocks from Focus 5 is generally good for alot of things but against more than one person in Spvp it loses power, granted its not traited 3 blocks on a kitten CD easily disposed of with trash AA’s or multi hit skills from range. Shield will shine there with the projectile absorption(they need to fix the length cause atm its 2s instead of 4), with the possibility of mitigating more damage from projectiles than the 3 of block anything would(absorbing nade spam and blocking a ranger’s rapid fire targeting a ally.).

Ideally the best set to use shield with, is mace, due to the fact the skills compliment each other. Especially if you use Writ of the Merciful for symbol heals that would already provide regen from Mace 2. So Regen, and protection from shield 4 mixed with selfless daring rolls. You’ll also have a block with mace 3 on a pretty low CD, and a projectile absorption bubble.

Shield has its place among guardian bunker builds in Spvp and even some groups in WvW. It just doesn’t shine well with solo play and and DPS builds. Now as far as torch goes, it’ll be much better now, more chances to throw, and or bait out dodges. It won’t be anything too major though aside from more frequent nuking,