Guild Wars 2

All professions suffer from some lackluster traits that never see any use. Guardian is no exception. Maybe we can get some visibility for the upcoming patch that is bringing trait changes. Post your trait ideas here!

Radiant Fire
Torch skills recharge 20% faster. Zealot’s Flame no longer burns, but now explodes dealing area damage on up to three foes.

Scepter Power
Scepter damage is increased by 5%. Smites area of effect is increased by 50%.

Inner Fire
When you are set on fire or inflict burning you gain 2 seconds of fury.

Powerful Blades —> Harnessed Blades
Sword and spear damage is increased by 5%. Zealot’s Defense may be used while moving.

Mace of Justice
Mace damage is increased by 5%. Symbol of Faith is instant.

Unscathed Contender —> Fury of the Saints
Deal 15% more damage while under the effects of aegis. When aegis is removed, you gain fury for 6 seconds.

Please contribute your own submissions/suggestions for increasing the viability/fun of many of the Guardian traits!

Wolfbrand.6523:

All professions suffer from some lackluster traits that never see any use. Guardian is no exception. Maybe we can get some visibility for the upcoming patch that is bringing trait changes. Post your trait ideas here!

Radiant Fire
Torch skills recharge 20% faster. Zealot’s Flame no longer burns, but now explodes dealing area damage on up to three foes.

Scepter Power
Scepter damage is increased by 5%. Smites area of effect is increased by 50%.

Inner Fire
When you are set on fire or inflict burning you gain 2 seconds of fury.

Powerful Blades —> Harnessed Blades
Sword and spear damage is increased by 5%. Zealot’s Defense may be used while moving.

Mace of Justice
Mace damage is increased by 5%. Symbol of Faith is instant.

Unscathed Contender —> Fury of the Saints
Deal 15% more damage while under the effects of aegis. When aegis is removed, you gain fury for 6 seconds.

Please contribute your own submissions/suggestions for increasing the viability/fun of many of the Guardian traits!

Yes to all of these. I would love to move with Zealot’s Defense. Also, another trait I would like to see is a change to Zealous Blade, which I find absolutely useless and a waste of a trait slot. They should change it to two stacks of might on final hit with great-sword instead of 1. Also, all the spirit weapon related traits need to find 1 line to stay in. I think they’re in like three different lines right now and that needs to be changed.

Those are some good suggestions wolfbrand, except for the Scepter Power. Scepter is already the highest DPS weapon in the game (even stated by the Devs), it’s main problem is the speed of #1, which they said they will fix sometime in the future. I won’t comment on Smite radius though. I’ve got mixed feelings about that skill.

Here’s a couple of my suggestions on the Virtue line:
1. Power of the Virtuous: Increase the 1% per boon to 2%.
2. Remove Retalitory Subconscious OR Unscathed Contender and replace with Powerful Judgement: Increases the value of self-produced boons by the Guardian only (allys unaffected) by 20% (IE: Might=42@ level 80, Protection = 39%, Fury=24% CC, etc.)

These two alone will help fulfill the Anet’s own class ideals on the Guardian in making them feel more powerful with boons. This will also help give a reason to actually use boons considering boon hate is becoming popular, and I have a feeling they are going to include more of it in future updates.

3. Change Improved Spirit Weapons Duration to Improved Spirit Weapons: removes Spirit Weapon duration altogether.

Wolfbrand.6523:

All professions suffer from some lackluster traits that never see any use. Guardian is no exception. Maybe we can get some visibility for the upcoming patch that is bringing trait changes. Post your trait ideas here!

Radiant Fire
Torch skills recharge 20% faster. Zealot’s Flame no longer burns, but now explodes dealing area damage on up to three foes.

Radiant fire doesn’t really need a change, 15% is plenty for already extremely short Cds on an offhand, and you are destroying the torch synergy with the 10% extra damage to burning targets in the zeal tree by removing the burning, if anything make torch #5 actually add burning with the trait.

Wolfbrand.6523:

Scepter Power
Scepter damage is increased by 5%. Smites area of effect is increased by 50%.

Making smite bigger would just hamper it more as it doesn’t pulse, is does 15 hits to targets in the effect. which would mean with a bigger area each hit would only hit a person like once in zergs, leading to a straight drop in damage per more targets. It would be better to have something where smite actually hits less times but does more damage per hit, that way it makes it better all around.

Wolfbrand.6523:

Inner Fire
When you are set on fire or inflict burning you gain 2 seconds of fury.

Inner fire is fine as it is, maybe even broken in sPvP and zerg vs zerg battles, as it has no CD already, and is applied each time burning is applied. Stand in an enemy fire field for the duration and then just cleanse the condition and boom, tons of fury.

Wolfbrand.6523:

Powerful Blades —> Harnessed Blades
Sword and spear damage is increased by 5%. Zealot’s Defense may be used while moving.

I really do not get why everyone complains that ZD needs to be able to be used while moving. Mesmers and warriors and thieves all have skills like ZD that root them while casting. The only difference is that they all have ways to immobilize/cripple on the same weapon, thus making them easier to land. Guardians need some CC on things other than hammer and scepter, not movement while using ZD.

Wolfbrand.6523:

Mace of Justice
Mace damage is increased by 5%. Symbol of Faith is instant.

Don’t mind mace of justice, though it still wouldn’t make me ever want to use mace >.>

Wolfbrand.6523:

Unscathed Contender —> Fury of the Saints
Deal 15% more damage while under the effects of aegis. When aegis is removed, you gain fury for 6 seconds.

The whole trait honestly needs to just be scrapped, it is more of a gimmick than a working trait, and is extremely situational.

My personal fixes to traits focus in zeal, as it is currently our must under used and broken trait line.

1) Move Glacial heart to a 20 point talent in zeal, lower the duration, lower the CD, and make it work with all weapons. (something like 20 second cd, 2-3 second duration)

2) Upgrade zealous blade. a) make it include the 5% extra damage from greatsword power, (this will clear room for Glacial heart as well.) b) Either make it scale slightly with healing power, or buff the heal slightly.

3) Remove the 5 point talent and move each symbol talent down a tier (vulnerability on symbols to 5, symbol damage to 15, add in a 25 point trait to make symbols immobilize up to 3 targets for 1 second on the first pulse of the symbol. and cripple them for 1s on each pulse. Make it so only the cripple applies to Hammer symbol, as adding an immobilize to that spammable of a symbol would cause issues. This could also be a 30 point talent so you would have to choose between this an zealous blade. This talent also has the possibility to fix mace in a pvp setting, as mace has 0 snare and 0 gap closing, making it almost worthless unless you are bunkering on a point in sPvP

Symbols should not immobilize.

I would suggest:

1) re-making Glacial Heart: Symbols Chill on pulse.

2) Protectors Impact: Create a Symbol of protection when you are Immobilized or Frozen.

Just a couple of simple things first before we nit-pick like “changing 1% to 2%.”

1. Actually have Zealot’s Defense act as a Block, instead of absorbing projectiles. And please actually predict target movement instead of lagging behind. The target could be Chilled and walking sideways, and ZD would still miss.

2. Completely change or remove Glacial Heart. It has absolutely no place an any kind of Guardian build.

Amins.3710:

Symbols should not immobilize.

I would suggest:

1) re-making Glacial Heart: Symbols Chill on pulse.

2) Protectors Impact: Create a Symbol of protection when you are Immobilized or Frozen.

I don’t mind symbols chill on pulse at all. I just got yelled at too many times for trying to suggest chilling as it was “too strong of a debuff” I think a 1 second immobilize when the symbol is laid down is still fine though, as it would work kind of like muddy terrain and the engineer’s glue shot. With the amount of condition reduction food being used at the moment in WvW, and the fact that people already fight in points in sPvP, I don’t see a 1 sec immobilize on symbol creation to be OP.

Amins.3710:

Symbols should not immobilize.

I would suggest:

1) re-making Glacial Heart: Symbols Chill on pulse.

2) Protectors Impact: Create a Symbol of protection when you are Immobilized or Frozen.

I really like the Glacial Heart aidea since Glacia Heart as it is pretty much is unusable.

I’d like to see them combine the meditation traits like they did for the warrior adrenaline traits. Glacial Heart definitely needs a rework as mentioned. I’d also like a damage modifier for hammer somewhere.

I’d also like a good 30pt trait skill for zeal… Something that makes it worth going down that line. Also, I’d like something better for Virtues also in the 30pt area…

Bash.7291:

Radiant fire doesn’t really need a change, 15% is plenty for already extremely short Cds on an offhand, and you are destroying the torch synergy with the 10% extra damage to burning targets in the zeal tree by removing the burning, if anything make torch #5 actually add burning with the trait.

I get that the AOE pulsing burn has that synergy, but for ranged specs it has almost no value. This is more of a trait to increase the viability in WvW and dungeons rather than solo where the torch acts as more of a ranged offhand to complement scepter.

Bash.7291:

Making smite bigger would just hamper it more as it doesn’t pulse, is does 15 hits to targets in the effect. which would mean with a bigger area each hit would only hit a person like once in zergs, leading to a straight drop in damage per more targets. It would be better to have something where smite actually hits less times but does more damage per hit, that way it makes it better all around.

That’s actually half the purpose. Tagging with scepter is quite hard in WvW. Feels bad to have to constantly switch to staff just to feel like you’re doing something outside of beating on a gate — but I like your suggestion too of toning it into a smaller but stronger AOE. Perhaps even a little faster so that it synergizes better with scepter #3.

Bash.7291:

Inner fire is fine as it is, maybe even broken in sPvP and zerg vs zerg battles, as it has no CD already, and is applied each time burning is applied. Stand in an enemy fire field for the duration and then just cleanse the condition and boom, tons of fury.

And…that’s the point. You’re being very short-sighted. It’s good situationally in one place in the game. This makes it a little worse in WvW (2 seconds instead of 3) but better everywhere else. You have some control over giving yourself fury. Giving the player options and abilities to utilize is much better than the massive amount of passive bonuses that traits give.

Bash.7291:

I really do not get why everyone complains that ZD needs to be able to be used while moving. Mesmers and warriors and thieves all have skills like ZD that root them while casting. The only difference is that they all have ways to immobilize/cripple on the same weapon, thus making them easier to land. Guardians need some CC on things other than hammer and scepter, not movement while using ZD.

It’s about fun. Self-rooting is not fun, especially for an ability that isn’t particularly amazing (comparing to similar abilities like Hundred Blades, Pistol Whip, etc). This is a game about movement, placement, and dodging. Self roots should be limited. It’s more a simple perk that enhances fun while not breaking a weapon.

Bash.7291:

Don’t mind mace of justice, though it still wouldn’t make me ever want to use mace

And that’s fine. It’s a perk that, again, is about making skills more fun rather than overpowered. Something that might pique someones interest.

Bash.7291:

The whole trait honestly needs to just be scrapped, it is more of a gimmick than a working trait, and is extremely situational.

It is very gimmicky. That was the point of weakening the one niche aspect and folding it into a fury effect. It has applications for a Guardian looking to deal damage at melee or ranged.

All of these changes were suggested with the criteria of:

• Increasing fun
• Bolstering weak traits
• Helping weaker weapon sets (everything outside of Staff/Hammer/GS)
• Diversifying traits to work outside of specific niche roles
• Maintaining balance

Simply stating “it’s fine the way it is” for traits that never see the light of day, or are simply boring is not proper enough reason to maintain the status quo of X amount of viable traits.

ZD would be too powerful in my eyes if you could move while casting. It also follows stealthed targets if you’ve casted it before they stealthed. I don’t think it’d be able to do that very effectively if you could move while casting — the targeting would get all messed up if you could move around while casting it.

At present, the only thing I’d like to see changed is Power of the Virtuous being increased to 2% extra damage per boon to be on par with Elementalists’ similar trait.

Bash.7291:

Amins.3710:

Symbols should not immobilize.

I would suggest:

1) re-making Glacial Heart: Symbols Chill on pulse.

2) Protectors Impact: Create a Symbol of protection when you are Immobilized or Frozen.

I don’t mind symbols chill on pulse at all. I just got yelled at too many times for trying to suggest chilling as it was “too strong of a debuff” I think a 1 second immobilize when the symbol is laid down is still fine though, as it would work kind of like muddy terrain and the engineer’s glue shot. With the amount of condition reduction food being used at the moment in WvW, and the fact that people already fight in points in sPvP, I don’t see a 1 sec immobilize on symbol creation to be OP.

I get it, but here’s my concern.

As from the perspective of WvW.. most people in group play are typically Hammer/Staff.

Being able to toss down your staff symbol at range, switch into hammer → imobl again, then ring them up… that’s a TON of ’ w t f ’ on the receiving side.

And seeing as how most are 2h mastery, it’s done every 12s on the staff. Then spec into symbols larger and symbols last longer… you’re pretty much better off than Muddy Terrain, which is already a phenomenal ability.

Maybe add in a “Chance to Proc”: IE 60% Chance to Chill on hit.

I would like to see more synergy between the major/minor trait bonuses. Here is what I mean:

The Zeal minor traits are all geared towards symbols. Nothing in the major traits has anything to do with symbols except falling (and maybe 5% gs damage?). This was fine back before the GS got nerfed because you could reasonably spam symbol of wrath but that’s OBE.

Radiance major/minor complement each other with burning and signet conditions. What I might change is trade condition duration from Zeal with Precision from Radiance, and that way the critical hit chance from inner fire and right hand strength don’t overlap (arguable).

I have no idea what they were going for with the Valor minor traits; it’s the reason I’ve never gone with an AH build. Blocking and toughness sort of go together but it also seems like too much overlap.

Honor minor traits emphasize dodging (works great with the shout major traits) which is completely at odds with the symbol effects in the major traits. The goal for symbols is for you to stand in them too which, if you’re dodging… you’re not staying on the symbol.

Virtues line is fine, the majors and minors all complement each other (MoC, Absolute Resolution and Indomitable Courage are my preferred majors though sometimes I switch Courage for Elite Focus) and stacks nicely with boon duration.

Spirit weapon effects are split between Zeal, Radiance and Virtues, and there are better options to choose from those major trait categories especially since spirit weapons were made destructible. Does anyone even use spirit weapons? If they were indestructible again, and the traits were mushed into 2 trait lines perhaps they’d be viable.

Things done right, i.e. major traits in 1 line synergize: Shouts, Meditations, Signets, Consecrations. Although I must say there are better options in the Radiance line than Signet buffs so I would never consider using those traits beyond 20% improvement for S. of Resolve.

Major Traits I would never consider using (not just because there are better options in that line; these are just inferior all-around in my opinion):
Zealous Blade
Shattered Aegis
Revenge of the Fallen
Searing Flames
Shimmering Defense
Healer’s Retribution
Glacial Heart
Strength of the Fallen
Defender’s Flame
Pure of Heart
Permeating Wrath
Supreme Justice
Retaliatory Subconscious

There are some I waffled on, so I played it safe and picked out the most useless (IMO) of the lot.

Amins.3710:

Bash.7291:

Amins.3710:

Symbols should not immobilize.

I would suggest:

1) re-making Glacial Heart: Symbols Chill on pulse.

2) Protectors Impact: Create a Symbol of protection when you are Immobilized or Frozen.

I don’t mind symbols chill on pulse at all. I just got yelled at too many times for trying to suggest chilling as it was “too strong of a debuff” I think a 1 second immobilize when the symbol is laid down is still fine though, as it would work kind of like muddy terrain and the engineer’s glue shot. With the amount of condition reduction food being used at the moment in WvW, and the fact that people already fight in points in sPvP, I don’t see a 1 sec immobilize on symbol creation to be OP.

I get it, but here’s my concern.

As from the perspective of WvW.. most people in group play are typically Hammer/Staff.

Being able to toss down your staff symbol at range, switch into hammer -> imobl again, then ring them up… that’s a TON of ’ w t f ’ on the receiving side.

And seeing as how most are 2h mastery, it’s done every 12s on the staff. Then spec into symbols larger and symbols last longer… you’re pretty much better off than Muddy Terrain, which is already a phenomenal ability.

Maybe add in a “Chance to Proc”: IE 60% Chance to Chill on hit.

Could always get around it with an internal cooldown so you cant weapon switch and spam symbols that way. Honestly though I would like chill on symbols, makes more sense with the whole “magical knight” style they go with regarding gaurdians. Though you do have a point I always forget about staff and 2h mastery since i never use either >.>

Wolfbrand.6523:

I get that the AOE pulsing burn has that synergy, but for ranged specs it has almost no value. This is more of a trait to increase the viability in WvW and dungeons rather than solo where the torch acts as more of a ranged offhand to complement scepter.

Scepter needs to be fixed before we even talk about ranged sets, and in all honesty, guardian is not meant to be a fully ranged class, we are meant to get in the middle of fights, not sit on the side lines. That is even according to the dev’s description of guardian gameplay.

That’s actually half the purpose. Tagging with scepter is quite hard in WvW. Feels bad to have to constantly switch to staff just to feel like you’re doing something outside of beating on a gate — but I like your suggestion too of toning it into a smaller but stronger AOE. Perhaps even a little faster so that it synergizes better with scepter #3.

Unless they make smite a symbol (which i have been asking for since i first used it) The only fix is to either use staff to tag people. Personally, If your playing just to tag people, then your playing wrong. Play to kill, not just to tag and get loot.

And…that’s the point. You’re being very short-sighted. It’s good situationally in one place in the game. This makes it a little worse in WvW (2 seconds instead of 3) but better everywhere else. You have some control over giving yourself fury. Giving the player options and abilities to utilize is much better than the massive amount of passive bonuses that traits give.

If a trait is useful in 2/3 modes of gameplay I consider it something that can go on the back burner until other traits are fixed. Also, Fury is the ONLY buff we don’t have much of, and I am fine with that. (Besides the fact that I found a way to get around it)

It’s about fun. Self-rooting is not fun, especially for an ability that isn’t particularly amazing (comparing to similar abilities like Hundred Blades, Pistol Whip, etc). This is a game about movement, placement, and dodging. Self roots should be limited. It’s more a simple perk that enhances fun while not breaking a weapon.

Zealot’s defense is possibly my favorite skill in the game, and I know alot of other people that think the skill is amazing as it is. The only issue I have seen other than people complaining about the self root, is the fact that the tooltip says it blocks but it doesn’t, which I do agree needs to be fixed. My question is, why should I not compare it to the other self root abilities? What flare do they have that Zealot’s defense doesn’t that makes it a case that it deserves to be mobile?

All of these changes were suggested with the criteria of:

• Increasing fun
• Bolstering weak traits
• Helping weaker weapon sets (everything outside of Staff/Hammer/GS)
• Diversifying traits to work outside of specific niche roles
• Maintaining balance

Simply stating “it’s fine the way it is” for traits that never see the light of day, or are simply boring is not proper enough reason to maintain the status quo of X amount of viable traits.

All that might be fine and dandy, but all the traits you listed are all traits that are in working trait lines at the moment. Radiance has a point as one of our best 1h DPS trait lines, honor and valor are 2 of the most used, and virtues has a great support for any spec, and can even be the base of some builds. Zeal has none of that. It’s traits past 10 points are pretty much horrible, half of which should be combined to actually make something useful. I would much rather have our dead trait line fixed before adding “fun” to other already useful trait lines.

As far as “diversifying weapon sets” which weapon’s really need help from traits? 1h sword and scepter are great with radiance, GS/Hammer can fit anywhere, Staff has a good support role. the only one that is partially lacking is mace, which I agree needs some help. Torch is our best Damage offhand, focus is best for self defense, and shield is great for group play.

Radiant Fire – the burn should definitely stay. i play torch as melee actually. JI in, activate, burns, toss flame. i like how it works right now. : )))

re: Inner Fire, i don’t think Torch 4 should self-inflict burn either, but if it did, i wouldn’t mind either. perhaps add might along with fury, then i’d feel that change is justified. as said, you get burns enough as is from fighting majority of the classes.

Mace of Justice – instant Symbol of Faith on trait is to DIE for.

Glacial Heart – i like the suggestion of added chills on symbols. although, symbols could be OP. but definitely great synergy for keeping people to stay on them. perhaps like Amins said, a chance to proc chills on pulses for all symbols. i think that would be incredibly powerful already. definitely would love to see this fixed! chills are easily my favorite condition in the game. XDDD then i can hack my chill-themed Guardian build out of his ice block and use him again. ; ))

Scepter – to be honest, i love the way it plays right now. i would like to see a speed increase more than a damage increase.. though at the same time, i have a sneaky feeling that the devs will not just tinker with the speed, and leave the damage component untouched. :// so we’ll see hwo they strike a balance. Smite as a symbol would be quite nice. gives even more utility for the scepter and i can play it in symbol builds too! that gives us two choices for ranged symbols though, which can be extremely devastating as well. then add on the proposed Glacial Heart symbols chill on pulse… yes please.

Zeal – i have come to love a few of these traits. though iwouldn’t mind seeing this reworked a little so that we can have more of a variety of builds. and we all know, damage is hugely based off of power. so more power = well, more power to the player!

Agreed with Christos – 2% on Power of the Virtuous would be quite nice. Virtues line is argubly as good as it already though. i feel the benefits you get from it are just not as measurable as say Radiance or Honor or Valor.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

At present, the only thing I’d like to see changed is Power of the Virtuous being increased to 2% extra damage per boon to be on par with Elementalists’ similar trait.

Amen brother! Preach it!

akamon.2769:

Agreed with Christos – 2% on Power of the Virtuous would be quite nice. Virtues line is argubly as good as it already though. i feel the benefits you get from it are just not as measurable as say Radiance or Honor or Valor.

That’s exactly the problem. If you end up going that far into Virtues, you end up hurting your DPS compared to just going to other trait lines.

I’d like symbols to be more effective… Even if you have all the traits to buff symbols, theyre still not very effective. It’s bad enough that symbols are stationary, but enemies walk over them taking little to none damage. If symbols are meant to supply boons, then they don’t do a very good job of it. Needs to be more than just a half second of a boon. I’d like it so that when I drop a symbol, the team actually knows to stack to get a boon before going in.

Oh nice, i like it when people thinker a little wishlist of changes they`d like to see in the near future!

Weapon skills/utilies:
Scepter #1, homing but the orb cannot go further then a 180 direction angle. This would prevent ministrafing but still able to avoid it reliably, this promotes more skillful play from the opponent to avoid damage.
Scepter #2, smite changed into Symbol just for the purpose of being able to increase the radius /damage if you specialize in it.
Focus #4, damage increased 200%.
Staff #1, damage reduced by 20%. Range increased to 900.
Staff #2, detonate removed. cooldown increased to 5 seconds. damage increased by 50%.
Hammer #2, Mighty blow cooldown reduced to 4 seconds.
Greatsword #5, enemies affected by chains are also crippled for the duration of 3 seconds after applying.
Shield #5, Detonate no longer destroys bubble. Bubble lasts for 6 seconds base duration now.
Mace #1, autoattack sequence damage increased by 20%, last strike damage increased by 30% and increased effectiveness of heal by 20%.

Spirit weapons, no longer have a healthbar, skills on activate no longer destroys the spirit weapon and duration increased by 15 seconds for all spirit weapons but shield of the avenger.
Shield of the avenger now spams its bubble with a longer interval of 2 seconds but its base bubble duration is increased to 6 seconds.
Signet of wrath, no longer increases condition damage, instead increases run speed by 25%.
Wall of reflection, increased cooldown by 5 seconds.
Smite condition damage with condition increased by 20%. Second stack added, if affected by 2 or more condition both conditions are removed and nearby enemies are damaged for an additional 20%.
Save yourselfs no longer breaks stuns.
Retreat now breaks stuns. Aegis duration reduced to last 5 seconds.

Traits
- Zeal, i would change the numbers on the following traits: Greatsword power increased to 10%. Scepter power increased to 10%, Zealous blade to affect ALL WEAPONS heal base healing altered to that the same of VoR, 84 healing per hit (double when crit) and scaling of 1:3 healing power.

Remove the following traits: Revenge of the fallen, spirit weapon mastery, shattered eagis and eternal spirit.
Add the following traits instead: Trait: 10% damage to hammers, Trait: 5% of power is added to precision, Trait: Signet of wrath mastery also burns up to 5 enemies around you for X damage when activated. Trait: Signet of judgement mastery no longer weakens enemies but instead grants the guardian a 5 second immunity to immobilizes on activation. Cooldown increased to 25 seconds.

- Radiance: Shimmering defense triggers on 50% health now and cooldown decreased to 45 seconds, Radiant fire increased to 20%, Inner fire to trigger fury when you apply burning to an enemy, duration of 5 seconds. Cooldown of 30 seconds, Powerful blades increased to 10%.

Remove the following traits: Healers retribution, Inscribed removal, right-hand strengt.
Add the following traits instead: Trait: 15% damage to ranged weapons (spears, scepters and staves). Trait: Scepters, maces and sword add a symbol for 4 seconds duration to the foe`s position when Virtue of justice’s passive triggers. Trait, when 3 subsequent symbols overlap, create an explosion for X aoe damage. Cooldown of 10 seconds.

- Valor, minor trait Might of the protector changed into Defense of the protector granting 5 seconds of protection when you block attacks. Strength in numbers increased to 170 toughness. Glacial hart cooldown reduced to 25 seconds, duration increased to 5 seconds. Mace of justice increased to 10%, Honorable shield increased to 120 toughness when shield is equiped, also have a 5% to randomly block an attack.

Removing: Altruistic healing (yes :P), strenght of the fallen. Trait: a flat 10% increase to vitality if equiped with a 1handed weapon and a 10% increase to toughness if equiped a 2handed weapon. Trait: cheat death, if an attack that would otherwise cause you to go downed to instead heal you to 30% of base health. Cooldown of 120 seconds.

- Honor, resolute healer changed to grant this effect if you succesfully rallied. Writ of persistence, duration increased to grant 1 additional second on top of the increased duration.

Removing: wrathful spirit, protective reviver. Trait: Signets no longer deactivates on use. Trait: Virtue of resolve creates an explosion of healing every 45 seconds for 1200 base healing as long the passive is active. Up to 5 nearby allies are affected by this.

- Virtues, retalliatory subconsious changed into giving protection instead of retaliation when effected by CC.

Removing: improved spirit weapon duration, vengeful, permeating wrath. Trait: When affected by retaliation also gain 3 stacks of might. Subsequent application increase in duration and not stacks. Trait: when hit by spells or skills that have damage modifiers based on active boons, you gain a 20% damage increase to your next weapon skill. Trait: When you are victim of at least 1 stack of bleeding, poison, burn, weakness and confusion simultaneously you enrage dealing 30% more damage and gaining 15 additional might stacks. 8 Second duration, 120 seconds cooldown.

TL:DR: removed altruistic healing and added a lot of “fun” traits to open up different builds but still maintain some sort of support/defensive aspects.

- Zeal is more attractive
- Radiance is more attractive
- Ranged builds are more attractive
- Nerfed overal survivability

Tell me what you think! /sandra

@Sandra, this thread and the upcoming patch is about traits, NOT skills. Please edit out that part of your wall of text please to spare other readers.

And also, “no thanks” to most of what you propose.

@sandra: …..uh no. Almost all of those changes would make guardian grossly over powered. Also, most damage builds dont run AH as it is, they run monk’s focus. Only the 0/x/30/20+/x builds really run AH, high healing power builds dont need it. Also, radiance already is attractive, i use it in every single one of my builds both 1h and 2h based.

Revenge of Fallen – NO ONE USES THIS remove this or put something useful here like faster downed skill cd even then people likely wouldnt use it
Great Sword Power – Add Trident damage 5%
Scepter Power – Add Focus damage 5%
Wrathful Spirits – Add double health to spirit weapons
Zealous Blade – Double healing, or add +crit chance or %dmg

Inner Fire – When set on fire get Fury for 5 seconds, when apply fire get fury for 1 or 2 seconds
Searing Flames – Reduce it to 15 or 10 seconds
Blind Exposure – Add 1-2 seconds to duration
Perfect Inscriptions – Signet heals you for small amount when used

Strength of Fallen – NO ONE USES THIS remove it or completely change it
Strength in Numbers – Increase toughness
Mace of Justice – Add symbol cast is instant
Glacial Heart – Reduce it to 15-20 seconds or add it to symbols to tick
Focused Mind – Add increase mediation damage

Unscathed Contender – Add grant swiftness or fury when aegis is removed
Indomitable Courage – Add 1-2 seconds to duration
Shielded Mind – Further reduce passive recharge by 5 seconds, recharge rate reduced by 10 seconds

Save Yourselves:
Ability should grant stability also.

Beyond that… whatever, Guardian is amazing. I guess we could use a passive speed buff though, how about adding 25% movement speed to the -10% damage signet, give us both on one signet! Thanks.

Shield mastery add ons – 4 now reflects projectiles when channeling , 5 now also blocks all attacks well channeling.

It’s pathetic a GUARDIAN is actually better without his best friend the shield as it is now. I want the shield to be more than just some pretty aesthetic.

Wolfbrand.6523:

All professions suffer from some lackluster traits that never see any use. Guardian is no exception. Maybe we can get some visibility for the upcoming patch that is bringing trait changes. Post your trait ideas here!

Radiant Fire
Torch skills recharge 20% faster. Zealot’s Flame no longer burns, but now explodes dealing area damage on up to three foes.

Scepter Power
Scepter damage is increased by 5%. Smites area of effect is increased by 50%.

Inner Fire
When you are set on fire or inflict burning you gain 2 seconds of fury.

Powerful Blades —> Harnessed Blades
Sword and spear damage is increased by 5%. Zealot’s Defense may be used while moving.

Mace of Justice
Mace damage is increased by 5%. Symbol of Faith is instant.

Unscathed Contender —> Fury of the Saints
Deal 15% more damage while under the effects of aegis. When aegis is removed, you gain fury for 6 seconds.

Please contribute your own submissions/suggestions for increasing the viability/fun of many of the Guardian traits!

They are awesome suggestions!

some great ideas in here. : ))) glad to see so many so passionate of the Guardian.
really hoping we do get the attention come soon!

really want some of the traits that are never used to get reworked. i’m sad to admit that there are some i don’t even remember details of.. cause i’ve never even contemplated using them.

Amins.3710:

Symbols should not immobilize.

I would suggest:

1) re-making Glacial Heart: Symbols Chill on pulse.

2) Protectors Impact: Create a Symbol of protection when you are Immobilized or Frozen.

3) Fix Scepter Orb Speed

4) For the love of all things HOLY ~ Fix Merciful Intervention so that it’s a player targeted ability… just like JI. It’s completely USELESS as is. It’s worse then Engi Elixers… at least you know you’re going to get A or B…. w/ MI… you could end up in bum kitten nowhere w/ a pooch up your kitten .

Tryna make us OP and get nerfed…

Oh please don’t mess with Unscathed Contender, that trait is awesome when you know how to use it.

Scepter Power moved to Powerful Blades, renamed to something else:
Increases one handed damage by 5%. (One handers going all too Radiance)

In it’s place, some new trait related to Symbol, damage oriented, like “Increase Symbols damage by 10%”.

Greatsword Power renamed to something else:
Increases two handed damage by 5%. (Two handers to Zeal)

Zealous Blade
Your attacks heals you. (Wouldn’t make it exactly awesome, but at least you’re not locked to Greatswords only)

Wrathful Spirits
Increase Spirit Weapons damage and health by 50%. (Yes they suck right now)

Perfect Inscriptions
Increase the passive effects of signets and maintain their effects even when they’re in cooldown. (I still wouldn’t use it because there are better traits, but it’s still something)

Mace of Justice
Reduces the cooldown of Mace skills by 20%. (Couldn’t think of anything else)

Glacial Heart replaced by some other trait such as:
“Nearby allies gain Protection (2 seconds) when you are struck by a critical hit.” (a defensive version of Empowering Might)

More Suggestions for the Zeal Line:

Zealous Blade —> Zealous Symbols

• Symbols move with the user for their duration.

Revenge of the Fallen

• Deal 50% more damage when downed. When you or an ally rallies, gain stability and 8 stacks of might for 6 seconds. (6 sec ICD)

Shattered Aegis

• When an aegis you applied is removed, it burns and immobilizes the source of damage.

Greatsword Power —-> Brave Blade

• Greatsword damage is increased by 5%. Whirling Wrath consumes an active aegis effect to deal 10% increased damage and heal nearby allies.

Protector’s Impact

• Create a Symbol of Protection when you take falling damage or knock back a foe. Take 50% less falling damage.

Perfect Inscriptions
Increase the passive effects of signets and maintain their effects even when they’re in cooldown. (I still wouldn’t use it because there are better traits, but it’s still something)

Would love to see that though it might be OP for the healing signet.

Also, I don’t want to disappoint you guys but this thread is useless : changes coming have been almost ready for months probably, around 3 months old as everything takes so long.
So your suggestions might only apply in other patches.

Bash would rage so hard if I got Might on Retal application.

Zealous Blade
Greatsword attacks heal you.

At level 80 it heals for 180 per hit. Does not scale with healing power.

KratosAngel.7289:

Perfect Inscriptions
Increase the passive effects of signets and maintain their effects even when they’re in cooldown. (I still wouldn’t use it because there are better traits, but it’s still something)

Would love to see that though it might be OP for the healing signet.

Also, I don’t want to disappoint you guys but this thread is useless : changes coming have been almost ready for months probably, around 3 months old as everything takes so long.
So your suggestions might only apply in other patches.

Haha, probably true, but it is fun to try and predict the future!

Mesmer GS root ability is 1200 range, hits 5 targets, and strips off a boon. ZD is certainly good but it’s such a ridiculously easy ability to move out of range on. I’ll always be for the removal of rooted abilities as they don’t serve a big purpose [to me] in the fast paced combat.

I’d like ZD better if the range was upped to 900 and if Flashing Blade caused a 2s crippled along with blind.

Merge Indomitable Courage and Shielded Mind into one trait.

Add the following to the Virtues Tree:

Empowered Juggernaut – Grandmaster
Gain 2% Damage Reduction per unique boon.
Heal for 25 each time you are attacked per unique boon.
Heal for 350 each time your boon is stolen or removed.

(Remember, because Aegis blocks attacks, this trait can only grant up to 16% damage Reduction!)

Burning Presence – Radiance Grandmaster
Burn foes around you, each second.
Burning: 1 s
Range: 130

This makes the character have a unique effect while in combat, he looks as if hes immolated in blue flame.

False Radiance – Don’t know what tree to add, but probably not GM.
Blind deals damage, and it deals an additional 50% damage if the target has another condition on them.

This deals 2 + (level * 4.5) + 30% of Condition Damage damage per second. Base damage at level 80 is 362.

Bow of Light – Zeal, Grandmaster
- Allows the Guardian to use Long bows, this is a support weapon.

(1) Light Arrow (0.8?) (Cooldown: 0)
Fire a burning arrow of light to your target, this attack pierces enemies and blinds foes that are close.
Damage: 272
0-150 range: Blind: 3 s
Combo Finisher: Physical Projectile
Range: 1200

(2) Arrow of Protection (½) (Cooldown: 6 s)
Fire an arrow that creates a symbol that gives protection to you and your allies.
Damage: 370
Damage (3x): 555
3 Protection: 1 s
Symbol Duration: 2 s
Symbol Radius: 180
Combo Field: Light
Range: 1200

(3) Arrow of Faith (½) (Cooldown: 15 s)
Fire an arrow that creates a mystic symbol onto the ground that damages foes and regenerates allies.
Damage: 168
4 Regeneration: 1 s (520 health)
Radius: 120
Duration: 4 s
Combo Field: Light
Range: 1200

(4) Arrow of Swiftness (½) (Cooldown: 15 s)
Fire an arrow that sears a mystic symbol into the target area, damaging foes and granting swiftness to allies.
Damage: 185
Swiftness: 8 s
Radius: 180
Duration: 4 s
Combo Field: Light
Range: 1,200

(5) Arrow of Wrath (½) (Cooldown: 25 s)
Fire an arrow that pierces the ground with a mystic symbol that damages foes while granting retaliation to allies.
Damage (5x): 925
5 Retaliation: 1 s
Combo Field: Light

These are all ground targeted, this is mostly a siege weapon. Except its used more defensively then offensively.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

Bash would rage so hard if I got Might on Retal application.

Wow, had to actually search to see that was added in that list. And yes, would most likely flip a table or some other rage induced random thing like that.

I wish Renewed Justice was changed in a way that promotes fun over button mashing (e.g. have it prolong Justice’s burning, to work better with Radiant Power and Fiery Wrath, but add an internal recharge to the trait).