Guild Wars 2

The skill does moderate damage whilst giving allies protection but I think for a 30 second recharge the skill is pretty lackluster.

Compared to Ray of Judgement (focus #4) which blinds foes, removes conditions, and provides regen with a 25 second recharge it appears a little imbalanced in my personal oppinion.

If Shield of Judgement could inflict weakness it would be a much more useful skill. Even if it just blinded that would still be nice too. Just give it something to feel more useful.

Something like a 1 second daze would fit it very well, or a cripple, for close combat property. But I think we all agree it does require a little boost.

Pretty solid idea. Shield is a defensive weapon so why not give it other way to mitigate damage. You could even lower the damage more and add this. Not like people are using it for that in the first place.

I was just thinking about Guardian shield today, I do like the ol’ shield.
It’s pretty clear that Guardian shield is about protecting others whilst Warrior shield is about protecting the Warrior however, Guardian’s hammer is much better at applying protection than the shield anyway so I agree that this skill needs a little boost. Weakness would be amazing considering we don’t have any weapon skills that apply weakness although I’d even take just a longer protection duration considering the cooldown.

It would make sense for it to stun or daze. Shield would finally be viable for pvp.

and shield 5 should be a blast finisher:

Considering the fact that we already have one of the most reliable blast finishers in the game I’m not really worried about making it into a combo weapon, although we don’t have any combos on our main hand weapons so having them on off hands is kind of important.

But yeah, #4 is extremely lackluster and not particularly interesting to use. I’m also not a fan of cone attacks in this game for various reasons. I love shields but with the exception of some very specific circumstances I rarely feel like bringing one is a good decision most days.

Causing shield 4 to daze or stun would be nice. Give us a hard CC for once =P

Are you saying shield 5 should be a blast finisher instead of a combo field or in addition to? Surely you meant instead of?
I think shield 4 could get away with being a blast finisher instead, why not have both?. I’m completely fine with adding more combo options to main hand weapons since we only really have one option (Protector’s Strike doesn’t count assuming it even goes off, it shoots out one bolt and it’s usually like… upwards.)
I still think Guardian is desperately lacking in the combo finisher department. Not everyone runs greatsword or hammer all the time.

Silver.8023:

Are you saying shield 5 should be a blast finisher instead of a combo field or in addition to? Surely you meant instead of?

I was thinking when you detonate the shield bubble for healing. Yeah, and no problem with dropping the light field – the duration is way to short to synergise with anything.
Shield #4 doesn’t feel right as a finisher imho – but stun/daze fits perfectly

I hadn’t thought of the detonate. Heck yes make that a blast.
If Shield of Judgement were an AoE weakness and/or a stun/daze, it would be pretty amazing. I think weakness fits better with the whole protecting others theme but that said, even with a hammer I feel kitten in terms of control when compared to other professions….

Edit: The shield combo field actually lasts longer than the graphics do, it’s actually the same duration as an untraited symbol, I believe. The problem is, blasting the shield would almost always combo the shield’s field unless they dropped it or made it so it doesn’t trigger itself.
All the ideas… if I don’t stop, I’ll end up making another sword thread again…

It’s lackluster to add long duration protection to yourself and several allies? That’s easily better than half the weapon skills in the game.

Tarsius.3170:

Silver.8023:

Are you saying shield 5 should be a blast finisher instead of a combo field or in addition to? Surely you meant instead of?

I was thinking when you detonate the shield bubble for healing. Yeah, and no problem with dropping the light field – the duration is way to short to synergise with anything.
Shield #4 doesn’t feel right as a finisher imho – but stun/daze fits perfectly

How is the detonate anything like a blast? I can see some kind of argument for the skill itself but not the detonate.

I think the reason many consider it ‘lackluster’ by adding protection, is that a Hammer Guardian can offer the same protection far more regularly and, when symbol traited, can potentially offer it with almost constant up time and across a fairly wide area. … while healing allies and damaging opponents. As part of a natural attack chain.

The shield ability just has a hard time stacking up to that. I too would like to see it changed, just not absolutely certain how.

Yaki.9563:

How is the detonate anything like a blast? I can see some kind of argument for the skill itself but not the detonate.

Well… it is a detonatation. It certainly resembles a blast more than Warrior and Ranger’s warhorn 5 does…

To fix the condition meta a bit, make shield #4 transfer (N) conditions giver style, where N is the amount needed to fix the meta conditions issue for guardian.

Stonewall.6037:

To fix the condition meta a bit, make shield #4 transfer (N) conditions giver style, where N is the amount needed to fix the meta conditions issue for guardian.

Bahahaha. I love it.

Silver.8023:

Yaki.9563:

How is the detonate anything like a blast? I can see some kind of argument for the skill itself but not the detonate.

Well… it is a detonatation. It certainly resembles a blast more than Warrior and Ranger’s warhorn 5 does…

More so than Focus#5’s blast too

foofad.5162:

Stonewall.6037:

To fix the condition meta a bit, make shield #4 transfer (N) conditions giver style, where N is the amount needed to fix the meta conditions issue for guardian.

Bahahaha. I love it.

Gets my vote – I say give all conditions – then SY followed by Shield#4 will be the new meta

I like this idea, the shield is pretty dang weak on the guardian.

kasimmorathi.4963:

I think the reason many consider it ‘lackluster’ by adding protection, is that a Hammer Guardian can offer the same protection far more regularly and, when symbol traited, can potentially offer it with almost constant up time and across a fairly wide area. … while healing allies and damaging opponents. As part of a natural attack chain.

The shield ability just has a hard time stacking up to that. I too would like to see it changed, just not absolutely certain how.

Yes but shield 4 can be combined with a main hand weapon like mace which provides permanent regen and heals on 3rd autoattack. And you get the projectile shield. Hammer is a 1-trick pony in PvE, while shield can combine with other weapons to have many tricks.

Silver.8023:

Yaki.9563:

How is the detonate anything like a blast? I can see some kind of argument for the skill itself but not the detonate.

Well… it is a detonatation. It certainly resembles a blast more than Warrior and Ranger’s warhorn 5 does…

It does? I’ve never notice any animation for it at all except the bubble simply vanishing.

There’s a sparkly burst identical to the final pulse of Empower. It’s just obscured somewhat from the bubble.

I think shield is an essential weapon of Guardian, so he/she should be the only class who have 3 slot skills of shield.
The third skill once activate, block all attacks and reflect 70% damage to surrounding foes in 6 sec.
And the fifth skill should be changed to shield charge which can make the foes on the path daze in 1.5 sec.
Yes, it is fantasy.

I like the condition transfer idea. It should transfer a condition based on how many allies are around you. (maximum of 5, of course).

I run with Mace/Shield alot of the time. I would like to see Shield 4 tweaked. It is already a great way to add protection, but other wise feels lacking. Anet seems to keep a tight leash on the skills that inflict weakness now that it has been raised in power. Still I would like it to do something along the lines of protection for allies, and a condition on foes. Perhaps

1. vulnerability if weakness would make it to strong.

2. Blind we already have on the focus, but I would not object to getting it here either

3. Daze or Stun, (probably to op)

Pfft, why not give it fury and quickness too with the stun?

I think a 20 sec cooldown and about a 3sec protection would make for nice gameplay that rewards combat awareness.

Jamais vu.5284:

Pfft, why not give it fury and quickness too with the stun?

I think a 20 sec cooldown and about a 3sec protection would make for nice gameplay that rewards combat awareness.

that would be the case if protection weren’t so easy to apply, right now you can faceroll and have 50% uptime on protection, or with a hammer press 1 and do nothing else ever for perma protection.

Shield 4 is simply underpowered