Guild Wars 2

So in most if not all of the group content I’ve experienced so far, there seems to be a common theme. No matter what I do or no matter how I play my guardian, NPCs want one character only and it’s mine. Now before some of you jump to conclusions yes I have read the wiki and no I have 0 soldier/tanking items. 0 toughness, 0 vitality, heck I don’t even run tanking weapons, yet, in most fights, when a boss or trash decides to attack someone it’s only me. I’m not even talking about some boss cleaves, they’re actively following me or turning to me no matter what I’m doing.

It wouldn’t be a problem if the survivability was decent but it’s really under average compared to my other characters. The heals and self heal utility are crap and more panic buttons than tools to deal with so much aggro, but in fights with a lot of mechanics, since it’s a melee character, sometimes I have to waste a dodge or a cooldown do deal with stuff, which means that I’m going to be out of stamina and heals when that big cleave is coming. I can’t kite either, most npcs are faster than my character.

I’ve been looking at traits and tried some of them but 33% dmg reduction from protection doesn’t help at all as it’s ridiculously low and it’s not worth the incredible dps loss anyway. I also tried a focus but for what it’s worth it seems to make things even worse and 30s CDs are just not that helpful either anyway. Aegis is useless as soon as there’s a dot/an add. So how do you guys deal with that overwhelming aggro?

If this is the case, then wearing some soldier/tanking items could help ;-)

I also play Guardian from time to time, but didn’t notice any particular interest by mobs in me, definitely not frequently. Sword/Focus, Scepter/Shield. the complete Boost-gear, it’s soldier if I’m right.

This can be very educational

Vitali.5039:

This can be very educational

Rather not, since knowledge on aggro mechanics in this game is ridiculously poor and the wiki doesn’t help at all.

@OP: Sometimes it feels as if mobs love us more than anyone else. When it’s trash without a break bar, try to use blinds proactively (GS #3, F1, healing trap), that helps a lot. When it’s a boss, use your active defenses and when you’re out of them and don’t have a healer, try to kite with your scepter. Works on most melee mobs, even if it’s not very elegant.

CptAurellian.9537:

Vitali.5039:

This can be very educational

Rather not, since knowledge on aggro mechanics in this game is ridiculously poor and the wiki doesn’t help at all.

@OP: Sometimes it feels as if mobs love us more than anyone else. When it’s trash without a break bar, try to use blinds proactively (GS #3, F1, healing trap), that helps a lot. When it’s a boss, use your active defenses and when you’re out of them and don’t have a healer, try to kite with your scepter. Works on most melee mobs, even if it’s not very elegant.

Good suggestion thanks, i forgot about gs3 because I only looked at the dps and thought “meh”. I guess I could climb on stuff too whenever I can but that really sucks to cheese things that way, I’d rather have good survivability utilities instead since we’re the de facto tank class no matter what.

CptAurellian.9537:

Vitali.5039:

This can be very educational

Rather not, since knowledge on aggro mechanics in this game is ridiculously poor and the wiki doesn’t help at all.

Poor knowledge > 0 knowledge

I also have this problem, burn guardians burst is by far the strongest of any class right now and im always geting aggro, switch to scepter and play support during events, then switch to sword for the final push that way you are not being killed 5 seconds into the fight

Or you can just play poorly like everyone else and wont have to worry about it, a pet will probably get aggro from you