Guild Wars 2

Suggestion for a simple-to-implement shield rework

Shield of Judgment #4
add Apply Aegis (5s) on allies in the cone.
(Shield skills should be defensive group support. That’s what Aegis is for.)
maybe increase damage to ~1k but Aegis on 20s cd is nice enough

Shield of Absorption #5
change knockBACK to knockDOWN (2s) (-back is a nope for 99% of pve, -down is still nice for offensive pvp builds)
remove the ‘detonate dome’ and move it to the initial cast instead, increase the heal to 1.5k
Adjust cast time to 1/2s to pop the skill and dont root the player to keep the dome up.
Please fix the dome duration or update the tooltip…

Pretty sure it’s not perfect and needs to be tested. But srsly it’s time to rework this kitten…

i like the idea of removing the detonate and having it as an initial cast heal.

root.2859:

Shield of Absorption #5
change knockBACK to knockDOWN (2s) (-back is a nope for 99% of pve, -down is still nice for offensive pvp builds)

The knock back should stay, it’s better than a knock down for the shield’s defensive role. Considering one of the biggest uses of Shield in PvP is to push enemies off point, to prevent them capping/decapping/contesting it, if it was just a knock down this would no longer be possible, as they’d still be on the point and still contesting it.

And honestly with defiant stacks you normally aren’t going to see the effect in PvE either way, nor will you see it with the HoT breakbar, which means that the mob will never receive either affect in PvE anyway (it’d just reduce the breakbar which has it own’s individual specific effect upon ending, or remove a single-stack of defiance).

Decreasing the PvP utility of the skill greatly for a tiny, tiny, added convenience in PvE is not a good tradeoff.

I can get behind the other ideas though.

The KD could be in SoJ (shield #1)
reference : http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shield_of_Judgment

Guardians could have a trait that would give more an advanced shield dome on SoA, i would not mind to loose the detonation since anything that makes class stationary into one place means prepare all player blocks and dodgerolls, incomming tons of red simbols/spiked aoe arround the stationary player, mobility+damage makes classes win, so why have skills that punishes more than it helps with that stationary scarifice, what a guardian sacrifices isnt balanced for what he is doing, one of the reasons shield isnt good, it is a very weak option in everything.

I would request some condensing in some shield skills, and add more team support oriented traits to shield dome.

offtopic
Another thing is the block for +X stat, why would i wanted plus x stat if heavy hit got already blocked and that toughness will not help in the next skills that will hit.
Cant that be aplyed to the players inside dome or some X damage redution.

Reference:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shield_of_Absorption

I have zero problems with shield #5 as it is now. #4 is wahts boterhing me. the protection is just so marginal that it is just not worth it. Changing the buff or adding 4 seconds resistance would fix shield imo.

Not every weapon has to be perfect for every game mode.

The healing and damaging aspect of the Shield bothers me because it doesn’t fit with its defensive nature, it should be focused around mitigation, not with the current state but a more effective one.

Here goes my two coppers:

Skill #4 – Shield of Mitigation: Apply Aegis to allies around you (radius 450) for 5 seconds, if aegis is removed from allies before expiring, allies gain Protection for 3s, if Aegis expires its duration, allies gain Swiftness for 10 seconds. (Cooldown 35s)
__
+ Aegis (5 seconds)
+ Protection (if aegis is removed)
+ Swiftness (if aegis expires)
- No damage
- Less Protection uptime
- Longer CD

This would give some utility in and out of combat. Counter big aoe attacks if used pre-emptively, stealth bombs (pvp/wvw) or give a Retreat-esque approach if you need to dodge fights (zergs) aswell add initiation potential with swiftness.
__

Skill #5 – Shield of Absorption: Summons a dome around you that pushes foes back on cast and follows the user movements while absorbing projectiles and nullifies the next 2 damaging conditions to nearby allies and yourself inside the dome. (Shield duration: 5 seconds / Cooldown: 50 seconds)

(note) The dome stays around the user as he moves around, every ally inside the dome is affected by its effects (only works if allies were inside the dome radius when it was summoned, allies that enter the dome after will only benefit from the projectile absorption. The condition nullifying has priority towards party members and can go up to 5 max. players.
__
+ Dome follows user around.
+ Condition nullifying
- No healing
- More than twice the cooldown.

Healing is gone, CC stays and utility kicks in with condi blocks and a mobile projectile nope. All with the cost of a much longer CD.

We tried 1001 threads like these over the years. I appreciate the spirit behind this, but really, i lost faith at this point. Seems like a big waste of time and effort giving them suggestions. Karl solve every problem with “how about some cooldown reduction”, even for auto attacks.

Shield suffers currently because it is lackluster in comparison to other offhand options we have in nearly all situations. Shield can be more uesful but is still very situational. Additionally, it does not block…. literally EVERY other shield-wielding class can block with shield.

In my opinion, they should up the cool down of shield skills, but increase the prowess of them (added functionality, damage, stronger boons, longer duration, etc.). Additionally, the trait for shield is very boring. It should instead focus on giving a boon of some sort, or offering something other than additionaly toughness as this is very redundant (doubly redundant; shield itself already offers toughness, and then we could just take Strength in #s if we wanted extra toughness).

Here’s an interesting fix I thought of:

Shield 4: Block attacks while creating a shielding wave in front of you that damages foes and grants protection to allies. Cast time: 3/4 sec, cool down: 25 s. Damage: 900 base, protection: 6 seconds, Block: 3/4 seconds.

-Idea: Longer cast time means this skill is more telegraphed, so it’s a bit harder to use offensively. It offers decent support to allies, and self defence. The damage of this skill makes it very rewarding to use. The idea behind the animation is to make it look like you’re parrying with the shield, hence the block.

Shield 5: Same animation and ability, with one additional functionality— pulse resistance to allies within the light dome (1s, 4pulses). Detonate the dome early to grant yourself and all allies aegis for 5 seconds. Dome Duration: 4 seconds, Knockback is the same. Cooldown: 35 seconds.

-Idea: The idea here is to make shield #5 rewarding, hence its long cool down. It would offer great team support, whether you need an instant aegis for allies, or some defence against condis. You ahve to stand still and be inactive for your allies to get the resistance which would balance out the fact that you yourself can’t do anything.

The trait could do something like add an additional boon, or perhaps add the resistance/aegis boon to shield 5, and add an additional boon/damage bonus to shield 4 if an attack is blocked.

First, foremost, and always I want the bubble from #5 (and the wall from staff #5) to be solid enough to enemy repel dodge-rolls.

Why not giving:

Shield 4# same stuff.

Shield 5# do same stuff. (plus give it 1 sec of slow to enemies who you do not kockback)

Trait – Stalwart Defender
Gain additional toughness while wielding a shield. Shield ability recharge is reduced.
Toughness: +180
Recharged Reduced: 20%
Gives each of your shield skills 1 aegis (but only for yourself not allies)

There…problem solved. And I would get that shield instant. (we get 2 situational blocks – focus have 3 ).