Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve talked to Joshua Davis (aka Grouch) in Twitch and he was incredibly receptive, and added some info missing (now updated) for Guardian:

“Going to add a change list at the top of the bottom post for updates that I make to the list. Here’s one change we forgot to document:

Guardian
- Shield of Absorption cooldown goes from 30s to 24s baseline.
- Shield of Judgement cooldown goes from 25s to 20s baseline.

The above skills will still be affected by the shield recharge trait and will go to 19s for Shield of Absorption, and 16s for Shield of Judgement."

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/June-23-Specialization-Changes/page/8#post5155129

And now we wait and see if people use it :P. I hope so

P.S. I tend to run my cleric spec during the holiday seasons so oh yeah Ill be using it

Still doesn’t fix the problem with shield…

Yes but it puts a pretty good bandaid over it. Enjoy the change, play with it, think it over. Post again later if you still think it needs more changing. Remember-

The Meta Is Changing At An Alarming Rate O.O!

Azoqu.8917:

Still doesn’t fix the problem with shield…

Which is what? AFAIK, the primary problem with shield was the CD’s. Reduction of the CD’s fixes yes? The offhand traits in Valor look REALLY attractive at that point.

Silhouette.5631:

The Meta Is Changing At An Alarming Rate O.O!

That rate is approximately at 30-20 seconds of ineffectiveness apparently.

So basically it makes the shield trait even less useful?

The cooldown reduction is nice, but it needs a stronger #4 ability to really be viable.

CD was never an issue. I would rather keep the same CD but add effects, like add aegis effect for a short duration.

CD was always an issue since the beginning of the game! I don’t imagine this stuff!

It’s a lame reason but I don’t think shield is going to get alot of super good effects as long as it’s buffing defense. It’s there passively, it’s skills are probably not going to get too flashy or over the top.

Obtena.7952:

CD was always an issue since the beginning of the game! I don’t imagine this stuff!

It’s a lame reason but I don’t think shield is going to get alot of super good effects as long as it’s buffing defense. It’s there passively, it’s skills are probably not going to get too flashy or over the top.

Please go else where to troll. What? popping shield 5 a few second sooner will make a difference? No one asking for an over the top effect, everyone is asking for something pratical – l ike a shield that does block melee, and i know it sounds crazy to you. nice try on the Strawman.

I’m not going anywhere. Just because you don’t agree with me or care about what I say doesn’t mean I need your permission to post. A reduction of 5 seconds on those skills is significant, even if you want to downplay it to make a case for what you think shield should be.

We aren’t getting a shield that blocks melee because we already have an offhand that does that … quite awesomely I might add. Therefore, if your suggestion to make shield ‘practical’ is a melee blocker, it’s a bad one because unless it’s better than Focus 5, no one will use it.

I don’t need strawmans … your suggestion makes no sense all on its own. Last thing we need is Focus part 2 with just a different name that we can swap to with both weapons having CD reduction traits in the same line. Not OP at all.

Obtena.7952:

I’m not going anywhere. Just because you don’t agree with me doesn’t mean I need your permission to post. We aren’t getting a shield that blocks melee because we already have an offhand that does that … awesomely I might add. Think about that.

Why are we getting a Focus that will be able to apply Protection when we’ve already got a Shield that does that? Just because one offhand partially covers a role doesn’t mean another can’t have some overlap, especially if it fills the role in a different way. Our Shield could supply a channeled block and/or the Aegis boon to itself and allies instead of regular, individual blocks like the Focus.

In regard to your previous post, CD used to be the only issue with the Shield, but bear in mind, the Shield hasn’t changed since the first few months of the game’s release. The game’s PvP has gotten much faster in the time since then, and our defenses have been pressed harder and harder while the Shield has been left behind. Even bunker Guards have been pushed out of the competitive scene. In a metagame that’s burstier and filled with more condition spam than it ever was in the game’s first 6 months, Shields will need some extra defensive power to see any serious use.

Outside of PvP, Shield’s never been popular because it’s all about defense when PvE is all about damage, and that mob-scattering knockback on the 5 doesn’t help it there, either. I don’t see it ever being popular in PvE without a complete overhaul, but then, Warrior and Engi shields aren’t very popular in PvE either, so that’s par for the course.

We aren’t getting a Focus that applies protect. It’s a trait that we can CHOOSE if we want it. That’s a VERY different thing. Putting a melee blocker on Shield is NOT going to make it a more used practical weapon in any aspect of the game as long as we got access to a blind AND a 3 shot blocker on Focus. It would also be extremely OP to swap from Focus to a Shield with a melee blocker, especially considering BOTH offhand cooldowns are in the same traitline. It’s ridiculous to propose such a thing.

Let me ask this: If PVE is all about damage, then what sensible change could possibly be made with shield to make it useful for PVE and compete with the other offhand options? It’s clearly more suitable for PVP applications. It’s silly to even think they should change it to accommodate people that want it for PVE when it’s clearly not for that.

The cooldown reduction might get this ability some use, but keeping in mind that it competes with two much stronger trait options (that you can base entire builds around,) I doubt we’ll see use of it in any form of meta.

One thing that will continue to be a limiting factor is the lackluster design of the #4 ability. I think it would be interesting if we could see, maybe, a projectile destruction effect on the cone effect (or a very short 1-2 second aegis, which would provide synergy with the various aegis traits.) Really, though, pretty much anything in addition to is base use currently.

Sorry, but no. More cooldown reductions is not going to change the fact that the skills themselves just suck.

Skill 4 on the shield is USELESS. Absolutely USELESS, it leaves you vulnerable as you channel it, it’s a DPS loss and it’s damage is negligible at best. Shield 5 is a total waste, you are immobile, you cannot attack, the bubble is buggy and everyone and their grandmothers can run through it.

yeh agree with others here, the problem with the shield is it’s skills, not the cooldowns. For defence the focus is just the way to go in terms of offhand. Ironically the focus has blocks, but the guard shield does not despite the warrior and engi shield having blocks.

I can generate mediocre-to-useless effects 20% more often? Yay?

I still don’t know in what universe a heavy armor melee class gets forward firing cones to buff/heal allies (shield 4 and minty fresh breath heal). If my Allies are in front of me, I’m doing something WRONG.

I responded to the cool down reductions with the following:

Shield of Absorption -
Cooldown goes to 45 or even 60 seconds but it no longer creates a bubble but instead absorbs all damage dealt to us for lets say 2 seconds and after those 2 seconds we are healed for a percentage of absorbed damage perhaps 10-25% (would need some testing to balance the healing) and this also promotes skillfull gameplay as you need to make sure you’re not wasting it when receiving no damage.

Shielded Advance -
Cooldown set to 25 seconds and remove the damage element and have it apply either protection or aegis for 6 seconds and 15 seconds of sprint for yourself and 5 others. This will then make the skill that no Guardian has ever taken ‘Retreat’ redundent and something more fitting can be put in its place. Plus Shielded Advance sounds so much more awesome that Retreat.

What would everyone think if something like this was applied to the shield just out of interest?

You realized now that we are not even looked at in last couple of years?

Nike.2631:

I can generate mediocre-to-useless effects 20% more often? Yay?

I still don’t know in what universe a heavy armor melee class gets forward firing cones to buff/heal allies (shield 4 and minty fresh breath heal). If my Allies are in front of me, I’m doing something WRONG.

Guardians are meant for back field defense. Warrior is the front line defender. Thats why guardian skills are more for midline. Shield 4 is meant for keeping front line alive. And shield 4 meant for keeping back field defended from range while pushing back melee to the frontline.

Yeah i would like better skills, but that deem to be the design they went with.

Knighthonor:

Guardian IS the frontliner. Warrior is the back field defender…

Guardians have many tools to engage and somewhere between zero and nil to disengage.

By popping your shield4… who the hell are you trying to keep alive? The warriors? Guess what? A warrior is going to engage AFTER a guardian is there. And the Warrior is the first one to get the NIKE.

Be serious please! Warriors are meant to do the damage after the guardians established the frontline…

Knighthonor.4061:

Guardians are meant for back field defense.

Given exactly one ranged weapon and a TERRIBLE one at that, this statement is so not right it’s not even wrong.

Knighthonor.4061:

Guardians are meant for back field defense.

No, they aren’t and Anet has told us as much. Even if Guardians WERE back field defense, then 90% of our toolset makes no sense to me, including shield.

Shield doesn’t need a buff…… it needs new abilities….

Shield of Judgement has a 1.0 power coefficient (302 base), 600 range, and provides 25-30% protection uptime without boon duration.

Shield of Absorption provides a knockback, aoe projectile defense, and a heal for 1300+0.2*Hpow (which could be anywhere from 68 to 89 hps off cd when traited)(also has synergy with Protective Reviver in Honor. That cooldown will also be reduced while traited)

I don’t really get the complaints myself. Being able to pop these skills every 16 and 19 seconds is great, plus the extra 180 toughness. I understand you could take Strength in Numbers, but this gives you a different option. Perhaps your party needs the faster shield skills more than the 150 toughness, especially if someone is already providing that benefit. Being able to use the shield skills more often allows you to be that much more supportive. Something like Sw/Sh and Radiance, Valor, and Honor would allow you to have a lot of projectile defense and bring a lot of utility to your party.

Nike.2631:

I can generate mediocre-to-useless effects 20% more often? Yay?

I still don’t know in what universe a heavy armor melee class gets forward firing cones to buff/heal allies (shield 4 and minty fresh breath heal). If my Allies are in front of me, I’m doing something WRONG.

Your allies could be hitting the enemy from the back. Your protection would then affect any near aoe damage they might take, or whenever the enemy decides to change target. Our maybe you’re the one hitting it from the back, in which case the protection of quite useful. Positioning makes it work.