Guild Wars 2

It’s junk. The passive aoe is a tiny 300. The active has a 4.25s cast time and retains a 180s cd. Sure, it’s a signet but who is going to invest in the radiance tree gm signet trait just for this skill? Perfect inscriptions is terrible anyway.

Even though I rarely used it, the tome was significantly better. What would I change to Signet of Courage?

- Increase the passive aoe from 300 to 600 (matching resolve).
- Reduce the cast time to 3.75s.
- Give all affected allies 10s of protection, 10s of regeneration, and 3 stacks of stability for 5s on active cast.
- Heal friendly allies for half the current amount every 5s (effectively the same but much more forgiving if somebody misses a pulse).

Edit: Lot of people talking about this. I was just spitballing with my initial ideas, there are likely far better options. I think we all agree this skill needs some kind of buff.

TBH, the only thing I like about it is the new aura.

Radius is way too small.

Junk, may as well have just deleted the tomb of courage and been done with it.

Even your changes aren’t enough to justify 180s cooldown for one skill when there are much better options available.

I actually like it as i have a healing guardian setup for WvW and GvGs .. I like the idea of stacking more passive healing like virtue of resolve + battle presensce. Although i have some reservations.

1. The stream said they’re looking at 200/s healing with celestial gear. I have highly invested in healing power with 1328 healing power and still only get 147/s . I’d like that number to get buffed especially that it’s an elite. Even with Perfect inscriptions traited, it was still 188/s passive healing for me. For comparison, my virute of resolve heal at the same healing power is it 208/s . One is a given class mechanic while the other is an elite. I think the numbers on the signet should go higher on the passive.

2. The range on the passive (300 ) is a little low. Ideally i’d like it to match the virtue of resolve (600) . Going beyond that might be overpowered. It follows the role of passive healing. When traiting into Battle presence and Signet of Courage, the radius doesn’t match. Meaning the players will only get half the heal at some radius and double it at another radius. It seems inconsistent to me given it’s doing the same exact mechanic (Passive healing). The range of the passive on the signet needs to be upped to match the virute of resolves passive at (600) OR at least make the Perfect Insctiption trait increase the radius.

3- The to utilize the signet best one has to invest in the Radiance line. Which for a support healing build isn’t ideal . One most likely will be investing in the Honor and Virtues lines and quite likely in the Valor line to fill such a supporty role. I honestly don’t know how this issue would be addressed but i thought i’d bring it up. The numbers on the Signet of Courage needs to upped and be sufficient without the need for an investment in the Perfect Inscriptions.

4- I STRONGLY DISAGREE with the idea of switching it to give regeneration. The reason being is that regeneration boon DOES NOT stack in intensity but rather only in duration. We need more Healing Over Time skills that stack with each other. (Virtue of resolve, Signet of Courage, Regeneration, Symbol Heals, Warrior Healing Signet, Warrior Adreanal health , Ele Soothing Mist, … etc) .. These combinations with a good party comb and coordinated group would add AMAZING sustainability. So .. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t turn it into yet another regenration giving skill because we’re saturated with those already.

The passive aoe is small but acceptable, the real problem is that the skill is in competition with RF, and with its current drawbacks (CD + cast time) I really don’t see a point in taking it over RF.

The CD cripples the signet lets be real:
If you manage to cast the signet (luckyyyyyy) you then have 3 min with literally nothing, and with how fast people dies in the current state of the game using this skill in a game changing fashion will be near impossible. Really think Anet should go with a 2 min CD on that one.

x indigo x.6981:

4- I STRONGLY DISAGREE with the idea of switching it to give regeneration. The reason being is that regeneration boon DOES NOT stack in intensity but rather only in duration. We need more Healing Over Time skills that stack with each other. (Virtue of resolve, Signet of Courage, Regeneration, Symbol Heals, Warrior Healing Signet, Warrior Adreanal health , Ele Soothing Mist, … etc) .. These combinations with a good party comb and coordinated group would add AMAZING sustainability. So .. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t turn it into yet another regenration giving skill because we’re saturated with those already.

I don’t understand why you disagree with the regeneration. It would only be a buff. The original tome of courage 3 skill gave allies 10s of protection and regeneration, which is where I pulled the idea from. Maybe my wording is poor or you misunderstood but here is what I meant to say. On activation, allies are first fully healed and then given 10s of protection and regeneration.

Teckos.1305:

The passive aoe is small but acceptable, the real problem is that the skill is in competition with RF, and with its current drawbacks (CD + cast time) I really don’t see a point in taking it over RF.

Agreed.

My dream Signet of Courage would be

Signet of Courage

• 150s CD (untraited)
• 2s Cast time
• Passive: Periodically heal allies in the area around you while in combat.
• Active: Fully heal nearby allies.
• Active Heal: 100%
• Passive Heal: 404
• Number of Targets: 5
• Healing Interval: 5 s
• Passive Radius: 320
• Active Radius: 1,200
  (remove the Combat Only criteria)

Basically you half the passive pulse duration and the base healing value, reduce the cast time to 2s and the CD (untraited) to 150s, which becomes 120s traited. SLIGHTLY augment the passive radius and remove the ‘In Combat Only’ criteria.

Indoles.1467:

I don’t understand why you disagree with the regeneration. It would only be a buff. The original tome of courage 3 skill gave allies 10s of protection and regeneration, which is where I pulled the idea from. Maybe my wording is poor or you misunderstood but here is what I meant to say. On activation, allies are first fully healed and then given 10s of protection and regeneration.

Regeneration stack doesn’t increase amount of heal, just duration. So if this skill turn into Regeneration, total heal per sec would be decreased. For example, with Virtue of resolve, Signet of Courage, Regeneration, Symbol Heals, Warrior Healing Signet, Warrior Adreanal health , Ele Soothing Mist, … etc total heal is 1000hp per sec and Signet of Courage is turned into Regeneration, the amount would be less.
And Tome of Courage comes with 3 heal skills.

notavailable.4137:

Regeneration stack doesn’t increase amount of heal, just duration. So if this skill turn into Regeneration, total heal per sec would be decreased. For example, with Virtue of resolve, Signet of Courage, Regeneration, Symbol Heals, Warrior Healing Signet, Warrior Adreanal health , Ele Soothing Mist, … etc total heal is 1000hp per sec and Signet of Courage is turned into Regeneration, the amount would be less.
And Tome of Courage comes with 3 heal skills.

Oh, I see we don’t understand each other. I want to retain the current passive effect of providing a periodic heal (separate from regeneration) while also giving the regeneration buff to allies as an added bonus only once the skill is cast.

Then again, my ideas were just minor buffs that really could be anything. My point was that in its current state, this skill is garbage. With how heavily damage has been buffed, I would wager most players can kill your allies before you even finish casting this skill. I managed to simultaneously inflict 5k bleed and 1.2k poison damage on a player without even trying in a mere few seconds of combat whereas prepatch I would have been lucky to hit 3k bleed and 500 poison on my condi ranger.

Personally I wanted to keep the tomes and fix them instead of scrap them. BUT I think that this has potential, but needs tweeking.

Currently the cast time is an understandable risk/reward case on not getting interrupted or getting the heal off. Although when casting it, I feel I"m taking more damage getting the spell off than anything, so if I would have just “NOT” cast it, I would be better off letting it tick passively. So the decision making aspect makes it feel like 90% of the time, your worse off trying to activate the signet.

The passive aspect has great potential to bring us near passive regen like a warrior with Healing Signet and Adrenal Health. We can combine Virtue of Resolve with Signet of Courage (SoC). The numbers are still behind but getting close there. I think the biggest thing that would help SoC work better would be to shorten the tick time to 3 seconds and reduce the healing per tick appropriatly.

Right now they have it ticking at 900ish, and it seems cool to get near 1k life every 10 seconds, but waiting for that 10th second can be a death sentance. Other similar traits/skills/utilities tick on a 1 second interval or a 3-5 second interval. 10 seconds is an exceedingly long time.

In essence SoC is about 90 health per second (HPS). VoR is also around 90 HPS, putting us roughly around 180 HPS. Off the top of my head I think warrior HPS with signet and trait is close to 250.

So I think to make this new signet more viable the passive should occur more frequently (3-5 second ticks) have increased base heal (bring it up to 150 HPS?).

For the active I feel there needs to be a negative after casting instead of during casting for risk/reward. Right now you take far more damage trying to channel the full heal. Channel time at maybe 2 seconds and self stun on after cast possibly?

I think it’s okay.

Aside from the cast time, and huge cooldown.

I know shiet all about balancing but those factors make it feel mehish.

If you equip the perfect inscriptions trait from radiance the passive heal visual changes to a more intense burst to show it’s increase in power.

Imagine if that intensity scaled with healing power? Now that’d be awesome.

Are there more of these traits that change the visuals of abilities on Guardian? There should certainly be more.

Activation time is way too long.
Almost impossible to pull off in PvP unless you start from over half health…
before:
1 sec cast time = stability
2 sec cast time = 3 sec daze (pacifism)
4.25 cast time = full heal
Addl healing after the full heal. (Unnecessary ish)

Now
no stab
no daze
Same activation time? How am I supposed to survive 4 sec without getting interrupted?
I mean, by the time I have to start the heal I don’t even need it.

Quiznos.4296:

Activation time is way too long.
Almost impossible to pull off in PvP unless you start from over half health…
before:
1 sec cast time = stability
2 sec cast time = 3 sec daze (pacifism)
4.25 cast time = full heal
Addl healing after the full heal. (Unnecessary ish)

Now
no stab
no daze
Same activation time? How am I supposed to survive 4 sec without getting interrupted?
I mean, by the time I have to start the heal I don’t even need it.

i could say use stability but, a 4 second cast time might mean your party is already dead, and stability is overwhelmed easilly.

It is a weak skill overall.

Aeolus.3615:

Quiznos.4296:

Activation time is way too long.
Almost impossible to pull off in PvP unless you start from over half health…
before:
1 sec cast time = stability
2 sec cast time = 3 sec daze (pacifism)
4.25 cast time = full heal
Addl healing after the full heal. (Unnecessary ish)

Now
no stab
no daze
Same activation time? How am I supposed to survive 4 sec without getting interrupted?
I mean, by the time I have to start the heal I don’t even need it.

i could say use stability but, a 4 second cast time might mean your party is already dead, and stability is overwhelmed easilly.

It is a weak skill overall.

Stab is one thing, I can swing that. No problems there.
It’s just that that combined with 3 seconds of daze made this more like a viable 7.25s (that you could actually pull off from 1/4 health) full heal.
Now it’s shorter activation but people can continue blasting you for the full 4.25 instead of the old 1.25s (4.25-3 daze), either killing you or interrupting.

Tome:

- disabled all utilities
- disabled virtues

The signet still roots but… It can be combined with Merciful Intervention or SyG for example

I think if they cut it down to 3.25s it would do the trick.

Or instant activation… I’d be totally fine with that too

I was using this signet last night in WvW and either it is bugged, or it is even worse than imagined.

When I moused over the skill on my bar, it said the passive heal for me was 1074. So, I figured that meant when it ticks, each ally (up to 5) would get healed the full 1074 hp.

However, when I looked at my outgoing combat log, it showed that I healed just two allies (probably only ones in range) just 537 hps! It seems like it might be dividing the passive heal by the number of allies.

Anyone else experience this or can further test? I didn’t have a lot of time to dive into the log (I was driving), but after I saw that (and a few horrible attempts at using the active), I took it off and put RF back on…

Naga.1805:

I was using this signet last night in WvW and either it is bugged, or it is even worse than imagined.

When I moused over the skill on my bar, it said the passive heal for me was 1074. So, I figured that meant when it ticks, each ally (up to 5) would get healed the full 1074 hp.

However, when I looked at my outgoing combat log, it showed that I healed just two allies (probably only ones in range) just 537 hps! It seems like it might be dividing the passive heal by the number of allies.

Anyone else experience this or can further test? I didn’t have a lot of time to dive into the log (I was driving), but after I saw that (and a few horrible attempts at using the active), I took it off and put RF back on…

I’ll test tonight for you, if no one else does.

In terms of range I wish there was a way to see your passive range, like tornado. I’m really bad at gauging what 300/600 really means
Does the blue foot circle match the passive range?

Worthless in its current form. 180s cd for a skill that takes so long to cast it in place that you couldn’t possibly succeed casting it in almost any PvP situation where it would be helpful.

Frankly, it should have it’s heal reduced to a flat amount, perhaps 5k, so it can scale with healing power (healing power should be good for something in this game…), the passive radius should be 360, it’s cd should 75s (give or take), it’s cast time should be 2s, and you should be able to move while casting. Then it might see some place in sPvP over Renewed Focus. Maybe.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that they kept the ridiculous cast time, but I hoped it would have been instant cast. Similar to lay on hands from the wow paladin. even 1sec cast with double the cooldown I’d be more inclined to use it, but as it is you’re basically forced into popping another ability to get stability and even then you still have to hope they don’t dps you down in those 4 seconds. The passive could be useful, but if it does get used by guardians it will probably be more akin to the warrior signet as in they’ll equip it for the passive and mostly ignore the active.

It’s probably my favorite addition to the guard in theory. But in practicality, it is holistically useless.

RF is far mare useful in WvW, given the three seconds invuln and recharging of virtues. A rooted, 4s cast time is worthless in zergs, small group, or solo, and the long CD invalidates the passive effect which is entirely and completely lackluster. Signet focused traits are also lacking in function.

FMW is going to have some great applications PvE wise due to its short cooldown and Shout-iness. It could even be practical in a zerg, if guards can chain their shouts together.

Currently, Signet of Courage has no place in the scheme of things that I can see. Part of the problem is that the guard’s “mitigation” comes largely through Shelter and RF. If you attempt to go Signets, you’re hampering yourself severely. With those skills, we are on par with other classes- without them, we’re far below.

SoC simply doesn’t provide enough utility to warrant any use. It is still, however, my new favorite skill. It’s a great concept.

I’ve managed to get off the full heal from this signet the same way I’ve managed to always succeed at casting signet of resolve: Pair this cast with either a blind, aegis block, or focus 5 skill. If you got something like a mesmer focus wall, or a pull incoming, pop f3 stab! With that being said, if you’ve invested that far into virtues, RF is a superior choice anyhow. This signet is great for a bunker/tanky/healing build, but for zerg, or solo roaming, I’d agree that this has no place in wvw.

It was a big hype for me, truth to be told. But when the real thing comes, it’s abit of disappointment. The range is small, as everyone said. The casting time is unreasonable, here is why: When you even consider using a full heal for the group, the current situation must be ….not going so well. Now, upon activation, you are locked in that animation for the duration of casting. When you open your eyes after almost 5 seconds, expecting gratitude showering on you: BAM! everyone is already dead.

The cooldown seems too long. Think of what we are losing:

—Spammable 2k heals (Tome 1)
—AoE Blind/ GroupCondi-clear (Tome 2)
—10 seconds of Protection and Regen for allies (Tome 3)
—A pretty significant long-range Interrupt and Daze (Tome 4)
—A stylish and romantic book casting animation

What we keep is the same long-casting full party heal that everyone loves but on a very long cooldown. But we’ve also lost the trait that gives Stability while using the Tome so pulling off the long-cast heal is harder.

I’ve not run the numbers yet so I can’t tell you if the heal every 10 seconds is powerful enough. Nor do I know if the full party heal is worth it in light of how much healing is done automatically over time.

DroidDreamer.2861:

The cooldown seems too long. Think of what we are losing:

—Spammable 2k heals (Tome 1)
—AoE Blind/ GroupCondi-clear (Tome 2)
—10 seconds of Protection and Regen for allies (Tome 3)
—A pretty significant long-range Interrupt and Daze (Tome 4)
—A stylish and romantic book casting animation

What we keep is the same long-casting full party heal that everyone loves but on a very long cooldown. But we’ve also lost the trait that gives Stability while using the Tome so pulling off the long-cast heal is harder.

and there’s no more vitality/toughness increase and protection for a minute too. The signet itself seems pretty bad to me. Unlike Tome of Courage, casting the active just makes you too vulnerable (especially with the ridiculous DPS in the game now). The passive is okay-ish with high healing power, but is otherwise also garbage. People got what they wanted and trashed a unique ability type as a result, but unsurprisingly, RF will probably be used more anyway.

Well for a full-cleric Healer Guard for WvW its quite well actually.
At least my hands arent full with healing and can go frontline instead of backlining.
I have one ascended ring and cleric asc chest piece along with Hronk’s Bastion here.
Other trinkets are either not exotic,not cleric,not over lvl 30 or non existant because this char is fresh yet still passive is 1.5k.

300 radius hinders its use a lot though,that needs to go up to 700 at least.

Half the cast time to activate the skill, half the cooldown, maybe increase the passive heal and definitely increase the radius. Both passive and active versions only effect 5 people, right? So a larger radius is not that big a deal.

And please remove that silly blue spot.

I think the signet is lame/weak. Maybe if they allowed you to move while casting, then yeah I’d probably use it, but being stuck in one position with no stability really screws you over in both PVE and WvW. I can maybe see it being okay in SpVp when you’re defending a spot, but otherwise, weak.

CMF.5461:

For the active I feel there needs to be a negative after casting instead of during casting for risk/reward. Right now you take far more damage trying to channel the full heal. Channel time at maybe 2 seconds and self stun on after cast possibly?

A stun might be a little much. I hate stuns, I think most people in any MMOs don’t like losing control of their toon.

Perhaps instead, a couple stacks of weakness or even AOE stacks of weakness for a little while after activation. So the tradeoff is like “Yeah you saved our butts from certain annihilation but damaging the other team or mob is going to be noticeably harder till we get our strength back.” So it’s not like an “I win” button when both teams are low on health and one team pops it.

[quote=5197943;Kraljevo.2801:]

Kraljevo.2801:

TBH, the only thing I like about it is the new aura.

Radius is way too small.

This has always been the problem with support / group heal / boon abilities. The small radius encourages stacking, and stacking encourages zerker metas.

old tome was a bit OP, but with the new builds showing up (thief engi ranger especially) it would’ve been about even.
as a result now it feels like its been double nerfed.

I just wish it didn’t root you in place for 4sec…

On my guardian, at 80 (standing in LA), no healing power or food, and only a 7% buff from WvW bonuses, my passive is 962. I’m not sure what I’m missing, but that seems pretty strong to me, at least from a party stand-point. The cast time is stupidly long, but for a full-party heal I won’t complain too much.

Disclaimer- PvE guardian.

Valkyrie.1794:

On my guardian, at 80 (standing in LA), no healing power or food, and only a 7% buff from WvW bonuses, my passive is 962. I’m not sure what I’m missing, but that seems pretty strong to me, at least from a party stand-point. The cast time is stupidly long, but for a full-party heal I won’t complain too much.

Disclaimer- PvE guardian.

The problem is the 10 second internal cooldown that is ruining the skill. A lot of signets have interesting and useful passive abilities that are just as useful as the active ability. With this signet, both the passive and the active are lack-luster and leave much to be desired. In WvW, PvP and even dungeons in PvE you lose health at an alarming rate… And having a passive 1k heal on a 10 seconds cooldown? Your dead before you get the heal. OR you delay your inevitable death by having 1k health left before you drop. I’ve been trying to run a heal guardian with this skill for days… It’s freakin awful

Abe Kleine.3568:

Valkyrie.1794:

On my guardian, at 80 (standing in LA), no healing power or food, and only a 7% buff from WvW bonuses, my passive is 962. I’m not sure what I’m missing, but that seems pretty strong to me, at least from a party stand-point. The cast time is stupidly long, but for a full-party heal I won’t complain too much.

Disclaimer- PvE guardian.

The problem is the 10 second internal cooldown that is ruining the skill. A lot of signets have interesting and useful passive abilities that are just as useful as the active ability. With this signet, both the passive and the active are lack-luster and leave much to be desired. In WvW, PvP and even dungeons in PvE you lose health at an alarming rate… And having a passive 1k heal on a 10 seconds cooldown? Your dead before you get the heal. OR you delay your inevitable death by having 1k health left before you drop. I’ve been trying to run a heal guardian with this skill for days… It’s freakin awful

I see your point. I never run healing on my guard (all my 80’s are zerk… >.>), so I haven’t used it much in practice.

Make it 200hps AOE with 2 sec activation, and i would consider it.

Yeah to be honest the cast time is way too long. Trying to utilize this in WvW is extremely difficult. It needs to be brought down in cast time. Somewhere around the 3s mark should do it, maybe a bit higher, or just remove the root. kitten Cast without the root would be fine.

Radius could go up as well for the base heal, maybe 450?

The halved heal and pulse time would be nicer too.

Most of the suggested changes are about right tbh. Skill idea is nice on paper, in practice it’s kinda useless. With the suggested changes it could be great.

I play a Hybrid Do-all guardian GS/Sw-F (Celestial armor, Soldier weps, half Cleric trinkets, all ascended) Valor222/Virtues223/Radiance111 (Swapping Radiance for DH323 with HoT)

I was really looking forward to this skill because I was a huge fan of the Tome. I would alternate between Courage and Wrath in WvW just because it felt “rewarding” to pop your Elite Tome and become a support guardian or a budget caster with decent range and speed on your nuke.

In practicality, the Signet is very lackluster. It’s great for personal use if you don’t plan on ever using the active ability, but as far as supporting your group, it’s a big letdown. In the time you blow a Stability (F3 typically) and cast it, the reason you’re needing to cast it is still beating your face (and your allies) for 4+ seconds of damage.

My proposed fix would be to increase the radius to at least 600, reduce the cast time to 3s or leave it at 4.25 and remove the root component.

I guess on the bright side, we can look forward to the Tome Elite Specialization in a few years?

Jephiroth.3197:

I guess on the bright side, we can look forward to the Tome Elite Specialization in a few years?

Lel, if even.

I’d like to make a suggestion on this. My only dislike of the Signet is the stationary part. The channeling can remain, we just need to be able to move during it without breaking the channeling. In WvW, I can pop stability to help but that gets stripped right away, you have to stand in all the AoE and hope you don’t die from the condi’s before the channel is complete. 4-1/4 seconds is a long time not being able to move.