Guild Wars 2

Huh guys I know you are busy as hell because the upcoming expansion, I appreciate your work, really!

It’s OK that you realised that you missed the shield buff. Thumbs up!

But if you think that a few seconds of CD reduction would solve the problems the shield has… It’s only a proof that you have NO FREAKIN’ IDEA what is wrong with it!

In the past few years we already gave you 2547 (count it if you don’t believe me!) different ideas how to make it remotely useful. Pick one and feel free to restore the CD!

Thank you!

Josh Davis.6015:

How about this?

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

Added to the release notes maintained in General Discussion.

Edit: For clarification, the shield recharge trait is still there on top of this. It brings the cooldowns from 24>19s, and 20>16s.

As a few have stated before, the problem doesn’t lie in the cooldowns of the shield, but rather what the skills actually do. My suggestion for change for it, would be to make skill 4 into a knockdown, then change skill 5 into a bubble that goes with you. (Make it look like mesmer staff 4). While its up, it blocks projectiles (not absorbs) and when you activate it (if you chose to do so) it dazes those around you for a moment.

So in other words.

4th skill: Knockdown and small damage all in cone

This would give us a lil more CC ability, and this comes in handy for both those who wants to play a offensive type or a defensive one.

5th skill: Block projectiles+Knockback when activating

To make it so you can move with the bubble, be you intending to use it to close in on a ranged foe or to just have more mobile and fun gameplay. Then activate it to cause knockback. Will give the opposition some idea when a knockback is coming aswell.

Just a few other suggestions:

Torch 5 skill: Make this skill apply daze, when a foe is hit by it. Suppressing fire anyone?
Staff 2 skill: Make its tracking a lil bit better.
Staff 4 skill: Change animation on the male variant to the female one. (Covering down doesn’t look very empowering to me :P)

Well, that’s what I’d suggest for changing a few things.

Dezuel.4519:

Josh Davis.6015:

How about this?

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

Added to the release notes maintained in General Discussion.

Edit: For clarification, the shield recharge trait is still there on top of this. It brings the cooldowns from 24>19s, and 20>16s.

As a few have stated before, the problem doesn’t lie in the cooldowns of the shield, but rather what the skills actually do. My suggestion for change for it, would be to make skill 4 into a knockdown, then change skill 5 into a bubble that goes with you. (Make it look like mesmer staff 4). While its up, it blocks projectiles (not absorbs) and when you activate it (if you chose to do so) it dazes those around you for a moment.

So in other words.

4th skill: Knockdown and small damage all in cone

Agreed. Lowering the cooldowns on subpar skills isn’t the way to go about improving them. A knockdown on the 4th skill would fit the shield and the skill very well. I think the 5th skill is okay for the most part, but while channeling the skill you should block all attacks. The guardian has the shield stance up, wouldn’t it make sense to block all attacks for yourself, while defending projectiles for your allies?

Those two things would make the shield a solid choice.

Josh Davis.6015:

How about this?

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

Added to the release notes maintained in General Discussion.

Edit: For clarification, the shield recharge trait is still there on top of this. It brings the cooldowns from 24>19s, and 20>16s.

I’m going to have a go at you a little here because I don’t feel you have taken the time or effort necessary to address shield properly. I expect better. Your suggestion is not well-thought out and I will even go as far as to say not even well-intentioned; I feel like we are getting a CD reduction just to placate us.

If you are serious about addressing shield, go back and think about what kind of weapon it should be and if it accomplishes that under the current parameters of everything else that is happening. If you don’t have the time to do that properly before the next patch, then forget about your reduced CD idea and come up with something better for the NEXT patch cycle.

We have had 3 years to figure out what doesn’t work on the shield. I feel the posters in this thread have correctly expressed what is wrong with shield. Start from any of those and see if they match what kind of weapon you want shield to be.

Josh Davis.6015:

How about this?

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

Added to the release notes maintained in General Discussion.

Edit: For clarification, the shield recharge trait is still there on top of this. It brings the cooldowns from 24>19s, and 20>16s.

It’s nice idea but I think you guys are missing the point. Even tho it’s an offhand weapon it should FEEL like a mainhand. It should be guardian’s primary weapon of choice! As it is now, it feels boring and unimaginative.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Reduce cooldowns (fine you got that covered)
2. Up the damage of Shield of Judgement drastically on burning foes
3. Add kockback or leap forward or leap back to it. Or knockback + leap back.
4. Allow us to use dome while moving similar to revenant’s staff skill that knocks foes on a pass through.
5. Detonating dome damages and pushes foes back.

Can you just imagine number of potential plays with my #4 suggestion? Shield would be amazing weapon.

Dezuel.4519:

4th skill: Knockdown and small damage all in cone

This would give us a lil more CC ability, and this comes in handy for both those who wants to play a offensive type or a defensive one.

5th skill: Block projectiles+Knockback when activating

To make it so you can move with the bubble, be you intending to use it to close in on a ranged foe or to just have more mobile and fun gameplay. Then activate it to cause knockback. Will give the opposition some idea when a knockback is coming aswell.

Holy crap it has to be a telepathy! XD

Shield of Judgment

• Apply 4s of weakness to foes
• Apply 3 stacks of 5s vuln to burning foes
  or
• Destroy projectiles or deflect them

Shield of Absorption

• Remove 1 condition from you and allies on activation
  or
• Gain 2s of regen per projectiles absorbed or some other effect when absorbing projectiles

Just scrap the idea of revenant shield skills (it doesnt even fit for me personally) and give it to guard instead.
http://i.imgur.com/wP1UXvH.jpg

A trait to give everyone affected by Shield skills an Aegis would be great. Maybe even make the damage on Aegis buff a thing.

Why can’t the shield just block like it is supposed to? Serious question, why does the focus, tiny object, block more than a larger object?

I’ve often wondered if we have too many weapons available that block and maybe that is complicating things a bit. Mace, focus, sword, shield, et al. Muddy water blues in my opinion but I was really hoping for some shield love in the way of blocking, guarding, and pushing. Not having a baby pushing but more of a serious front line player bashing faces and taking names hiding behind a garage door type thing.

I agree that the shield should be completely re-imagined.

I would like to see it used less like a physical shield and more like a focus/talisman for mystical protection:

1. How about another ward skill of some kind?
2. I also think a Symbol is another good candidate – symbol of protection seems obvious.
3. Perhaps we go back to the GW1 Monk skills and get some kind of RoJ analog? A big ray of light that blinds enemies and gives allies vigor or maybe resistance.
4. We could also consider making it a semi ranged weapon – maybe with a snare or a pull of some kind to help us stay engaged.

I also think it has potential as a more physical weapon with short CDs – give us 1 second of weakness or cripple or slow or some sort 2-3 hit rotation with some payoff. I’ve never really loved the Guardian offhands with the exception of the Torch because the long CDs make them a single use (at most) per fight skill. How about something that adds a cadence or a feint or another option to the sword/mace?

It’s disappointing that the shield – which is practically synonymous with the name of our profession – is so underused and held in such disregard.

Josh Davis.6015:

How about this?

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

Added to the release notes maintained in General Discussion.

Edit: For clarification, the shield recharge trait is still there on top of this. It brings the cooldowns from 24>19s, and 20>16s.

Remove the cool down all together and shield is still terrible. New. Abilities. Please.

I say they take protection off of number 4 and add resistance with the same duration.

Azoqu.8917:

I say they take protection off of number 4 and add resistance with the same duration.

Disagree. Protection for allies on a low cool down is a key feature of Shield. Protection PLUS Resistance on Shield 4! With added or improved functionality for Shield 5 (Blast Finisher? Mobile dome? Projectile Reflects?) and Resistance on Shield 4, Shield in a great spot for support. Lots of options here. Weakness, Chill, etc. But I think the group damage avoidance of the Resistance is most thematic for Shield.

The Shield trait also needs some love. Perhaps moving the master shield trait to the adept level (so it does not conflict with Strength in Numbers) or improving what it offers to justify it above Strength in Numbers. Lots of good options here too. Put it this way: if Focus gets 4 seconds of Protection per ability (8 seconds total, I guess?) when traited, Shield can get something equally as good but consistent with group support. Regen on five allies upon popping the Shield of Absorption, group condi clears, Reflects on the dome, persistent domes, domes that move with the guard while channeling are among the many options.

Purity of purpose for the Shield is group support via damage avoidance, damage reduction and heals. But in addition to purity, we also need parity.

Having shield provide “perma” perma protection much like hammer can do would be ideal, yet viewed as overpowered. So a compromise I would suggest is that shield has a trait that reduces damage taken while protection is active by +/- 33% (on top of the 33% from protection boon) for 66% damage reduction.

This would only be while shield is equipped and traited, so as to now allow hammer to be perma 66% damage reduction.

This way shield could act as “active defense” by popping shield 4 at incoming burst damage, with down time before it is ready again. A “soft block” in ways, which reduces incoming damage.

Also shield 4 could be usable while stunned maybe, a faster cast animation. There is a pause between casting it and activation. This way it can be used “actively” instead of fire and forget as it is now, since timing is off on it.

Shield 5 could be given a blast finisher OR a water field (not both).

I have a nice shield which I’d love to use instead of the focus but sadly I don’t often.

However shield has its uses, shield of absorption is great in certain places, thinking of you fire shaman. The cool down reduction as base is a nice thing. The trait, sadly lacks a little something over picking communal defence and focus.

Perhaps if the shield trait made shield skills to apply 3-4s of resistance to allies you’d have your party defensive offhand. 4 makes you take less damage from direct and prevents condition attacks, 5 blocks projectiles and helps with conditions.

It’s also not the same or encroaching on stalwart defender so it’s something different for those who want the extra condi protection.

I feel like there is so much missed potential with making the shield more viable. Now it feels like there was a last minute fix attempt done without doing the proper background research. I think the developers should go back to the drawing table and figure out what makes the shield not used as much as the other off-hand weapons.

The cooldowns on the shield skills were quite bad a year ago when they were still around 40-50 seconds. I am not saying that reducing the cooldowns again is a bad change. Although I am not seeing a significant improvement by reducing the cooldowns even more.

As most players in this thread indicated, the main problem is Shield of Judgment (shield #4). It gives a relatively short duration protection buff with little damage potential. Ideally I would like to see some kind of aegis application to increase the potential of a shatter aegis build.

Shield of Absorption is useful for node capturing/defending and securing resurrection on teammates. Although it would certainly help if it wouldn’t root us in place. I know the developers changed this for the Engineer shield #4 Magnetic Shield a while back, so that engineers can move while pushing. I don’t see why it couldn’t be applied to guardian shield #5 as well.

How about:

Shield of Judgement: Remove Bleeding, Poison, and Torment from you and create a burning wave in front of you that burns foes. Gives 1 Burning Stack per condition removed.

Shield of Absorption: Create a dome that reflects projectiles and gives Resistance to up to five allies (including you) inside the dome. Lasts 4 seconds.

Cooldown reductions will ont fix shield unless they make it 10 secs on #4 and ~15 secs on #5 and all it will do is cause people to spam them on cooldown which isnt the correct way to go about it. The skills need to be reworked. #4 needs some form of cc like daze stun, knockdown or taunt and the protection needs to affect allies in a circle not a frontal cone. The #5 skill needs to allow the guardian to move after it is placed, being a sitting duck for non projectile ranged attacks or enemies immune to cc no es bueno.

My opinion of shield as a weapon is as follows. overall its a relatively weak weapon, that in most cases one of the other offhand weapons will be better to have.
after thinking about Shield 4 in comparison to Focus 4 and Torch 4, Shield 4 fits the same purpose of it only it does it better with the blinds and regeneration, and Torch 4 is just straight damage. In thinking of this i would change the shield in one of the following was
Either have it Create a symbol of protection at your location or give it a knock down/stun.

Now shield 5 is tricky as its up against two great skills, Focus 5 is a blast finisher, blocks and does damage, so its nice and versatile, Torch 5 is damage, and condition removal it hits 10 times so its also burns with the guardians passive on virtue of justice. On shield 5 you get a knock back and a tiny amount of damage, i would like to see it either A allow the guardian to move with it (and thus be able to block incoming attacks in other spots, or B lock the guardian into it and let the channel it for as long as they want, but if you do that it needs to have a ring of warding like effect.

The last thing i want to talk about is the upcoming trait change, the guardian shield traits have always been a little weak, having the guardians shield trait compete against another similar trait is stupid most people are going to take the strength in numbers trait as its a permanent buff compared to a slightly better but inconsistent buff to a less used weapon, Roll the two together, so that when the shield isn’t equipped it gives 150, when it is, it doubles the buff up for everyone, sure it seems powerful but the shield is almost entirely defensive, where as +300 toughness to everyone while its equipped would make it a powerful contender with focus and torch allowing it the place it deserves in the guardian’s kitten nal as a unique and useful weapon.

These are

additional insight

Shield #4 does not offer the “Protection” it’s suppose to.
Yes Protection is a powerful boon… if you have it up 50% or 100% of the time. Odds are it’s up when it doesn’t need to be and it doesn’t stay up long enough to mitigating large damage attacks. It’s very low damage needs to be replaced for another effect entirely. Aegis on allies or a 2s Resistance boon?

Shield #5’s bug actually made it better.
When we were mobile during the bubble. Now that the bug got removed, there’s no real incentive to use it. I much rather the Dome detonation gave out a 3s Aegis/Swiftness/Resistance in a 600 radius than a Heal that never scaled well with any build variant.

I pretty much support every idea in this thread regarding the Shield’s functionality.

As I mentioned in a similar thread,

Shield 4 scales 1:1 with power, has 600 range, and while traited, provides 30% protection uptime with no boon duration. Pair it with Hold the Line and you’ve got your 50%+ protection uptime.

Shield 5 provides a knockback, projectile defense, and a 1300+0.2*Hpow heal every 19 seconds while traited, which could be anywhere from 68 to 84 hps iirc.

The cooldown reductions have helped a lot, and it certainly has a niche when paired with the main hand weapons. Generally when you have “weak effects” on a weapon set you should expect lower cooldowns, and that’s exactly what shield has gotten.

Josh Davis.6015:

How about this?

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

Added to the release notes maintained in General Discussion.

Edit: For clarification, the shield recharge trait is still there on top of this. It brings the cooldowns from 24>19s, and 20>16s.

This is actually fantastic. Traited shield is gonna be worth taking for zerging now with that dome uptime.

Don’t get why everybody’s complaining. It has a solid effect. AoE protection and aoe projectile defense are strong utility that rarely come on weapon skills. The shield was always meant to be a defense tool for large groups; they don’t need to change the functionality just because the niche is not a large one.

As much as we continue to think of improvements for guardian, dont even bother wasting your time in this thread. They will only do what they feel is necessary. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but its quite obvious.

They don’t have a clue about guardian. Sanctuary is on a 120second cd with such a short duration and not even that effective. Our virtues and heal are the longest cds in the game compared to other classes, yet theirs are much more effective. We are supposed to protect our teammates yet our cooldowns on anything are so long that is nearly impossibly with such minimal effects.

Shield 4 protection is so short and laughable. The bubble on shield five is meaning less besides the knockback. They want us to utilize symbols by letting either our teammates/enemies sit in them in the most mobile oriented/action game lol….Do you guys remember how long it took for them to make #5 on staff not root us in place? The heal on staff #4 is effective but the range is terrible and we have to be stationary. Does Anet have a problem with guardians moving and trying to be an effective dynamic class actively peeling effectively? Don’t get me started on merciful intervention and spirit weapons/signets.

It has been years yet nothing has been changed based on what we’ve recommended. Not once. If they do change something base on our recommendation, its very minuscule and a half-a@%ed attempt at doing so with no actual thought behind it.

I heard shelter is not getting a category due to the fact it would need to be “toned down or over powered” if it did? Are u ffing kidding us lol? We have the longest heal cd’s and u think 3 blocks is op on a 30 second cooldown? Did they forget about engi having a freaking block like it but on a 20 second cooldown OUTSIDE of their heal? Oh and their heal is also the most broken heal in the game. But shelter, yeah shelter on a 24 second cooldown will be broken lmaooooo.

Anet has zero clue and needs to delete guardian or stop acting like they actually will do anything to change guardian. A revenant healing build can peel better for its teammates then the lousy class you guys call guardian.

-Morfeus Out

Ghotistyx.6942:

As I mentioned in a similar thread,

Shield 4 scales 1:1 with power, has 600 range, and while traited, provides 30% protection uptime with no boon duration. Pair it with Hold the Line and you’ve got your 50%+ protection uptime.

Shield 5 provides a knockback, projectile defense, and a 1300+0.2*Hpow heal every 19 seconds while traited, which could be anywhere from 68 to 84 hps iirc.

The cooldown reductions have helped a lot, and it certainly has a niche when paired with the main hand weapons. Generally when you have “weak effects” on a weapon set you should expect lower cooldowns, and that’s exactly what shield has gotten.

The only problem ic is shield of judment, a 3 seconds prot in pvp with low damage, and outside pvp ist a 5seconds protections with barelly no damage at all, and since SoA roots guardian in the dome local, SoJ+prot should give us something extra while casting it could also absorb projectiles or melee or reflec, blind, cliple, slow, its just the tiny bit that would make shield a viable option to take besides the amazing dome, just one more condi or boon to the shield, we have classes that aply a ton of condis in auto atacks, and other condis with the other skills, why guadian shield has to be like this 3-5 sec prot and thats it?

Could slow or taunt, be nice for SoJ since SoA roots us people nearby would atacks and cast slower… ?

I’d honestly like to see some sort of stun or knockback added to shield 4 skill, instead of the pitiful damage and low duration protection.

I mean… that wave that shoots forwards when you use the #4 skill looks like something they’d use as an animation for when they want to stagger the enemies hit by it.

Being able to stun/knockback would definitely make the shield a little more useful.

(#5 knockback doesn’t count, since that skill should be more about block projectiles imo)

Lots of options for buffing shield and the shield trait. Many have been suggested, including by me earlier in the thread.

Shield 4 suggestions:
—Resistance Boon (5 allies; purity of purpose here: damage reduction)
—1 second Block for five allies
—AoE Chill
—AoE Slow
—AoE Weakness

Shield 5 suggestions:
—Blast Finisher upon casting
—Regen (5 allies)
—Increased heal amount on dome pop (current it’s about the equivalent of one dodge roll heal)
—Mobile dome that travels with guard as it’s channeled
—Stationary dome with no channeling
—Projectile Reflect

Shield trait suggestions:
—Move to adept to avoid conflict with Strength in Numbers
—Roll shield trait INTO Strength in Numbers by adding Shield CD reduction
—Shield 4 and 5 give Regen to five allies
—Shield 4 or 5 give Resistance to five allies
—Shield 4 Protection duration increase doubled
—Shield 5 Reflects Projectiles

DroidDreamer.2861:

Josh Davis.6015:

How about this?

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

Added to the release notes maintained in General Discussion.

Edit: For clarification, the shield recharge trait is still there on top of this. It brings the cooldowns from 24>19s, and 20>16s.

Grateful, very grateful for the Dev effort and attention to this issue. The cool down reduction is nice but I would recommend something more functional like:

—3 to 5 seconds of Resistance (5 allies) added to the 5 seconds of Protection on Shield of Judgement.
—A Blast Finisher upon the initial casting Shield of Absorption (upon casting, not upon detonation of the dome).

Frankly I think the shield trait should cause shield skills to grant 3 seconds of resistance & 5 seconds of AEGIS on shield skill use in addition to the CD reduction.

If that became too powerful they could always up the CD back to the previous (live) amount.

I mean it is kinda absurd the shield doesn’t actually block anything.
As for the resistance, it kinds fits the magic using night theme.

DroidDreamer.2861:

Lots of options for buffing shield and the shield trait. Many have been suggested, including by me earlier in the thread.

Shield 4 suggestions:
—Resistance Boon (5 allies; purity of purpose here: damage reduction)
—1 second Block for five allies

Shield 5 suggestions:
—Mobile dome that travels with guard as it’s channeled
—Stationary dome with no channeling

Shield trait suggestions:
—Move to adept to avoid conflict with Strength in Numbers
—Roll shield trait INTO Strength in Numbers by adding Shield CD reduction
—Shield 4 or 5 give Resistance to five allies

Add some AEGIS application to 4 & Taunt to 5 and I would be fine with any or a mix of these.
I suspect nearly every guardian would be as well.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

DroidDreamer.2861:

Lots of options for buffing shield and the shield trait. Many have been suggested, including by me earlier in the thread.

Shield 4 suggestions:
—Resistance Boon (5 allies; purity of purpose here: damage reduction)
—1 second Block for five allies

Shield 5 suggestions:
—Mobile dome that travels with guard as it’s channeled
—Stationary dome with no channeling

Shield trait suggestions:
—Move to adept to avoid conflict with Strength in Numbers
—Roll shield trait INTO Strength in Numbers by adding Shield CD reduction
—Shield 4 or 5 give Resistance to five allies

Add some AEGIS application to 4 & Taunt to 5 and I would be fine with any or a mix of these.
I suspect nearly every guardian would be as well.

Aegis is great but the only reason I didn’t mention it, and as I’ve said in a number of threads, in WvW Aegis doesn’t have a material impact in zerg fights. You could see it mattering in roaming or havoc fights for sure and in PvP but with an avalanche of zerg players spamming their 1 attacks, I suspect that Aegis won’t make much difference.

BUT it’s the kind of NEW FUNCTIONALITY — as opposed to a cooldown reduction — that I also suspect every guard would be ok with. So I’d be happy with adding Aegis too, I just think there are better flavors for the mix. Especially Resistance, Weakness, Chill or Slow for Shield 4 and Regen for Shield 5.

DroidDreamer.2861:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

DroidDreamer.2861:

Lots of options for buffing shield and the shield trait. Many have been suggested, including by me earlier in the thread.

Shield 4 suggestions:
—Resistance Boon (5 allies; purity of purpose here: damage reduction)
—1 second Block for five allies

Shield 5 suggestions:
—Mobile dome that travels with guard as it’s channeled
—Stationary dome with no channeling

Shield trait suggestions:
—Move to adept to avoid conflict with Strength in Numbers
—Roll shield trait INTO Strength in Numbers by adding Shield CD reduction
—Shield 4 or 5 give Resistance to five allies

Add some AEGIS application to 4 & Taunt to 5 and I would be fine with any or a mix of these.
I suspect nearly every guardian would be as well.

Aegis is great but the only reason I didn’t mention it, and as I’ve said in a number of threads, in WvW Aegis doesn’t have a material impact in zerg fights. You could see it mattering in roaming or havoc fights for sure and in PvP but with an avalanche of zerg players spamming their 1 attacks, I suspect that Aegis won’t make much difference.

BUT it’s the kind of NEW FUNCTIONALITY — as opposed to a cooldown reduction — that I also suspect every guard would be ok with. So I’d be happy with adding Aegis too, I just think there are better flavors for the mix. Especially Resistance, Weakness, Chill or Slow for Shield 4 and Regen for Shield 5.

This entirely. Well said.

tldr: Sheild adjustments to skills;

• #4 – Skill effect changed to AoE dome that applies the dmg & protection. Traited: Aegis applied to allies when protection you have applied is removed when shield is actively equipped (works for all applied aegises).

• #5 – Two staged skill. Move the knockback effect to the detonation of the shield & increase shield heal for each foe knocked back (revive trait uses second stage).

changes to skills;

• #4 – Movement Rush skill applies protection to allies & dmg to foe (max 5) you pass with last hit’s dmg dependent on foes hit in the travel phase. Traited: Again the Aegis change (for me really giving the protector feeling).

• #5 – Two staged skill. Dome AoE that applies Taunt to foes & sets up a absorptive dome defending from projectiles & beams. Second stage detonates the dome knocking back foes & healing allies, increased heal for each foe knocked back (revive trait uses second stage).

What role does the shield currently have in gameplay? - For me the current design seems to be based around & focused on off hand group support. Which for me does not sync very well with current 1H weapons (the best being mace).

I would like some changes to 1H sword #3 (slightly larger AoE reflection wall which can help protect allies standing beside you) & 1H mace #3 (blocks 1 attack for both you & 1 ally within the shield, their’s nothing worst then getting 1 shotted from bosses because this blocked for your ally & not you).

What does the current shield bring? - #4 Frontal AoE dmg + protection. So positioned behind allies for maximum use. Feels odd if your think of a frontline guardian putting themselves between their allies & foes. I feel this would work better either using the dome AoE of skill #5 or change it to a Rush skill were you charge towards your foe applying protection to allies & damaging foe you pass with a last hit to targeted foe were the damage is dependent on the number of foes hit in the charge. Not such a large distance travelled (300 or maybe 600 range) & requires a target (my fav choice).

An idea for trait interaction could be on removal of Protection apply Aegis while shield actively equipped (only on protections you applied). This could be the core weapon in a Aegis buildm, next;

- #5 AoE kncokback (1 time) + projectile absorption & heal on reactivating skill.
This 360 degree knockback is can be helpful but also can have large disadvantages. An idea here is using the two stage activation. First activation apply taunt to foes (max 5) within AoE (helps with grouping foes) & on second activation knockback foes & heal allies within finishing the taunt & absorption part of the skill.

For the projectile absorption part I have always felt beam attacks have to great an advantage on absorption & reflection defence skills. I would like to see beam attacks to be included in these skills across all professions either baseline for some or added through traits. Also with this change most beam channel skills would need a way to stop the channel, maybe active the skill a second time cancels attack, also could add a trait which again allows these to pierce through these defences.

I like your ideia for SoJ (#5) but imo its to much in one skill, to much.

Imo SoA taunt and to a weapon/skill that roots u there.. not so sure if its safe :\, also taunt and knockback on the same skil….. i would not ask it on SoA, but rather on SoJ (5#) also dont forget the the new condi, slow and prot on SoJ ?

Slow
This condition will slow down animations and casts, allowing more time to dodge or interrupt the incoming massive attack. It’s the counterpart for quickness.
from:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Slow

Adding Slow might work quite well, I like it.

What I was looking at with Taunt was to add a grouping functionality for 1H gameplay. This turned shield #5 from a skill that’s definitely not wanted due to the knockback to a skill that’s now wanted to help group through the first activation.

The second activation still has this disadvantage of spreading foes apart but you now control it. So the second activation provides the ability to peel / interrupt (skills, stomps) & heals.

So if you had for set 1 Greatsword & set 2 off hand shield you can really help in grouping foes for all your allies AoEs. Also Taunt really feels at home for Defensive Guardians & Warrior making your foes focus on you providing that peeling support for your allies.

Shield of Justice should apply Aegis alongside the Protection.

Shield of Absorption should be a Ward. Maybe each pulse can cleanse a single condition.

Or include it on the detonate portion. Which could be a blast finisher so we can Blast Aoe Retaliation.

The trait for toughness could be boosted to 200 toughness, like engineers Juggernaut Master.

This would fit the Guardian better and make the shield a viable weapon that fits their play style.

EDIT*

Stength In Numbers merge would be amazing so that it wouldn’t compete, as others have mentioned.

No idea why they won’t just make shield trait an adept or just merge it with strength in numbers. These are the kind of changes that need to be done if the devs want people to use shield.

Lyger.5429:

No idea why they won’t just make shield trait an adept or just merge it with. These are the kind of changes that need to be done if the devs want people to use shield.

strength in numbers + stalwart defender? that also would be nice? XD very good trait for front liners of guardians that try to hold circles.

About pure of heart, since has no icd migh be fun to take if roaming with a team of guardians, Honor master line looks a bit empty but i guess all classes have traits lines like this, but if strength in numbers + stalwart defender got merged that would definitely open another role for the guardian and mostly the opposite of the medi guard.

And in the place of strenght in numbers that trait could be the support addon to shield, players should have to choose between toughness or a flavour add to shield, similiar to the protection on focus, being a boon or condi, imo aegis on shield skills would be to much but slow on dome and shield SoJ would be nice to use with sword/shield also, and we could have diversification plus able to use it with both weapons, even torch #3+ slow + hammer or gs combo with new wrath shout combo hard to pull but rewarding if well done.

As a mace/shield user on wvw, this is what ill try on 23june:
once in a while trade expeditious spirit for simbolic avenger, i really like the absorption of SoA spirit when combined with shield SoA dome.

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgIBvAR4A5Q~

just my 2 cents :<

My two cents, Shield #4 should also be a knockdown to combo with future knockdown traits, or some extra effect. Possibly have the trait destroy/block projectiles too.

Shield #5 should count as a “block” whenever it absorbs a projectile to combo with block traits, preferably as baseline, but I would be cool with it if the trait became, “All Shield skills block projectiles,” instead. Or you can even have them block as a baseline, and the trait becomes, “All Shield skills block and reflect projectiles.” It might be too late to test those and figure out a respectable cooldown for them, but I’d love to try them with the current buffed cooldowns first. It is a Master tier trait.

From my point of view, Torch is the offensive offand, Focus is the defense against melee offhand, and Shield is the defense against ranged offhand.

Whatever the details, I would really like the Shield to become worth using, because as things stand — and are likely to remain after Tuesday — it just doesn’t make sense.

The reduced cooldowns are great, but the skills themselves pale in comparison to what other offhands offer. Pretty silly that a focus defends you better than a shield.

There are some great suggestions in this thread. Here’s hoping the designers will take another look at the Shield after Tuesday and finally, finally elevate it from a glorified cosmetic item to something you won’t get kicked from a group for carrying.

Make shield 4 (shield of judgement) a pull (a cone pull possibly) it would synergize well with sword and mace. As for shield 5, have it absorbs damage from projectiles and after detonation of the shield bubble have it return x amount of damage to the opponent(s).

As numerous other people have mentioned, the skills on the shield are lackluster, shield 5 is a self root, the focus gets the good stuff (now even better with the adept trait), strength in numbers is better than shield trait for group play;

At least change Shield 5 to a reflect or eliminate the self root (not sure if the latter is possible).

Shield 4 should not affect allies in front of you, but instead around you.

Alright so I’m gonna give my two cents on ideas for the skills (which very clearly need a rework)
As someone pointed out, guardians are front liners, they shouldn’t be on the back protecting allies in front of them, also, guardians do not need any more protection, we already got plenty of that.
I feel like shield needs something unique to guardian, it should be our poster weapon after all. So my proposal is:

(4) Shield of Judgement: Send out a cone that summons a Fragment of Faith per foe struck.
This creates a situation where, the bigger the difference in numbers is, this skill turns more favorable to the guardian. Assuming a 1v5, it would give that same guardian 5, non overwriting blocks, giving him a better fighting chance. On the contary if only 1 target is struck, the guardian wouldn’t be able to faceroll said target since it would only gain 1 block. Or if 5 enemies are struck but you have 5 plus allies, it only gives 1 block each roughly. (This will also be affected by the trait I’ll be describing later on)

I know the fragments of faith are supposed to be a Dragonhunter trap mechanic, but I think it would really give the guardian some flavor with a unique mechanic.

(5) Shield of Absorption: Create a dome around you, absorbing projectiles and taunting foes caugh inside. Duration of 4 seconds, pulsing 1 second of taunt per second. (Still roots you)

This sinergizes with the 4 skill, as all enemies around you will be busy running towards you, giving your allies a window to run around and gather those fragments of faith. It also renders any ranged attacker useless as they’ll be wasting time attacking you with projectiles, but at the same time it has the counter of melee attackers still being able to hit you so you’re not completely invulnerable. The pulsing taunt ensures that a single stack of stab doesn’t make this skill useless, but at the same time it gives those with 3 stacks of stab (the most common application) time to move out of the bubble.

While I know many use this skill for the knockback only, knockbacks are usually frowned upon in PvE so I felt like this was a better compromise between CC and “stacking meta”.

For the trait:
Shield skills grant resistance to allies affected. Shield skill cooldowns are reduced by x% per enemy struck.
I think an “cooldown reduction per enemy struck” trype works better for this setup, as it would give the guardian a better fighting chance as I described earlier. About the resistance: it’s mostly to keep a bit of the backline spirit it originally had, allowing your allies to charge into battle even if they’re crippled or chilled, or just give them better movement speed to catch those fragments.

Cooldowns should probably be adjusted accordingly. As mentioned in many livestreams, that’s the base functionality, the numbers are just a matter of testing.

I have crafted Flameseeker Prophecies as I found it the coolest legendary; now I have it sitting in my inventory since it’s unusable on my main guardian. But oh well, get to use shield as an upcoming Chronomancer at least…

Shame, because this thread has so many nice suggestions on how to buff shield and make it viable.

the only time I have used shield and found it beneficial to other options was during the Southsun Guild Challenge.

Skill 4 is… not horrible. little damage, little protection, nice cone shape. would be nice if it were a aoe ring, honestly. maybe prot and retal, or buff the damage along with the CD reduction. (more damage vs burning / vuln / blinded foes?)

Skill 5 is nice, but it would work better as a persistent bubble that allowed you to move with it, lasted like 5 seconds, and didnt go away when you burst heal with it. reduce the healing on it and allow us to spam burst it, with each burst granting a moment of well-timed missile reflect instead of missile destruction.

yeah, that sounds like a fun weapon. still not a better option than focus tho..

.. So mace/shield is even worse than before.

Why not a permanent channeling of the 5 until you move ? And then a big cool down.

Caerbanog.3410:

Why not a permanent channeling of the 5 until you move ? And then a big cool down.

It feels the weapon cobinatio is a dead one, if aint playing medi condi cant do nothing…

There are really good suggestions to make shield useful. I hope someone from anet is reading this topic. The functionalities doesn’t need to be drastically changed, only small tweaks would be enough. And no, shield doesn’t need to block, it is a support weapon.

Also change the trait, its effects are awful.

would make shield 5 good, is if being inside the bubble gave a resistance buff.

shield 4 grant aegis + prot, rempove the damage component if that combo would be too strong.

I’d be stoked with shield 5 just being given a blast finisher on the 2nd part. Shield 4, imho, should be given aegis along with protection. Prot and Aegis on shield 4 and add blast finisher to shield 5 and i’d be thrilled.