Guild Wars 2

in my opinion:
Shield 4: Taunts the enemy for 10 sec, gain protection and regeneration for 5 sec
Shield 5: Applies protection for all allies standing inside the dome (5sec)

Yes, give the guardian an tank skill. That way, we could create possible tanky build(instead of zerkers only) and add some strategies along with it

Why do so many people think shield #4 needs taunt? IMO, the animation and feel of the skill lends itself more towards a daze or even a knockback. Also it just wouldn’t make sense…

“That guy just blasted me in the face with a wave of light! Yeah, I’m totally going to wanna run towards him now!”

Kirnale.5914:

in my opinion:
Shield 4: Taunts the enemy for 10 sec, gain protection and regeneration for 5 sec
Shield 5: Applies protection for all allies standing inside the dome (5sec)

Yes, give the guardian an tank skill. That way, we could create possible tanky build(instead of zerkers only) and add some strategies along with it

As much as I’d love to see shield get some love, 10 seconds of taunt is incredibly excessive. Any more than 2-3 seconds of taunt would be too strong, but I honestly think a daze or knockdown would make for a more preferable CC option anyway.

Nah, shield is still the most useless of guardian’s weapons. Especially when “Stalwart Defender” and “Strenght in numbers” are in the same trait lane.
It’s better to get focus and have protection +150 toughness from “Strenght in numbers” than shield and have only +180 toughness.
30 more toughness < 4s of protection

I know that everyone wants taunt for skill #4 . I have a slightly other idea: the dome
(skill#5) should last 1s longer and weaken every foe inside it. If enemy has stability and cannot be pushed by dome, he would be weakened (blind is also a possibility here).

So, Engineers get 4 seconds of Protection to allies with each shield skill from “Over Shield” trait..on top of the knockback/blast finisher and stun/daze….

Personally, I’d like to see Shield 4 be a Knockback, but keep the protection and regen, and decrease cooldown, maybe even make it do farther knockback depending on distance/range.

And then have Shield 5 be a blast finisher, and do Fear or also Knockback, while Providing a block like shelter. While giving you like 5 stacks of stability and 5 stacks of resistance.

Also, everyone keeps asking for a more mobile skill on 5, but I dont think that’s what a shield on Guardian should represent. It should be highly defensive, so making it mobile would make it play like Warrior’s shield, and I don’t think that would be fun. Something like Rooting you down and providing immense CC or Defensive capabilities would make it better because then Guardians would have to be more mindful of their surroundings when using it, rather than just using it during a panic or something similar like the Warrior’s shield 5 skill.

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.

1. Shield Jedgement protection should last half of CD , CD 30s, protection 15s
2. Shield of Absorption dont need channel/push beack, absorption all damage, CD40s
3. Trait: reduce 20% CD and all shield skill give aegis
4. CD of shield skill can be longer, but skill must be useful.

I’m all for a shield rework but actually don’t mind the animations of either skill. I’d like to see shield 4 additionally apply 4s of weakness to affected enemies. Shield 5 could additionally apply aegis to all allies on activation and a blast finisher + medium damage on detonation (but detonation ends the light field before applying the blast finisher). I think these would both be balanced and fit right in with how the skills function.

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.

Unfortunately, cooldowns was only one bad thing on shield.

Shield of Judgment
- low damage and 5s of protection isn’t exactly lifesaver
Improvement:
5s of protection alright, but something like current damage x 2 and daze would be nice

Shield of Absorption
this skill isn’t bad, but comparing to other guardians’s skill make it bad
Improvements:
something like 5s/8s of regeneration and protection would be nice
detonating could damage enemy inside the shield
and heal from detonating would be slightly bigger(1600) or at least higher scaling from healing power (because not even 200 more heal from 800 more healing power is funny and make healing power quite useless stat) in best scenario both.

Just my thoughts, but with this new cooldown and making skill more attractive to comparing other possibilities, we definitely see more guardians with shield.

I don’t think that for example all my suggestion make shield OP, but only more valuable possibility. So would be nice, if ArenaNet come up with something, because ideas around is enough.

i like being the only guardian rocking the shield !!

and . . . honestly thanks for the shield cool down reduction .

my fave off hand made better . whats not to like ?

if you really needed more from the shield what about making 4 a blast or projectile finisher ?
could do some interesting self combos with 5 and 4 then .

zcearo.1897:

i like being the only guardian rocking the shield !!

and . . . honestly thanks for the shield cool down reduction .

my fave off hand made better . whats not to like ?

if you really needed more from the shield what about making 4 a blast or projectile finisher ?
could do some interesting self combos with 5 and 4 then .

As an offhand the shield is just outdone by the focus for defense though.

I’d suggest keeping shield 4 as it is and making shield 5 a double blash finisher, once on activation and once on detonation and allow it to be used whilst moving, keeping it more in line with the Engineers shield but focusing more on support rather than CC.

i don’t like focus tho . so therefor . for me . it is not outdone .

i do however use shield and it is great . and the update made it better .

I use the shield, and have done so since the headstart of this game 25th of August 2012.

Even decided to craft The Flameseeker Prophecies.

I just like it more than the focus, and the torch, even if it is considered the worst because of not doing any good damage, I think it’s really fun to use.

Like the suggestions about just re-working the Shield skills based on their current intentions and would be happy with most suggestions. My own:

Shield #4:

Vulnerability on enemies (5 stacks, 8 seconds) on top of existing mechanics.

Shield #5:

Probable increase of Cooldown.

Dome is placed. Knockback as-is. Dome lasts 4s and heals every 1 second (~300 HP per tick). Enemies inside the dome take 1s of Slow pulsing each second the dome is active.

• Detonate dome: Blast finisher, ~700 damage.

dace.8019:

Like the suggestions about just re-working the Shield skills based on their current intentions and would be happy with most suggestions. My own:

Shield #4:

Vulnerability on enemies (5 stacks, 8 seconds) on top of existing mechanics.

Shield #5:

Probable increase of Cooldown.

Dome is placed. Knockback as-is. Dome lasts 4s and heals every 1 second (~300 HP per tick). Enemies inside the dome take 1s of Slow pulsing each second the dome is active.

• Detonate dome: Blast finisher, ~700 damage.

Small point: The dome is a Light Field, so if the Blast Finisher is triggered on detonation of the dome, it increases the chance that the Blast Finisher will trigger on the dome’s own Light Field which would always result in Area Retal. BIG supporter of adding a Blast Finisher to the dome but it should be upon dropping the dome, not upon detonation.

I do like the ticking heals though. I’d take four seconds of ticking heals to one dome detonation heal.

My main is an asura guardian and I actually use a shield in both PvE and PvP. I usually pair it with a scepter, which is our only weapon (for now) that is suited for ranged combat. The shield proves itself to be useful in certain situations when I need to interrupt and enemy, such as when a teragriff is charging towards me or to knockback an enemy palyer about to stomp a downed ally. However, I do find the shield to be somewhat lackluster, but I keep using it anyway because I enjoy the little advantages that it gives me. I also use a focus on the other weapon set, paired with a sword, should I need to swap.

That said, here are some suggestions that could be considered as possible improvements to the shield.

• Skill #4: Inflicts 5 stacks of vulnerability on enemies it hits for each protected ally.
  This would preferrably be baseline without the need to be traited. The idea behind that is to encourage using this skill as a means to protect your allies against powerful attacks by an enemy, while giving the opportunity for your party to counterattack with the increased damage granted by the vulnerability. If the guardian manages to give protection for 5 other players, any enemy hit by the skill would be inflicted with 25 stacks of vulnerability for a short duration, not too long for it to be considered overpowered, but just enough for the players to hit it with theirs most damaging skills for an effective counterattack.

• Skill # 5: Allies inside the dome are healed proportionally to the damage avoided.
  This change could replace the current shield trait, eliminating the cooldown reduction but keeping the 180 extra toughness.
  This would encourage skillful use of the shield of absorption, rewarding players that manage to time it just so that it blocks a large number of potentially devastating projectiles. Both the guardian and the allies inside the dome would be healed by the amount of damage (or a fraction of it, that scales with healing power) that the projectiles would have caused if they had not been blocked.

I think those changes would make the shield far more viable in both PvE and PvP, and would be in line with the intended purpose of the weapon, which is group support.

I tested, the #4 is still split between PvP and PvE/WvW.

Also, the tooltip says that the duration is 4 seconds on #5, I tested and only works for 2 seconds (still). The tooltip is wrong or is it a bug? If so, this is a bug since forever.

Shield #4 – Now grants aegis to allies and vulnerability to foes.
Shield #5 – Maintains current effects but also: Creates a symbol of resistance – Allies standing in the symbol gain resistance.
Shield #5 (sequence) – Detonating the bubble also grants protection to allies.

Every weapon has a unique symbol and we shall give one to the guardian shield. This makes it a real protective bubble; immunity to projectiles, conditions and defense against melee attacks by detonating the bubble to inflict CC and grant protection, causing a blast finisher that also gives allies light aura.

Then, change the shield trait to:
Shield Trait: Shield skills recharge 5% faster per ally and foe hit. Shield skills also blind foes. (50% maximum recharge potential if there are 5 allies and 5 foes hit)

There. That’s how you balance.

Not: “well uhh wut if we decris cooldown l0l”
You guys had years to balance, cmon. I made this in roughly 137 seconds.

Btw still waiting for scepter to get a symbol for smite. Symbol should obviously inflict damage and vulnerability since vulnerability now scales with power and condition damage which is exactly what scepter does best.

You spent 137 seconds on a skill and you think it’s balanced?

Don’t hurt yourself on that hubris.

Couldve been 135 dunno tho

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 the functionality that’s the problem.

I don’t know exactly what they should change too, but something like:
4 should give aegis & knockback.
5 should allow movement & heal those in the bubble.

because the game doesn’t have a true blocking mechanic where I can block whenever I want, having a static, set-time, high cooldown channel is just clunky, not fun & wayyy too situational to be worth it. the skills need to change. I want to use a shield so bad but the cd decrease simply doesn’t make the weapon worth using.

A shield should reduce the damage taken by 10-20% – all the time. It is a kitten shield for god’s sake and it is a guardian. It should give something very strong. Like the crusader in Diablo 3 or the Paladin in WoW. He should be the one soaking damage. Yeah I know dodging and no trinity blabla. But for kitten’s sake, let him take the damage of others and reduce it. It would be a cool mechanic.

Move Focus#5 to Shield#5.
Give a new teleport skill range 600 and swiftness 10s to new Focus#5.

I really want to like and use the shield, but (in PvE at least), the lackluster damage and minimal protection on Shield of Judgment is not worth it, and the knockback on Shield of Absorption is situational at best. Even in PvP both are situational.

The focus just does everything the shield should do (with support regen, blind (+vuln if specced for it), a blast finisher and some additional blocks), and that’s always going to be a problem if the shield skills remain the way they are.

Edit: Or at the very least, let guardians transmute shield skins onto the focus so they actually get to use one!

My thought of Shield of Absorption #5 is to make it a cc and aoe damage skill
For example:
Leaping to targets and stunning them for like 1s as well as dealing small amount of aoe damage, a symbol or a dome is then created to provide buff or absorb projectile respectively.

I’ve been using it in PvP and I actually don’t think it’s that bad, although if anything changed on it, I don’t think #4 should get a taunt (aegis seems much more fitting).

DarksunG.9537:

because the game doesn’t have a true blocking mechanic where I can block whenever I want,

That’s because block absorbs the damage entirely, instead of absorption based on a block value. We have blocks on cooldown with focus 5 and mace 3. I’d like shield to have a block too (or have the ability to reskin a focus with a shield skin).

4 now applies protection and aegis to allies and increase the base damage
5 can now be cast while moving (the dome does not follow you afterwards) , acts as a blast finisher and can be detonated to heal and does damage based on the number of projectiles blocked.

I agree with a lot of the suggestions. Personally, the only reason I’ve used shield is because I thought it would make for a better group support weapon, but it is still lackluster. I have read so many amazing suggestions on this thread that I wish just one of them were implemented.

From reading all these posts, the ideas that make the most sense to me for buffing the shield are:
1) SoJ applies AT LEAST 6s of protection in ALL game modes, PvP included.
2) SoJ weakens foes for 4s AND does 2x current damage (I think that’s fair is at is currently VERY underwhelming as an attack in almost all situations)
3) SoA should last for the full 4 seconds it is supposed to, and do some damage on initial cast.

There should be a trait that does not compete with Strength in Numbers while doing virtually the same thing but for oneself. Obviously, anyone who needs more staying power (for themselves, not allies) will use focus, and not shield. Instead, this trait should provide a different option. My favorite suggestions for the trait were the following:

1) SoJ no longer weakens foes, but dazes/stuns them for 2s.
2) SoA no longer absorbs projectiles, but REFLECTS them. To differentiate this from other reflect skills, it could even be a delayed reflect, where all projectiles are absorbed for the time the shield is up, then reflected back during the “detonation” of the shield.
3) SoA radius is increased by 60; healing increased 20%; knockback distance remains the same (I came up with this one, not all that amazing, but easy to implement).

^The last two suggestions would be great because they would also synergize with the trait that creates a SoA when you start reviving an ally.

20% reduced recharge on shield skills should be kept, along with one of the mechanics above. That would make shield on par with focus, and this trait on par with Strength in Numbers while making each weapon and trait feel unique.

(Edited for length, clarity, some mistakes)

You know what would make shield a viable weapon?

Skill 4 becomes Symbol of Judgement.
Grants Weakness to foes and Resistance to allies. The cooldown would have to be longer than most symbols as it is somewhat OP, but think about the options for this! You’ll be able you wield a mace and a shield at the same time and have two symbols at your disposal. For the first time since launch, Guardian shields would have a place in dungeons as a DPS option and defensive Guardians can lose the poor amount of protection up-time Shield of Judgement currently gives to gain multiple 1-second pulses of Resistance, while also applying Weakness (perhaps as a Trait, perhaps even Grandmaster) to foes as a way to indirectly protect themselves and their allies. Shield would be viable in WvW zergs as well, as, currently the only access players have to resistance is from mid-backliners, such as Engineers and Mesmers.

Just a thought I was having as I was thinking about how much I’d love to use the Flameseeker Prophecies that I recently crafted in a setting that’s viable for it, but for the most part, the only situations in which the utility a shield provides is actually helpful is to clear a path for you and your allies when running through trash mobs like in Arah or TA, or when you need to knock an engi or necro off of the Skyhammer in Unranked Arena.

I hope arenanet takes the suggestions of the players seriously, because nobody knows the game better than the people who have invested time and money into it through the years. Whether Guild Wars veterans or new aficionados of the franchise, the players know the most about their classes and what works and what does not, and this is something that I hope other people will agree on and perhaps anet would consider for a future revamp of shield (if there ever is one).

Thanks for reading
Holy Angel Ithuriel

Imo Shield of Judgement is decent enough because it does damage and protection is a nice boon.

However Shield of Absorbtion is very underwhelming compared to Shield of Wrath in sPVP because it a short cc and is too situational. My suggestions to fix it:

- Drop the bubble on the ground once casted and don’t root the guard
or
- Make it follow the guard so you can adjust placement with your allies
or
- Keep the root aspect but improve the cc for example foes in 180 radius are knockback, foes between 180 and 320 are knockdown
or
- Fix the duration to actual 4s right now it’s only 2s.
or
- If you target someone before using it, make you teleport to this target additionally

Also the shield trait is pretty bad compared to torch and focus, it just gives more toughness, torch users gets the double Zealot’s Fire and Focus grants protection.
Maybe give a passive chance to block any attack while wielding a shield?

Make #4 an execution ability.

When opponent is under or at 10% and you cast it, they die instantly.

Heuheu.

SirMoogie.9263:

DarksunG.9537:

because the game doesn’t have a true blocking mechanic where I can block whenever I want,

That’s because block absorbs the damage entirely, instead of absorption based on a block value. We have blocks on cooldown with focus 5 and mace 3. I’d like shield to have a block too (or have the ability to reskin a focus with a shield skin).

I meant a true blocking mechanic like TERA, DCUO,NWO etc.. where you block damage 100% but either have a stamina meter or it’s an integral part of gameplay so using it whenever you want isn’t a problem. Having the channel with massive cooldown is just clunky, boring, & so niche that it’s never worth having.

I think the biggest thing holding the shield back from being fun is that it’s balanced around PvP. It takes all the fun out of the weapon in PvE It becomes bland & hyper-situational, even moreso than most weapons. If the weapon is not going to be worth using, might as well make it a PvE focused weapon where the moves are fun & useful in dungeons etc.

It might be cool to have the shield have one of the longest KDs in the game. Especially in PvE. Something like 6 sec. have it be an actual KD. Right now most KDs are just Interrupts(heck some mobs are getting up by the time you can move your character from the attack animation), but allowing the Guardian to protect people by taking mobs out of the fight long enough for people to be safe from their damage would be a new, more interesting way to protect people.

Up for a shield buff!

Obtena.7952:

I don’t see an issue with 5 but 4 has a problem with it’s geometry; we are front line players so applying protection to players in a wave IN FRONT of you is nonsense. As it stands, 4 seems like a damage button and not a very good one at that.

I agree, I can’t use #4 that often, since I’m close in melee and allies are behind me.

Look, I use mace/shield despite knowing that mace/focus is much better for what I want to be doing. Why would I do that?

It’s simple: my guardian also roleplays as a Seraph, and every single member of the Seraph (including Logan) uses a shield, not a focus. I want my character to feel like she can fit into the world she’s in, not just use whatever equipment is most efficient at any given time.

Now, having said that, I also need to acknowledge that the guardian shield is significantly ineffective when compared to other options available to the guardian.

So what’s wrong with the shield?

Shield of Judgment: this ability basically acts as a short-range, positional cone. It deals a decent amount of damage, applies protection to those hit by it, and has a range of 600. It takes 0.5 seconds to cast on a 20 second cooldown. What’s the problem?

Well for starters, it deals poor damage for its range. Hitting 5 targets at a range of 600, it’s comparable to the staff’s auto attack, #1 Wave of Wrath. Wave of Wrath deals 60% of the damage that Shield of Judgment dishes out, but can be used more than once every 16 seconds.

The whole purpose, apparently, is to use the shield with a close range weapon. You then pivot to face the rest of your team, and can buff them with a low-moderate duration protection and deal some extra damage to help clear off whatever might be smashing them.

The problem is that the range is only 600 units, while most characters that aren’t likewise sitting with you on the monster’s face are going to be 900+ units away. In fact, most of them are likely to be 1200 units away. This difference in range makes it difficult to use Shield of Judgment properly — the guardian needs to stop dealing damage to reposition, use Shield of Judgment, and then reposition once more.

So we’ve established that Shield of Justice 1. has an awkward range for its intended usage 2. does not hit very hard compared to other support weapon options.

How do we fix this?

In my opinion, it needs to be reworked. We can make it into a new symbol, then: Symbol of Shielding.

This hypothetical ability would look as such:
25s cooldown (min 20s with trait), 1.25s cast time
Pulses 4 times over 4 seconds
Applies 1 second of Aegis per pulse
Applies 1 second of Resistance per pulse
Applies 1 second of Protection per pulse
Deals 392 (2.5 coefficient) damage
Up to 5 targets
Radius: 180
Light field

This would allow the guardian an opportunity to help fellow front-liners hold their position for a short amount of time, and with Aegis being peeled on-hit it wouldn’t make the group invincible. It’d also be more powerful than the hammer auto-attack, synergize with a ton of other guardian traits and skills, and overall be much more effective than it currently is.

Its power is low enough to not be broken by Symbolic Avenger or Symbolic Power, its size and target cap is consistent with other abilities, its casting time is consistent with other free-cast symbols, and its duration is enough that it can’t be relied upon to either invalidate fights or break pvp encounters. Traited, it has a 20% uptime, which is consistent with or lower than other symbols.

In addition, it’s enough to find use in certain dungeon and fractal situations without overtly encouraging the dreaded stack. It stands on its own in an organized play setup where each player adopts a more specific role, but also has use in the current berserker meta — this gives it both immediate and long-term usage options.

Shield of Absorption: this one is simple, just make it a blast finisher instead of a combo field, have it deal a bit of damage, and you’ve pretty much got it. Give it a bit of a light bomb animation to go with the knockback/flavor the blast finisher.

This changes it from usually-a-two-tap-heal into a functional blast finisher with utility. There’s nothing wrong with it having its current bugged/shorter duration if it’s a blast finisher, a heal, a damaging knockback, and a projectile-absorption tech.

In fact, I’d argue that you could even just remove the optional heal and only have it heal if it lasts its full duration, similar to other skills such as Shield of Wrath, Protector’s Strike, etc.

In my opinion, the big problem with shield is Shield of Judgment. It does a lot of little nice things all in one, but overall is a clunky and bad skill. It doesn’t synergize well with basically any of the guardian’s gameplay.

As it stands right now, shield is worse than torch for most applications. At least the torch has a powerful condition to spam, can cleanse the guardian of conditions, and has a 1200 range ability for pulling/skirmishing.

I think it’s past time skill #4 was made its full duration in spvp. ESPECIALLY since the new trait for FOCUS in the same trait line gives you more protection than shield even offers.

I also think its past time skill #5 ACTUALLY LASTED THE FULL 4 SECONDS.
For god’s sake, this bug has been beaten to death by the community. I completely disbelieve the balance department doesn’t know about it. I know they know its there, they just refuse to fix it for idk what stupid reason. It’s a broken skill! It’s been a broken skill since beta!

Every weapon has its problems. People can cry buff all they want. All I want is a weapon that actually works as advertised.

All shield really needs is for SoA to proc on the move and have the bubble stay until burst. A blast finisher on pop would also be nice, as even if the bubble is a light field, you still have the oldest combo field having priority, and you’re guaranteed retaliation in there isn’t a field already down (tons of synergy with traits). Shield 4 provides a power coefficient of 1.0, 600 range, and provides 25-30% aoe protection uptime just by itself. With boon duration and Hold the Line, you won’t even need Hammer for a larger area prot.

With those shield changes, Sword+Shield, Shouts, and Radiance, Honor, Whatever (probably Virtues), would definitely fill a niche and be very strong against projectiles. WoR would just make it overkill.

Shield doesn’t need an overhaul, it just needs some QoL adjustments.

4 be an knockback attack
5 be a protection, aegis regen for you and everyone behind you in a cone

what if we do a Captain America thing with guardian and make the shield offensive? like a thrown kind of thing? damage/knockback/daze/retal/might/??/etc

Aeolus.3615:

EDit: if shield 1st skill had a bash/rush atack spreading prot to allies it will be even a good offhand to use with sword.

I’d actually use a shield on my guard if this existed. Well this and the absence of knock back.

Mightybird.6034:

what if we do a Captain America thing with guardian and make the shield offensive? like a thrown kind of thing? damage/knockback/daze/retal/might/??/etc

I’ve thought about something like this. It could have a bouncing effect, giving protection to affected allies and maybe inflicting weakness/vulnerability/daze on enemies. They’d have to give it some decent damage though (more than the current SoJ).

Black Box.9312:

Mightybird.6034:

what if we do a Captain America thing with guardian and make the shield offensive? like a thrown kind of thing? damage/knockback/daze/retal/might/??/etc

I’ve thought about something like this. It could have a bouncing effect, giving protection to affected allies and maybe inflicting weakness/vulnerability/daze on enemies. They’d have to give it some decent damage though (more than the current SoJ).

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Throw_Shield

Ghotistyx.6942:

Black Box.9312:

Mightybird.6034:

what if we do a Captain America thing with guardian and make the shield offensive? like a thrown kind of thing? damage/knockback/daze/retal/might/??/etc

I’ve thought about something like this. It could have a bouncing effect, giving protection to affected allies and maybe inflicting weakness/vulnerability/daze on enemies. They’d have to give it some decent damage though (more than the current SoJ).

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Throw_Shield

Yes, I am aware of this. The idea is to make guardian shield less terrible (i.e. more on par with engi shield), and since using an existing animation requires less resources, it would only make sense to implement something similar.

More shield buff pls. Not buff enough.

Guardian shield isn’t terrible. Shield 4 has 25-30% prot uptime and a 1.0 power coefficient on a 600u cone. If you want more damage, add more power. If you still want more damage, use a weapon built for damage instead of support.

Shield 5 gives a control effect, aoe projectile defense, and possibly heals on a reasonable cooldown. Admittedly it has some bugs and QoL changes to work through, but the design itself is solid.

I mean, it’s not like people are complaining that GS doesn’t give enough Prot, instead they switch to a weapon or set up that gives them what they need.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Guardian shield isn’t terrible. Shield 4 has 25-30% prot uptime and a 1.0 power coefficient on a 600u cone. If you want more damage, add more power. If you still want more damage, use a weapon built for damage instead of support.

Shield 5 gives a control effect, aoe projectile defense, and possibly heals on a reasonable cooldown. Admittedly it has some bugs and QoL changes to work through, but the design itself is solid.

I mean, it’s not like people are complaining that GS doesn’t give enough Prot, instead they switch to a weapon or set up that gives them what they need.

That’s half of the problem. Lowering shield cooldowns does nothing to solve the issue of focus just being flat out superior for both damage and support roles. For a lot of people, this is a bit depressing, because the shield is kind of a trademark symbol of the Guardian as a class.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Guardian shield isn’t terrible. Shield 4 has 25-30% prot uptime and a 1.0 power coefficient on a 600u cone. If you want more damage, add more power. If you still want more damage, use a weapon built for damage instead of support.

Shield 5 gives a control effect, aoe projectile defense, and possibly heals on a reasonable cooldown. Admittedly it has some bugs and QoL changes to work through, but the design itself is solid.

I mean, it’s not like people are complaining that GS doesn’t give enough Prot, instead they switch to a weapon or set up that gives them what they need.

The problem is that it’s a 600u cone on a profession that is predominantly in melee range. The bonus effect is never going to work as its designers intended, and its damage is too low due to the presence of such a bonus effect.

In a vacuum it’s balanced. We don’t play in a vacuum.

Imagine a battlefield wherein your front line (guardians mostly play there) needs to jump to burst someone charging your back line. With a shield, it’s incredibly difficult for the guardian to achieve this in a way that is intuitive to normal play.

The guardian must either dedicate their main hand to sword, their offhand to greatsword, or a utility slot in order to teleport or otherwise close the gap. This is again okay in a vacuum, but consider that without any way to hit for 900u or more without a scepter main hand or swapping to a 2h weapon, the guardian (more than any other profession) lacks the capability to really affect distant battles.

Also consider that any situation in which moving in closer than 600u would be guaranteed suicide (such as a solo burst in a team fight, or moving out of range of a PvE effect such as Oola’s golems, etc) forces the guardian to switch weapons or to carry a scepter main hand.

None of these situations are an issue if the guardian carries a focus or a torch, as both of the other offhand options are not limited by such range issues. On top of that, each of the other offhand weapons is better at providing damage, support, and utility than the shield is.

I understand that your argument is, “If the shield isn’t the right weapon for the situation, then why are you using it?”

The problem is that, realistically, the shield is never the right weapon for the situation, and that is the problem.

I favor easy fixes to add functionality already in the game, not creating new mechanics. We already have a conal attack for Shield 4. Add Slow, Resistance, Chill or Aegies to it. Same with Shield 5. All it needs is a blast finisher upon casting. These are all existing mechanics which I would presume to be easier to add than some of the more “out there” proposals like thrown shields.

Black Box.9312:

That’s half of the problem. Lowering shield cooldowns does nothing to solve the issue of focus just being flat out superior for both damage and support roles. For a lot of people, this is a bit depressing, because the shield is kind of a trademark symbol of the Guardian as a class.

Shield 5 heals and knocks back, so it’s understandable if it doesn’t do damage. Shield 4 gives aoe Prot, so it’s also understandable if it isn’t a high burst skill. Obviously focus and certainly torch are going to deal higher damage. However, neither torch nor focus provide cc, and only traited focus gives prot, at a much lower uptime. Neither focus nor torch will provide ally projectile defense. I’ve saved myself and allies from killshots and rapid fires back when it was 40s untraited. Now I can do that twice as often. Untraited #4 had 16.6% uptime in pvw. Now it can have around 30% without boon duration. With Mace, boon duration, and traited HtL, you can have a great uptime on prot and regen. Paired with sword you can have frequent projectile defense, and combined with scepter you can midline and bring support.

Kerithlan.1659:

The problem is that it’s a 600u cone on a profession that is predominantly in melee range. The bonus effect is never going to work as its designers intended, and its damage is too low due to the presence of such a bonus effect.

In a vacuum it’s balanced. We don’t play in a vacuum.

Imagine a battlefield wherein your front line (guardians mostly play there) needs to jump to burst someone charging your back line. With a shield, it’s incredibly difficult for the guardian to achieve this in a way that is intuitive to normal play.

The guardian must either dedicate their main hand to sword, their offhand to greatsword, or a utility slot in order to teleport or otherwise close the gap. This is again okay in a vacuum, but consider that without any way to hit for 900u or more without a scepter main hand or swapping to a 2h weapon, the guardian (more than any other profession) lacks the capability to really affect distant battles.

Also consider that any situation in which moving in closer than 600u would be guaranteed suicide (such as a solo burst in a team fight, or moving out of range of a PvE effect such as Oola’s golems, etc) forces the guardian to switch weapons or to carry a scepter main hand.

None of these situations are an issue if the guardian carries a focus or a torch, as both of the other offhand options are not limited by such range issues. On top of that, each of the other offhand weapons is better at providing damage, support, and utility than the shield is.

I understand that your argument is, “If the shield isn’t the right weapon for the situation, then why are you using it?”

The problem is that, realistically, the shield is never the right weapon for the situation, and that is the problem.

600u is shout range. Any instance shouts are useful, SoJ is applicable. SoA works at any range. Shield is a defensive tool, not an offensive one. Imagine you or a near ally getting focused by two LB Rangers. Torch and focus won’t save you, and trying to burst won’t fix this problem. Ultimately, if you’re in a situation where shield cannot help you and you cannot change the situation, you haven’t prepared enough and have been outplayed. Every weapon, build, profession, etc has a counter as well as a niche. It’s up to you to plan our improvise around them by using the tools given to you.

Also, just so that no one forgets, in a highly mobile combat system such as this, you can always position the enemy between yourself and your allies in order to hit with the cone. Even 90° works, you don’t all have to stack on the same side.