Guild Wars 2

Just want to say thank you to Blood Red Arachnid for a spot on explanation of why zerker gear is the only gear that matters in PvE. I’ve been mulling similar thoughts in my head for a long time but couldn’t explain it so thoroughly.

As for solving the problems of active vs. passive defense, it seems pretty obvious to me. Nerf baseline active defense across the board massively, then add stats on equipment that scale your active defense. Fully kitted out with active defense stats, you would provide/have better active defense than in the live game right now, but without it you would have fewer dodges, shorter boons, shorter reflects, etc etc. With this system, at least one person in the group will need to act as a support (with active defense stats over offensive stats) who can provide the reflects, vigor, protection, or other active defenses that we currently rely on to not die.

I think updating mob AI to strike weaker but more frequently and use other attacks that circumvent active defense is not necessarily a good option. Using active defense in this game is very satisfying for the player, and this kind of AI change will (in my imagination) make the active defenses you use seem futile and weak.