I would just like to preface this post by saying that I am prepared for this idea to be shot down, but I would very much appreciate constructive criticism as supposed to insults or the like.
Considering the upcoming changes to guardian traits, it seems that the developers are trying to push guardians in the direction of having a viable condition spec. However, unless the scaling on the new Radiant Retaliation trait is very good (as to make retaliation do ~800 damage per tick), I do not see condition based guardian builds becoming viable. PREPARE FOR A WALL OF TEXT [TL;DR available for those who don’t wish to suffer through my expertly muddled post].
In my opinion, this stems from the fact that we have only one weapon (torch) which inflicts a condition; and even then, it is not purely focused on conditions [I am discounting focus as it only inflicts blind, which is not a damaging condition, and tthis can be effectively discounted when talking about condition builds]. While the torch #4 skill is a very good source of burning damage, the #5 skill is lackluster in a direct damage build, and is practically useless in a condition build. The torch currently seems an odd mish-mash of condition and direct damage.
I propose a change to the torch #5 skill that makes it a more condition centered weapon. The skill would read something as thus;
“Conflagration: Extinguish all stacks of burning on the target enemy, and deal direct damage equal to 50% of the consumed burning damage.” [1 second channel, 1200 range, 20 second cooldown, can crit].
Now, I admit that it sounds quite overpowered on first read, but let me explain precisely how I would think it would function, why it would be beneficial to condition guardian, and a few ideas on how it could be balanced. Edit: PurebladeProductions had a good idea about capping the amount of condition damage (from burning) converted to direct damage (at a 50% ratio) at 20 seconds, with the rest of the burning remaining. This would ensure a fair ceiling for the direct damage, while still maintaining the utility/choice involved.
Illustrating the skill
Let me give you a few examples of a situation in which this skill would be used to illustrate how it functions. For the purposes of these, I will assume that the guardian deals 700 damage per tick of burning, as this requires a reasonably obtainable 1488 condition damage. Bear in mind I am not a very experienced theory crafter, so my numbers may be VERY inaccurate, so feel free to correct/comment on all of the calculations made throughout the post.
1. A condition spec’ed guardian attacks an enemy target, and stacks ~15 seconds of burning on them using VoJ active, torch #4 skill and purging flames. Assuming no might stacks and the assumption above, this will deal 10,500 damage over the 15 second duration. However, using the proposed torch #5 skill conflagration, he can sacrifice half of this DoT damage to deal it as upfront damage that can crit, equal to 5,250. [In this example, I was simply trying to illustrate how the skill would work].
2. A condition spec’ed guardian and a power-based necromancer with the Dhuumfire trait attack an enemy target. Once again, the guardian stacks 15 seconds of burning on the target, while the necromancer procs Dhuumfire, resulting in a total of 20 seconds of burning on the target. The guardian then uses the new #5 torch skill. This would consume both the burning from the guardian and the necromancer. However, it would also take into account the condition damage of the source of the burning. So, instead of dealing 7,000 upfront damage (the amount if the entire burning was from the guardian), it would deal 5,250 (from the guardian) + 656 (half of the damage from the necromancer). This leads to a total of 5906 direct damage from the new #5 skill. [This example was to illustrate how the skill would function when the burning is sourced from multiple targets].
3. A condition based guardian and a condition based warrior each stack 15s of burning on a target. Assuming that they both have the same condition damage (1488), this will result in 30s of burning damage at 700 damage per tick, assuming that it can be stacked in less than 9 sources of burning. This would deal 21000 damage over the 30 second duration as a DoT. If the guardian uses the torch #5 skill immediately, this would deal 10,500 damage upfront. [This was to illustrate how the skill would function with two condition damage characters stacking burning on the same target].
