Guild Wars 2

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Randulf.7614:

A tick box that says “do not show this message again” would solve this for all sides

No, it wouldn’t. An annoyingly large fraction of players would click this the first time they spend more than a few shards. Then, 3 days later, they would complain that they didn’t get a warning message.

No one likes being slowed down by a message, until the first time they accidentally buy an extra something — and then everyone wants it.

(Mind you, I personally prefer fewer warnings and having individuals take more responsibility for their own mistakes. However, not every player is as overly cautious as I am about spending and so I can’t really argue against ANet’s choice to offer more warnings.)

I mean this is for something completely menial. 1-3 spirit shards isn’t going to break bank for anyone. Worst case scenario I buy 2-3 extra orders and throw it in the bank. Which will likely never happen for players who have an idea of how many / fast you’re clicking

Could Miyani PLEASE stop asking if I’m sure I wanna use Spirit Shards to buy Philo-stones, Crystals, and Siege Master Guides?

Currently my biggest pet peeve about the new spirit shard system is she asks EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Can we put the “Are you sure” message on everything 10 shards and up please?

I do not buy my materials once at a time, and once per day, and losing a spirit shard or three is not the end of any world, but having to click even more than before is just so irksome.

And still a problem.

Still not fixed.

Bump. Bring me back to life.

Hopefully this gets seen.

Foreword I’m wearing soldier equipment to minimize crit, I have no bonus crit whatosever so i’m working with 4% base, I have unslotted specializations to minimize on damage modifiers, crit modifiers of all kinds, and to trigger no burning whatosever.

The current tooltip for Whirling Wrath states

7 Impacts from Projectiles.

7 Impacts from Whirling.

7 Projectiles always come out from Whirling Wrath and they NEVER spawn into the ground. So that means whirling wrath while standing on a target with a large hit box will always yield maximum projectile hits. So standing on a large target and spinning should yield

7 Impacts + 7 Projectiles = 14 logs of damage.

Standing directly onto the Golem Yields 5 strikes + 7 projectiles for 12 logs.

http://i.imgur.com/mngLtPJ.jpg
You have 7 traces of 100-damage meaning those are the projectiles.

In about 1 in every 15-20 attempts of this test it would yield an overwhelming amount of strikes from whirling.
http://imgur.com/F2HNZHd
About 19 Strikes + 2 Projectiles logged in ONE spin.

Fix please!

Currently lasts 6 seconds instead of 10. Thought you guys should know, not that anyone will be using it.

I’d like to say that since I play a cleric ele+guardian in Silverwastes I’d like ANET to take notice to Furious Tuning Crystal. It remains the ONLY healing Utility in the game with a 5% BONUS to a secondary stat instead of a 10% BONUS which is found on EVERY OTHER CHARGED AMBRITE UTILITY. I’m trying to bring attention to this because, Healing power -> Ferocity is fairly stupid as no class in the game would benefit from this EXCEPT for possibly d/d Cele ele. This of course would only work in WvW even so the ferocity coefficient would be extremely low. Being generous with 1,000 healing power a ele would receive 50 ferocity, or 3.33% critical damage. When the update comes out on Tuesday this coefficient will only get worse since trait stats used to give 300, and all armor stats get boosted 30~ percent.

• Furious Maintenance Oil
• Furious Sharpening Stone
• Bountiful Maintenance Oil
• Bountiful Tuning Crystal

I propose that both Furious Crystal should be changed to Toughness 10%, since healing power is most commonly associated with toughness in my understanding. I would think this would be a fairly decent change since trait-stats are being removed so nobody can really benefit from this utility by having the old trait system.

This change is going to cause a plummet in Ascended crafting mats, but most importantly what does this mean for Zealot armor? Will this be a cheat-workaround method?

What about Celestial armor? Will Charged Quartz still be time-gated? It would take a full month to convert from XXX → Celestial.

I’ve been playing GW2 for a little short of 2 years, and as much as I love this community and this game it seems there are two sides of people;

Those who can’t except the cost due to financial difficulty or lack of information about the expansion to make an educated purchase.

-And-

Blind fans with hair-trigger purchasing mistaking the first group of players for being “Cheap”, “Whiny”, “Entitled”, or “Not Guild Wars 1 players”. This latter group seems to be prominent both in-game and on these forums with their “NO REGRETS YOLO” mentality towards the expansion. The last option which is profoundly hilarious.

Let’s start with saying there’s not even a release date for this game. They could stall and stall for years and you’d be stuck with that purchase.

I’m a person who plays with financial difficulty. I pay roughly 100-120$ a year in gems and I plan to always buy gems. Is it mandatory? No. Should I be at fault for spending money on gems? No. Let me say that I SUPPORT THIS GAME by buying gems THAT’S WHY I DO IT.

So let’s talk about the hard facts expansion. Heart of Thorns has kitten price tag, and comes with nothing. What do we expect to see in Heart of Thorns and get?

• A copy of the Core game that we already own and yet cannot use or give away.
• New sPVP Map
• New WvW Borderland
• New Zones to Explore.
• New Class to play. For Veterans such as myself with 6 slots, all 80s, it will cost us an additional 10$ to create such a character.
• Elite Specilization enabling your new weapon class.
• Gliders and “Mastery” system
• Guild Halls.

So what don’t we know about the expansion, or what don’t we expect to get?

• Unspecified number of Zones to explore. It could be two, five, twenty, forty-eight. As someone who currently has 2.4k gold, I’m didn’t make this wealth gambling and that’s essentially what you are doing pre-purchasing.
• Nothing has been said about story missions. Will there be two quests? or twenty? or none? I’m sure it’s not the last option, but once again nothing has been said.
• No Beta-events for pre-purchasing, so there’s literally 0 incentive why anyone should pre-order other than your typical bragging rights.
• No Pre-order bonus of any kind for pre-purchase.
• The “Free” core game can not be used whatsoever for current owners.

What do we know about the expansion and this “sale”?

• The expansion costs more than the game itself. We are literally paying MORE for LESS.
• Veteran players get shafted. New players get a free copy of the core game they can use. Veterans get to pay full price of an expansion new players do and get another free copy of the base game that is un-usable. So it becomes a 50$ expansion.
• The deluxe edition is 25$ ADDITIONAL on top of 50$ for a toon slot(10$ value), Glider and Guild Hall decor. I highly doubt Veterans consider the latter valued at 15$. ESPECIALLY since most of us probably have a Rytlock Mini. Most people would imagine a special addition would have a MINOR cost inflation with extra features.

-Side bar, I paid $25 for my little brother’s DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION of Guild Wars 2, which came with MORE content and special features for LESS EVEN AT BASE VALUE. The package is typically 50$ and comes with far more content and promotional items than the expansion.

• So that just leaves the “Ultimate” edition. This package is literally the ONLY COST EFFECTIVE BUNDLE. Why? The game “upgrade” costs 50$, a toon slot costs 10$, the 4k gems has a value of 50$, the glider is likely worth 10$~.

• The game is targeted towards new players and shaft the current players, EVEN THE NEWER CURRENT PLAYERS WHO BOUGHT THIS ON SALE IN ANTICIPATION FOR THE EXPANSION. I made and mentored MANY new players who entered this game in the last 6 months who came in anticipation of this expansion, image their disbelief when they find out, they paid 10$-20$ for the game ONLY TO HAVE TO BUY IT AGAIN IN A PACKAGE.

• New players and Veteran players get shafted for HoT Newbs. HoT Newbs essentially save 30$ by purchasing HoT(40$ base game, 40$ Expansion for 50$).

So I implore that if you believe you made an “educated” purchase with HoTs, I pray and hope that this opens your eyes. Even a little.

Then you forsake all of those Guardians who made The Minstrel. This is not an actual solution.

Totally worth. That toughness will go so far. So will my 40 second CD 3.5 1.5 second shield barrier channel with the correct tooltip that’s been around for years.

They butchered Condition Necromancer with Curses traitline changes.
They increased our self-condi application without giving us anything like Plague Blast. Vulherability on CC use is now significant harm and too short duration to be worth transfering.
They gave us a proc transfer. Yes, that’s right, a kittening proc on crit. Apply any 3 conditions to Necromancer now, may be 1 stack of bleeding, 3 seconds of cripple and 1 stack of Vulnerability, I will burn my transfer with next hit because I have no control over it. Even better, since we have many AoEs, I can even transfer it to some kittenty clone or pet.
Dhuumfire is not worth using again. Without last preview version Lingering Curse, it’s a pitiful, miserable burn on obvious long cast time skill which will drop before second stack is applied in PvP.
No changes to weaponsets. GG. Oh, besides nerfing Mark of Blood in PvE, because it was dominant in dungeons.
You nerf Barbaric Precision by a half. Excuse me?
Consume Conditions now puts you into combat whenever you use it. I guess our OOC mobility was too much.
You effecitvely made Path of Corruption, best trait you’ve given Necromancer since 2013, useless, same as Terror, because now we have to pick Master of Corruption to have any healing skill.
Soul Comprahension trait. I won’t even start…
Because we’re now being balanced around having Precision gear, you nerf us in WvW with this, since we need Dire gear to survive. Oh, and you also push Rabid Amulet in PvP, despite buffing conditions overall (Vitality more desireable) and Carrion being currently the go-to Condimancer amulet due to having some power and scalling with Shroud mechanic. And to make Rabid even more balanced, it sucks more with Barbed Precision.
Rending Claws (Axe 1) is useless. Still. After 3 years.
Feast of Corruption (Scepter 3) is still an amazing Power skill slapped onto Condition-only weapon. It still generates pitiful amount of Life Force for it’s landing in PvP and applies no condition whatsoever, having astonishing synergy with even buffed Lingering Curse, which now increases condi duration of scepter skills by 100%! That’s whole 0% for FoC! Sounds great.
Putrid Mark (Staff 4) remains our only semi-reliable Blast Finisher. And didn’t get ally condition cleanse back, becahse reasons.
Life Siphon (Dagger 2) still has nearly 4 second cast time and 600 range. Shorten cast time, like you did with Rapid Fire? Nah, let it barely outheal Reataliation damage taken by those 9 hits.
Spinal Shivers (Focus 5) still with brilliant cast time and visible animation, so everybody can dodge it or kill Necromancer before he finishes that very skillful cast. You truly did your job making it viable here, thanks Arena Net.
Good job making Mark of Evasion a Downstate Magic (renamed from Blood Magic) minor. Now every time you dodge trying to avoid combat mode while running in PvE or anywhere else, mobs will trigger it and slow you down.
By the way, thanks for all the scalling defenses, blocks, evades and projectile reflects we get in the next patch! Godlike effort!
Now our allies can taste our Siphoning, too. Just make sure you have fast-hitting weapon, because 50 hp siphon every Hammer swing isn’t optimal. You know, Siphons still work only with multiple hits per second. Because Necromancer attacks quickly.
Fun thing: Our rezzes actually don’t rezz. And our amazing 4 seconds cast time Rezz on Signet-nobody-uses now does damage in the area!. Poke those stompers for 500 damage, let them feel our wrath! And put you into combat, by the way.
You nerf our only heal with a change that is a harsh punishment for healing under pressure and we’re still stuck with same PvP utilities, but now with even less build variety.
Finally, Parasitic Contagion, trait I was most excited about, got 33% nerf, hasn’t moved and you obviously balanced it around max potential with Epidemic.Guess what, balancing it around max potential is a reason why this trait absolutely kittening sucks on live servers in the first place.
Oh, and our Life Force generation remains the same. We have way TOO MUCH of it already, especially Condition Necromancer.
By the way, I agree with you, having any Life Force at start of PvP match would make us broken OP. Good thing we start with no profession mechanic and only defense, then
And we have a week to give you feedback while 70% of your changes would have to be changed and new ones introduced, fixing our weaponsets.
Oh, and guess what? These changes fix absolutely NOTHING for PvP and PvE, after 3 years.
Good job, bravo. It would’ve been a challenge to kitten it up even harder.

DISCLAIMER, NOT MY POST. But there’s a ton of validity to it.

Kainis.9475:

This is faster doing it this way, even when you factor in the long setup time required to make it work. That said, you short yourself at least 50 silver and 40 tokens by doing it this way, so it isn’t a one-sided exploit.

This is exactly the sentiment I’m feelings from this particular “exploit”. The person partaking in this excursion ends up losing loot / gold, but saves time. I know people who only play 2-3 hours a day and they’re almost exclusively for dungeon runs for gold for later use when they have more time to play like on weekends.

If ANET really thinks this “exploit” is an problem then they just have to remove the graveling mound at the first stair-case. Problem solved in AC.

For hosting/joining an glitched AC 3+2 path. I have not received one concrete answer from anyone in this game other than going on the fear-of-god speculation that ANET will smite my account if they found me out. I am not incriminating myself with this post saying I host/join them , but for the sake of clarity I would like to know, will doing a glitched path, one that is created by a error in the coding of this game get me banned without warning whatsoever?

From my entire history of playing this game in the last 2 years, I have never heard a concrete answer other than “He-said, She-Said”. Can I get a concrete answer so that I may put this question to rest?

Speaking from my opinion, you lose more money glitching the path than you do from doing it outright.

You lose 187k exp, 26 silver, 4-5 champion bags, and several dungeon tokens and save 20 minutes of redo’ing an entire path. I have heard they’ve done a sweep of bans in the past targeting players who did an exploit that allowed them to craft ascended equipment at 1/1000th of the cost requirement and that I can understand a ban for, but what I’m looking for is if ANET will ban players for exploiting a function that ultimately just saves them 20 minutes of time VS an exploit that destroys the itegrity of the game’s economy?

Please do not post, “Yes they will ban you” without a citation or proof. I want a concrete answer for this because I’m tired of hearing that. I want a citation or an article or a screen shot of email from support saying “X player has been banned for exploiting a glitch in AC”.

I was wondering what classes were optimal for what dungeon. I’m not talking about listing the 4 big meta picks that are all around extremely effective in all dungeons. I don’t run a ton of dungeons outside of AC, TA and CoF P1/2, everyday so I’m doing this to learn which of my 80s are most effective for what dungeon. For example, in my experience.

Warrior, Zerker PSEA Build.
Preferred Dungeons – All.
Warriors work in virtually every dungeon, desired for their banners and Might-stacking. Works in virtually every dungeon running party.

Guardian, Zerker.
Preferred Dungeons – Anything involving heavy conditions, or containing many projectile firing enemies. AC, TA.
Invaluable asset to AC, and TA because of their condition removals from Absolute Resolution, Purging Flames, and Symbol of Wrath + Whirling Wrath and Wall of Reflection for a reliable reflect.

Elementalist, Zerker/Cele – Stave
Preferred Dungeons – All.
Extreme levels of utility through high damage, heals, condition removals, and conjured weaponry, if not on par with a PSEA warrior, the Stave ele is extremely versatile and desired in all compositions as well.

If I could get some intelligent insight on what classes are optimal for what dungeons, why, and how, I’d be extremely grateful. I currently have a Warrior, Guardian, Ele, and Thief at 80, and effectively geared, I just don’t know when to play what, where.

Isn’t it only a massive nerf if you spec into dragonhunter? The virtue changes only happen if you spec into it

Despite how you feel about the virtue changes these are undoubtedly all buffs.

F1 – Being a source of permaburn means we don’t have to always bring purging flames when running DPS. We can swap it out with that new trap that instantly applies 25% Vulnurability in PVE which will be amazing for DPS. Sure we lose the radial blind effect but if I remember correctly the blind range was only about 230, so basically within hugging range were targets blinded, I’m not sure if the Spear now blinds rather than the subpar radial blind.

F2 – I’m a little with you on this one, if they made it remove conditions and heal on jump for YOU and then ALLIES when you LAND. It’d so much better.

F3 – I’m going to be in full disagreement with you here. Guardians thematically have always been a shield, and yet we were the only class in the game without a channeled block. Now that we have it, I’m absolutely elated. Just like any other class that uses a channeled block. Of course you lose DPS but this is ultimately an up in defense time, and damage mitigation. The only thing I’m wondering is if I can turn while it’s up.

I really loved the idea of tomes and the execution of them were great, however. The impact of tomes was just extremely lackluster.

I really wouldn’t want to gain signets in place of them since the tomes are fairly iconic to the Guardian and we’d be no different from warriors.

While we’re at it can we change the 1H sword animation for Norn Males?
9ft tall giant with a history of incredible skill and power.

> Swings at ankles.

Black Box.9312:

And with the stream today, it is confirmed that guardian will still be the only shield class without a block on their shield.

GG

As disappointing as it sounds, do you have a VOD link? I’d like to personally hear that the dream is dead from them.

Hey! Glad to have another player in the Wastes with us. If you’re not looking to do a hard DPS, offensive role and prefer to roam around —especially with a Comm tag-- try my build I call the Silverwastes Savior!

It’s a great build if you have Cleric Gear, and just want to be more of a hard-support instead of a purely offensive role. The upside is the heals are ridiculously strong, and you can tank virtually everything, due to your durability.

How it Works
Should be fairly self explanatory how it works when you look at the build. This is a front-liner medic made to combat all disasters alike in SW. With over 2,000 healing power, in tandem with Toughness as a secondary stat. Your durability and utility go through the roof. I DON’T USE NOMAD’S because of 1 reason. No power, this build still uses auto-attacks on your mace.

I’m not stacked right now but let’s deal numbers. I have about 1,650 healing power, without Signet of Mercy, and without Stacked Life from my Stave.

Healing Breeze has a 0.2 Ratio of healing power per pulse, there are 5 pulses. That’s roughly 1600 × 5 pulses of healing over 4 allies, or 32,000 healing

Hold the Line’s regeneration boon gives over 2350 healing over 7.25 seconds over 5 allies, or 11,750 healing over 7.25 seconds on 5 allies

Symbol of Faith, and Symbol of Swiftness with Writ of the Merciful heals per pulse.
Symbol of Faith Heals, 1,682 over 5.25 seconds, on 5 targets while Mace is active, PLUS 231 per pulse(4 pulses +1 upon imprinting) meaning, 2,837 healing is done over 5.25 seconds on 1 target, on an extremely low CD ability on mace 2.
Symbol of Swiftness heals for 212 per pulse with 5 pulses, on 5 targets.

Virtue of Resolve, in this build becomes a nuclear heal with an extremely powerful regen buff, or an endless source of outstanding regen.
With a value of 2,863, and a Regen of 2,018 over 6 seconds This becomes a heal of over 24,405 over 6 seconds on 5 targets, plus 3 conditions removed! . On a freaking, Virtue that is RESETTABLE, this is simply INSANE.

In tandem, Detonate Orb of Light(1,600) and Detonate Shield of Absorption(1,600) , with Virtue of Resolve(2,863) can be a nasty combination burst heal*(6,063 Heal)* that can save lives in the crucial moments, and can be done almost in under a second if done properly.

These abilities don’t even include Life healing stacks from your stave, or account for healing on swap to Mace&Shield, and the proc of Superior Sigil of Water on Shield, OR your dodge rolls which heal for 1800 on 5 targets, with no CD. This is just stupidly insane how much healing comes out of this build.

Substitute Runes
Superior Rune of the Trooper -> Superior Rune of Mercy

Personally I’d never choose to take off Trooper because 2 condi removal per shout off 5 people is so invaluable in SW, which endlessly annoys its players with bleeds, cripples, and poisons upon poisons, but if you find yourself on a tight budget, go for Mercy Runes. As a front line healer, the Mercy runes will keep you alive when you pick up downed allies.

For your utilities, swap out;

Stand Your Ground! -> Retreat!
When you need to need to double swiftness stack to get somewhere when you don’t have your trusty Speed Stick(Stave sigil slotted with Superior Sigil of Speed!), stacked on creeps.

Save Yourselves! -> Signet of Mercy
When you don’t need the extra stunbreak / condi-removal. This is an excellent signet used to pick up dead Fortress Commanders, just be careful how you aim it! It’s a long CD that could save a fort from being overthrown!

Save Yourselves! -> Wall of Reflect
When you’re up against Mordrem Champion Thrasher at the VW event! Don’t forget to change your Virtue Adept trait to “Master of Concecrations”!

For Food, it’s not listed on the Build but use;
This!
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Delicious_Rice_Ball[
Not only is this easily the best healing food in the game, it’s the cheapest and the most potent all in one!

If you feel like being a jerk and just wanna stack regen, use Mango Pie instead!

Also, about the rice balls. It lists OUTGOING Healing increased by 10%, but it still affects ALL HEALING in general, regen included. I’ve tested it myself and I’ve seen my rolls which are supposed to heal for 1,779, heal for 1,886! So all my values I listed in here basically get increased by an additional 10%, and this was all done WITHOUT Stacked Life buffs, or Signet of Mercy!

I hope you give my build a shot!

I have always been a paladin at heart and Guardians originally to me were the closest thing. I’ve never regretted making my Guardian but I’ve had my faults where there were just some issues with the Guardian’s Theme when it came to viability. In this game where Zerker’s reign supreme, there’s no place for my Cleric Guardian build, except for Silverwastes!

Guardians to me have basically been more “self-less” warriors. I do have a warrior at 80 that I use for dungeon runs simply because he does more damage, Phalanx Strength is too good to not have for parties, in tandem with banners and simply higher overall DPS. Because even in full zerker, warriors simply don’t die anywhere near as fast as a guardian in dungeons and high-scale fractals.

But my guardian in silverwastes has always been an asset to VW and simply roaming. With 2k healing power, and Trooper Runes, I always think of myself as the “Silverwastes Savior”, and it’s always tons of fun to get invited to parties to assault overrun keeps.

Arcaedus.7290:

I had this thought in the shower the other day: What if we switched focus and shield #5s?

Shield #5: Gives a shield which blocks 4 attacks. If the shield is not broken after 3 seconds, it explodes, healing yourself and nearby allies for 1700(0.9). Blast finisher.
Add a 1/2 second daze to shield #4.

Focus #5: (it would now look or feel pretty similar to the miracle’ Wrath of the Gods’ from Dark souls) create a bubble (radius is close to that of a symbol’s) that absorbs incoming projectiles, pushes back, and damages foes for 3 seconds. Detonate the bubble earlier to give yourself and nearby allies retaliation. (not a blast finisher either way).

This would maintain focus as an offensive weapon, while actually allowing shield to BLOCK ATTACKS like it should. I’m all about having unique weapon skills for a weapon based on what class is using it, but as it is right now, shield seems way too un-shield like.

Well the biggest issue with shield is that it currently blocks nothing.

To add insult to injury, the “4 Second” duration on the dome effect lasts about 1.5 seconds.

Thematically the shield I can understand when they try to tie it in with the Guardian theme, but the issue is that there’s no consistency within it.

The biggest thing I want to refrain from is taking what the Focus has and just slapping it on the shield. I’m doing this to protect those who enjoy the focus and who’ve farmed their legendary to decorate their love of the focus on guardians.

I can understand how that would make sense on a shield, but having a shield and not having a true block channel is kinda silly to me.

LeftyGamer.8096:

you must be new around there, thats not a bug you can do that with pretty much every skill, and no its not immuned to melee

That doesn’t justify it regardless. in Foefire Engineers can place the rocket turret in air and make it completely impossible for melee classes to get to it.. The fact you cannot melee it with abilities and are limited to sheer white swings is absolutely stupid. Especially when you have to jump and do it or just try to ignore it.

For Guardians I have always believed the Shield is the more iconistic and ideal weapon for them, and yet, the current variation of shield makes it easily the worst weapon, with the worst weapon skill set in the game regarding the number of practical uses. I pray with the microcosm that ANET will at the very least consider reworking shields on Guardians let alone consider my ideas. So here goes;

4 – Light of the Radiant

• This ability is now a type of radial blind with a decent radius that works as a blast finisher. This would use the shield 4’s old base damage. This would be the intervene type of skill, with a sword in hand you can blink in, and blind foes, or in zerg groups for PVE use it to activate fire fields, the usage would be the same in sPVP.

5 – Vindicator’s Resolve

• Upon activation you gain a non-removable buff in the name of the skill(similar to shield of wrath). You will gain stacks of this buff for the next 3 stacks based on the number of attacks you block from channeling this skill, including aegis buffs, but not from Shelter. After 3 seconds a secondary effect triggers, this has no animation. If you choose to reactivate the skill you trigger a secondary effect with an animation, it will be explained next.
• The first-part of this ability is a 1.5 second block(half-the duration of all other existing blocks in the game) that absorbs instances of damage, with a maximum charge of 10(You may block infinite instances, but the effect only works up to 10). AFTER 3 TOTAL SECONDS, the next effect will register.
• When the time runs out, the more instances you’ve blocked the larger the symbol you drop, which provides a Protection buff, and a light field of 3.5 seconds. This heals for 860(0.20) Immediately, and allies who were standing in the light-symbol as it appeared receives the Guardian’s Virtue of Resolve passive effect for 4 seconds.

The theory behind this skill is that you use this before using your 4 ability, allowing your nearby allies to benefit from retaliation from your blasted light field.

5 – Second Activation – Justicar’s Fury

• If you choose to reactivate the ability before the charge ends, the Guardian blasts all targets in front of the shield backwards, increasing the duration they are knocked down by 0.1 second per (2) charges absorbed. They are also struck with Virtue of Justice’s Active Effect, regardless of whether or not it is on CD. Allies caught in the blast wave gain swiftness. The base swiftness gain will be 6 seconds, 10 stacks would effectively double it’s duration to 12. The shockwave itself does not deal damage. This will use Guardian Shield animation 4.

What do we know about the current shield?

It has an AOE protection buff that is lackluster. The skill itself deals damage, however you must choose between shielding allies or damaging foes, more than often you don’t get both. It has a projectile shield that is ultimately useless in every-way due to it’s duration and CD, and is used 99% of the time for a knockback / heal.

So what did I do in my variation?

For one, I put an ACTUAL block skill into the rotation, so “Defender’s Flame” trait has even more usage outside of using Shelter. Secondly, Honorable shield will now be a more desirable trait for more reliable CC outside of the hammer’s 10-year long wind-up on banish. Allowing bunker shield builds to actually be a bit more viable in sPVP in conjunction of a hammer.

Moving On-
I reworked 4 into a damage tool that provides an AOE blind on a small radius and a blast finisher. This VS the idea of the current shield 4 makes it so that you don’t enter a fight, turn around to apply protection on your allies and have a CD wasted. Guardians often are in the heart of the fight, so this is another way of protecting your allies. By mitigating a strike through blind, and in a light/water field you provide a blast finisher providing retaliation / healing to allies. You can enter a fight with a GS, finish your rotation, drop Symbol of Wrath, swap to Sword&Board and Blast the area for AOE retaliation.

I reworked 5 in a fashion that has actual usage VS it’s old variation. You have a block, that turns into a protection symbol that doubles as a light-field and a minor heal, you also have the option of using your charges into a form of AOE knockback/ micro-stun that grants a swiftness buff, and ignites your enemies.

But most importantly, the shield 5 skill, TIES INTO the CLASS ABILITIES of the Guardian. Something I wish ANET did a bit more with Guardians in general was if Guardian class abilities tied into their kits more.

I hope you guys enjoyed my idea of the shield. All feedback is welcome, both good and bad!

creepmatic.9435:

So by instances I presume attacks blocked in that 1,5 frame? And the effect that you are talking about with the symbol it’s a passive effect that procs after you begun blocking those attacks after 3seconds? Making it more stronger with the more attacks you blocked?

I can see why it gets confusing but for this first part, after 3 seconds total the Symbol will drop, including the blocking time. So 1.5 seconds of block, then 1.5 seconds later the symbol will drop. This is more for the having a longer window for you to choose whether or not you want to activate for the secondary effect, 1.5 seconds isn’t a lot of time to choose between knocking back enemies and setting them ablaze, or letting the Protection Symbol Drop, I hope this clears this up! :]

Most importantly, there is no animation to this! It just happens!

creepmatic.9435:

Now for the second part, this seems a little bit weird.

“If you choose to reactivate the ability before the charge ends”
When does the charge end? Does it work like an engineer shield second function?

“the Guardian blasts all targets in front of the shield backwards, increasing the duration they are knocked down by 0.1 second per (2) charges absorbed”

You mean like moving them physically behind the guardian like a CC similar to Mesmer focus 4 or just a AoE knockdown?

Sorry if I misunderstood, I don’t main English

How this works is, my 5 ability will grant a buff similar to Shield of Wrath(Guardian Focus 5 Ability), to register as the “charge”. So what happens is, when you activate Vindicator’s Resolve you will receive a 1.5 second channeling bar for your block, but also receive a buff that gains stacks as you block. I’ll edit it into my post, but the “Charge” will be that buff. If you activate the 5 skill again while having that Vindicator’s Resolve buff, you’ll activate Justicar’s Fury!

Now Justicar’s Fury is something I’d really love to see implemented. It functions similar to the Mesmer’s Greatsword blastback skill, but deals no damage other than the ignite effect from Virtue of Justice. Basically it knocks enemies on their butts and nudges them back. It’ll have the similar range of knock back of the previous 5 ability with a little twist added to it, foes are set ablaze, and if you have stacks it becomes a micro stun, something I’d love guardians to have in sPVP to gain more point control.

creepmatic.9435:

Overall I like the idea of 5 also, the selling spot being that it can actually block and has a secondary function buit into it.

I’m glad you like it! If you still have any clarity issues please ask away! I’ll edit my main post accordingly.

I’m a little sad to say I find the Guardian shield easily the weakest of weapons in the entire game, with very little practical use, which brought me to the idea of overhauling it. I don’t think many guardians are akin to the idea of having a shield not block anything, and provide so little to the group. A shield is not a focus, and in it’s current state it may as well be. I just hope in some way ANET somehow realizes this.

Although I appreciate the idea of a guardian with a shield is supposed to be a protector, the idea of using a shield and not blocking anything is just ludicrous to me.

I’d rather they scrap and overhaul shield in order to actually obtain the theme of a shield, such as physically blocking instances of damage, and providing some type of defensive buff to allies.

ANET needs to put their foot down with shields, is it an offensive tool or defensive?

Focus ultimately is a defensive tool that provides defenses through blinds, a bouncing heal and a shield that blocks instances of damage.

Torch is an offensive tool with both AOE Immolate effect + a Nuke throw on a relatively decent CD.

I would love it if the shield became a hybrid of the type, but provided some utility through some type of finisher / field effect. For instance, I have 2 particular variations of shield I would like to see implemented, offensively oriented, or defensively oriented
but I’ll just list my defensive variation to keep it from taking up the entire page.

Defensive Theme

4 – Light of the Radiant

• This ability is now a type of radial blind with a decent radius that works as a blast finisher. This would use the shield 4’s old base damage. This would be the intervene type of skill, with a sword in hand you can blink in, and blind foes, or in zerg groups for PVE use it to activate fire fields, the usage would be the same in sPVP.

5 – Vindicator’s Resolve

• The first-part of this ability is a 1.5 second block(half-the duration of all other existing blocks in the game) that absorbs instances of damage, with a maximum charge of 10(You may block infinite instances, but the effect only works up to 10). AFTER 3 SECONDS, the next effect will register.
• When the time runs out, the more instances you’ve blocked the larger the symbol you drop, which provides a Protection buff, and a light field of 3.5 seconds. This heals for 860(0.20) Immediately, and allies who were standing in the light-symbol as it appeared receives the Guardian’s Virtue of Resolve passive effect for 4 seconds.

The theory behind this skill is that you use this before using your 4 ability, allowing your nearby allies to benefit from retaliation. from your light field.

5 – Second Activation – Justicar’s Fury

• If you choose to reactivate the ability before the charge ends, the Guardian blasts all targets in front of the shield backwards, increasing the duration they are knocked down by 0.1 second per (2) charges absorbed. They are also struck with Virtue of Justice’s Active Effect, regardless of whether or not it is on CD. Allies caught in the blast wave gain swiftness. The base swiftness gain will be 6 seconds, 10 stacks would effectively double it’s duration to 12. The shockwave itself does not deal damage.

What do we know about the current shield?

It has an AOE protection buff that is lackluster. The skill itself deals damage, however you must choose between shielding allies or damaging foes, more than often you don’t get both. It has a projectile shield that is ultimately useless in every-way due to it’s duration and CD, and is used 99% of the time for a knockback / heal.

So what did I do in my variation?

For one, I put an ACTUAL block skill into the rotation, so “Defender’s Flame” trait has even more usage outside of using Shelter.
This is one of the biggest reasons I hate the current version of shield. Defender’s flame is really worthless outside of using Shelter, this gives you a little more leeway.

I reworked 4 into a damage tool that provides an AOE blind on a small radius and a blast finisher. This VS the idea of the current shield 4 makes it so that you don’t enter a fight, turn around to apply protection on your allies and have a CD wasted. Guardians often are in the heart of the fight, so this is another way of protecting allies. By mitigating a strike through blind, and in a light/water field you provide a blast finisher providing retaliation / healing to allies. You can enter a fight with a GS, finish your rotation, drop Symbol of Wrath, swap to Sword&Board and Blast the area for AOE retaliation.

I reworked 5 in a fashion that has actual usage VS it’s old variation. You have a block, that turns into a protection symbol that doubles as a light-field and a minor heal, you also have the option of using your charges into a form of AOE knockback/ micro-stun that grants a swiftness buff, and ignites your enemies.

But most importantly, the shield 5 skill, TIES INTO the CLASS ABILITIES of the Guardian. Something I wish ANET did a bit more with Guardians in general was if Guardian class abilities tied into their kits more.

But of course it’s just a dream of mine shield gets reworked the way I’d want it to.

What’s your current build? I’ve been running both MediGS and MediHammer Builds in sPVP and have had extreme success. I do agree that the zeal tree really needs work. It feels fairly limited in general and lacks any real usage outside the Zealous Blade trait and Fiery Wrath. There’s literally no good alternatives to them and the T3 Major Trait is just utter garbage.