Guild Wars 2

Water elementalists aren’t even that good at healing outside of WvW, and in PvP they’re better at bunkering than supporting their allies. I don’t want to wait 2-3 years for the next expansion to be able to use Tomes again.

ronpierce.2760:

Fashion Mage.3712:

Quite frankly, if this change goes through for Tome of Courage, I’m not playing this game anymore. Tome of Courage was fine the way it was and offered a very powerful backline support spell that rewarded good foresight and skill.

Blackmail, classy. Peace.

He said they will likely come back in the future. If I had to guess, as kits or Conjures.

It’s not blackmail, it’s my favourite skill in the game that is also the closest thing to playing my favourite profession from guild wars 1. It’s bad enough that this game doesn’t have monks, now this happens too? If ANet isn’t interested in supporting a selfless healer playstyle, then I’m not interested in playing Guild Wars 2. Just a personal thing really, and I doubt ANet cares that one less person is playing their game, but some respect to people who like monks would be nice.

Either way, these new skills are just simplified and watered down, plain and simple. Tomes are far more complex and interesting, but of course people always just wanna bash their faces on their keyboards to get results.

Quite frankly, if this change goes through for Tome of Courage, I’m not playing this game anymore. Tome of Courage was fine the way it was and offered a very powerful backline support spell that rewarded good foresight and skill, now it’s being dumbed down super hard into some lame signet. It was also the closest thing to being a monk in this game, and I’m tired of healing being kitten over in this game. Again, if this change goes through, I’m leaving this game and never coming back. I don’t see why Tome of Courage can’t stay in addition to Signet of Courage anyway, but I know that isn’t going to happen.

The devs seem to have mentioned that they think that protection GM is redundant (it kind of is, on top of not being good enough for a GM) and is likely to get changed or replaced. I’m not expecting much, but I’m hoping that trait gets replaced with a trait that changes the bow’s skills to the supportive variations from the leaked skillset. I think it’s nonsense that the bow favors offensive guardians almost exclusively.

Vizardlorde.8243:

Fashion Mage.3712:

So how exactly is this “backline support”? Mostly just looks like dps to me.

Vigor, Protection, Vulnerability, AOE BLOCK ( oh god now I know how will be taking SM) , Trap that pulls enemies into a neat little pile slows them and keeps them in place for 4 seconds. Pretty supportive just not as defensive as some people wanted (which I love btw)
I can safely say that bow will not be my main weapon but It will see some use in pvp and wvw. The traits on the other hand seem great, I might drop virtues or radiance from my build to use it.

Fashion Mage.3712:

So how exactly is this “backline support”? Mostly just looks like dps to me.

That protection trait is 240 radius (ie. extremely small), traps don’t offer anything supportive, new virtues are more close-ranged than ever minus the spear, and I don’t consider control to be support, I consider it to be control. A guardian with a staff, consecrations, and a tome could be considered “backline support”, this isn’t.
Only about like 10% of those traits are supportive as well. The longbow supports with vigor and that’s about it (no healing, no protection, no aegis), and the supportive aspects on it generally look very underwhelming compared to its damage capabilities. To me, Deflecting shot -for example- looks impractical at best, at least when using it to protect allies. This longbow basically takes the leak, completely removes the support stance, and then you just have the dps stance.
Honestly I don’t really know what the spec is trying to be. It encourages you to go into close range to support (even more so than a normal guardian), but it also encourages you to stay back in order to boost your dps.

To me, a normal guardian is looking more like “backline support” right now simply because Virtues don’t lose their 1200 radii.

So how exactly is this “backline support”? Mostly just looks like dps to me.

Nike.2631:

New Weapon: The bow – one of the greatest, most iconic hunting tools in the history of the human race

New Skill category: Traps – one of the most essential hunting tools in the history of the human race.

The Enemy: Elder Dragons – the ultimate peril of the world of Tyria. If we do not strive against them with our every breath, all will die.

New Profession: The Dragon Hunter – “I take the tools of the hunter and turn them against the foes that must be fought. For the good of all.”

The name wasn’t picked out of a hat… Its a graceful bit of shorthand both summing up and evoking many elements the profession encompasses.

Longbows are more well known for their military use, not hunting (if they’re ever used for hunting). Additionally, the guardian’s longbow seems pretty supportive.

How exactly does the focus in light magic and the angelic imagery tie in with “Dragonhunter”?

By your logic, why aren’t rangers also called Dragonhunters?

Elemental Attunement definitely changes the way you play, even if you haven’t outright noticed it (probably because you’ve always used it). I’d say it’s pretty build-defining, as such it fits a grandmaster trait.

It doesn’t even add shouts, and it’s a backline thing, doesn’t seem very paragon-ish to me. The name really could be better though.

Knighthonor.4061:

I would like 3 stances.

1 offensive stance
1 support healing stance
1 defensive tanking stance with Taunt skills like Staff Revenant

While that does fit thematically with virtues, I don’t really think a tanking stance would fit even a little bit on the longbow (range and tanking don’t really go together). I’m assuming the idea behind the longbow and those two stances is that it allows guardians to deal damage, heal allies, and generally support from a long-range via a weapon. No other weapon really allows this on guardians, and currently there’s no real pure ranged support weapon in the game (the closest thing is the water attunement on the ele’s staff). The scepter only kind of~ let’s you deal damage at range, and the staff only kind of~ let’s you support at range.

The changes I wanted to see are something like letting the healing arrows have AoE or bounce rather than just the piercing that only fits the offensive stance’s arrows.

Knighthonor.4061:

Guardian: Longbow: They are trying to put a “stance” on it, and it will change the way your skills work based on which stance you’re in. Here are the skills:

1. Puncture Shot (DPS Stance): Fire an arrow which pierces enemies, damaging them and causing vulnerability.
1. Puncture Shot (Support Stance): Fire an arrow which pierces enemies. When the arrow passes through an ally it will heal them for a small amount.
2. Light Arrow (DPS Stance): Charge up energy, creating a powerful attack which pierces through enemies.
2. Light Arrow (Support Stance): Charge up energy coating your arrow with light, causing it to heal allies which it passes through.
3. Symbol of Battle (DPS Stance): Fire a slow arcing arrow which explodes on impact, burning targets and searing a symbol of battle into the ground.
3. Symbol of Battle (Support Stance): Fire a slow arcing arrow which explodes on impact, healing allies and searing a symbol of energy into the ground.
4. Protector’s Chain (DPS Stance): Fire an arrow attached with a chain of light. The chain will attach itself to the target, pulling in and crippling other nearby enemies.
4. Protector’s Chain (Support Stance): Fire an arrow attached with a chain of light. The chain will attach itself to the target, knocking back and crippling other nearby enemies.
5. Zealot’s Retribution Stance: Zealot’s Retribution Stance changes your weapon skills to damage and debuff enemies.
5. Protector’s Light Stance: Your longbow skills focus on supporting and aiding allies.

there

^That. Perhaps with a few slight changes.

If the leak is to be followed, the stance change will almost certainly just be on skill #5 of the longbow (as Vizard said).

Derenek.8931:

Hopefully the Guardian bow will be party support and not DPS. Imagine long range AoE healing arrows. Or blinding arrows. Or arrows that lay down protective fields. That would be much cooler than just rehashing the thief, ranger, and warrior bow skills.

I hope for the same. I’d really rather it not be some warrior/ranger wannabe bow.
Fortunately, assuming the bow is reminiscent of the leaked one, it’ll have a stance mechanic that switches between dps/offensive-support and healing/defensive-support.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Guardian already has support flying out their butt.

Spec’s are supposed to add something new & what the class desperately lacks is

1: CC
2: Ranged damage potential
3: Conditions

If they want to toss some ranged support on fine, but it really needs those 3 things

If their support is so great, why is their meta build generally selfish? :p

I don’t believe guardians need any of those things (especially not conditions), but the ability to do things at a range sounds very fun. As such, I hope it allows one to support from a long range as well as deal damage from a long range.
Personally, I also hope it lets me further give up selfish defense for more support. I couldn’t care less about being tanky.

Monk, or Paragon. Hoping for Monk though. :>

PistolWhip.2697:

Knighthonor.4061:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2z12rc/longbow_guardian_specalization_confirmed/
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2z1sxy/guardian_using_a_longbow_in_desert_borderlands
https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/status/595256909587951616

All of that is speculation because the bow looks large. Which again is trivial because the skin itself is large. My thief can use Aether, does that mean he is using a Longbow now?

It’s not just baseless speculation. In the desert borderlands video, there is a guardian using a very large bow that isn’t aether/azureflame.

Derenek.8931:

They honestly should be meditations. They have a similarly long casting time and reading seems like a meditative action where you are contemplating what is being read.

Meditations have a long casting time? XD
No offense, but tomes and meditations have nothing in common. Meditations are instant-cast, selfish abilities (except MI) that often close gaps. Tomes are transformations that have a long-ish cast time, they’re long-ranged, very supportive, and their most powerful abilities also have large cast times.

Also, it’s probably a longbow. The bow seen in the WvW video wielded by a guardian looked rather large.

misterdevious.6482:

Crowd pleaser could also mean Ritualist… a Guardian with 5 immobile spirit pals?

That’s a possibility, although “Ritualist” would probably fit far better as the Revenant’s specialization. Ritualists are to Revenants what Monks are to Guardians.

Mervil.7461:

There’s some good speculating going on hear. I really like the idea of paragon spec, but I agree with some people above that guards aren’t getting more shouts. I think the term “crowd pleaser” is our big hint… As in we’ll be getting more “crowd control”. It’s going to be traps.

“Crowd pleaser” probably either refers to it being supportive, or it refers to it being a specialization that a lot of people will like for other reasons (the return of monks or paragons). A “crowd controller” is kind of the opposite of a “crowd pleaser”.

Argon.1563:

Ive always seen caster characters in games described as “Tempests” to be storm mages (Water+Air/Lightning magic), so maybe its a hint that instead of singular elemental attunements, Tempest will wield combination attunements.

So instead of Fire, Water, Air and Earth, we’ll have:
Storm (Water+Air)
Lava (Fire+Earth)
Sand (Earth + Air)
Steam (Fire+Water)

Or any other elemental combinations people can think of. Smoke(Fire+Air), Mud (Water+Earth). Who knows.

If one follows the same logic used for the extra mechanics added to chronomancers, it would probably be more safe to assume that another attunement or two would be added, or maybe some sort of active ability that is influenced somehow by attunements (somewhat like the chronomancer’s new F5 skill).

In terms of playstyle, I also hope the guardian’s elite specialization is something like a guardian/ele. Not that I think F1-F3 virtues will be changing (how would that even work with base specialization traits?).

Buran.3796:

The specialization should be nothing short of A M A Z I N G to make me ever think to move away from meditations. And by “amazing” I mean “offensively”. I would not play a tank build, even if provides 50k HP.

It probably won’t be “amazing” in the sense that you’re implying, considering that the purpose of elite specializations aren’t to provide an upgrade or a strictly better “alternative” to an existing build. Additionally, considering that meditation guardians are the meta at the moment, I don’t think they should get an upgrade anyway.
If you’re simply referring to being able to specialize in offense alone, you can mostly already do so with the new zeal/radiance/valor lines. As a trade-off, one of those lines could be given up to get a longbow. So you’d essentially be giving away damage (zeal/radiance) or survivability (valor/meditations) in order to gain range and whatever else comes with the spec. Again, it’s not an upgrade, but specializations aren’t supposed to be an upgrade.

There’s also more reason to believe the spec will be be there to better specialize in support and/or control in this interview (third question): http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/9624/Guild-Wars-2-Specializations-Define-Roles-in-Heart-of-Thorns.html

Black Box.9312:

The current guardian meta is an offensive build because defensive guardian builds have been consistently nerfed for being “too strong”. I’d be all for something offensive with CC, because it’s way too easy to kite a medi guard.

When was the last time bunker guardian builds got a nerf?
Meditation guardians are easy to kite?

Knighthonor.4061:

I had a speculation thrown my way:

Guardian (Long Bow) = Guardian/Elementalist – Attunement mechanics mixed with virtues. Virtues change the effect of weapon skills and utilities.

Thoughts?

I’d say it’s a lot more likely that if there is an attunement type thing given to guardians, it’d be a toggleable F4 ability while old virtues remain the same. Maybe something like Life Attunement? Activate it to increase outgoing healing to allies by a percentage, but decrease your own damage by a percentage. If they really are mixing up different mechanics from professions, it’d fit as well. It’d also fit with the theme behind the leaked longbow skills (ie. a duality between defensive support/healing and offensive support/damage).

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Guardians already have support coming out the butt.

I really hope the new spec will be decently offensive with some good CC.

Otherwise they are just giving the guardian more of what it already has.

Considering that the current guardian meta is a fairly selfish meditation build, I disagree. The specialization should be supportive, but offer a different kind of support than what shouts do (the longbow is a good start already).

I think that’d be best. There would be more variety in terms of skill types for elites that way, and each of those skill types also fit within the functionality of those skills. Spirit Weapons and Consecrations are both long-ranged just like the tomes, and they are both skills which result in persistent effects that can be used while tomes are out.

Tome of Wrath could also fit consecrations, but I think either skill type is fine for ToW. Tome of Courage should just be a consecration though; no other skill type comes close to fitting it as much as consecrations do (thematically and functionally).
The extra duration from the consecration trait would likely effect Tome duration rather than boon duration (they are completely different things after all), if it was the latter it’d only affect Pacifism and Protective Spirit anyway.

If the specialization is “Monk”, the new skill type would probably be “prayers” (possibly “tomes”?). If the specialization is “Paragon”, the specialization’s skill type would probably just be “shouts”. Both monks and paragons fit the description of “crowd pleasers”. However, I don’t see any need for a profession to have 10 shouts (11 if healing breeze becomes a shout). I wouldn’t be surprised if necros are getting the 6 shouts with their spec.

Judging by the leaked longbow skills (which are old), the theme behind the guardian’s specialization seems to be some sort of duality between (power-based) damage and healing.

On the Chronomancer? I mean “Chronophantasm” and “Continuum Shift” have to be references. :p

Meh, I think Master of Consecrations should stay where it is unless it gets a major buff. Not just something like getting a bit of might from them, something more like “consecrations become water fields” would merit it being a GM trait (for example).
Making it a GM would also remove the whole “pick your virtue” thing they have going in the virtues line between Permeating Wrath/Battle Presence/Indomitable Courage.

Silhouette.5631:

My biggest issue with torch 5 is that nobody cares about it. Even the new torch trait is basicly giving more love to torch 4, because torch 5 is so highly situational that to buff it would just seem weird. It needs to be given some other functionality besides condi cleanse

It’s situational because of the restrictions placed on it (3 target limit that seems to include both allies and enemies, very low range, and insanely long channel time). 9 conditions cleared is not something to scoff at. Without those unnecessary restrictions, it’d be a great ally-cleansing ability and probably even one of the best supportive abilities in the game. Buffs would definitely make it work.

Another thing they need to change is the target limit. It doesn’t need a rework, but it definitely needs buffs.

For tomes, my vote goes to both of them being consecrations due to their shared highly magical themes, as well as a similar function. In the least, Tome of Courage should be a consecration. Tome of Wrath fits both consecrations and spirit weapons imo.

Healing builds work quite nicely in the Silverwastes. I’ve held forts literally by myself just by healing the warmaster with a staff/Healing Breeze/Tome of Courage/etc, and rezzing him/her with Signet of Mercy.

brannigan.9831:

So how is this ability going to work? If its still channeled cone it will still be semi-worthless. It should be changed to instant with the normal range a shout has.

Honestly, Healing Breeze isn’t even worthless as is. It’s just not used on meta builds, but that’s still a big difference.

As for it being a cone. If people can’t even turn around to aim the skill (if they’re at the front), that’s their problem really. No need to dumb down the skill because people can’t put in a minimal amount of skill/effort to use it.

Artaz.3819:

But with Burning becoming a stacking condition, Quickness becoming a boon affected by Duration, and Elite Focus trait becoming baseline, ToW might actually become a little too good.

If Tome becomes a consecration, does that mean the +20% from new version of Trait affect the boons/durations output as well?

It’s more likely to me that Tomes become Spirit Weapons. Not all ‘weapons’ are purely offensive after all.

The +20% duration would only affect the tome itself. It’s not boon duration, it’s skill duration.

You know, now that quickness scales with boon duration, Tome of Wrath is likely to be a lot stronger just with that.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Consecration skills in gw2 consecrate an area of land, which is what the Consecrate/Desecrate spells did in DND, which is where gw2 got a lot of inspiration from (they’re cleric spells, and guardian was specifically designed with the DND cleric in mind).

Neither heal nor the tomes fit within those constraints, so it’s a bit far to claim them consecrations outright. Also, why would you make both tomes consecrations when you could make one a different skill type to increase the diversity?

Thematically, Heal Area and Conflagrate are a lot like consecrations. Tomes and Consecrations are also both two thematically very magical skills.
Functionally, Tomes and Consecrations essentially do the same thing (as Parktou said). There’s no other trait type which fits Tomes more, and it’s only rational to make two things which play the same way the same skill type. The second closest thing are Spirit Weapons, and even those aren’t exactly a close second in terms of what fits.

Still think HB should be a consecration though. :>

Seems unnecessarily messy to me, and also prevents one from specifically investing in a trait to boost the power of their tomes. Not to mention the skills in tomes don’t match most of the skill types guardians have.
Tomes should be categorized based on what they do. In other words, ranged support (and damage in the case of ToW) over a duration. The only skills which have persistent effects for guardians are consecrations and spirit weapons, and I’d say consecrations suit them more (or at least ToC).

fadeaway.2807:

I just want the tome bugs fixed. Currently however much protection you have when leaving tome form, even if other people applied protection to you or you buffed yourself.. You lose it all.

That already got fixed?

bigbobpataki.4796:

Fashion Mage.3712:

tacticalevilnoodlefox.5694:

I’m so sorry, but because you make logical sense and refute most of the arguments in this thread with said logic you’re going to get completely ignored and they’re not even going to bother reading it let alone trying to reply to it.

My condolences.

The SJW-ish flavour put me off from reading most of it. It being an enormous wall of text also may have had something to do with it.

I don’t want to take sides here but wouldn’t it help your argument if you took the effort to respond to whoever you’re criticizing? A “wall of text” is honestly no excuse.

I’m not arguing anything? I’m just stating why I didn’t read most of it.

tacticalevilnoodlefox.5694:

I’m so sorry, but because you make logical sense and refute most of the arguments in this thread with said logic you’re going to get completely ignored and they’re not even going to bother reading it let alone trying to reply to it.

My condolences.

The SJW-ish flavour put me off from reading most of it. It being an enormous wall of text also may have had something to do with it.

Tomes don’t need to be reworked at all. The most common complaints about tomes is that:
- They’re really fun to use but too short (solved by being consecrations and traited).
- Utilities can’t be used while using them (like every transformation, but it could be changed without a rework regardless).
- They required Elite Focus which clashed with Absolute Resolution in some builds (Elite Focus is now baseline).

Thematically, Tomes aren’t even “spirits” in any sense of the word, they’re items. Tome of Courage isn’t even really a “weapon”.
Functionally, Tomes are transformations with heavy support that often fill a similar role to consecrations (ie. buffing and supporting allies heavily from a range over a duration). Spirit weapons are pets, the best two of which (sword/hammer) offer high burst damage and control from a high range, and the bow and the shield offer decentish sustained healing and unreliable mediocre support respectively. Even one of the developers during the stream noted that Tomes and Spirit Weapons play differently.
Trait-wise, people using Tome of Courage (support guardians) wouldn’t go anywhere near the Zeal line just to get the Spirit Weapon trait. Considering that both tomes are supportive but the kind of support they offer is versatile, making them a Virtues-based skill type (consecrations) would make sense.

It’s likely to be a simple question of whether or not you’d want to tank on point, or if you’d want to support from a distance instead. The price for that range is one of your trait lines. Personally, I’m okay with that considering that I only care about Honor and Virtues. I’d give up as much self-defense as possible as long as I can help my allies more.

Yamsandjams.3267:

I’ve always used healing breeze in my consecration support build, but now if shelter is made a consecration I might use that instead, not sure…

Same, I’ll still stick with Healing Breeze either way though.

Yamsandjams.3267:

I think the only reason people think healing breeze should be grouped with shouts is because the guardian basically blows the… healing stuff, whatever it is, out of their mouth.

Yeah, but that’s a terrible reason. It’s like saying every “breath” skill (Cleansing Flame, Drake’s Breath, Cone of Ice, etc) in the game should become a shout. It’s clearly a magic-based ability anyway (hence why its named after a monk prayer). :p
I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but Monk runes and Force of Will have great importance and synergy with Healing Breeze. However, you won’t have either of those if you’re using a shout build; you’d have Trooper runes and Superior Aria instead. So in the end, Healing Breeze being a shout limits its potential, and the shout classification on it is misplaced in more ways than one.

I don’t think tomes need to be revamped at all. Their concept is good, and they’re also fun to use (a common complaint is that they’re fun to use, but that fun is too short-lived). At most they could just use a few changes.

Considering the magical nature of Healing Breeze, I’d say it makes more sense to be a consecration, and functionally it also fits consecrations ranged supportive nature (not that making it a shout is ridiculous either).
The one thing I really dislike with it being a shout is that in order to decrease its cooldown, one would need to take Superior Aria, which clashes with the new Force of Will, and honestly, taking Force of Will with Healing Breeze seems like a no-brainer to me unless you’re using a full set of shouts. However, someone using shouts wouldn’t be using Monk runes either (they’d be using trooper runes), so it clashes even more. Ultimately, it being a shout will limit its potential and synergies heavily.
tl;dr: Healing allies and shouts ironically don’t mesh well guardians.

I agree that Shelter should remain unassigned, or get a bit of a nerf to some part of it if it does get assigned to a type. I don’t really see why the most popular guardian heal should get a significant buff.

Kanashi.5104:

Tomes

-The devs asked for recommendations on what to do with Tomes.

I think that was more in regards as to what typing the tomes should be given. Consecrations suit them best in my opinion, although spirit weapons could suit Tome of Wrath I suppose.
As for any more changes that concern tomes, I wouldn’t be against them having a 100% up-time, but that’d probably result in their abilities being watered-down pretty heavily. It’s a shame, because a kit-like tome also sounds like fun. It’d be nice if there were utility tomes.

Tarsius.3170:

Jaxom.7310:

tomes to spirit weapons
shelter to consecration
healing breeze is shouting

gg

my vote:
tomes to meditation
shelter to meditation
healing breeze to meditation

;)

Shelter being a meditation would probably suit it best, even though the skill is already good enough as is and probably doesn’t need a typing. :p

Tomes should be consecrations imo, since tomes don’t play much like Spirit Weapon do. At the very least ToC should be a consecration, and maybe ToW could be a spirit weapon. Consecrations = ranged support = Tome of Courage (and possibly Tome of Wrath), and Spirit Weapons = “ranged” damage (with a bit of support) = Tome of Wrath.

Eolirin.1830:

Making Tomes into Consecrations means that taking the Consecration trait would have to increase the duration you kept the Tome up by 20% or it’d become confusing. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’d certainly need to be balanced against.

At most they’d need to up the cooldown on Light of Deliverance and Judgment by 6 more seconds, even then I don’t think that’s necessary. Many other skills are gaining a type as well, so balancing tomes based on old skills wouldn’t make much sense imo.

Exedore.6320:

• Consecration Trait: Bonus endurance regeneration when in a consecration. Make me want to stay in it and not die horribly for it. Also, suggest not doing the ground-targeting at all – IMO guardian should be close support, not backline.

I don’t think the class should be so linear in that regard. Guardians’ supportive abilities should’ve never been restricted by range (and for the most part, they aren’t) considering that support is supposed to be their primary strength. Either way there are already tons of options for close-range support, and I think consecrations should stay as something different.
Consecrations being ground-targeted is a very important trait if one wants to help their allies with them, especially Sanctuary. It’s also pretty much a straight buff, unless you think taking the small amount of effort to place it down is a “nerf”.

Exedore.6320:

I’m worried most about Honor. Even in ANet’s version, it feels like left-overs being carried by Vigorous Precision, Selfless Daring, and Pure of Voice.

Resolute Healer/Protective Reviver isn’t a bad trait (at least not in PvP), nor is invigorating Bulwark, nor is Honorable Staff. The grandmasters in Honor are also some of the best that guardians will have. Protector’s impact should be scrapped entirely, and some skills like Pure of Heart, and Empowering Might need improvements (or just be replaced), but the overall trait line is by no means “bad”.

Arken.3725:

I don’t think Battle Presence is strong enough to compete with PoV, not even close.

Power of the Virtuous is a minor trait? Or if you’re talking about Pure of Voice, there’s not much “competition” there since that’s in a completely different specialization.

I think it’s worth mentioning that Shattered Aegis’ damage got buffed. They never said how much it got buffed in the stream though.

I think Battle Presence is a nice grandmaster, although I think its range should get buffed to 1200.