However saying that it’s uninteresting isn’t right, to me at least.
You don’t see how a trait that gives a flat 300 vitality is uninteresting? Your interest must be easy to pique I guess, either that or you just have low expectations.
Yes we are spoiled. Guardians have hardly been hit by the nerf hammer as severely as other classes have. Off the top of my head, outside of the vigor nerfs, I don’t recall anything being as drastically nerfed as some of the nerfs to the Elementalist and Necromancer.
Now, does this mean we’re always given the new, and shiny, toys all the time? No, because we honestly don’t need them. Outside of a needed overhaul to Spirit Weapons and Symbol traits, I don’t really see anything that guardian needs to be done to them.
There are quite a few of the guardian’s utilities that remain virtually unused. Bow of Truth (even for a spirit weapon), Signet of Mercy, and Merciful Intervention are the ones that come to mind for me off the top of my head. What’s funny is that these skills are good in concept, it’s just that there are a few basic issues plaguing each of them that make them very bad options. Which leads me to my next point: I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m not asking for buffs to parts of the class that are already strong. I’m asking for buffs to the parts of the guardian that are unused (or used very little) because the devs have completely neglected them since beta.
Also that conceded, and very uncalled for, insult to someone who may not even have English as their first language.
GG mate!
When I’m incorrectly criticized and called out for having an opinion that someone might not agree with, then yes, I’ll insult him (even if it was only light flaming anyway). So yeah, GG. Thanks for saying so.
This isn’t the first time he’s said “Anyone who disagrees with my opinion clearly hasn’t done x or y” either, and quite frankly I find it to be quite annoying. Not to mention that he just called numerous users here “whiners” (for disagreeing with his opinion of course) and “spoiled”.
The focus of the topic was the new grandmaster trait in the honor line. It may have been incorrect of me to assume as much, but it certainly wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.
Again, those whiners assume Guardian only have ONE build…
Not every Guardian that goes honer will always bring shouts….
I use a support build, and I don’t even use shouts (I use consecrations). I still think this new trait is dull, uninteresting, and highly inappropriate for honor.
Seriously Guardian folks, you’re being spoiled for way too long…
I even saw someone saying Rangers’ new trash Grandmaster is better… That “someone” clearly never play any class other than Guardian at all.
Yeah, “spoiled” with all those skill description fixes you mean. Clearly that “someone” isn’t allowed to have an opinion. Fyi I play an elementalist regularly as well, and I’ve also dabbled around with necromancers (not that I liked them). You shouldn’t jump to wild, ignorant conclusions like that.
All those virtue effects also benefit yourself, but as with honor their primary usage is in support. Not to mention you ironically mentioned more pure-support traits than survivability in honor, and -fyi- increasing the survivability of your allies is still support.
Saying honor is more about survivability is like saying healers in mmorpgs are more about survivability than support because they can heal themselves.
Cast time for hammer’s symbol of protection reduced. I always felt like the guardians hammer abilities were too slow. This way a guardian can constantly apply protection for more survivability.
If any weapon is gonna get an upgrade in honor, it’d be the staff or the mace.
Completely agree. Who’s bright idea was it to put a selfish trait like that in a supportive line anyway? The only guardians who would want this are damage-centric ones, and why would they ever go near honor?
I’m so jealous at what the elementalists are getting, that totally should’ve been on the Guardian. Heck, I’m even a little jealous at what the rangers are getting.
Not to mention this trait is just boring and unimaginative. I couldn’t come up with a more boring trait if I tried. I doubt ANet will change anything about it despite all the complaints.
Um maybe on a guardian the ele trait might be ok. As for on the ele its absolute trash. Ele has no armor/health to stick near allies in spvp or wvw. Staff only has 2 heals which don’t heal for jack squat they are strictly used for others to blast heal themselves. DD ele has one heal on a long cooldown. Combining it with evasive arcana might be the only use the triat could possible have 10 second cooldown dodge small heal. Which will only make the heal ever so slightly stronger. Plus NONE of the healing effects the ele at all. IMO tied for thief as worst new trait announced. I would love to trade ya 3k more health on my ele would be nice.
I agree. They should swap the two traits, but I think we all know that’ll never happen. The dev team doesn’t tend to act upon good suggestions. :p
I think that trait would only be good for eles if it also reduced the cooldown on healing abilities (not #6) so that you could reliably stay in water attunement and just spam healing spells. The dev team seem to think that eles are the best supportive healers in this game, but I’m pretty sure that title goes to guardians since eles are forced to switch attunements to be useful. But hey, maybe they have something else planned for eles.
I am very curious about the other grandmaster traits though, especially Valor. It has to be good enough to give up AH or MF, since that is the life blood of many WvW/PvP builds. It also might make 30 into Valor viable for PvE.
I wouldn’t count on that… and yes I am being a negative nancy lol.
If I had to guess, it will be following a similar pattern as force of will in honor. The trait was made to give guardian options that focused on self more than allies. So valor may get a trait that focuses on allies more than self.
Which is pretty stupid in my opinion, because guardians that want to focus on helping allies would go into the line specifically made for guardians that want to focus on helping allies, and the same goes for valor. Supportive traits should go into the support line, and tanky traits should go into the tank line. I would think this to be common sense.
So the class that focuses a lot of its power on healing is one of the few that doesn’t get a healing grandmaster trait, and instead gets a tank’s trait in the supportive line.
Completely agree. Who’s bright idea was it to put a selfish trait like that in a supportive line anyway? The only guardians who would want this are damage-centric ones, and why would they ever go near honor?
I’m so jealous at what the elementalists are getting, that totally should’ve been on the Guardian. Heck, I’m even a little jealous at what the rangers are getting.
Not to mention this trait is just boring and unimaginative. I couldn’t come up with a more boring trait if I tried. I doubt ANet will change anything about it despite all the complaints.
It’s hard but not impossible. I’ve been trying to make my guardian look like a mage (or perhaps more like a GW1 monk?). It’s a work in progress but so far I think it looks pretty good for something mage-y. Still trying to figure out which boots, and gloves (if any) would look nice on her.
A. Lower Tome elite cooldowns.
B. Tome utility skills and traits to match.
C. Lower cooldown on staff’s Orb of Light detonation, and/or a longer range on Wave of Wrath.
You’re making a mage guardian and your elite is neither Tome of Courage nor Tome of Wrath? >_>;
The tome elites are arguably the most mage-like in the whole game.
I think the biggest issues with it at the moment are the facts that:
1. The heal doesn’t scale with healing power. So it doesn’t really have a place in healing builds.
2. The AoE active is not targetable, so not only is it restricted to close-ranged situations, it isn’t very flexible when someone needs that healing who’s far away from you, and it can also force you into uncomfortable positions just to make sure the AoE is on the right spot.
3. Since the bow is entirely a defensive ability, it doesn’t get affected by a lot of the spirit weapon traits, so it doesn’t fit in spirit weapon builds either.
Personally 1 and 2 are the biggest issues for me.
I really like the idea behind the skill and the potential to what it could be, but I just think that ArenaNet did a really, really bad job at the execution for the ability.
Pretty sure Tome of Courage is far more useful than Renewed Focus when timed right, although admittedly it’s a lot harder to use, but I think it’s reasonable considering its 5 skill is a group full heal. Idk about Tome of Wrath since I don’t tend to use it.
I’d really love utlity versions of the tomes though, that’d be really fun and a great way to give guardians some better ranged abilities. By having tome utilities and tome elites, they could even open up a whole new set of traits for tomes as well. That’d be so lovely. :>
This is my current tpvp build. Ahh, meant to pick mace, my bad. AH + symbol heals + mace 2 = yum regen. Yea I guess I am getting pretty greedy. I’d rather my team win than constantly being called the best bunker they’ve ever seen while they drop like flies around me. I still think healing power is useless though.
I kind of do not understand why underwater weapons are only underwater…. spear, harpoongun, trident…. they all can be used on land. There would be only different versions of skills.
^This. When the game was in beta I thought “Wow, the trident and spear sure are cool, I hope they let you use them above water”. Alas, they did not.
I’d really like to use Staff/Trident for a full long-ranged squishy support build. That’d be so nice. :>
Making Healing Breeze a consecration could be interesting. That way, close-ranged supportive guardians have a supportive heal, and longer-ranged supportive guardians can trait it for long-range. I’m okay with how it is now too however.
Of course, I think the healing would need to be over a smaller period of time since people would probably dodge out of the consecration area.
he’s talking about PVE where elementalists are king and warriors are buffbots.
Thanks for the clarification. Why is it that PvE is the assumed mode when discussing things here? Or at least, that’s how it is as far as I’m aware of. :p
I like how we got WoP hammer buff, which was like the third biggest direct DPS buff to any profession in this game’s history (first being engineers getting stats on kits, then elementalists getting +1 tick on Lava Font) and people just whine about not getting enough buffs.
Are you implying that elementalists are actually good right now?
A net notice that no one uses healing breeze and decides to buff it, good. Increasing the healing amount is however not what it needs. It is a 5 second channel spell to heal everyone in front of you. For the love of GOD, if you design our class to be primarily melee oriented and staying in the front, then make the heal AoE around us, that is what it needs.
If one is playing a heavily supportive guardian, mid-range and long-range are definitely possibilities considering that such a guardian is almost certainly going to use a staff. I use staff/scepter+focus for example, and healing breeze generally works for me even if I’m close up to the enemy.
I for one would really hate it if it become a short-ranged Point-blank AoE, especially since one can’t “target” specific allies to focus the healing on them.
One thing though, I just wish that it would release the healing cone in the direction that I’m facing rather than where the enemy is or where I’m running.
A dps meditation Guardian has a lesser combined healing potential than a Warrior just using the Healing Signet passive effect (not counting shouts, tactic banner, etc.). A meditation Guardian has also a small access to boons due their own nature. The patch makes our class useles for WvW outside raids/zergs, and redundant in any PvE content in which Wall of Reflection isn’t required.
The Healing Signet got nerfed in this very patch, so I’m not sure that comparison holds much weight. Also, the healing a meditation guardian can put out just with Monk’s Focus is pretty large in my eyes. Not that I think that warriors are balanced.
The damage on 2 is actually pretty decent. Mixing it in between the other staff skills is a good idea imo. It’d be amazing with a lowered cooldown (and the detonate healing for more).
Those silly mix-n-match rune guardians won’t be able to stack boon duration easily to that amount anymore. I only run a +5% boon duration build, just for the Inspired Virtue trait.
Actually the individual boon durations supposedly got buffed. :>
I would love it if the leave staff just as it is and just introduce a whole new weapon if they have more ideas. Most often, things that are changed end up worse, or a lot better for a month before being nerfed into the ground. Just leave staff alone.
Well that’s a possibility, but whether it’s balanced or not is up to the competence of the design team. Even if they introduce a new weapon, I still think Wave of Wrath is misplaced on the staff. :>
Not entirely sure of the specifics surrounding the healing breeze changes (like how much does it heal for now exactly?), but I think I enjoy these changes, especially those general changes. I’ve always thought healing breeze should’ve been even more supporty.
i’m sure it’s in the highlights already if not go to past broadcasts and play the most recent one.
Thanks. Sounds like an interesting watch. From the sounds of the posts though, support healing has been buffed, and healing is always a plus in my book. :p
How dare you suggest ideas that would end up being a buff. This is the Guardian forums, and all we get are nerfs or worthless skills. I demand you change your ideas this very moment to reflect the Guardian class!!!
This skill kind of seems like the main reason the staff is just a “Switch to it, blow all your abilities, switch out” kind of weapon. It really just doesn’t fit at all with the rest of the weapon and is probably one of the most misplaced skills in the game.
Looking at its skills (with the exception of Wave of Wrath), the staff is mostly a long-ranged buffing/healing support weapon; why is its auto-attack a medium-ranged cone that doesn’t even have a healing ratio attached (which is typically a support guardian’s primary attribute)? It also just holds little supportive value in general.
Personally I would change it to make it something more like the trident’s autoattack (or Ele’s water staff #1), or at least give it some healing and longer range (perhaps with a narrower cone).
I very much enjoy using a staff, I just wish I could enjoy it for longer before I have to switch just because its auto-attack is so meh.
Also, semi-unrelated, but orb of light’s detonation cooldown is way too long for the healing it offers, and when is that kitten orb-getting-stuck glitch going to be fixed? It’s been like that for ages… >_>;
Perhaps using an offensive scepter/staff build with some signets. Use Empower (#4) on the staff, activate Litany of Wrath, Orb of Light (#2), switch to scepter, Chains of light (#3), Smite (#2), spam auto attack. Mix in any offensive meditations or consecrations (IE. purging flames). If you have the knockdown/immobilize signet you can use that to help you get everything in too.
It might not have as much burst as other builds, but since you can use both of those weapons at range, and since the scepter has the immobilize, it helps to get everything in.
If you just want raw healing regardless of reliability, probably go with greatsword/staff maybe?
I think it’d be nice to have a special armor set for guardians that make them look more like monks ala GW1.
While it’s achievable to gain a light armor look with heavy armor- when I play my healing guardian, I wanna look the part, and there isn’t much variety for that as is. :p
Personally, I think a duration buff would be nice (along with increasing the cd on the #5 skills), perhaps via the trait that increases their duration. Alternatively, they could do something like the elementalist’s conjured weapons, and essentially let you pull out weaker versions of Tome of Courage and Tome of Wrath. I’d really love that.
Also:
Tome of courage is my favorite thing in the game and it’s not true that good players can just cc you, you can cast stand your ground as its casting, you can put hallowed ground up, you can get stealth/stability from a teammate etc., with healing power Tome #1 is a very powerful heal, all of the abilities are super strong IMHO.
I haven’t really had many issues with Healing Breeze personally. Of course, I use a somewhat more mid-long-ranged supportive guardian build I suppose, so maybe that has something to do with it.
I find that the cone is easy to target people with when they’re dodging around and the healing amount is pretty neat if I do say so myself, although I wouldn’t mind it being a targeted AoE providing it had enough size that people won’t just move out of it by dodging like once.
The staff would be quite fitting for a ranged weapon if its auto-attack had longer range and a narrower cone (something which is also frequently mentioned). As it is now, it’s relatively decent for a ranged weapon, I guess.
The staff is much better now, the only other thing I’d like to see changed is its auto-attack, but I don’t see that happening soon (if ever). Now the scepter on the other hand, needs a lot of work… :p
Personally, I think the whole “but but but, they were designed that way!!!1!” nonsense is made invalid by the fact that warriors have two very viable ranged options, which is another class that has been stated to be close-ranged.
I think if you mix up some of the more “scholarly” bits from various armor sets, and hide your shoulder armor and helmet, you’ll be able to get the look you’re going for (that’s what I’m doing). Of course, I imagine this is a lot harder to achieve with the current character you’re using, as opposed to (for example), a nord female, since they have a pretty scholarly tier 3 racial armor, and a slimmer fit.
Just out of curiosity, are you trying to get a sort of monk-like look for your guardian?
I think a simple change to the staff that would make it far more enjoyable would be to change its horribly misplaced #1 skill. There are really so many better things they could have put in its place: A 1200 range AoE damage/heal, the trident’s #1 skill, a longer-ranged but narrower version of it’s current ability, and so on. I cannot fathom why ANet thought a 600-range Wave of Wrath would suit a support-centric weapon with literally all of its other abilities being 1200-range.
Personally, I find the tomes to be some of the coolest elites in the game. I kind of wish there were utility counterparts to them actually, kind of like elementalists’ conjured weaponry.
Well, technically, when one uses Tome of Courage, they basically become a healing monk. :p
This is an insult to Monks and their amazing gameplay.
I admit I was putting it rather simply. I sure do wish monks would return, even if they weren’t quite the healer they were before. The only reason the Guardian is my favourite profession is because it’s the closest thing to a monk. :\
Well, technically, when one uses Tome of Courage, they basically become a healing monk. :p
While I somewhat agree that there are no trinity healers, I don’t think guardians are or should be exclusively “front-line”. The warrior is supposed excel at close-range, yet they have two very decent ranged options. As DreamOfACure stated, it is possible to support from longer ranges with a staff/scepter build. The only thing really stopping the Guardian from supporting from a really long range, is the scepter’s auto-attack projectiles moving at a ridiculously slow velocity, and the staff’s horribly misplaced auto-attack.
