Showing Posts For MercenaryK.4180:
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I watched that video and closed the tab after about 10 or so seconds into it because the guy recording it, as wise as he may be or is, mumbles so much that nothing intelligent can be received from it unless your ear is humping your speaker.
“BerserkershshshtshshshtshBerserkertshtshshshshshsh” – And there’s 8 minutes more of THIS?! NO!!
Mace/Shield + GS works because they’re total opposites of each other. I’ve been running those two as of late and find that if I happen to be overwhelmed either with mobs or entering unknown territory, I can switch to Mace/Shield to get more control of the field or wait for CD on my Utilities/Heal to end. But with the right utilities GS dishes out some mad damage, which is what Mace/Shield lacks in comparison.
rjnemer is right – you cannot have one build fit for various fields of play. ANet does like that as you can see if you played GW1 – you were constantly, CONSTANTLY changing your skills and attributes based on what you were doing. GW2 carries that same method of thought when approaching PvE, PvP, WvW. Learn to change your skills & traits based on what you’re doing – that’s why there’s some flexibility to choose your Major traits.
Depending on what I’m seeing in the current zone, what I’ll expect in a dungeon, or not expect in WvW, I’ll change my weapon sets and major traits as needed. You gotta adopt that open mind approach, otherwise you’re gimping your self.
And honestly there is no weapon that is of no use to the Guardian – each weapon has their specific purpose and their time to shine. I am copy/pasting from the [Guide/PVE] Guardian 101 – A Beginner’s Text:
1) Every weapon is viable. There is no such thing as an inviable weapon. I’m actually not a fan of the way “inviable” gets thrown around as a word—if you see someone on the forums or in the game complaining about how Hammer or Mace or Greatsword is inviable in such-and-such situation, they’re just whining. Trust me. Now, there is such a thing as a weapon being more useful in one situation and less useful in another. That is important to remember. If you want to deal big spike damage, swinging a scepter is probably not your best option, for example. And if you want range, swinging a mace is probably not your best option. But Scepter sure is.
No offense taken, it’s good to have a productive conversation about how the Guardian!
I too would like to avoid heavy conditions outside of burning – the Guardian was modeled after the Paragon and they were a Burning focused profession. Other conditions existed, but lots of their skills revolved around the Burning condition, either applying or when applied.
I think we have a lack of skills that have a reaction when Burning occurs, and maybe that’s where we should start (ignoring traits). Zealot’s Flame is rather lackluster as it’s first an AoE burn and then a ranged attack that damages and burns – but what if the target is all ready on fire? Double the burn duration applied by Zealot’s Fire?
With that example, maybe then we can develop ideas from that. Say with Shield of Judgement if targets are on fire increase burning duration, or spread burning to others. Shield of Absorption could also add if allies are on fire inside the shield, burning is converted to regeneration.
Maybe we can have a Trait instead that amplifies our Burning affects based on specific skills – i.e. Shield skills do X to enemies and Y to allies if burning condition is present – and not just +/- % damage or a simple Heal, but create an alternate affect.
Possibly what you want to do is make people afraid of being burned when a Guardian is around – like “Oh kitten cure it quick before X or Y skill is used”. In the hands of a Guardian, the Burning condition is a priority to remove, otherwise it leads to further pain beyond just some condition damage.
There we won’t be so focused on raising Condition Damage, but just applying the condition itself. Condition Duration might be important, maybe. Virtue of Justice would definitely benefit from this change.
Hmm…..I think that’s a good start, no?
If we had more blocks – which it needs to be said they nullify a direct damage attack, we’d be pretty OP.
………… Which Boon can we sustain? Protection? Retaliation? Why not work off of those Boons instead of Blocks? The trait could burn surrounding enemies when those Boons are active, but with a cool down so we’re not perma-Zealot’s Flame – but then I’m afraid it’s too much like the skill – which has a 15 second cool down – so the trait would need to be more unique.
My initial knee-jerk reaction/opinion to this topic is my belief of the Guardian’s role is to provide support whilst bringing good damage – and that support allows everyone else to focus more on damage than survival. It cannot be calculated, but imagine a party, of whichever size, with and without a Guardian.
I believe that the party without the Guardian would absorb more damage and have to be more defensive, cutting down on their maximum damage potential. This isn’t to say a Guardian is strictly a safety net, because they can contribute to the offense and not just the defense, but I believe the Guardian allows everyone else to relax and not have to worry if a mistake on their end occurs.
But I see what you’re wanting to do to the class, and I do not like it, because I think the Guardian currently can be played in such an aikido manner by perfecting skill application and timing.
You should put focus on the trait that allows burning on block – there you can really define the Guardian’s contribution to damage by defensive style – we have a lot of ways to create block – but the burning duration of 1 second is minimal and pretty weak and doesn’t really support the idea of maximizing your blocks to cause a little burn.
Start there and see what you can come up with.
Virtue of Resolve I hardly ever activate unless I’m in a party and I see some people low on health – it’s more for them than my own benefit. Otherwise, when questing I never touch it.
Virtue of Justice I try to use more often in every situation – the cool down is reasonable and the burn duration is nice – about 5 seconds iirc. In parties everyone applies a burn duration so you can see how awesome it is to use in groups.
Virtue of Courage I only use in emergencies when I’m over my head in pulls or champs. However I’m still learning to gauge when to use it in parties against bosses, where I find the benefit of the party outweighs my own.
Renewed Focus changes that – you pop every one of those Virtues when you’re using Renewed Focus. But your Virtues have their moments when the benefits outweigh the passive effects.
I’d like to see at least Shield #5 changed to where the detonation had more of an affect that you could feel or see versus a small heal. Being rooted I feel that should wait out the duration, but often times I’m using it just for the knock-back.
Shield #4 is fine, in my opinion. I keep that skill on cool down as much as possible. Maybe add a small knock-back/push back, it would fit the animation imo.
And I first thought it was dumb to have a shield and it not block attacks, but then I remember in GW1 shields functioned the exact same way – they didn’t have a block mechanic to them. Funny how ANet’s approach to shields is different from every other MMO.
I too picked the Guardian because of the mace/shield combo. Outside of the first two Norn zones, I have been using every other weapon combination >_>
(edited by MercenaryK.4180)
I really dig Mace/Shield because it suits the Guardian so well. The chain heals nearby allies on end, the Symbol provides regen, and the shield takes it a step further with a projectile block for everyone with a nice ‘reset’ by bouncing away enemies. Not to mention a radius skill that either blocks+damage or prots+damage; it’s a win-win! This is my dungeon go-to set up because I can contribute to the party without compromising my own life by being in the midst of combat – kinda makes me feel that’s what a Guardian is all about!
When solo’ing I either go Scepter/Torch or Sword/Focus. The off-hand I’ll switch as desired, but really that’s how I keep it.
Like other posters have said – it’s all about damage mitigation than the healing potential that makes the Guardian.
Look at them from a different perspective – their healing, compared to other classes, may be weaker, but they’re options for blocking and preventing all damage is much, much greater, and that’s where their greatest defense lies.
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