Guild Wars 2

Yamsandjams.3267:

Xaylin.1860:

As far as I remember a dev said that Communal Defense does not proc Aegis for yourself. It is a pure support trait. So you’d probably better not compare it to Armor Mods since their purpose is too different.

Regarding Armor Mods, it most likely is designed to cater Turret (or even Gadget) focussed builds. Most of the defences Engineers have come from Kits which you won’t be able to equip in this case because your utility slots are already occupied. Besides, you got to keep in mind that Engineers don’t have any traits which could trigger from Aegis so this trait is less powerful than it would have been on a Guardian.

It’s also a grandmaster trait requiring 30 points into a line that competes with adrenal implant. 50% faster endurance recharge can protect you against much more than a single aegis every 15 seconds. Additionally, it’s not directly controllable, which means it will frequently get wasted on auto attacks or other nonsense like mesmer scepter clone strikes that do no damage.

I guess that is what I was getting at. Given the skill’s randomness and frequent waste due to on hit proc, wouldn’t it make more sense to assign it to guardians who can still attain a form of value just from the proc alone, other than blocking a scepter clone :p Especially if engineers favor the competing controllable active defense in the form of a dodge via adrenal implants? Doesn’t the loss of control over the activation limit the value of the skill to both engineers and guardians, but it can synergize better with a guardian? Maybe it’s more a question of value in theory vs value in practice, or just engineers needing something better :p

I didn’t know about Communal Defenses only applying to others-thanks for the heads up.Does it trigger from a block provided by an application of another aegis on you, effectively doubling party aegis application given no overlap and cooldown constraints (not factoring in other blocks)?

Anyway thank you all for taking the time to provide feedback.

I love the rit weapon spell idea, but from what I can gather from their traits they were meant to be more akin to spirit summons from gw1 like:

Spirit sword= pain spirit
Spirit hammer=wonderlust spirit
Spirit shield= modified form of shelter spirit

If the theme were to hold I would love to see Anet make a more fundamental decision with regards to spirit weapons:

A)Their Nature:

1.Are they timed summoned weapons-i.e. should be invulnerable to damage, conditions and boons while they are summoned, given that they expire. Effectively a very visual damage skill and yes they need to be range leashed.Why should they be susceptible to any counter play except dodge like all other damage based utility skills…

OR

2.Are they pets/minions with hp which don’t expire unless killed and affected by damage,conditions and boons.

Why do they have to have the worst of both worlds…

3.(Alternative)Keep them as is, but make them follow the guardian like ranger spirits and give them ranged attacks(weapons thrown on chains)-easier to passively counter with AoE on the guardian but dangerous if ignored given the difficulty to kite their new ranged attacks. Survivability dependant on the guardians positioning.

B)Traits: buffing their abilities (why all the focus on damage)

-Regen and/or protection to all allies within range of spirit X-i.e. while spirit remains alive and spirit affects itself with the trait making it more survivable
-Spirit creates X symbol every X seconds- maybe to traits a restoration effect with symbols cause healing, given the spirit weapon & symbol focus in the zeal line?
-Spirit hammer attack causes aoe knockdown when attacking burning foes
-Spirit X causes 500 damage times the amount of seconds it was alive on death/expiration in an AoE of radius x
-etc

Just my 2 cents.

I feel like I have been conditioned for that response <.< something along the lines of guardian change=op , better to leave guardian where it is (joking ;P).

I am not too sure if it is a question of overall chained mitigation if you compare it to the new trait guardians will be getting:

Valor: Communal Defenses – Grant 5s of aegis to allies in 360 range when you block an attack. 20s cooldown.

Pretty close to the same effect with a marginally longer cd. I guess aegis will even proc aegis with this trait. Do you mean it has more to do with burst predictability in a sPvP mitigation environment ? You can counter play aegis even if it is chained but it is too difficult to land a burst on a guardian with an on hit proc due to unpredictability?

All I want for Christmas is Valor: Communal Defenses – Grant 5s of aegis to allies in 360 range when you block an attack- without an internal cooldown :p

A counterplay build- people need to stop attacking you to break aegis. Aegisway.

Given the guardian traits associated with aegis up time or shattering I was curious as to why engineers got the passive aegis generation trait in their armor mods skill: Gain aegis when struck (15s ICD). Just curious, if anyone would like to venture a guess.

Kindled Zeal Suggestion

Based on the comments for the Dec 10th updates and many of the issues described in terms of the lack of soft CC and the type casting of guardians into a defensive stand and fight without the ability to stick to targets mold, i have a few alternative suggestions :

If the main focus of the patch is on creating viable power based build in a trait line focusing predominantly on symbols, perhaps a updated GM trait could replace the existing kindled zeal trait to meet these needs in terms of forcing a defensive last stand engagement, especially if guardians aren’t intended to chase as a melee class and the symbol of swiftness change is moving in the direction of remaining stationary to charge a benefit. I’m guessing the focus would be either to get to the target and keep them there or force them to come to you, hence:

Kindled zeal suggestions:
1. Symbols knock down opponents who attack/activate a skill within the symbol area.
-A ground enchantment reminiscent of the old gw1 shield of judgement skill
-It might actually be usable against pve defiant stacks without compromising players in a stun lock as long as they are familiar with the skill
-Provides a way to force symbol tick damage
-Provides an intricate use for symbols as one of our class exclusive mechanics?
-Are denial too much for PvP focused on area capture ?
– Hammer/mace symbols application could be an issue though without the right ICD

or

2. Symbols act as a protective area providing ranged damage reflection/absorption while inside the symbol’s affected area, until the attacker enters the symbol area
[almost like the Operative Brie battle in Arah]

-Forces engagement at a melee range & supports the new healing skill’s functionality?
-Could be a nice addition to a slow moving guardian with low base hp pool trying to spec away from the standard more defensive trees.
-May be too similar to existing utilities vs same theme followed through and more accessible given single person application limit?
-May improve shattered aegis functionality forcing engagement within shatter range to trigger?
-Would be nice if the symbol removed a condition on use as we are supposed to be the condition anti-class, hence our limited access to condition application?

3. As a side note I would love to see aegis act as a life sheath/barrier based on a life bar with a cap of say 1000 + (some multiple)*vitality, with the cap replenished after each aegis break. The life sheath/barrier doesn’t carry over damage/conditions, ie needs to be reapplied to you. Similarly SY would pull the conditions onto the life sheath if it is in place. If the idea is that we still need to chase/escape at least the barrier would help up to a point as a movement impairing condition/out of combat shield?

Maybe too much “protection monk” and too little “substitute warrior” :p

I am sure there are people more familiar with the intricacies of balancing and the full implication, just wanted to put these ideas out there and maybe inspire someone to provide a better solution . Thanks for reading the post.