Arken.3725

Now that I have time to comment, as much as I can appreciate the effort made, I disagree with quite a few of the suggested changes. I'll go over each suggestion and my opinion on it.

GreatSword

Whirling Wrath: Good suggestion but I'd also remove the projectiles and just merge the damage

Binding Blade: Good suggestion.

Scepter

Scepter Auto: Good suggestion, being within range and still missing is terrible. This should hit barring any invulns,blocks,evades,blinds, ect.

Sword

Symbol: Not sure how I feel about it.

Axe:

Symbol of Vengeance: Disagree, it works considering how offensive this weapon is.

Traits:

As a whole, I wholeheartedly disagree, I feel like Guardian has some of the worst traits in the game. Check this: Valor is SUPPOSED to be the defensive-line, right? Funny thing is, Honor does it FAR better and to your own teammates no less. That's just one example.

Virtues:

Forget attaching it to Courage, just give it to us already.

Honor:

Disagree with the Writ of Persistence suggestion. Symbols are already small as it is and they're not nearly as front-loaded as say Marks/Wells for example. Outside of FB, Core and DH have VERY few ways of keeping an enemy inside a symbol much less the benefit being significant enough to stand in it.

Skills:

Hammer of Wisdom: This suggestion wouldn't do much, it would still be incredibly useless.

Mantra of Truth: Bad suggestion, here's why: Guardian has low hp, no safety traits, no stealth, less-than-average mobility, no evades on skills nor any instant invulns. This skill actually helps FB stay alive from all the Rampage and power-spike BS. Not to mention the charge-up time on every mantra is almost 3 seconds. Not to mention this is really the only source that allows Guardian to stick on their opponents due to the massive lack of cripples,chill and immobs for example.

Signet of Mercy: This is the only useful Signet Guardian has. I could see increasing the cd a tad but not almost doubling it.

Again, I appreciate the suggestions but a lot of these don't do much and would probably hinder Guardian more. Forgive me if I'm a tad biased, these are just my opinions.

Thank you for your time.

In response to those above concerning Scepter. I currently have three builds I'm working on using, one of which utilizes Scepter. The other two, Staff with Axe/Shield. As much as I'd love to comment on the changes suggested within the OP, I'm a little too tired from posting hundreds of times concerning feedback. I'll just leave this as something that I believe should be heeded.

Instant skills(meditations for instance) are crap, they have no counter-play other than guessing. I personally prefer having cast-times as a way to fight back(Mantra charge-up time for example)

Slow weapons should hit or be more significant than their faster counterparts, I'd imagine anyone here would agree. (looking at you hammer)

When you're lacking gimmicky/bs mechanics, you should be compensated as such(evades on skills, stealth, instant and significant burst, crazy condi-variation, ect.) I'm not going to go deep into this because I'm going to get a lot of flak for this but hear me when I say STEALTH has NO reliable counter in this game. It's an insanely strong mechanic. That's all.

Get-out-of-jail traits should not exist(luckily, Guardian has none of these).

If you're within range of a skill and you're not blinded, the target isn't invulned/stealthed/blocking/aegis or whatever, your skill SHOULD hit. Tracking issue's are terrible game design(looking at you Scepter).

Thank you all for your time.

Say what exactly?

I'm all for changes but check this out. If this is to be gutted(even moreso with every patch), I want some BS mechanics. I want stealth, instant-ranged burst that does 12k+, passive invuln when my health hits 50% along with skills that don't require me to stand still(symbols). Give me these and you can have your nerfs.

And yes, all the mechanics listed above ARE BS mechanics and are unhealthy for the game. Why can't Guardian have these? I'm sure there's more to be listed but this should suffice for now.

Right but the point in this weapon(along with Staff/LB) is that they are RANGED. If you are within range barring any mitigation(blind, aegis, invuln, ect.) ALL the projectiles should hit you. The fact that they don't is pretty bad.

Just bumping this since Scepter, Staff and to a smaller extent, Long Bow still have terrible tracking. Can we please get these fixed?

I like @"otto.5684". Dude said it far more elegantly than I ever could. I have my own misgivings but I'm just tired of listing them since I know nothing will be considered.

These changes suck outside of Purging flames. Let's keep nerfing one of the slowest professions that require standing in small circles even further. Makes sense to me.

How about some neat interactive traits? Or rather, stuff that synergizes(makes sense) with a certain weapon/utility.

Here's a bad example: Focus and Focus Mastery.....why is this still a thing? First the nerf to Ray of Judgement (yes, this was a nerf if you REALLY looked at what it used to do compared to now). How does giving a minor amount of protection attached to two offensive skills make any sense? This isn't fun nor is it interactive.

Edit: And not to derail Runic's thread, I'm just tired of unimaginative/unfun/near-useless traits.

> @"Derm.4932" said:

> > Guardian

> >

Spear of Light: This skill now scales damage dynamically based on distance rather than using distance thresholds.

> > Leap of Faith: This skill now heals you for each foe hit in addition to its previous effects.

**Still too easy to interrupt, not to mention LoF is mostly used as a tool to get out, not push-in.**

> > Deflecting Shot: This skill no longer deals bonus damage if a missile is reflected. Increased base damage by 80%.

**Not bad**

> > Symbol of Energy: Increased projectile speed by 25%.

**Cool? Symbols suck, can we please change the mechanics behind them?(Talking spvp/wvw mostly)**

> > Symbolic Avenger: This trait has been reworked. It now increases the guardian's damage by 2% stacking (max 5 stacks) for 15 seconds whenever a symbol hits a foe.

**This is actually a decent nerf, instead of receiving an immediate dmg increase with some power conversion, you may only get a few stacks. This traitline(zeal) was never utilized anyway, thanks for the nerf.**

> > Symbolic Power: Increased the symbol damage from 10% to 30%. This trait no longer has a chance to inflict burning. Instead it causes symbols to charge your Justice passive effect twice as fast.

**Good change**

> > Symbol of Punishment: Lowered the damage of extra strikes by 25% in PvE.

**Who cares about targets that are brain-dead and never move out of your symbols?**

> > Symbolic Exposure: This trait now increases damage to vulnerable foes by 5% in addition to its previous effects.

**Good change**

> > Protective Reviver: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to not increase revive speed.

> > Zealous Blade: This trait no longer heals when combined with a light field or grants 10% bonus damage when wielding a greatsword. Instead it grants +120 power plus an additional +120 power while wielding a greatsword in addition to reducing greatsword skill recharge by 20%.

**So...why is this one of the few traits that only gets a cd reduction with power while say Warriors get both AND might on crit? Give me something interactive! Also, GS needs a rework, I've already went over my reasons but outside of WW(Which needs its projectiles removed and dmg meshed with just the physical aspect), the rest need a rework.**

> > Eternal Armory: Increased burning stacks from 1 to 2.

**No one uses spirit weapons in spvp, cool**

> > Retribution: This trait no longer grants bonus ferocity.

**Oh awesome, another nerf to the somewhat only viable dmg trait-line while Guardians were already lacking BEFORE the nerfs in terms of dmg. Well done.**

> > Radiant Power: This trait now grants +150 ferocity.

**WHY move this? I don't get the idea behind this change?**

> > Pure of Sight: This trait now scales dynamically based on distance from the target. Scaling has been adjusted from 5% to 15%.

**Not enough for any self-respecting DH to consider playing it again**

> > Spear of Justice: This skill has been updated so the tether aspect doesn't fail against world bosses as frequently.

Forgive me for all the negative comments but holy hell these are bad. Once again, let's focus on a mechanic that requires both caster and enemy to stand-in for lengthy periods of time for ANY benefit(symbols) in a game where mobility is HUGE! Great mechanic. Come on guys.

Not shabby but if you ask me, the whole kit needs a rework. It's just terrible.

Remember guys, this is strictly from an spvp PoV, please consider that when posting replies.

That's very fair @"Lonewolf Kai.3682". I think even if we look at how easy/hard the skill is to use, the question is, is it worth using?

Mobility is another issue I completely agree with @"otto.5684". Also, @"Lonewolf Kai.3682", try getting the #5 on torch off against a competent team in spvp....tell me how that goes.

The only reason why symbols work "decently" in spvp is because we fight over points. I guarantee you if it was a death match mode, they'd be near-useless. This game(especially pvp) is about constant mobility which is great! However, having skills which require you(AND your opponent) to stay in for lengthy periods of time is bad for design if you ask me.

Also, Core and even DH to a lesser extent have VERY few ways of keeping people in symbols. They both lack a good amount of cripples, chill and immobs to name a few.

Hello there fellow gurds, I'm here to talk about (and hopefully inform) those who can adjust the current skill-sets of each Guardian weapon. Here's a list of what we have and what I, personally find wrong with them.

**Sword**: AA is solid, .Symbol of Blades is also good. Zealot's Defense shouldn't root you in place. As a kit that requires you to be in your enemies face, widening the gap has zero sense attached to this.

**Long bow**: AA is too slow with below-average tracking. Trueshot hits like a wet-noodle. Deflecting Shot requires too much skill for the meager benefit it provides. Symbol of Energy's cast-time is too long with the idea of symbols(in a VERY mobile game) being near-useless, Hunter's Ward requiring the last proc to trap makes this skill too difficult to land.

**Axe**: AA is great. Symbols are a terrible concept but to me, It's the best one we got. Blazing Edge is phenomenal.

**Greatsword**: AA is a joke with a meager amount of might attached to the third hit. Whirling Wrath should have its projectiles removed and the damage merged with the physical aspect. leap of faith needs an evade. Symbol of Wrath sucks, like nearly all of them. Binding Blade is too slow and should be unblockable.

**Mace**: AA is still too slow even with the tiny buff it got. Symbol of Faith takes years to cast. Protector's Strike isn't bad but it's bugged to only work on every other proc.

**Scepter**: AA has TERRRRRRIBLE tracking(WHY is this still a thing after 6 years?). Symbol of Punishment is decent but again, the concept of symbols suck in a mobile-type MMO. Chains of light needs a slightly reduced CD.

**Staff**: AA is much better than before but still has REALLLLY bad tracking. Holy strike is solid. Symbol of Swiftness is okay but read my opinion on symbols above. Empower is solid. Line of Warding needs its hit-box expanded.

**Focus**: Both skills CD's are too long. Ray of Judgement is alright but too obvious and easy for even a below-average player to avoid(light below your enemies feet before it procs). Shield of Wrath is sorta Wrathy??

**Torch**: Both skills are terribad. Zealot's Fire has terrible tracking on the throw like many other Guardian Skills, Cleansing flame isn't worth using, AT ALL.

**Shield**: Shield of Judgement is fine. Shield of Absorption is fine but needs to block instead of destroy projectiles.

**Hammer**: This weapon is just terrible all-around, complete rework for me to even consider this in spvp.

Under Water Weaponry

BOTH under water weapons have FAR better tracking than ANY of the Guardians land-based weaponry. WHYYYYYYY. I'm tired of my projectiles missing even though I'm within range, holy geez.

Also, this is strictly from an spvp and maybe even WvW PoV. Thank you.

This thread is fairly comical, nicely done :smile:

Damn, this thread has turned into something else....

As a legendary spvper, it was already incredibly difficult to play Harrierbrand. This nerf was completely unwarranted when looking at the whole picture of what I had to give up in order to maintain sustain/pressure.

Proper risk vs. reward, amirite?

I'm posting about the upcoming nerf to RI to which will cripple(if not destroy) build diversity for the Guardian profession in spvp. This nerf was unwarranted as a whole. You'll now only see Pure-support FB's in spvp....well done.

I'll give my piece, I do not like how strong RI is but as others have said (and I agree), we are slaves to it. We need it as it is in its current state. Nerfing it(at least for spvp) will decimate build diversity down to JUST support-FB.

.> @"aceofbass.2163" said:

> > @"Ezrael.6859" said:

> > Of course Sanctuary won't grant barrier at 100% hp to you, you're not doing any healing.

>

> Yes I was thinking about the same thing. If you do healing on a full HP character, no healing will be done so the rune's effect is not affected.

Except I can get barrier at full health from Altruistic healing, any healing skill, Monk's Focus and Shining River. Not to mention other classes can obtain barrier at full health with many skills/traits as well.

Hello everyone, just wanted to post a bug that's specific for Guardians. After testing, it seems like you DO NOT gain barrier at full health from the follow skills/traits.

-Symbol heals from kitten (only gained in combat below full hp)

-Empower from staff (only gained in combat below full hp)

-Holy strike(only gained in combat below full hp)

-Shield of Absorption(only gained in combat below full hp)

-Selfless Daring(only gained in combat below full hp)

-Pure of Heart(only gained in combat below full hp)

This is bugged since I've seen other classes gain barrier at full hp with a multitude of skills/traits, regardless of incombat or not.

bumping so maybe this gets a look at by the devs?

@"Spartacus.3192" So far, it only works on the #1 skill in Resolve tome.

@"Ezrael.6859" I'm not sure, just there are a plethora of skills/traits on guardian that provide heals that don't give the barriers. Also, it works wonders with Altruistic healing.