No Brain Dead Raw DPS Burst Buffs! It doesn’t need this.
‘‘Guardian can recieve a few micro adjustments that could address both PvE Balance with other Tanks and also fix some things that don’t work properly in PvP’’
Introduction:
Updates or Releases of Content are one thing but Fixing something that doesn’t work properly is Maintenance and therefore perfectly viable for a Maintanance Mode State of a Game.
Usually a player base exaggerates wether its about a Nerf or a Buff and many things are left in a broken state as a result. Moreover while New Content has been introduced that makes these Buffs or Nerfs have a Higher Impact.
Alternate Advancement System:
The Guardians AAs have good utility especially for Rise of the Godslayer Dungeon Encounters.
- Prime Initiative nerf wasn’t bad. It still fulfills its purpose and its currently Balanced.
- Wrath is not used anymore because it’s only usefull for Survival if low geared as long as you have aggro but currect Gear compensates for that and Stall the Advance is the obvious choice if someone doesn’t use Counterweight/ Champion Spirit.
Tempest Tree Feats:
- Disarming Aggresion: Some would argue wether to boost it’s dmg to max 20%. It wouldn’t hurt but i would prefer other micro adjustments for other Feats in PvP and use them instead.
- What i do know for a fact for PvE though is that -30 Hate in Frenzy is perfect but also adding +30 Hate in Defensive would give the Tempest Guard a serious and viable Aggro tool vs Conq vs DT which will be quite effective when combined with Unshielded Side Hits and Counterweight.
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Sweep the Field: Does it work on Lost Temple Minigame Instance to throw the enemy group off the Bridge?
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Revenge: Guard is a defensive combo that adds Mitigation and Critigation if using Deliberate Reprisal and is fine unfeated in PvP.
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It could use a +1-2% Hate Adjustment per Rank making the Retaliatory Strikes Build up more hate towards a Boss that hits you in PvE helping you to stay longer in the Aggro table against DTs burst.
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It could also give a Percentage of Vengeance Stack increase per Rank to make Bloody Vengeance become usefull again. In it’s current nerfed state where it cancels all your Vengeance stacks once used and with Polearm Damage already nerfed it would be Fair and Balanced in PvP too and be a nice Aggro Burst tool for Guardian in PvE.
- Intimidating Shout: Very usefull if it Generated the Threat Levels Cry of Havoc does in PvE or if it had a shorter Cooldown instead.
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For PvP if fully feated it’s Bleeding Dot would be a nice addition if the points would be worth investing there. I would say it’s good to fix it’s PvE aspect only since for Dots i have better Micro adjustment ideas that are far more practical and yet still balanced.
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Skewer + Riposte Bleeding dot. Not much. Just a 8 seconds Bleeding dot. Similar to Intimidating Shout or less. I haven’t calculated how much would be Balanced.
- Redoubt + Riposte: A great utility for PvP that may as well allow Specialization Trade-Offs if it functioned and the Chance wasn’t only 10%.
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In order for these 2 Feats + Combo to be any usefull the Feat Redoubt should either give a 5% Chance per Rank to gain Redoubt or be a 3 rank feat 5% 15% 25%.
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Riposte DPS would be kept as it is, dealing as much damage as your Build/ Gear/ AA allows and it’s already a Guardian Combo = Low DPS so i don’t see any problem with it. Perfectly Balanced and Fair.
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This class relies on Combinations and properly hit unshielded sides and actually land your white hits (Childsplay with Polearm) to do dmg and a Soldiers Timing/ Precision/ Discipline/ Skill. Otherwise it wont do anything. Riposte is currently almost non-functional.
- Lightning Reflexes: This is almost useless. The only thing that currently makes Riposte function (35% Evade chance) prevents Redoubt to even Run effectively preventing you to use Riposte.
- The Nerf was intentional i get it but what’s the harm if a Guard gains redoubt while Evading a Bosses damage and hits him with Riposte? I guess people complained about the fact they couldn’t kill a Guard in PvP during that time but that was before Bloody Vengeance nerf and they weren’t running End-Game PvE toys there but that’s no longer the case.
- It wouldn’t hurt PvP today and it wouldn’t hurt PvE Physical Boss (Who crits alot) Tanking him with Tempest Build. I don’t personally preffer it but it could be helpfull with certain bosses.
Counterweight PvE:
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Counterweight tanking can be very usefull giving you the option to play with both S&S and Polearm early on. Players who are interested in PvP may actually prefer that route and benefit greatly without having to save up 40 Expertise points for Stall the Advance and may help them progress into both PvE and PvP content faster while also learning both Builds.
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Shield Slam/ Overreach/ Stall are quite good but i prefer the same with Goad+ Irritate (Fool proof way if you’re low on aggro against DTs) following a Guard Destroyer (Brutal Destroyer Feat) with Titanic Smash which is very powerfull and hit unshielded side with Counterweight + Reckoning + Cry of Havoc while running Champion Spirit plus Cunning Deflection - Counterstrike - Strike and Guard (Deflection/ Retributive Damage) tools that do help generate more aggro.
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It’s actually easier to stay in the Aggro table that way, just requires to actually press more buttons and watch shields. Of course Crawling Mist Blessings can be a Game Changer too including End-Game Gear.
‘‘But for Tempest Build to become viable with that in PvE we need the above Micro-Adjustments’’
PvP Guard is quite good both in Tempest - General Spec or Hybrid Tempest - Juggernaut. It’s just a few utilities that do next to nothing who need adjustment.
Balance with other Tanks:
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Conqueror. Feint Attack with Furious Strikes/ Power Feint and Ruthless Assault are fine. It’s Feint Attack short Cooldown that makes it brain dead to deal dmg in PvP because of all the effects including wrack combined with it.
In PvE the player doesn’t have much choice either since Bloodbath should have a shorter Cooldown instead allowing the use of a 2nd Rank after Feint Attack then follow up with Throat Slash.
Although most Conquerors don’t even use Guard of Dancing Steel properly or even Weapon switch because FA after FA is fool proof to deal DPS in PvP and most end up popping HoFS after HoFS. -
It’s just brainded and playing bad should have bit more of a penalty. I think this is fixed easy by just enabling Bloodbath Ranks to be used in a row and increase Feint Attack Cooldown by a bit so people actually Switch weapons and use Breach. Using GoDS properly and Throat Slash plus your banners will make sure the Class deals decent DPS and generates propper Aggro.
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Bubbles are fine. They are overrated anyway. It’s just 8 secs.
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Dark Templar: VoM doesn’t need more Crit buffs to run in order to be effective. The Magic DMG when combined with Spell Penetration is more than enough. Once the player gets to 20% crit via Items/ Gear and Buffs it becomes too much and excesive.
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The player can always try to scale his Magic Damage via accesories or hitting Dooming Pressence finisher in Frenzy which gives extra 40% Magic Damage. In PvP he should do that and even using Slam after Unhallowed Blight in Frenzy on a Stunned Target from behind will actually scale his base 600-700 Unholy Procs 3+ times.
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Really. Just how many seconds does it take to Stun in Frenzy, hit UB, hit Slam, hit Dooming Pressence and deal how much damage? It’s not even possible to calculate with VoM. It may just one shot the other if your crit is 20+
This makes the class even more Brain Dead so there should be a Magic Damage Penalty in Defensive stance and the extra Crit from VoM be removed.
‘‘We can see that the Tanks don’t need any Nerf or Buff, just a microadjustment on what is already present’’
Which is actually a very good Spec if it did the Damage it used to. At least you could have a Guard with all the good abilities and Combos from Shield and Sword usage and still be viable there. Just required more effort.