Is there anything Guards can't be great at?

tldr: Just a quick thread to see if this profession has any gaping holes in gameplay diversity and utilization.

I have played guard main for quite some time and both currently and historically see this class as the best in GW2 in my opinion as it has the ability to cover so many functions and does them well.Power guard is great, so is condi guard, support, boons and priceless utilities for days by varying specs. Slightly low on the might/prec/fury stacking but offset by the viability of quickness supply.Obviously some class specific mechanics are inaccessible such as distortion but I'd like to know in which areas people see this profession really fail.For me guard has always seemed like the class Anet have maintained at an excellent standard, never hugely OP, never bottom of the pile.

I don't see a lot of threads about guards needing to be majorly improved so just wanted an overview on peoples opinions where they feel Guard falls short (for the purpose of this discussion, please include all elite specs and variations).

It really depends on the game mode you're playing. In terms of PvE, Guardian is really overkill, you can do anything with ease.

In WvW it becomes a lot tougher, because even though the group depends on you for boons and healing if you're running a tank build, you are still vulnerable to power and condi builds other classes have; for example a well rounded power glass cannon mesmer can destroy you just by one spamming from afar, if not that then a glass cannon thief, and this is all despite the amount of toughness and vitality you may have. Alas the best way to counter this in my opinion has been to join in on the power train and outskill the opponent by using some marauder gear or trying out power variants; and I think firebrand is really good for adding that extra survival to the ladder.

In PvP guardian is alright, people tend to see it as overpowered but the weaknesses come when there's an imbalance between condi and power, occasionally you may find yourself outmatched by a team with too much condi pressure than your team can contain or too much power pressure than what you can handle.

This is all from a perspective though, see it as you may.

jack of all tradesmáster of none

Yes guard is quite bad at healing and passive boon applications (traditional MMOs "auras"), which is kind of ironic considering the class is hinted to be some sort of paladin on character creation. Instead you end up with some sort of melee warrior.

@Rennie.6750 said:Yes guard is quite bad at healing and passive boon applications (traditional MMOs "auras"), which is kind of ironic considering the class is hinted to be some sort of paladin on character creation. Instead you end up with some sort of melee warrior.

In PvE, yes, but in PvP, the support is amazing, which is why Guardian has historically been an amazing bunker for the majority of the game's life. It fell behind with Tempest overshadowing it in HoT, but Firebrand brought it back and then some.

@Dahkeus.8243 said:

@Rennie.6750 said:Yes guard is quite bad at healing and passive boon applications (traditional MMOs "auras"), which is kind of ironic considering the class is hinted to be some sort of paladin on character creation. Instead you end up with some sort of melee warrior.

Somewhat yes, but healing is still mediocre because it's on a 30s meta cooldown. Mace is kind of bad and staff well, it's staff. Don't get me wrong I do understand what you mean but guardian is better at providing active mitigation for stuff like projectiles or conditions rather than pure healing. Nerf scourge and guardian falls from a tier 1 pvp class to a tier 2 one, because suddenly there is no more massive condi spam to deal with. WvW is an entirely different beast but I'd say that guardian once again doesn't shine in the healing department. Yes it's an expected part of the guardian rotation but it's nowhere near the best at healing, far from it. All it takes to kill the team the guardian is supporting is a good bursty non projectile based build and there's nothing he can do about it, because of the subpar healing.

And of course in pve guardian healing is too inconsistent to be worthwhile. PvE support roles require predictability and consistency and guardian hasn't been really shining on the latter lately.

Support/healing in pve, they have nothing unique to offer.

@KeoLegend.5132 said:jack of all tradesmáster of none

cries in Engi

Melee build vs mobile / ranged professions. Gap closers are limited / long cooldown.

Melee build vs Scourge, just die in a fire.