A Guardian MOST FEEL HEAVY?!? Why is this a thing?

Has anybody ever given a honest answer as to why the Guardian MUST FEEL HEAVY which I have seen constantly repeated in conversations quoting the "devs"(still not sure how many times they actually said this) when they are in the lowest tier as far as health , no evades mechanics available, very limited access to range attack (outside of DH Longbow which had it's damage nerf specifically for PvP during a time when they unsplit all of the play types but since they have reverted back to splitting play types it hasn't been reverted back), and aren't allowed to dual wield a normal offensive weapon( sword, mace, axe etc...).

All this being said I can understand the idea of following a theme but time an again what was stated as the Guardians theme has been ignored or handed over to classes Elite and the class is left with little or no identity of it's own.

Our original description was that we were a mix of the Monk and the Paragon from the first Guild Wars, so we were supposed to be all about heavy armor, healing and buffing allies(oddly enough some how we got tied to close range combat which made no sense considering that the main weapon of a Paragon was a spear which was which was the same range as a Short Bow and we never got the Spear outside of water but that's another topic) and we got the Spirit Weapons which looked great(and they still look good) but which unfortunately have never fully worked well mechanically(either to powerful or as has been more often been the case a sad waste of a skill which is unfortunate being as they REALLY add something thematically for the Guardian).

What has happened over time is that we are outstripped on healing for party by at least 3 or 4 classes (we become mostly a selfish healer totally counter to our original concept) and our supportive buffing status which while with some of our Elites(FIrebrand) can be good is easily outstripped by other classes. This is not to say that the class is worthless in all play styles after all the Guardian and it's various Elites are solidly part of a WvW setting primarily with Zergs etc..

I'm interested in other players opinions and hopes on where the Guardian and all of the Elites here.

Agree ? Disagree? I'm just interested what players also want to see moving forward. Thank you.

This is an old discussion. I don't really get the complaint; while it's not the perfect class, Guardian is well received in every game mode and is certainly not deficient. Maybe it's just not the class for you.

A Guardian MOST FEEL HEAVY?!? Why is this a thing?Well they do use heavy armor, do they not? ;)

guards don't feel heavy outside of hammer (maybe mace), guardian also has plenty of survivability through heals/blocks etc. if it had poor survivability they wouldn't have been the go to class for many wvw commanders so why would he need more evades/health? . a lack of good ranged options while an issue with guard it doesn't make it a bad class. complaining that guard can't dual wield swords etc. is a weird complaint (especially since guard has the second most possible weapon combinations)

and guard still has good support it's just that guard support is more fitting for wvw then pve

Try ranger, OP.

Well for core id say it is totally legit that core guard is rather slow class. Personally i would like to see the virtues reworked so they have an aural effect arround the guard (even the passives) but the only skill i want to be changed is merciful intervention. I want the teleport and the heal swapped. So you always teleport but only heal when allies are in the area. This would hive guard more mobility without making them fast themself. And the aural bonus is basically that guard is an inspirational force and a strong bastion of will in mids its party. It would also give guard nice group play option and a safe slot in a condi subgroup.DH on the otherhand should be faster and more mobile. And also should get more CC and evasive possibilities.The LB needs some work and should get improvements throughout all skills. And also should get the movement speed buff trait many WvW players want.

Whoosh

Warrior ran by

In general, a lot of things about various classes have been implemented for thematic reasons since 2012 release. Low guardian mobility is one of them. I reckon on the old forum archives or maybe as a response in some livestream, Anet did say that guardian was intended to be a class that gets in the fight and stays in the fight, hence why they aren't big on long distance mobility (no passive +25% movement speed), but rather they have shorter bursts of it (JI, Merciful, sword 2, GS 3).

HOWEVER, the game currently looks very very different from 2012 balance and while it's a good idea to keep certain thematic aspects of classes around (otherwise all classes start to look the same), I don't think giving guardian access to +25% movement speed (either through signet or trait) would really ruin the image of guardian. It would really help where guards need it most: in wvw.

@LetoII.3782 said:Whoosh

Warrior ran by

All to true and pretty much everyone else too right after him. Again I think everyone is missing is that the reasoning behind the Guardian being a slow class was completely arbitrary(this along with our being the one of the lowest health classes)at class conception when the class and the game(GW2 obviously) was released but these negatives were counter balanced with advantages that offset these drawbacks. Along with that we were also not the only class at release that was slow or at least had issues keeping up or disengaging from combat, well since the two expansions we are the only class to be left in this state when looking at the Elites but most of the advantages have been either stripped away, shared over to other classes or been made obsolete in one way or another. Again I am in no way asking or implying that the Core Guardian should have a movement buff built into his trait line but I do think one of his Elites should have it available as an option and I do think the Staff Swiftness buff should give the Guardian a decent amount of a buff duration flat without having to run into and stay standing in the symbol to get the maximum amount because I'm sorry that is both completely counter intuitive and counterproductive.Most of the arguments countering this idea seem to be implying that in each game format(pve, pvp, or wvw) that there is only one correct way to play a Guardian.I really think all I'm saying here is the same thing any other player of every other class is asking for that they have a little more variety in viable options for their class.