Asking for input on an Idea for a couple traits

[RUNICBLACK.7630]

Granted there is probably a snowballs chance in hell of this amounting to anything but I still like looking at problems and thinking about possible solutions:Here is the idea , there has been comments about increasing the Guardian's health pool to the Middle tier and while I think that is a great Idea I really don't think they will ever do it (I also don't see them giving us an Evade frame really as much as it would be really useful either but more on that later) so I was considering possible alternatives and I have a possible idea. How about as a trait that when you apply multiple stacks of Vulnerability say 3 or 4, you then also apply Weakness for 6 seconds with a ICD of 10 seconds on reapplying to the original target(s) and the target would have stay at the 3 or 4 stacks of Vulnerability or the Weakness comes off, while this doesn't give us the extra health it would give us the ability to lower the damage we are taking particularly when it is successfully applied to multiple opponents possibly through Symbolic Exposure etc...A possible alternative to the requested Evade frame on Wings of Resolve might be a AoE Blind immediately upon it being triggered so this might allow it to avoid the interrupts from those close in opponents while still allowing the ranged attacks the ability to interrupt, just a thoughtI'm not sure on how or where these ideas could get implemented but I'm interested in any feedback.

[otto.5684]

I do not think the weakness is a resolution. There are 3 main builds in sPvP that currently apply weakness:

Scourge, mainly through boon corrupt. Very spamable.Thief, spamable. But not enough. It is a weak crutch, but works well against some classes.Sage FB, where it is a cover condi and typically buried behind a couple of other condis.

Guardian main sources of vulnerability are SoJ (PvE mainly), zeal (especially after last patch, PvE) and DH spear. So, this will be DH, by default. But one proc with 10 sec ICD, which against most enemies will be instant cleanse. I don’t think this will add much. Also, DH sustainability is not an issue. Not the best, but fairly good.

DH is ultra slow in many ways. If it ever to be competitive, this has to be addressed. It also does mediocre damage. Mildly mediocre to be fair.

As for HP pool, this is a complicated topic. And while extra 4K HP would be great for sustainability, the main point would be to allow berserker stats to be usable. Will it happen? Probably not. But that combined with lack of access to +25% movement speed makes guardian dps builds in sPvP uncompetitive.

[Stand The Wall.6987]

weakness is a great solution, but it shouldn't remove itself. that doesn't make any sense.

[RUNICBLACK.7630]

I was just working from a more conservative application of the idea being as everytime the Guardian seems to move to much to the forefront of the Meta in anyway the Nerf bat ( In July we got ONE extra stack of burning to Eternal Armory and tomorrow we are losing it, go figure)has a tendency to come in swinging. But that being said it shouldn't really be self removal, and I also think that there to many other traits that are totally out of line in how they were changed , examples such as Courageous Return going from having a full refresh of Virtue of Courage on a revive to only give 10 seconds off of recharge is an absolute joke when it was only done to offset FB ToC but it ruined it for all of the other versions of the Guardian (Base and DH) when it could have been changed so as to give 30 second offset instead which would have still accomplished limiting effect of FB but still left it being useful to the other versions, than you have Tenacious Defense which for a Grandmaster trait is a total joke which replaced Retributive Armor because gaining 250 Toughness from blocking for 5 srconds is to powerful for a Guardian (but it's ok to give it the Necro so they have the ability to stack up to 600 Toughness (Death's Carapace))so they just changed that so now you get ONE SECOND! reduced off of your Courage refresh for everytime your Aegis blocks. No I honestly I don't normally go off on a rant about this but this is foolishness how they constantly keep peeling away options from certain classes by over reactioning on the reductions and then go in the total other direction with other classes honestly look at Warrior with bonuses from Warrior's Cunning they just creating more "One Shot One Kill" monsters add to that the healing from the other traits they are going to have to do something foolishness like they did when they over powered the Scrapper and shortly there after they hit them with the -300 Vitality trait which to me is very poor design.Sorry for the RANT.

[Arken.3725]

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.

[otto.5684]

Between the main classes that I play, guardian has the most useless amount of traits and skills. What holds guardian together in PvE is the ridiculous damage multiplyers, massive AOE damage and burst for both condi FB and power DH. But none of this translate at all in PvP.

Take DH. Damage comes from a combo of the spear+10% damage to cripple + 20% damage to tethered targets. Works amazingly well in PvE. PvP? You will not be able to maintain cripple at all. The damage to tethered targets, requires landing the spear, which is highly unreliable in PvP. As a result, DH in PvP is regulated to tether, pull to trap then LB3. Game play design that is not very reliable and easy to counter by skilled players.

After last patch changes, zeal suffers from the same problem as DH. Highly unreliable damage modifiers, that do not translate at all in PvP. And reliable damage offered by radiance is continuously getting nerfed. As a result core guardian is completely out of contention in PvP as we currently stand, since the reliable damage offered by radiance is mostly gone.

In addition, Anet, for some mysterious reason, is hell bent on making guardian trait lines single purpose. Radiance and zeal, all damage and no sustain. Honor, valor and virtues, all sustain and no damage (unscathed contend does not count, since it is offline 99% of the time). Considering the low HP and lack of mobility, playing a full dps build in PvP is impossible. The other option is to play full support build. This is why FB support is the only PvP viable build (plus sage FB, which FB support with less support and more damage). Compare this with warrior, which in my opinion, is one of the best balanced and versatile classes in PvP right now. Multiple trait lines offering both offense and defensive capabilities. Both Strength and discipline lines, offer significant sustain options while being primarily offensive lines.

Then we have mobility issues. This is just a vestige of 2012 design that makes zero sense in 2019. This is more of Anet being stuck thematically that guardian is slow but able to heal and avoid damage through blocking damage. Which is completely false unless.... you guessed it, play FB support.

While this balance patch (10/1/19) is a complete failure, it is light and has little impact. However, last balance patch, was an attempt from Anet to shuffle things, and it had no goal or perspective, and thus did more harm than good. Which seems to be a trend of all these Anet attempts to shuffle things for various classes/builds. Not sure why. My theory is that Anet had major shuffle in the balance devs around fall of last year. And the team lacks the competence.

[Arken.3725]

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.