Phoenix Protocol should not force displacement for Alacrity application

[phandaria.4891]

Problem 

1. Willbender applying Alacrity requires moving away from melee range, whereas the 2nd part of the Alacrity requires Willbender to hit enemies, which means to efficiently apply Alacrity we need to move back to melee range (mostly by leap or shadowstep).

2. Willbender applying Alacrity to group requires Battle Presence, which means Alac Willbender already locked for 2 trait line.

3. Phoenix Protocol removes the healing element from Flowing Resolve, which reduces the healing potential for Heal Alac Willbender.

Solution

1. Phoenix Protocol removes the moving effect, instead of healing effect from Flowing Resolve. Make the evade works like Mirage dodge.

1. Phoenix Protocol changes the Flowing Resolve movement type to area targeted teleport (without animation delay like F3). Player can teleport away or to current location with the changes. (Possible change)

2. Phoenix Protocol makes Flowing Resolve active ability heals and apply Alacrity in an area around Willbender instead of self. (Does not require Battle Presence)

3. Phoenix Protocol makes Flowing Resolve passive ability heals and apply Alacrity on hit in an area around Willbender instead of self. (Does not require Battle Presence)

4. Change the Phoenix Protocol/Flowing Resolve heal scaling to help Heal Alac Willbender current awful healing.

 

This will help the flow for Alac DPS/Heal Alac Willbender much better than the current version, instead of being forced to move around and use leap/shadowstep to move back to the group. It will also give Alac Willbender the flexibility for trait lines. 

--------------------------------

EDIT FOR DISCLAIMER

I want to make my stance clear since many people seem to misunderstand. The changes I propose are ONLY for Phoenix Protocol, hence base F2 is not what I discussed at all. The F2 referred here are for the F2 that is affected when selecting the trait Phoenix Protocol and NOT the base F2. This thread is supposed to talk about Phoenix Protocol, not the base Willbender design.

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TL;DR : Change Phoenix Protocol to remove movement, add heal and alac application in an area.

Edited June 25 by phandaria.4891
Edited because suggestion from replies. Other edit for disclaimer

[Aaron Forestman.4758]

Being locked into 2 trait lines to provide alac is annoying, but the rest of this isn't a problem. Willbender is all about constant movement and teleportation, so if needing to move 10 feet away briefly is a problem, you're not responding fast enough. It should immediately be followed with a shadowstep or another dash to get back into position. Heal alac willbender losing the passive ability to heal with every few hits also hardly matters when their symbols pulse healing in a spec that's based around placing symbols as much as possible to rapid fire attack.

[Gaiawolf.8261]

12 minutes ago, Aaron Forestman.4758 said:

Being locked into 2 trait lines to provide alac is annoying, but the rest of this isn't a problem. Willbender is all about constant movement and teleportation, so if needing to move 10 feet away briefly is a problem, you're not responding fast enough. It should immediately be followed with a shadowstep or another dash to get back into position. Heal alac willbender losing the passive ability to heal with every few hits also hardly matters when their symbols pulse healing in a spec that's based around placing symbols as much as possible to rapid fire attack.

I'm fine with reducing Flowing Resolve's movement from 37 feet down to 10 feet when Phoenix Protocol is slotted. Sure, let's do that. 😉

[phandaria.4891]

27 minutes ago, Aaron Forestman.4758 said:

Being locked into 2 trait lines to provide alac is annoying, but the rest of this isn't a problem. Willbender is all about constant movement and teleportation, so if needing to move 10 feet away briefly is a problem, you're not responding fast enough. It should immediately be followed with a shadowstep or another dash to get back into position. Heal alac willbender losing the passive ability to heal with every few hits also hardly matters when their symbols pulse healing in a spec that's based around placing symbols as much as possible to rapid fire attack.

Still, being forced to move away from the group is extremely unsynergystic for Support type of play.

Another solution is to change F2 into a Shadowstep (similar to F3). In which case the players have the option to shadowstep away or shadowstep to current location (i.e. not moving).

Edited June 11 by phandaria.4891

[Supernova Starr.2069]

Only real issue with adps Willbender is Battle Presence necessity, if you're positioning yourself right, the F2 movement shouldn't be a problem.

Regard willbender healing spec: don't, guardian lacks a consistent weapon to make this build work, although spear seems a mele support weapon that could change that

Edited June 11 by Supernova Starr.2069

[Kuya.6495]

I personally prefer they just make it so Phoenix protocol makes ALL your "passive" virtue effects give alac and not just the f2 passive (but keep the alac on the f2 active) and unlink battle presence so condi alac wb can be a thing.

Do that and I'm happy 

Edited June 11 by Kuya.6495

[Sobx.1758]

You don't need to move yourself away from the group, you can move yourself across the group. Position and aim your skills better. The range of alac application is bigger than the range of movement too. And even if you choose to move away, there's more than one exetremely easy way to move right back in as a wb.

[phandaria.4891]

Please stop with the L2P excuses. My point is Willbender Alac application forced movement really limits the usage of Willbender Alac in different scenarios. There are many situations whereby strikes/raids/etc are placed in small platforms or death zones that really limits the area you wanna be in. The option is either you move out and take the hit; or pause F2 hence your alacrity application will fall off.

Currently, Alac Willbender is a janky/niche build at best and sub-optimal in many scenarios. The main reason is forced movement and the fact that it has to hit a target for passive application. I find the forced movement really backwards in nature and detrimental for group play.

And just comparing the F1-F3.

F1 - If you are in front of the enemy, the F1 will not move you anywhere.

F2- You have to move away from current position in any 360 degrees direction.

F3- You can target your current position and not move anywhere.

Compared to all the movement, F2 the Alac applicator, forces the Willbender to move away if he is in melee position with the enemy. The design is absurd when you want to stick close to the enemy/group. If you add the boss mechanics, the forced movement itself may end up punishing you. To me this is a bad design.

[Saiyan.1704]

12 hours ago, Kuya.6495 said:

I personally prefer they just make it so Phoenix protocol makes ALL your "passive" virtue effects give alac and not just the f2 passive (but keep the alac on the f2 active) and unlink battle presence so condi alac wb can be a thing.

Do that and I'm happy 

F2 is meant to evade and get away, but do try to land all your hits so that you can gain alacrity or healing... but also evade and get away with F2.

I really dislike how Willbender Flames is just a worse version of symbols, damage wise and radius wise... but it's also one of the things we're reliant on landing just so our virtues can proc more. It always felt like a random SFX for me. Let me lay this very thin F2 line across, knowing the flames itself is not going to hit anything that moves out of the way.

[Sobx.1758]

None of these are "excuses", they're explanations about you possibly failing to utilize the skillset of the espec. It's not a "bad design", it's just you disliking something. Either adapt or look for something more in line with your playstyle patterns of choice, there's plenty of those between the especs, builds and the available classes. F2 isn't problematic -for the reasons already explained- and adps wb is easly fine. I can see how aheal wb is more problematic, but that's also more related to the available weapon choices and the need to hit the target in order to generate the alac. Either way, that's still in line with the desired gameplay pattern of wb and I don't see a good reason to change how the adps plays.

And no, there's basically no situations in raids/strikes where you can't utilize it correctly.

Edited June 12 by Sobx.1758

[Gaiawolf.8261]

7 hours ago, Saiyan.1704 said:

F2 is meant to evade and get away, but do try to land all your hits so that you can gain alacrity or healing... but also evade and get away with F2.

This is really the crux of the problem right here. F2 is a skill designed for movement to be followed up with healing. Phoenix Protocol + Battle Presence is designed to share boons with nearby allies. These 2 functions are generally not complimentary. They contradict Anet's own design philosophy for Purity of Purpose among skills.

It has nothing to do with a skill issue or difficulty of play. That part is fine. It's just bad design for skills to do too many things at once, especially when those things don't create an advantageous synergy. If fact, they work against it because of the boonball meta. At that point it's just difficulty for the sake of being more difficult or a pretense of "interesting" at the cost of functional skill purity.

Edited June 12 by Gaiawolf.8261
Clarity/spelling

[phandaria.4891]

23 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

None of these are "excuses", they're explanations about you possibly failing to utilize the skillset of the espec. It's not a "bad design", it's just you disliking something. Either adapt or look for something more in line with your playstyle patterns of choice, there's plenty of those between the especs, builds and the available classes. F2 isn't problematic -for the reasons already explained- and adps wb is easly fine. I can see how aheal wb is more problematic, but that's also more related to the available weapon choices and the need to hit the target in order to generate the alac. Either way, that's still in line with the desired gameplay pattern of wb and I don't see a good reason to change how the adps plays.

And no, there's basically no situations in raids/strikes where you can't utilize it correctly.

When the whole game is about positioning and stacking to be effective, it is difficult to say that this is me being disliking Willbender skillset. DPS Willbender have no issue, since the F1&F3 have no positional drawback and F2 used as utility.

Whereas Alac Willbender requires F2 to be used extensively on cooldown to maintain Alacrity, no matter the situation, whether forced movement going to impact you negatively or not. And even if you can manage your mechanics, your team will hate you if you have green circle on you and you zig zag around; you can't do heal tanking in raids. This without even going to the issue that you need to hit enemies for Alac passive. In which world it is a good design to move away and then requires you to hit the enemy? It only adds the unnecessary requirement for you to leap back just to be remotely effective. What if you are slowed? What if your leap skills are on cooldown? The current design requires players to play Alac Willbender perfectly to simply compete with other Alac providers.

I am not the only one with this sentiment, if you see any guides/youtube videos, forced movement is always listed as drawback for Alac Willbenders.

There are other solution that can be done, without taking away Willbender's current flexibility, I have changed my original post to reflect this. Below are additional solutions to explore:

1. Make the F2 arrow extendable from 1-450 range instead of current fixed 450 range with Phoenix Protocol Trait.

2. Change F2 into ground target teleport ability with Phoenix Protocol Trait.

3. Move Alac application to another function, instead of F2.

If you have any suggestions that can improve Willbender without changing your preferred type of play, it would be a much better discussion rather than telling people to adapt. Do we need to adapt to take Virtues trait line for Battle Presence? Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that, just adapt, right?

Phoenix Protocol is a lot weaker than other Alac defining traits of other specs. It is a bad design, compared to other Alac traits. We should push for the improvement instead of just adapting to it; instead of telling people to adapt or play other specs. 

Edited June 13 by phandaria.4891

[draxynnic.3719]

One thing to keep in mind is that alacbender wasn't really something that was originally intended. It happened because people looked at Phoenix Protocol and Battle Presence and went "hey, shouldn't that logically work like this...?" and the devs went "sure, why not?"

On 6/12/2024 at 12:36 AM, Supernova Starr.2069 said:

Only real issue with adps Willbender is Battle Presence necessity, if you're positioning yourself right, the F2 movement shouldn't be a problem.

Regard willbender healing spec: don't, guardian lacks a consistent weapon to make this build work, although spear seems a mele support weapon that could change that

Hammer works pretty well in a lot of content, or so I'm told, although it doesn't have the spike healing most other healing builds have.

[Supernova Starr.2069]

8 minutes ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

One thing to keep in mind is that alacbender wasn't really something that was originally intended. It happened because people looked at Phoenix Protocol and Battle Presence and went "hey, shouldn't that logically work like this...?" and the devs went "sure, why not?"

Are you implying devs don't know to balance the synergy inbetween elite especs and core traits?

9 minutes ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Hammer works pretty well in a lot of content, or so I'm told, although it doesn't have the spike healing most other healing builds have.

"Works pretty well" is subjective since there will be a lot of button smash for healing output others builds do it with minimum effort, uptime on boons most supports put out just by farting is also an issue.

[Supernova Starr.2069]

49 minutes ago, phandaria.4891 said:

Whereas Alac Willbender requires F2 to be used extensively on cooldown to maintain Alacrity, no matter the situation, whether forced movement going to impact you negatively or not. And even if you can manage your mechanics, your team will hate you if you have green circle on you and you zig zag around;

A way to work this issue out is using F2 only when you have both stacks, as in you use the first one to run whatever direction, and the second to reposition yourself back, if you're landing enough hits with decent boon duration you'll have a real nice uptime on top having a better window to provide alac.

 

54 minutes ago, phandaria.4891 said:

1. Make the F2 arrow extendable from 1-450 range instead of current fixed 450 range with Phoenix Protocol Trait.

It's odd that F2 have a red circle in it's icon but you're forced to run all of it's range, I agree with this one.

 

58 minutes ago, phandaria.4891 said:

Phoenix Protocol is a lot weaker than other Alac defining traits of other specs. It is a bad design, compared to other Alac traits.

Phoenix Protocol providing alac without the need of Battle Presence would be a nice touch

[draxynnic.3719]

1 hour ago, Supernova Starr.2069 said:

Are you implying devs don't know to balance the synergy inbetween elite especs and core traits?

I'm saying that it wasn't actually planned out, it's just something that happened, and that might explain why it, well, feels like something that's jury-rigged out of disparate parts all doing their own thing that happens to have a certain result rather than having been designed as an alacrity provider. After all, willbender was originally supposed to be the really selfish guardian elite spec.

1 hour ago, Supernova Starr.2069 said:

"Works pretty well" is subjective since there will be a lot of button smash for healing output others builds do it with minimum effort, uptime on boons most supports put out just by farting is also an issue.

That doesn't fit what I've heard, mostly because the hammer itself is doing most of what it's doing primarily through autoattacks, and using skill 2 in order to get back into combat after an F2 (or to trigger Karakosa). What I've heard is that it's one of the easier heal builds to learn, the problem is that it can't heal as much as most so it falls off in fights where you really do want all the healing you can get.

[Sobx.1758]

2 hours ago, phandaria.4891 said:

When the whole game is about positioning and stacking to be effective, it is difficult to say that this is me being disliking Willbender skillset. DPS Willbender have no issue, since the F1&F3 have no positional drawback and F2 used as utility.

That's right, the game is about positioning and it includes your positioning while playing willbender as well as correctly targetting your skills, which includes the targetable movement skill. It has everything to do with you just disliking the skillset and I already explained what you should be doing with it. I didn't see you directly address that, so I'm not sure if there was something unclear about it, did you accidentally skip over it or are you intentionally disregarding it because it doesn't fit the change you want to see. Am I supposed to repeat it (and I'm not being sarcastic at any point here)? Position yourself slightly to the side of the group and move f2 across the group, which results in you still being near both the target and the group at the end of the dash. OR use f2 anywhere you want and go back in at your target with one of many gapclosers available to wb, which not only includes the espec mechanics, but also the weapon/utility skillset.

2 hours ago, phandaria.4891 said:

Whereas Alac Willbender requires F2 to be used extensively on cooldown to maintain Alacrity, no matter the situation, whether forced movement going to impact you negatively or not. And even if you can manage your mechanics, your team will hate you if you have green circle on you and you zig zag around; you can't do heal tanking in raids. This without even going to the issue that you need to hit enemies for Alac passive. In which world it is a good design to move away and then requires you to hit the enemy? It only adds the unnecessary requirement for you to leap back just to be remotely effective. What if you are slowed? What if your leap skills are on cooldown? The current design requires players to play Alac Willbender perfectly to simply compete with other Alac providers.

I don't need you to -again- describe what willbender skills do. I'm fully aware of it, I use the build. Instead what I need you to do is start addressing what I'm writing, because as mentioned above, for now I'm not sure if what I'm writing is unclear or if you're just deciding to consistently ignore it because -for example- it's not the response you wanted to get.

The green circle isn't an issue there either, if it is for you, the problem is your postioning/timing. Something you claim you understand the game is about. Go check the ranges on traits and skills we're talking about, there's really quite some space to use. You don't need to keep being glued to the center of your group.

Edited June 13 by Sobx.1758

[Supernova Starr.2069]

3 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

That doesn't fit what I've heard, mostly because the hammer itself is doing most of what it's doing primarily through autoattacks, and using skill 2 in order to get back into combat after an F2 (or to trigger Karakosa). What I've heard is that it's one of the easier heal builds to learn, the problem is that it can't heal as much as most so it falls off in fights where you really do want all the healing you can get.

Yes, it is easy to learn but that does not mean it is efficient by any means for reasons mentioned above. It's a healer that requires your group doing mechanics properly since it's heal uptime is below average.

[phandaria.4891]

19 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

That's right, the game is about positioning and it includes your positioning while playing willbender as well as correctly targetting your skills, which includes the targetable movement skill. It has everything to do with you just disliking the skillset and I already explained what you should be doing with it. I didn't see you directly address that, so I'm not sure if there was something unclear about it, did you accidentally skip over it or are you intentionally disregarding it because it doesn't fit the change you want to see. Am I supposed to repeat it (and I'm not being sarcastic at any point here)? Position yourself slightly to the side of the group and move f2 across the group, which results in you still being near both the target and the group at the end of the dash. OR use f2 anywhere you want and go back in at your target with one of many gapclosers available to wb, which not only includes the espec mechanics, but also the weapon/utility skillset.

I feel that you are the one who disregards my points. The point is Willbender's F2 Alacrity application zig zagging design most often serves no other purpose other than flavour, and could result negatively. Let's give some examples:

Hammer Heal Alac Bender - F2 out then F1 rush back in for example takes away time from AA chain heal from the symbols. Sure not that much, but the Alac application design clashes with the healing application from AA symbol. If Willbender somehow can apply Alac without the need to move out-move in, it will improve the flow and heal potential.

Whisper of Jormag Chain - An example of boss mechanic where you don't want to zig zag around for any reason.

No other Alac provider have this negative synergy design with other mechanics of the game. The result, Alac Willbender is subpar to other Alac provider.

20 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

I don't need you to -again- describe what willbender skills do. I'm fully aware of it, I use the build. Instead what I need you to do is start addressing what I'm writing, because as mentioned above, for now I'm not sure if what I'm writing is unclear or if you're just deciding to consistently ignore it because -for example- it's not the response you wanted to get.

The green circle isn't an issue there either, if it is for you, the problem is your postioning/timing. Something you claim you understand the game is about. Go check the ranges on traits and skills we're talking about, there's really quite some space to use. You don't need to keep being glued to the center of your group.

Again, please stop with this isn't for you, L2P or dislike conversation that you keep bringing up. Yes, I know 450 range of F2 movement and 600 range of alacrity. Yes, there are many weapon skills, F1 and F3 to bring you back to original position. But it is not effective, often interfere with other mechanics and subpar compared to other Alac applicators. This is what makes it a bad design.

Back again to you, you keep ignoring my statement about how Phoenix Protocol is bad compared to other alac traits/alac provider design. Can you point out how the design is good for the purpose of alac application/support?

There are ways to improve Phoenix Protocol without changing the current gameplay of Willbender.

[phandaria.4891]

Just to be clear, being very mobile is extremely good in many situations. I am not questioning the Willbender design by any means. But the problem lies with the Boon application.

With any Boon specs, the boon button is something you want to press every single time, on cooldown, in any situation to keep the boon uptime as high as possible. The problem with Phoenix Protocol, you want to press the Alac button 100% of the time but you want the 450 dash probably only 20% of the time in group play. The result is inefficient and difficult playstyle. Of course, you can play around it, use the other button in the toolkit to dash back, but it doesn't change the flawed fundamental. Other specs can press the boon button anytime it is available without any additional displacement.

This is by no means to say the dash itself is bad. But the Alac application should not be fixed together with 450 dash. The movement should be a utility that is separate from the boon application.

I want to play Alac Willbender, being very mobile is fun and useful. I can play other Alac specs, but I enjoy the mobility and utility of Willbender. However, this doesn't change the fact that boon application design of Phoenix Protocol is bad.

Edited June 14 by phandaria.4891

[Gaiawolf.8261]

59 minutes ago, phandaria.4891 said:

Just to be clear, being very mobile is extremely good in many situations. I am not questioning the Willbender design by any means. But the problem lies with the Boon application.

With any Boon specs, the boon button is something you want to press every single time, on cooldown, in any situation to keep the boon uptime as high as possible. The problem with Phoenix Protocol, you want to press the Alac button 100% of the time but you want the 450 dash probably only 20% of the time in group play. The result is inefficient and difficult playstyle. Of course, you can play around it, use the other button in the toolkit to dash back, but it doesn't change the flawed fundamental. Other specs can press the boon button anytime it is available without any additional displacement.

This is by no means to say the dash itself is bad. But the Alac application should not be fixed together with 450 dash. The movement should be a utility that is separate from the boon application.

I want to play Alac Willbender, being very mobile is fun and useful. I can play other Alac specs, but I enjoy the mobility and utility of Willbender. However, this doesn't change the fact that boon application design of Phoenix Protocol is bad.

This is pretty much my stance too. Sure you can play around the movement inefficiencies with workarounds, but it feels unnecessary. There is very rarely any benefit to dashing around when you want to share boons and heal people. I can find no reason why I would want to run around like a madman every 15s just to buff or heal other people. It makes no sense! This feels entirely like a "I have to do this to do that" mechanic, rather than two mechanics that work together to provide a mutually beneficial effect.

I want to play willbender for it's mobility and aggressive playstyle, but I shouldn't have to burn my movement skills just to buff or heal my allies on CD. Movement is a situational utility, buffs are a constant utility in this game. I see very little synergy there.

Now that said, I would rather disperse boonballs and the constant 100% boon uptime meta for something more tactical, dynamic, and bursty. The lack of synergism in support willbenders' design would mostly be solved/not much of an issue with either or both of those changes, but that's not the reality of the game right now. Then I could use mobility to apply buffs and healing where and when I need to (a good thing!), instead of wasting otherwise unnecessary buttons and CDs just to pre- or post-position within the static boonball.

Edited June 14 by Gaiawolf.8261

[mirage.8046]

On 6/13/2024 at 7:45 AM, draxynnic.3719 said:

I'm saying that it wasn't actually planned out, it's just something that happened, and that might explain why it, well, feels like something that's jury-rigged out of disparate parts all doing their own thing that happens to have a certain result rather than having been designed as an alacrity provider. After all, willbender was originally supposed to be the really selfish guardian elite spec.

That doesn't fit what I've heard, mostly because the hammer itself is doing most of what it's doing primarily through autoattacks, and using skill 2 in order to get back into combat after an F2 (or to trigger Karakosa). What I've heard is that it's one of the easier heal builds to learn, the problem is that it can't heal as much as most so it falls off in fights where you really do want all the healing you can get.

This. Alac willbender was initially for it and itself only. Eventually the devs decided on group alac willbender being a thing. That's draxynnic's point. Even I know this because I was around during EoD betas. 
This isn't about the devs not knowing how to design elite specs; this is the case of development. Another great example of this: the devs also decided whether Specter should give alacrity or quickness, so they added both options to it in the betas, then after beta 1, they picked alacrity as its special role. Though, ironically, to this day, Endless Night still provides quickness in WvW and PvP, but Shadestep has alacrity in PvE.
 

What's really quirky about willbender is not the alacrity application per hit, but that you're tied to virtues' battle presence trait, regardless of condi, heal, or power roles. F2 has nothing to do with this either. You can work around the mobility. I do feel that alacrity willbender bounces around a lot like alac mirage, so I get the annoyance. You can't tell me that you're not randomly teleporting and creating clones as an alacrity mirage just like alacrity willbender is using f2 virtue to dash and using physical skills. 

At this rate you're better off asking for redesigning Phoenix Protocol because Idk where else alacrity would go and fit so smoothly into the espec.

[Gaiawolf.8261]

31 minutes ago, mirage.8046 said:

At this rate you're better off asking for redesigning Phoenix Protocol because Idk where else alacrity would go and fit so smoothly into the espec.

I was playing around with the idea that Phoenix Protocol could work with F3 instead of F2. This would allow you to GT boon sharing with Courage, which would solve the forced movement problem, but also give willbenders a protection/damage mitigation style of support instead of direct healing, like FF14 sages and scholars.

[Ferus.3165]

13 hours ago, phandaria.4891 said:

Just to be clear, being very mobile is extremely good in many situations. I am not questioning the Willbender design by any means. But the problem lies with the Boon application.

With any Boon specs, the boon button is something you want to press every single time, on cooldown, in any situation to keep the boon uptime as high as possible. The problem with Phoenix Protocol, you want to press the Alac button 100% of the time but you want the 450 dash probably only 20% of the time in group play. The result is inefficient and difficult playstyle. Of course, you can play around it, use the other button in the toolkit to dash back, but it doesn't change the flawed fundamental. Other specs can press the boon button anytime it is available without any additional displacement.

This is by no means to say the dash itself is bad. But the Alac application should not be fixed together with 450 dash. The movement should be a utility that is separate from the boon application.

I want to play Alac Willbender, being very mobile is fun and useful. I can play other Alac specs, but I enjoy the mobility and utility of Willbender. However, this doesn't change the fact that boon application design of Phoenix Protocol is bad.

because the f2 has two charges that is not a problem... you will only be inefficient when you either don't have alac anymore but a charge is up or when both charges are up. As long as both charges are not off cd then you don't have to use the f2 and can wait for whatever animation you are doing atm before you use the f2 again.

[Assassine.1958]

In my opinion: Willbender is a poorly designed spec for PvE in general! It's only useful in competitive modes like PvP/WvW.

Why bringing Willbender, if you could bring:

• Dragonhunter for PowerDPS (OP F3 block free for all, good area healing F2, good dmg + cc)
• Firebrand Quickness (wide range of offensive support, good dmg, can take some optional utilities like Sanctuary, Stability, ... , a bit of group sustain via. F2, F3)
• Firebrand CondiDPS (good dmg, can bring a bit of sustain to the group via. F2, F3 and/or one optional utility skill / Elite Stability-Mantra)

As I said, it's my personal opinion. But there are many better options for the guardian spec to be part in a PvE comb instead of Willbender.

Fine, you can play Willbender on Condi or PowerDPS, but guardian has this option since PoF.

For Willbender being useful in PvE: 

• Take a look at Firebrand Virtue/Tome-Kit -> It is kind of a standalone-kit and it does not matter which other traitlines you are using, except for the passive effects! So redesign Willbender Virtues for more flexibility without the Virtues-traitline.
• Redesign some Physical-Skills + one additional trait for boons or what ever.