Suggestions for Firebrand, and Base Guardian Support.

[Kam.4092]

I wanted to make suggestions based with the thought of how they would impact all game makes, and hopefully break none. A very common thing I always see with every suggestions thread for class balance, is a bunch of buffs that would break PvP and WvW. When you buff a class for one game mode, you need to always be cautious. I had a few rework ideas involving Staff, Traits, and Skills. I'll be explaining reasons behind why said buff would help, and if there would need to be trade offs for a buff. I would like feedback over any of these ideas, you can reply, and provide your own ideas.

Currently support Firebrand is being used, and offers great defensive support, but needs buffs in the offensive support area. Currently it is restricted to using Altruism Runes that destroy all ideas of alternative Runes, like Runes of the Firebrand, Monk, Water, and others. It can gear for main healer though, which allows Monk Runes, and Magi's gear mixed with Harrier's.

I wanted to start with our Staff. This is a well known weapon for Guardians, because it has its uses in all game modes, but falls into the weak category. I play all game modes, and am experienced with how to use the Guardian's Staff skills set. It has a good support focus with some skills, but then some fall short. I don't really know the reason behind this, but I will post some of my ideas for reworking it, and turning it into a more offensive support weapon. Currently Mace and Shield fill our healing and defensive support set. I think Staff needs to be our offensive support weapon to fill in gaps. It already is to an extent, but it very badly needs to be refined in ways to better its support. Here are my ideas for a staff rework.

1. Orb of Light - Fire an orb of light that damages enemies it passes through, and heals allies for a small amount. This would have Orb of Light changed to an Auto Attack, while making it still hit 5 targets like Wave of Wrath. The orb Radius of passing through enemies and allies would be 300. The healing would be lowered to 60 (0.2), and 900 Range to be a trade off for changes. This change would lessen the loss of healing from Mace and Shield when swapping, but not make it used over Mace and Shield.
2. Wave of Wrath - Send out a shock wave that damages enemies, and grants Light Aura. Recharge is 10 seconds.
3. Symbol of Swiftness - This stays the same.
4. Empower - Channel healing and Might to your allies. Lower the healing, but give 6 stacks instead of 4 to fill in for the lack of Might generation. The lower healing would be a trade off for Orb of Light's spammable healing.
5. Line of Warding - Create a line in front of you that foes cannot cross for 5 seconds. Extra function. Burst of Light - send out light that blinds enemies in the area, and grants Fury to allies. (The duration can be whatever)

My goal was to suggest changes to staff that would not affect any game mode negatively. I just wanted more offensive support added to Staff. We already have Mace and Shield giving a high amount of defensive support, and healing. Staff should be our offensive support weapon, with weaker healing to keep Mace and Shield our healing and defensive weapons.

Another weapon I think that just needs a minor change is mace. Here is the suggestion.

Faithful Strike - Increase the healing Radius to 320. A way to make healing more reliable when allies have to spread out.

Ok onto suggestions for some skills that I think need to be changed to add more versatility into the Guardian utilities. The main skills that I think need to have minor changes are Spirit Weapons. These are ok at the moment, but need some small adjustments to make the lesser used ones more useful. There are some other skills that need some minor changes too. Here are the suggestions.

1. Hammer of Wisdom - This is ok as it is, but lower the Knockdown to 1 second, lower the count recharge to 20 seconds, and add 4 Might stacks to the attack. This would fill in might gaps that prevent Guardian from maintaining a constant 25 might stacks. Wisdom is in the name, so I think it makes sense for this skill to give Might on use.2.Sword of Justive - Keep this the same, but add Fury on use.
2. Bow of Truth - Keep this the same, but have it remove 1 Condition on the final arrow.
3. Shield of the Avenger - Keep this the same, but add Blind to the explosion. The skill description mentions shards, and I think it makes sense to add Blind.

All Mantras need a Radius increase to 600.

Bane Signet - Lower the Knockdown to 2 seconds, but reduce the recharge to 20 seconds. This would buff Perfect Inscriptions a bit, for more offensive support.

I wanted the Spirit Weapon changes to not be overkill, but add some minor utility to have more options.

The next part will be Traits. I think a few Traits need some changes to better support. We have several Traits that make no sense, and give little, like Weighty Terms for Firebrand. This Trait needs a rework. Here are the Trait suggestions.

Weighty Terms. Renamed to Empowered Mantras. Mantras gain reduced recharge time, remove the Immobolize on the final charge, and add Alacrity to the first charges of each Mantra. Alacrity is a buff needing to be spread to other support Trait trees. It restricts Guardian's potential.

Perfect Inscriptions. Keep this the same, but increase the affected allies to 10 instead of 5.

Liberator's Vow. Increase the Range to 600.

Empowering Might. Remove the internal cooldown on this Trait.

These are my suggestions. They were ideas I had that I think wouldn't affect WvW and PvP negatively, but I may be wrong. I hope some of these may be considered by devs.