Registered Member #23932
Joined: 1:14:58 am GMT 05/12/15
Posts: 408
To be fair, Amber, a big part of why shield isn't necessarily the best option for defensive builds is because GW2 was designed with the idea of not having to deal with the Holy Trinity of MMOs (tank, healer, DPS). The shield doesn't provide significant defensive boosts more than, say, a torch, warhorn, or focus, specifically because if it did, it would quickly be the best off-hand item for defensive purposes, rather than just being an option.
That said, I totally understand the frustration. The warrior class can make better use of pretty much anything available to them, and their new weapon granted by the expansion happens to be yet another off-hand item, further reducing the point of the shield for them. That combined with the lackluster shield abilities means I have used a shield on my level 80 warrior probably twice during the entire time I was leveling him up, and then only to confirm my suspicions that it's terrible.
But on the other hand, I actually really enjoy the shield spells for the Guardian. Sure, the wave thing isn't terribly useful in a class that's supposed to be about protecting allies and being the closest in-built thing to a tank in the game, but during boss fights where standing in the fire for two seconds because you messed up your dodge roll means you're going to be dead for quite some time, even having the chance to deflect incoming damage is very nice, and many of the events in the new areas require you to capture and hold campsites, which get attacked by plantzombies every 40 minutes. Some of those plantzombies do pretty hefty ranged damage, and the dome protects all allies inside from that damage for 5 seconds or so, which is great when you just need a momentary breather to heal up or even just take a good look at the situation around you. I tend to run mace/shield for one set, and use a hammer for the other, as the hammer's fifth skill creates a small circle that no enemies can cross into or out of, which is excellent since you can then switch sets and use the bubble if you need to.
Still, I can definitely see why if you want to play iconic type characters, the sword+board setup for GW2 isn't particularly great, but again, to be fair, that's by design. The game designers want to introduce new things to the MMO class pantheon, to give people a wider range of iconic fantasy inspiration.
Registered Member #279
Joined: 4:17:59 pm GMT 09/25/04
Posts: 5460
I can agree that it should not be so good defensively that it clearly outshines the other alternatives, or that it creates a de-facto tank build in a game designed to not have tanks. But their problem goes much further than that, it's just so far behind anything else it's not worth using except for the look & feel. They're three years in, and have had amble time to data mine and tweak the many varied weapon combinations' usages until each is usable, but they haven't. There is a happy medium, and they have not tried to find it; in my opinion that's a significant failure.
There's another issue for me, and which is not limited to Gw2. In games that do have a trinity set-up, I often end up playing the "tank" classes. I play them because they follow one of my iconic preferences -- but not because I want to tank. I'll pick one of these classes, try to shore up what it lacks in damage potential, and end up using skills, powers, and etc., that aren't considered good tanking abilities. And then when I get pushed into groups, and they want me to tank, I tell them to find another tank. "Okay, first use your taunt, and then spam this other skill to keep their attention," and they hear from me "I didn't take the taunt power, and I don't like using that skill, it looks stupid." And then eventually, "Well, you have to tank or we can't do this encounter!" to which I reply, "Then I'm out, good luck finding a tank." Yeah, I play these games solo a lot.
One of the things Gw2 did right, which I'll re-emphasize here, because it is a really strong positive for them, is that the open world content is set up so that no one character's presence or sub-optimal build can really swing it from victory to failure. Everyone doesn't have to have top-tier gear, there doesn't have to be a specific mix of dps/healers/etc, a few people can show up in the middle, or leave half way through, and it's not a catastrophe. When I think about it, it's a big plus, and probably why I keep playing.
Forum Admin Registered Member #623
Joined: 6:43:48 am GMT 10/01/05
Posts: 4996
GW2 Recently had a new expansion: Path of Fire.
I've recently started it in and caught up on the living story. The last expansion was kind of a let down and he developers have long spoken to the playerbase on their failures with it, so I'm very pleased to see a real return to the roots of what made GW2 so good in the first place. Been enjoying POF a considerable amount.
[ The Island of Thain ]
Guild Wars 2
