Orion
Lead Designer
We are getting closer to our first Bullroarer. No, this thread is not to tell you when that is. We have a lot going on and the timing has been a little difficult to nail down, but we are starting to move toward Bullroarer. As a primer, I wanted to provide an update on where the early testing is shaking out and what the first Bullroarer will likely look like.
We're going to want you to play at all levels for the Guardian, mostly because the changes to statistics is going to have an impact all throughout the game, and while we have been testing at the top levels, lower levels, and mid levels our eyes are not as good as all of your eyes and fingers hammering on the changes. So that is the first part of this.
The next part is the expectation for the class refresh. A ton of work has gone into the Guardian refresh and there have been some significant changes and ideas bandied about to really make the class shine. Here are the latest changes we expect to be part of the Bullroarer. The Bullroarer release notes will have much greatter detail around what is actually built into the release. This is only a primer.
Role: The true Tanking build, using both AoE and single-target taunts. The primary focus in protection and survival.
Innate Bonus: Your shield skills have a 25% chance to apply a fortification effect that increases your mitigations by 1%. This effect may stack up to five times.
Some other important changes:
Turn the Tables:
The skill no longer requires you to be immobilized to use.
Skill is now a 45 degree front arc with a 6m base range affecting 3 targets.
The cooldown of the skill increases to a base 75s.
Role: Focuses on dealing damage. Skills have a high base damage, bleeds and powerful finishing skills.
Innate Bonus: Healing reduced by 50%, Retaliation and Whirling Retaliation become Breach and Whirling Breach; these skill allow the use of Parry and Block response chains. Parry and Block response skills deal 15% more damage.
Earn the skill Overwhlem
Role: Though the guardian cannot specialize in The Fighter of Shadow, it supports itself and allies with debuffs and modifiers to strengthen its ability to sustain damage and threat against all enemies.
This is the plan. Not everything is in and ready yet, but we are hoping that for the first Bullroarer everything will be very close to this for testing.
We're going to want you to play at all levels for the Guardian, mostly because the changes to statistics is going to have an impact all throughout the game, and while we have been testing at the top levels, lower levels, and mid levels our eyes are not as good as all of your eyes and fingers hammering on the changes. So that is the first part of this.
The next part is the expectation for the class refresh. A ton of work has gone into the Guardian refresh and there have been some significant changes and ideas bandied about to really make the class shine. Here are the latest changes we expect to be part of the Bullroarer. The Bullroarer release notes will have much greatter detail around what is actually built into the release. This is only a primer.
The Defender of the Free
Descriptor: Uses mitigations and defence to protect allies.Role: The true Tanking build, using both AoE and single-target taunts. The primary focus in protection and survival.
Innate Bonus: Your shield skills have a 25% chance to apply a fortification effect that increases your mitigations by 1%. This effect may stack up to five times.
| The Defender of the Free | ||||
| Relentless Assault 5 Ranks 5%/tier for the skill Sting to apply a Level-based Finesse Boost | Tireless Defender 3 Ranks Guardian’s Ward reduces power costs by 10%/tier while active | Guardian’s Ward: Tactics 5 Ranks Level-based Tactical Mitigation Bonus per tier | ||
| Guardian’s Defence +10% Armour +10 Critical Defence +2.5% Block Points +2.5% to Partial Block -25% Shield Wear when Blocking | Guardian’s Pledge Grants skill Guardian’s Pledge | Bellow 5 ranks +20% Challenge and Fray the Edge Range -5s Challenge cooldown per rank | ||
| Adaptability -1% Incoming Damage from all Sources | Shield-smash Grants the skill Shield-smash | Reversal 5 ranks -4s Turn the Tables Cooldown/rank +4s Combat State Immunity | Smashing Stab Earns the Skill Smashing-stab | |
| Protection by the Shield Grants the Skill Protection by the Shield Protection by the Shield -3% incoming Damage to Fellowship and Raid members within 20m | Follow Through 3 ranks Requires Shield-smash Increase targets 3,5,7 | Shield Wall: Grants the Skill Shield Wall | Shield of Light 5 ranks Ranks 1-5 .5%/incoming damage reduction to Protection by the Shield/rank +3% perceived threat/rank Rank 1 +1 Max target on Shield-taunt Rank 3 +2 Max Target on Shield-taunt Rank 5 +3 Max target on Shield-taunt | |
| Challenge the Darkness +3 Challenge targets | Shield Spikes 5 ranks +2% Crit Chat with Shields/rank +240s Duration to Shield Spikes/rank (This may swap with Challenge the Darkness, or modify Adaptability) | High-spirited 5 ranks +1 incoming healing mod/rank | Disorientation 5 ranks 5% chance/rank for Shield-smash and Shield-blow to apply a crit defence debuff of 5% | |
| Strengthen the Bulwark Fortification Enhancement | Warrior’s Fortitude 1 Rank +1% Physical Mit +1% Incoming Healing +1% Block Chance +1.25% Partial Block | Stoic 6 ranks +20% chance for Warrior's Heart to apply damage bubble/rank Rank 6 Increases Bubble potency | ||
| Bolstering Blocks Block restore morale | Juggernaut Grants Skill: Juggernaut | Break Ranks Shield-taunt cashes out Forts for 30% group damage buff for 15s | ||
| Shield the People +25% that Shields apply Fortification Buffs |
Some other important changes:
Turn the Tables:
The skill no longer requires you to be immobilized to use.
Skill is now a 45 degree front arc with a 6m base range affecting 3 targets.
The cooldown of the skill increases to a base 75s.
The Keen Blade
Descriptor: Uses bleeds and High-damage attacks to defeat foesRole: Focuses on dealing damage. Skills have a high base damage, bleeds and powerful finishing skills.
Innate Bonus: Healing reduced by 50%, Retaliation and Whirling Retaliation become Breach and Whirling Breach; these skill allow the use of Parry and Block response chains. Parry and Block response skills deal 15% more damage.
Earn the skill Overwhlem
| The Keen Blade | ||||
| Thrill of Battle 5 Ranks Each Rank applies a +1% chance to critically strike with skills. This effect stacks up to 5 times and is removed when you score a critical strike. | Heavy Weapons Training 5 ranks +1% Skill Damage/tier +1% Damage to Two-handed Weapons/tier | |||
| Valorous Strength +10% Melee Damage +10% Critcal Damage | Broad Strokes 2 ranks 50% chance/rank for Sweeping Cut to apply a bleed to targets +1 Sweeping Cut Target/rank | Thrust Earns the skill: Thrust | ||
| Bleed Them Dry Increases Bleed Potency of all Guardian Bleeds Increases Bleed Pulse Counts by 2 | Brutal Assault Earns the skill: Brutal Assault | Tireless Blows 5 ranks – requires Brutal Assault +10%/rank for Parry and Block Response skills to reset Brutal Assault Cooldown | Invigourating Response 4 ranks Critical hits with Parry and Block response skills restore 1% power per rank | |
| Protection by the Sword Grants the Skill: Protection by the Sword Protection by the Sword Aura - Fellowship and Raid Members who Parry or block an attack provide the Guardian with a combat response. +3% Melee Damage Bonus | Deeper Wounds 5 ranks – req. Thrust +1 Increase to Deep Wound Pulses +3% Increase damage of Deep Wound and Terrible Wounds per rank | To the King Earns the skill: To the King | ||
| Battle-fury Grants the Skill: Battle-fury Battle-fury +20% Melee Damage +20% Critical Melee Damage for 20s Cooldown 2m | Haemorrhage 5 ranks – req Brutal Assault +20% chance for Brutal Assault to cause a bleed on your target per rank +3% for all bleed damage/rank | Into the Fray 6 ranks Ranks 1-6 +2% Charge run speed/rank +1 Charge duration/rank Rank 6 Your next melee attack automatically crits | ||
| Brutal Charge Charge becomes Brutal Charge +5s Charge Duration and Melee Skills attempt knockdown | Warrior’s Advantage Ranks 1 +Level-based Physical Mastery +1% Melee Crit Change +1% Parry Chance +1.5% Partial Parry Chance | Blind Rage 5 ranks +20% Chance that To the King will increase your melee damage by 10% and your attack speed by 20% per rank | ||
| Heavy Blows +5% Melee Damage +10% Crit Damage | Hammer Down Earns the skill: Hammer Down | Rupture 5 ranks – requires Hammer Down Successful hits with Hammer Down remove all current bleeds and increases incoming damage on the target by 2% for each bleed removed. /rank Adds a short cycle heavy bleed on the target. | ||
| Prey on the Weak Successful attacks against an opponent suffering from bleeds will inflict instant bonus Damage |
The Fighter of Shadow
Descriptor: Augments Defender of the Free and Keen Blade with tools to enhance defense, damage, and utility.Role: Though the guardian cannot specialize in The Fighter of Shadow, it supports itself and allies with debuffs and modifiers to strengthen its ability to sustain damage and threat against all enemies.
| The Fighter of Shadow | ||||
| Force Opening Earns the skill: Force Opening | Insult to Injury 5 ranks – req Bastion of Light +3% chance on hit to renew all debuffs on the target / rank | Bastion of Light Earns the skill: Bastion of Light Bastion of Light creates a 9m hotspot beneath the Guardian. All enemies within the hotspot have their miss chance increased by 5% and are susceptible to spreading debuffs to nearby enemies | Defensive Expert 5 ranks +1% Block Chance +1% Parry Chance Per rank | |
| Light-touched - 5 Ranks You can Block with Two-handed Weapons +.5% Melee Damage bonus/rank +.5% Incoming Healing/rank | War-chant Earns the Skill: War-chant | Radiate 3 ranks – requires Bastion of Light Increases the range of Bastion of Light by 3m per rank +10% chance/rank to spread debuffs to targets within Bastion of Light | Numbed Senses 3 Ranks Ignore Pain removes +1 debuff per rank | |
| Tenderize 5 ranks Per Rank: Parrying, Blocking, or Evading attacks provides a +Level-based bonus to Crit Rating Expires if out of combat for 9s (I am considering that this might change to a Mastery buff) | Thrill of Danger Earns the Skill: Thrill of Danger | Bolster 5 ranks Blocking attacks increase Crit defence and stacks up to five times Rank 1: 100% Efficacy to Critical Defence from Bolster Stacks Ranks 2-5: +50% Efficacy to Critical Defence from Bolster Stacks | ||
| Disabling Strikes Non-damaging Debuffs magnitude increased -12.5% run speed 7.5% Attack Speed -2.5% Outgoing Damage +2.5% Miss chance -2.5% Crit Defence Rating | Demoralizing Anthem 5 ranks – req War-chant +20% War-chant range per rank -1s Response skill cooldown per Rank +1 War-chant targets per rank | Redirect Earns the skill: Redirect | ||
| Flash of Light - req Bastion of Light Bastion of Light now deals light damage to affected targets. Bastion of Light Duration increased by 5s | Bring on the Pain 5 ranks Thrill of Danger allows you to restore .5% of your morale every time you are hit for the next 10 seconds per rank | |||
| Strong Bursts – 6 ranks +2% Area Effect Attack Damage per rank +20% at rank 6 | Protected by the Light Allies affected by Protection by the Shield gain a 2% bonus to incoming healing Allies affected by Protection by the Sword now deal some damage back to their attackers | Manifested Ire Enemies are snared if they fail to continue attacking the Guardian after their use of damaging abilities. | Vicious Rebuttal 5 ranks – req Redirect +5% Damage Absorb and Reflect per rank | |
| Warrior’s Guile +Level-based Critical Defence +1% Tactical Mitigation +1% Evade Chance +1.5% Partial Evade Chance (Considering replacing Crit Defence with Finesse) | Singular Focus Scoring a Critical Hit with a Parry or Block response skill against a target within Bastion of Light lower their armour rating. This debuff cannot be refreshed. Cooldown 30s | Cataclysmic Shout Earns the Skill Cataclysmic Shout Cataclysmic Shout Range 7m (360 deg) Max Targets 5 Applies the following debuffs to targets: -25% run Speed +20% Attack Duration -5% Outgoing Damage -5% Crit Defence +5% Miss Chance (Modified by Disabling Strikes) Applies the following Bleeds to Targets: Slashing Wound Deep Wound Terrible Wound (Modified by all Bleed enhancing traits/abilities) Cooldown 120s (This will likely need to be toned down a bit) |
This is the plan. Not everything is in and ready yet, but we are hoping that for the first Bullroarer everything will be very close to this for testing.
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