Guardian Fighter Armor Changes

Hey all. So I know that there are already plenty of threads devoted to this topic, but what I wanna talk about specifically is possible changes that could be made to Guardian Fighter's PvE armor. The reason why I believe this would be the best way to improve Guardian Fighters is because I understand the need to prevent unfair advantages in PvP, and I believe that is why the developers are so hesitant about bringing this class up to par with the others. Enhancing PvE armor is a simple way to make the class more viable in the place where it is needed most, end game PvE dungeons.

So, I'd like this thread to be dedicated specifically towards suggestions on how to improve PvE end game armor sets. I don't want any suggestions on improving the mechanics, since that would make this and some other threads redundant.

Speaking of which, I agree tanking is not really all that necessary in many dungeons. Kiting is an essential role, but only in some places and also not a role restricted to this particular class. This is why I suggest that the PvE armors offer more options for team support, as a means of expanding the Guardian Fighter's role in the group. I don't subscribe to the notion that Guardian Fighters need to be played a certain way (i.e. as tanks). I understand that the developers want there to be variety and for any dungeon to be feasible with any group composition. Rather than change all the dungeons or modifying all the skills and risk upsetting the balance too far in favor of the Guardian Fighter, I believe that adding special buffs to the armor sets that benefit the party more would be a simple and effective way of expanding the Guardian Fighter's role, without causing any other problems in any other dimensions of play.

So without further ado, here are my personal suggestions:

Tier 1

Knight Captain is already sufficient and does not need a power boost. I believe it should be held as the standard to which other armor sets should be measured.

Valiant Warrior's ability is not bad at all for personal use, creating a virtually permanent 900 point difference between yourself and the opponent. However, in team play this pales in comparison to Knight Captain's benefit. So I would suggest instead, "When you strike a foe you have a 25% chance to reduce their recovery by 600 and increase the recovery of yourself and the players around you by 600." I chose recovery since the other armor sets do not affect this particular stat, and this would still serve the purpose of buffing your own damage relative to your opponent. The bonus would also decrease the cooldown times of all the players around you (by maybe 4-6%, while increasing your enemies' cooldowns by the same amount) in a unique way that Knight Captain cannot offer. Using defense would only made Valiant Warrior seem like an inferior version of Knight Captain.

Stalwart Bulwark's ability really doesn't add anything to yourself or the group. It was obviously designed to be used in situations where there would be a lot of blocking involved, such as against certain bosses. However, because it requires that the user be blocking most of the time and will only allow one power to be boosted, it will add virtually no benefit to the party and barely any benefit to yourself. It increases your DPS during a time period where your DPS is so low that there's no point. That's why I would suggest "When you are blocking, strikes against you generate stacks of Stalwart Bulwark. Your next encounter power deals 100 bonus damage and bonus threat for each stack of Stalwart Bulwark on you. You may have up to 5 stacks. These stacks do not expire until they are expended." This is what the armor was meant to be used for, after all. You're blocking, trying to keep your party safe. You're not generating much aggro while blocking and instead are waiting for a window of opportunity to use something like Enforced Taunt. Fighter's Recovery is up. You activate it, and you pop an AoE which not only gives you more damage and healing than normal, but also more threat so that you can get back some of the aggro you inevitably lost while you were blocking.

Tier 2

Grand Regent is not bad for yourself. But part of the problem is that, as a Guardian Fighter, you will want to soft cap your defense around 3600. That means you cannot gain more than 720 power without compromising your stats. Giving yourself 720 power is nice and all, but it doesn't mean much when Knight Captain gives the team anywhere from 700-2000 power (and some defense to boot) almost permanently, depending on your skill rotation. The theme behind this armor is to increase your abilities by a percentage of your other abilities. So why not follow this theme while also helping the party? That's why I suggest "You increase the total damage of you and your party's powers by 1% of your max hit points." This might not seem like much, but given how much HP you have (between 20-30k), this would add a flat bonus to everyone's strikes of 200-300 points. Think about it. Your cleaves would basically be doing 10-20% more damage, and everyone else would be getting the benefit too. All this damage will add up greatly, but it won't necessarily be overpowered, since actually most of the party's damage comes from the use of encounters, not at-wills. So each encounter will be getting a 3-5% boost at the most. This effect will still be more tangible as far as group performance is concerned than giving yourself a miserly 720 power.

High General has been the subject of an unfortunate controversy. It was believed that an exceptionally powerful Guardian Fighter build could be made by simply stacking this armor set's critical severity effect as much as possible within 8 seconds. Unfortunately this turned out to not be the case, as it turns out this ability has a long internal cooldown. However, even the supposed build wasn't considered overpowered. So, why not actually implement it? My suggestion is "When you land a critical strike you grant all allies +10% critical severity for 8 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times." Obviously I would like to see the internal cooldown removed completely. This would result in an armor set which effectively increases the party's DPS by 5-20% depending on how much critical strike each party member already has. Now of course the problem arises that certain classes may have an advantage over other classes. The classes that'd be at a disadvantage would be the Guardian Fighter itself and possibly the Cleric. However, this is no different than what Knight Captain does. Certain people will benefit more than others. That's a fact. And it will be harder to maintain aggro, which is another fact. That's why High General would not be suitable for certain play styles and builds. But honestly I don't see a problem with that. That's true of any armor set, right?

Timeless Hero has a reputation for being the selfish Guardian Fighter's choice of armor. It is actually not underpowered and is excellent for personal use in solo PvE and even PvP. However, its abilities will inevitable fall flat when all the other armors are being boosted so much. So I have a simple suggestion. "Your Encounter powers grant 450 Critical Strike for 6 seconds. This effect stacks up to 3 times. Half this bonus applies to the entire party." There you go. An effective 5-7% boost to everyone's critical hit, and therefore DPS. Some people might see this as overpowered. But in fact it would only add about that much damage to the party's DPS, again depending on the class members. (People with Perfect Vorpals will obviously enjoy a far greater benefit). Critical hit, more than anything else, is a psychological ego boost. You see the big giant orange number pop and you feel like you did good. But the overall increase to your DPS is only noticeably higher after much greater boosts. Again, some people will benefit more than others, but Timeless Hero will be a greater boon to the party than before.

So again, these are just my ideas. If anyone finds them horribly insufficient or imbalanced or inconsiderate or overpowered, feel free to tear them apart. But please offer your own ideas in response.

Thank you.