Guardian Fighter impressions on the forums is not doing well...

nitron0va · May 2014

Im new to neverwinter online. Before I usually play a game and choose a character class to invest my time and effort in, I usually go to the forum boards to gauge the consensus of the veteran players on each of the class available ingame. Now, I have noticed alot of threads where people keep complaining about the Guardian Fighter (shield and sword class) on how useless it is and how bad it is atm.

Everybody seems to be saying keep away from GF for now coz they suck really bad.

My problem is I like to play shield and sword warrior classes. And I like to play neverwinter online as I have been a fan of the genre since it came out of the Forgotten realm series.

Help me decide if its really worth playing as GF right now, or should i just quit on the class and jump on the GWF bandwagon.

hypervoreian · May 2014

[QUOTE=nitron0va;7991571 Now, I have noticed alot of threads where people keep complaining about the Guardian Fighter (shield and sword class) on how useless it is and how bad it is atm.

Everybody seems to be saying keep away from GF for now coz they suck really bad.

My problem is I like to play shield and sword warrior classes. And I like to play neverwinter online as I have been a fan of the genre since it came out of the Forgotten realm series.

Help me decide if its really worth playing as GF right now, or should i just quit on the class and jump on the GWF bandwagon.[/QUOTE]

Hi friend.GF at the momnet is at severe disadvantage.I play a GF since beta with some breaks(due to rome 2)

.
I tried defender Iron vanguard,defender swordmaster and currently i am Swordmaster Conquerror.I tried every armour set and every possible power/stat combination.
Things are grim.
GF community is largely composed by ex other MMOs players who have in their mind the tank role .And try to do the same things here with 90% failure.You cannot be a tank with 30-34k hp and 48% dr.Not with 8-14 adds runing around.That hit 3x your damage.Not to mention that 40% of Gf community is comprised by alt GWf toon owners that support the GWF class more.GWF is the direct competitor of a GF.

GF lacks survivability.It does not have an advantage in hp or defence as you may think.GWF can reach his defence stats more easily and surpass him.
Gf lacks damage with in a MMO is the king of statistics.Since he lacks damage and his other roles(defence ,utility) are severely underperforming compared to CW/DC ,GF is a liability to any geared party.Sure you can can do T1.That is the limit how far you can go.Ofcourse you can go up to rank8 gear.But the dps and utility that you will be bring to a party is equal to R5/R6 players.

Gf in NW is a hybrid class.It has utility defence dps.But it is lacking performance in every category not to compete with a class .But even the combined usefull output of a GF in both three sectors cannot win another class single sector.
yes it is so bad.

Itemization is horrible.It seems that the devs left post 60s GF practically unequipped.many blues have usefull stats like arm pen,critical etc.However all purple sets of Gf lack any of these.

Not to say more:friend don't waste your time.roll a TR or a GWf.

nitron0va · May 2014

Thanks for the heads up. I am going to stop playing my GF (lvl30) and will probably roll GWF. I hope they fix the GF class in the future.

pherrow · May 2014

nitron0va wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up. I am going to stop playing my GF (lvl30) and will probably roll GWF. I hope they fix the GF class in the future.

I would say that after you get your GWF to 60, level your guardian up and keep him stashed away in the ready box. Hopefully they will fix the guardian. Fortunately for you, you have not had to endure the class problems but also fortunately for you many solid GFs have been putting out suggestion for a fix for a looong time. Maybe you'll see the benefits of their efforts in the (near?)future.

klangeddin · May 2014

My opinion is that Guardian Fighters are underperforming in high-end PvE with greatly geared and coordinated groups. In that context the GF is outclassed by the GWF.

However, in low geared pugs both T1 and T2 you can make lots of difference. Literally the difference between wipe and success.
You also have some queue "privileges" if you are a solo pugger and may end up straight to final boss in many cases, since the queue system for random requires the presence of a GF and a DC.

Of course, I am aware that it's not fair to use this as an excuse for balance, just wanted to point out that things are not entirely grim.

In my opinion, if you pug a lot and you are dedicated to the class, the GF can be satisfying in PvE, but if you are interested in being extremely competitive in high-end PvE, it's not a good choice.

I think all of this stems from a problem of scalability in mechanics, features and powers. (AC advantage over other classes never increasing, Guard Block meter not scaling much with gear bar a few set boni, defense soft cap hit too soon, ecc...)

omegaosprey · May 2014

Just hit 60 on my GF a couple of hours ago. Spent my hoarded AD to get him up to about 9500 GS (best I could do) and took him for a spin. And now I think he is going on the shelf for a bit until they decide what they are going to do to patch up GFs. I saw a post saying they were looking into it. We'll see.

gorguts99 · May 2014

I play a GF since the beta, don't make one.

Go with GWF instead.

zhaofuo · May 2014

if only a class reroll would be available in Zen then i would gladly change my class. this freaking GF is a pain the only reason why im still playing my main as a GF is because i already invested too much time and effort to simply leave my main

gwassalor · May 2014

GF is not bad, it's just that he's the worse. My main character is GF. I enjoy playing it, both PvE and PvP. Recently, after playing GF for many months, I decided I'd finish leveling my DC that I started looong time ago and never brought to L60. I was shocked how DC is tearing things apart comparing to GF, even with much inferior gear, and his survivability is about the same. All the dailies are much easier and faster. I still keep playing GF as my main, but now, having the DC's experience, I kinda feel like HAMSTER.

If you roll new toon and you want a fighter, go for GWF, this is no brainer. Much higher DPS, much more flexible evasion (run compared to GF's block) and the same tankiness through lifesteal.

skalt112 · May 2014

Gwf is a better GF.

ripyourlipsoff · May 2014

Playing a GF right now is fun until 60! You will feel powerful and dispatch quests with ease... At 60 is where things change, you will no longer be wanted or needed for DD. Finding group to get gear will end with you buying zen to get Astral Planars and harvest AD and just buy the BIS you can find, because you will spend many moons trying to get gear the real way.

In PvP you can do decent sometimes really well depending on your team. If your team is good you will be effective, if your teams sucks you will dies easily and often as you are nothing more then a weak GWF with no DPS and a shield that cannot Unstoppable himself back to full hp!

GF is fun to play, and hard to continue playing as hes got very poor gearing hes forced into a Defensive stats that do nothing for survivability and lessens your dps effectiveness. Every other class can kill and complete quests in IWD faster the you! Even a DC... Yes even a DC has better DPS and almost the same DR...

So there is my opinion, i am sure others will say I am QQ and crazy GF are amazing and they are invincible tanks of death. But you decide and come back and tell us what you found to be true.

snappa0126 · May 2014

zhaofuo wrote: »

if only a class reroll would be available in Zen then i would gladly change my class. this freaking GF is a pain the only reason why im still playing my main as a GF is because i already invested too much time and effort to simply leave my main

Amen brother. I also have this need to play my under-performing GF.. At least I leveled up a beast of a CW, TR, and HR while waiting.

lewel555 · May 2014

nitron0va wrote: »

Help me decide if its really worth playing as GF right now, or should i just quit on the class and jump on the GWF bandwagon.

Play whatever you like. Nerfs go back and fro. Gwfs in beta were ok, then they were nerfed. Pathfinder is the rage now for the bandwagon people. GFs was severely damaged by the devs giving IV to gwfs.
Go GF, the equips in AH are much cheaper, there are many interesting builds. The only thing NWO will not allow you to do is tanking in dungeons. Yes, that's arguably the core business of a GF.

freshour · May 2014

lewel555 wrote: »

Play whatever you like. Nerfs go back and fro. Gwfs in beta were ok, then they were nerfed. Pathfinder is the rage now for the bandwagon people. GFs was severely damaged by the devs giving IV to gwfs.
Go GF, the equips in AH are much cheaper, there are many interesting builds. The only thing NWO will not allow you to do is tanking in dungeons. Yes, that's arguably the core business of a GF.

There are many other things you are not allowed to do. Reference the post I just made in the guy asking for builds. Get a GF to 60, put him in the closet, tell him he is not coming out for a long time, and then play him if they ever fix him or hopefully nerf him like they did GWF's and HR's

masterjewstar · May 2014

these threads are so depressing and it just furthers stereotypes its true GWF is more powerful and has great ability to defend ITSELF not anyone else.

and even so most gfs hardly even use protective type abilities replacing for knocks which is the hallmark for GWF IV thats almost literally all they can do because they have so many.

The gwfs job is to hit and get hit as much as possible to get stronger the GF's main job is to aggro and protect others who cannot handle harsh damage either through direct (sitting in one spot) or passive (kiting) tanking. GF is still the tank its just not the type of tank people are used to (just stand there and keep drawing aggro).

its because of the sheer number of enemies that you have to fight in the boss arena other than that GF is ok.

qutsemnie · May 2014

I think I finally hit the wall on 2.5 bosses. I can't kite the mobs and I can't survive the agro I pull. I heard the wall was in 2.0, but I didn't feel it working with a group of rainbow class friends. 2.5 though I am at a loss to figure out how to use a protection oriented GF in those boss fights. All and all though, I would say my opinion of GF is generally higher than the forum rates them, but I am not sure you can complete your 2.5 armor sets without being carried.

For example, what does a protection oriented GF do on Dracolich of Castle Never in a group of mixed classes? Anyone have an opinion on that specific fight when it a 1 GF, 1 DC, 1 CW with 2 other classes? You can't get a gear score of tanky stats high enough to survive the adds, and you can't organize them into an effective kite (because they run you down). With only 1 CW you can't rely on the CW on every wave. I have seen GWF use their amazing lifesteal + high dps to basically return their life to full as fast as the adds damage them, and that is when I realized there was a relationship between being able to face tank by burning through AE life steal, and being able to face tank by being able to mitigate and get healed, and that relationship is skewed far toward AE lifesteal with high DPS.

Some of this is because this game doesn't have a traditional tank bonus to softcap mitigation. When they go around adding stats to things it doesn't matter all that much what they add if everyone has the same softcap. With the same softcaps as everyone goes generally up in stats you are going to have a hard time distinguishing yourself as effectively tanky even if they dump a ton of defensive stats into your armor sets.

Guardian Fighter impressions on the forums is not doing well...

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